((OOC: Just so you know, this isn't ment to be for long posts. Short and sweet will get you the gold you need, just don't go too short! ^_^ ))

Aether Draka stood on the steps of the Library, lingering by the closed doors. She didn’t want to be confronted by the librarian, as she was afraid that she would blurt out what she wanted right away. She had snuck in once before and found a few beginner summoning spells and then one that was harder, to summon a roc… but she had yet to summon it. She was actually looking for a way to summon a demon. She then held her breath and opened the door. As she walked in she attempted to avoid eye contact with the librarian. She heard a voice ring out as she rushed past, setting the book she had stolen over four months ago on the desk as she went past.

“May I help you?”

She went into the shadows quickly and teleported by shadow to another place in the library. She appeared in the shadows, invisible to even magic, not far from where she had found the summoning spell for the roc. It had been a large tomb and she only hoped no one else had it. She traced her fingers along the rows of tiles, her fingertips bumping softly against the spines as she went from book to book. Under her breath she whispered, “Please be here, please be here… ah-ha!” Then she found the book she wanted in the shadowy rows of texts. Her eyes went wide and she smiled, relieved. Triumphantly she reached for the large leather bound book, just over her head, labeled quite simply “Summonings”.

Stallion Thunder never had a use for a library at least one he could think of. But as he was going through this town he felt compelled to enter it. Inside the library, he noticed how quiet and lonely it was in there. "Maybe i will like it in here after all," He thought to himself.

Stallion Thunder went down a row of Literature, browsing the books not really intending to stop and look at one. He reached the end of the row and headed around a corner to see a girl of about 16. He took a couple of steps back out of sight and peered around the corner at her. She smelled magnificent, and he was starving. He smiled to himself "Finally... food!" He walked quietly up to the girl, as he got closer the smell got stronger, but so did his hunger. His fangs began to grow, his eyes turned pitch black, his vision sharpened, his face tightened around his bones until it grew grotesque, He was ready to feed. He reached and grabbed the top of the girls head, and with his other hand he covered her mouth to muffle the screams. She struggled to get away, damn did he love the struggle. With his hand he tilted the girls head to the left and plunged down and drove his teeth deep into her jugular vein.

He fed... He let his hand down and she screamed.

"Uh-oh

A sound echoed through the library then, a sound one normally didn’t hear in the library… a scream. Aether Draka jumped, pulling her hand back and looking up and down the aisle. She was near one end and she felt compelled to go figure out what had happened. She took two steps away and realized she had forgotten her book. Going back she snacked the large book from the shelf, double checked to make sure she had the right one, and went on her way. She looked down the next row, looking both ways and seeing no one. She checked the next, and the next. Then she came to a row with a figure in it but she was so used to seeing only empty rows that she nearly passed him by. She took a step back and looked again.

His back was to her, whom ever he was. There seemed to be someone with him, but she really couldn’t tell. Her curiosity nudged her on. “Excuse me?” she asked, not sure what else to say. She didn’t see herself as in any danger. She had an ace up her sleeve as long as there were shadows about. Inside here, it was hard enough to see without magical or candle light, for those who couldn’t see in the dark like she could at least.

As the scream escaped her mouth, Stallion Thunder quickly covered her mouth and continued to feed as if nothing happened. It was when he heard a voice, was when he finally stopped feeding. He broke the girls neck and she felt limp to the floor, he smiled slightly as the blood rolled down his chin down onto the ground. His face returned to normal and his fangs shrank. He turned around slowly and his smile grew to a evil grin. He looked at the figure at the start of the row. He spoke softly, "Yes? Can I... help you?" After this statement, he lowered his hand to his sword because he couldn't make out who the person was. "The librarian? He thought to himself.

He looked back at his kill. He looked back at the figure and smiled again. "He he.... Oops." He then waited for the figure to do some sort of action. He looked at the ground and listened for the figure to say something or run or charge at him. He waited and listened.

There was a snap and a thump as whoever it was with this man fell quite lifeless to the ground. She tipped her head to the right for a moment as she sorted this out. It seemed that she had found the source of the sound, but that source was now dead. Her curiosity on that matter ebbed and it switched back to her purpose for coming here. The book in her hand. She didn’t answer his question right away but seriously thought on it for a moment.

“Unless you can teach me how to summon a demon… no. I don’t think you could be very helpful. You might not want to linger here though. If I heard, then others did. They’ll take care of the mess.” Waving her hand dismissively, as one might shoo away a fly, AD turned away from the stranger and started slowly walking back the way she had come. She had opened the book as she turned from him and holding the spine in one hand she turned through the first few pages to the spell she had already learned. It had been very difficult and she didn’t think she understood it very well. She read it over again as she walked.

First one needed tools, specifically a wand or staff. She had a wand now, a less awkward choice as a staff would have trouble fitting in all the spaces she did. AD had also empowered it like the book had told her. She had to now mesmerize the summoning circles and draw them in the air before her to summon the creature in that spot. She knew the roc one, now she just needed to find a space big enough to practice it.

He was quite amazed at her calmness. He wasn't quite sure on how to react, most people usually faced him with fear, not calmness. But her words were very clear to him, If she heard them then someone else must have. But something else she had said about demons, really caught his attention. He has wanted to become stronger more powerful, he wanted to be infused with demonic powers. He had heard someone talk about it before but has never heard anything real about it. Maybe she knew something about it, she was trying to summon a demon after all.

He ran to the end of the row and slide into the aisle. He looked up to her ahead of him. He yelled to her "Hey, You, what can you tell me about Demonic Infusion?" He ran quickly and placed his cold hand on her shoulder.

It took her a moment to realize he was talking to her and she completely missed his question. In fact she didn’t even realize he had said something to her at all until she felt his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him hand for a moment and then turned to look up at the vampire. She was a bit annoyed by the fact that he was interrupting her while she was trying to do something, but he seemed expectant. With a sigh she closed the book and let her hand holding the spine drop to her side.

“I’m sorry, I was trying to read…” She looked down for a moment, as if she was just going to continue reading, before looking up and simply asking, “What did you say?”

Her thoughts were in conflict at the moment. She had finally managed to talk herself into returning to the library and now someone was trying to talk to her. She was partly afraid that she would wander off again and never complete this task. She was learning it though, and there was a bit of an I-can-prove-you-wrong attitude about it. She could work magic now, she had managed to create a balance within herself between her good and evil blood. She didn’t know how long it would last though, so she was trying to learn all she could.

"What can you tell me about Demonic Infusion?" He stared at her with wide eyes, and said as if he was trying to imprint the words into her brain, he hated repeating things. He looked at his hand on her shoulder and removed it. He had been waiting for a long time for someone to help him, and explain to him what demonic infusion is. He gentled his gaze and looked at her hopefully.

((OOC: Short post sorry :( ))

“Probably not enough. I really have no interest in it myself, but I know a few people who are infused.” The first one that came to mind was Lynthaer. She didn’t like that he was infused. In fact she wished she could kill the demon he was infused with… but she didn’t know what that would do to Lynthaer. So she would let him deal with it. She wasn’t even sure where Lynthaer was. She hadn’t seen him in some time. Breaking herself out of her own thoughts she looked back up at the stranger.

“Actually, I think there was something back this way on it. It wasn’t what I was looking for though…” AD turned away from him once more, her pace quicker then before as she went back to the row she had just come from. She began looking at the titles again.

He listened to her words intensely because they almost decided his fate. He followed her quick pace. When he heard that there was some hope of finding a book he gave an almost giddy expression, but it soon faded. He stood behind her and looked over her shoulder as she checked all the titles. He didn't quite know what she was looking for but he thought it was to help her look then just stand around.

AD found the book she was looking for. “Here it is!” She said, pulling down a black book with a few strange symbols seemingly etched in the spine with some sharp object rather then being printed there. The sound off footsteps echoed down the main aisle that they had just left. “Hey! Over here!” Running was then heard in the background.

She paused, waiting a moment as there was further muffled sounds. "I think we should be somewhere else.” Aether Draka said softly and abruptly disappeared into the shadows, gone. She had teleported via shadows to a small side room that she had discovered a while back. Setting both her summoning book and the one she had just found on the table she went over and unlocked the door, taking the key with her. Only then did she go back to the row where she had left the vampire interested in demonic infusion. She didn’t show up right next to him, but further down, near the end of the row opposite the way they had come.

“Are you coming?” she asked and went around the corner, heading for that side room on foot now so that he could keep up with her.

Stallion Thunder stared at the books intensely trying to find the right one. Not expecting it he was startled when AD yelled that she found the book. The book looked old and very used, he hoped it could really help. He heard footsteps in the main aisle, they were followed by a yell of "Hey! Over here!” which were also followed by the sound of running.

The words that were heard next were very muffled and indecisive. But that didn't matter to him right now the person he was with seemed to disappear. He looked around for her and got worried. He heard her ask if he was coming and looked over and followed her into a room with a table of which she had laid both books. He wondered how she had disappeared but he wasn't very concerned about that right now. He was more concerned about the becoming Demonically Infused. He looked over at AD and spoke "Do you think we will be unnoticed in here?"

He kept pace with her fairly easily, though she was trying to avoid trouble and not the vampire. He had just eaten though, so she wasn’t worried about being the next meal. “Perhaps.” She said, closing the door softly and locking it before turning back to the table. She left the brass key in the lock.

She went over to the table in the dark room, not bothering with lighting the stubs of candles half melted on the table. She didn’t need the light to see. Pulling up a chair she sat down and tucked her heels under her chair. Her voice was calm, but a bit hushed as she finished her reply. “If we are quite they might not notice us, and if they do notice us we can say we have both been in here and didn’t hear anything.”

Aether Draka then opened the older of the two books and began puzzling over the alien looking script. She was only the equivalent of a first or second level reader of the Demonic language. She didn’t bother trying to read most of it. She could speak the language, not read it… at least not very well. She flipped through the pages until she came upon some images painted upon the pages. Turning the worn book around she pushed it across the table to the vampire.

“These are some images of different types of demons you can be infused with. Once you choose to become Infused the demon will slowly become part of you, granting you it’s own powers as you slowly start to inhabit the same body. It’s basically a willing and intentional demonic possession. If you get along well with the demon then you remain in charge. If you try and go against the demon’s nature it will get pissed and can make it a not so willing possession. Demons brought to this world cannot die here. They are only sent back to where they came from. Demons have a habit of coming back.”

Stallion Thunder watched as she had closed and locked the door. He made a note that she had left the brass key in the door, just in case he had to get out he knew where it was.

As she walked to the table he looked at the two aged and torn books laying on the table. He listened to her words of quietness and responded almost silently, "I am a creature of the night, I know how to be quiet."

The blook slid across the table and he looked down at the creatures displayed on the faded pages. He studied the creatures recognizing there attributes as he listened to the females words. As she read his eyes grew with the knowledge he was learning, this fate he was hearing about was very appealing to him. Every word she spoke made him want to be demonically infused more and more.

When she finished speaking he looked away from the pages and up at her. He gently laid his finger down on the Page on a grey creature. "The Osyluth." he spoke softly and he grinned. He couldn't wait...

AD stood up and took the book back, turning it around before sitting back down. Marking the picture with her finger she flipped through the pages again. She was getting annoyed. There were too many words she didn’t understand. Biting her bottom lip with one small fang, something that could barely count as a fang unless someone wished to compare the tooth to a normal human’s, she narrowed her eyes.

Then a familiar word caught her eye. Sacrifice. She paused at that page and read over it as well as she could. An evil act would have to be committed in order to attract the attention of the demon one wished to be infused with. It went on to explain how that worked, but she kept getting lost. She turned back to the image of the demon this stranger had picked. Well… an Osyluth was a spy, dealing in fear and poisons. So they needed someone that they could scare to death. No, they needed information from the person first, then death. What information did they need?

She looked up at the vampire across the table. She needed a translator, someone who could read this and who might be able to help her with learning to summon a demon. That would be it then. Surly a librarian in this place could read demonic better then she could. Even if they couldn’t she knew enough to find out what she needed to know. They could just have to get this information by scaring the… guest. No. She could help, but it would have to be he who took the attention of the demon. She didn’t want to be infused. It was enough to know her soul was marked for the Abyss already…

“You may be a creature of the night,” AD retorted, “But I’m a Shadow. Perhaps if someone does show I will simply take my leave…” With that she disappeared from right before him, teleporting herself by shadows to the darkness by the door, just for show. She had to be careful with that. She was going to be starving by the time they finished this if she didn’t limit her magic. It was hard though. That was her favorite ability so far and it was hard to resist using it.

“Or perhaps we should look for a particular someone who may be able to aid us with this task. That is unless you have another way to draw the attention of the demon you wish to be infused with.” She still had the book in hand and half offered it to him even though she was nearly positive he couldn’t read it. Steele could have read it, and if Lynthaer was here it would no doubt be read easily, but she didn’t know where either was and didn’t know if she could take the time it would take to find them.

((OOC: Long post! 482 words, Yay! I have another long one in mind for the next one too!))

Stallion Thunder watched as she struggled to read the words. He thought She looked funny when she was thinking. Her eyes seemed to grow as she caught a word, he thought maybe she recognized it.

He wondered whether or not if she could read it that well, maybe they needed a librarian to be a translator or something. But for some reason he trusted in her ability. She responded to what he said, and she showed off for a second, it made him smile. He raised his eyebrow as she offered it to him. He pushed it away and laughed and spoke silently, "Ha, I couldn't read that even if i tried, and I have no idea how to attract a demon, except a large amount of death in a single area, so I think we should try to find someone else."

The thought of not knowing how to attract a demon made him feel stupid. He tried to think of people that might know how to speak Fluent Demonic, so they could help. His mind came up blank, he couldn't remember anything anymore. Since he lost his memory he hasn't really met anyone. He spoke up "So who are we gonna find to help us?

He wanted to know who they were looking for, but AD wasn't sure she was willing to tell him. She didn't even know his name. She really didn't know why she was helping him, on a whim perhaps. Curiosity about how one becomes infused maybe...

“Well, I can't summon demons yet, so someone who knows demonic better then I do. You can't do magic if you can't read the spells.” She deftly unlocked the door and slipped out. Taking one arm out of her backpack she turned it around so that she could add the book to the rest of the contents. Looking back in the room she said, “Can you grab my book too please?” before she started walking along the wall.

Turin poked his head out of her backpack then. 'Good Morning.' he quipped telepathically to her.
Aether Draka rolled her eyes and the fly dragon zipped his way out of the bag. She shrugged the bag back on her back and settled it on her shoulders.

“Why don't you be useful and go find someone who can read demonic.” AD told the dragon, slipping easily into the dragon tongue. “Not that you could really tell...” She started to say and saw Turin zipped off. She stopped then and wondered how much trouble that was going to cause. She then looked back over her shoulder to see if the vampire was coming or not or if anyone else was about.

Stallion Thunder was complexed by her answer to his question. He wondered whether or not she even knew who they were looking for. He grabbed her book like she asked and headed towards the door. As he did so he watched in surprise as a fly dragon flew quickly out of her backpack. He had always liked dragons, but he wondered if this was the best time for a flying creature, seeming they were in a building, and he was stained with blood from his kill earlier, he just didn't want to attract attention.

He extended his arm with the book out to her and tilted his head to the right. "Are you sure its the best time for a fly dragon to be flying around?" He said this as he looked around for anyone that could be still looking for him.

AD looked at the vampire, cocked her head slightly to the right and rose her arm in the direction that the tiny dragon had gone, now far out of sight. “If you want to go after him and tell him that, feel free to.” She said, nearly snapping at him. It wasn’t as if she felt she had any control over the small beast. She did feel that she would share any misfortune that it came across though. It had shared all of hers from the time she arrived in Imythess.

Feeling a bit put out for some reason and wondering in the back of her mind if the only reason she was doing this was to delay the fact that she would in fact have to learn how to summon a demon. She was still quite against the idea herself, but felt obligated to, if for no other reason then to find herself in good graces with Raven again. He had abandoned her, but had not. She had the choice to do this or not to… and there was a choice. Was this the right one though?

Aether Draka walked through the library, the thought of finding someone who could read Demonic but wasn’t demonic or too powerful being the only bit of direction. She would have been very happy to discover Lynthaer in these dusty rows, but she doubted that he would be in such a place… but he knew magic, so must be learned. Her path was chaotic and as silent as a ghost. Abruptly she stopped and turned to the vampire. “What’s your name?”

~elsewhere~

A voice came into a librarian’s mind. “Can you read Demonic?”

Startled the librarian looked up and asked out loud, “Who wants to know?”

She snapped at him because of his question. Stallion Thunder sighed he knew what she was doing was right, they needed to find someone and the fastest way was with more help. He began to wonder as why she was helping him so much, he at least thought she would have found the book for him, and sent him on his merry way. But now it was as if she were planning on being there until he did become demonically infused, or at least until he knew how. He followed her through the library, zig-zagging through row after row. He was lost, he could only hope she knew where they were going. It was dead silent as they walked, he stared at the back of her head as they walked. But the silence was broken when she spun around and asked him his name.

He smiled and replied quietly, "My name is Stallion Thunder, since I have graced you with my name, what is yours?" He was glad they stopped, his head was hurting, it felt like weird De javu. There was so many books, yet as they went from row to row, they all looked the same.

“I’m Aether Draka.” She said, holding out her hand in way of greeting, as if she just remembered they had only met a short time ago. Suddenly, Turin zipped back to her and landed in her braids above her right ear. She tipped her head, as if listening to the creature even though there was no sound made.

“I found someone, but I wasn’t sure if you needed it or if he did.” Turin was referring to the vampire telepathicly. “So I just told the librarian that someone needed help with a book they couldn’t translate. The librarian knows demonic and celestial and draconic. Are we staying here?”

“No.” AD shook her head. She didn’t want to have to deal with more people then she had to. Abruptly she vanished and was gone for a few moments before appearing again. [COLOR=turquoise]“Sorry about that, here.” She shoved the book she had in Stallion Thunder’s hands, snatching her book on summon from him. “Someone should be here in a bit to help you. Perhaps I’ll see you around some time. I have to go now, later!”

Then, just as abruptly as she had shown up, AD was gone. It was as if introducing herself was a way to say good bye. AD was quick to leave the library, and the entire city in fact. She didn’t want anyone telling her that she shouldn’t be trying to summon a demon. It was her choice and she wasn’t going to let anyone stop her, even if she was frightened by the thought. The idea was different now though. She was not going to try and summon the demon she needed first. She would summon other demonic things first in order to build up some experience with dealing with them. She would have a better chance then, wouldn’t she?