The unnecessary guide who had ‘brought’ her here had proved himself a bit more useful then she had expected. It hadn’t really been her plan to kill the man, but he should have never thought that bringing her all the way out here with the promise of treasure and then trying to kill her was a good idea. So now she stood all on her own in a huge cathedral that seemed to be falling apart around her. It was big and quiet though. Quiet enough that this corpse had thought that she wouldn’t be heard when she screamed, but she hadn’t bothered even raising her voice. Noise only drew attention, usually the unwanted kind. She had been preparing herself for this for a long time though and technically she was ready… so why not?

AD took out her wand, a scroll to refer to, and a blood red potion. Before going any further she took a drink of the potion and put it away. It was her first time using it… the first time she thought she would need it. Then she came to the point in which the so called guide and want to be thief came in useful. She was hesitant to use the shadows for this, so this man’s blood would work just as well. Using the same dagger she had killed him with, AD drew out a glyph in a circle on the floor of the cathedral. She took a moment to look it over before standing and walking around the circle. For the first time in a long time, she wished she had some holy water just in case… She had something that would work well enough though.

Stopping with her back to the door and the summoning circle between her and the alter, AD knelt down and let her magic flow into the symbols in the ring. It seemed to glow slightly and then turned black. Aether Draka stood as she felt the power build and then… the demonic being she had summoned was there. KiChel, her Demon Grandmother…

Ki didn’t touch the ground but perched on the air itself. She had light skin and deep purple hair as thick but much more luxurious then AD’s own. She seemed fragile and soft, like she had to be protected. The dress she wore looked more like gossamer and lace in black. It was like someone had taken the shadows and woven them into fabric to dress Ki in. She didn’t have any wings or a tail or even horns… she looked like an elf a bit... just like AD remembered her. Then Ki opened her eyes and AD felt her body stiffen as those dark orbs turned her way. With no effort what so ever, KiChel drifted toward AD and a soft smile touched the demon’s lips.

“Little one, such power you have gained. But what is it that you hope to gain by using like this?”

“I want you to remove your claim on my soul when I die. I want it to be my choice.” AD said the practiced lines. They sounded hollow to her… without conviction.

Ki’s smile faded slowly, like ice melting. She reached out one single hand to AD. She came very close to the girl and looked into her eyes while her hand hovered a hairsbreadth from Aether Draka’s right cheek. “My dear child, what have they done to you? So much conflict… may I see it myself little one? It won’t harm you.”

AD’s own gaze was locked on Ki’s and she felt she didn’t dare look away. Numbly she felt herself nod. The hovering hand slipped behind Aether Draka’s neck and Ki’s lips lightly brushed AD’s. Not enough to really call a kiss, but enough to let Ki get what she wanted to know. She let AD go and looked at the girl. KiChel’s face seemed sad. “I’ll release my claim for now, as you wish. I will keep my watch over you though because you are important to me. I will not allow your soul to be taken by another. Your heart is what I am most worried about though little one. Be careful with it.”

AD looked confused as Ki suddenly looked up and let her gaze travel around the room. Ki was sure… there was another here... but where. Aether Draka blinked and tried to figure out what Ki was doing.

The girl, AD by name, made even less since now than the last time Melmoth had laid eyes on her. At the celebration in Taras she had proved to be a somewhat unpredictable and probably unstable creature, and now he had confirmed his earlier idea that there was more to her than he had seen.

This time a grin would not come. The girl dealt with demons, and he would have to be even more wary of her. If she found that he had followed her from Taras, no easy feat, and had even got ahead of her into the deserted Cathedral, then he would be in serious danger.

Up in the balcony above the door he crouched behind the ancient pews and hid from the sights below. His normal garb was covered by the black robe of a priest of Ranewen that he had aquired in Taras and wore now more for ease of movement than anything else. His large floppy hat sat comfortingly on his head, and his sword was belted at his hip. All considered, he was dressed up for the dead city.

All had gone silent below. He didn't know for sure, but thought the worst. Somehow, they were on to him. He didn't think he had bumped anything or made a revealing noise, but he couldn't be sure.

Indecision wracked him. He had an urge to stand, go to the balcony, and confront AD verbally. The demon though... It was something that would screw up all his plans no matter what he did. He sorely hoped it would go back to the Abyss and leave the two mortals alone.



[ooc]I have arrived. What now?[/ooc]

AD didn’t see anything and was completely confused. She turned back to Ki. “What do you mean by watch out for my heart and what are you doing?” AD finally asked.

Ki’s focus turned back to AD and she smiled once more. “Love will be your downfall if you are not careful. Love makes people blind and stupid. Love is an illusion. I don’t want you to fall for it because I won’t be able to protect you from that. Just like I can do nothing about the angels. I may have something I can do about the God you are on bed terms with though.” She drifted back and away from AD and placed a finger over her lips and winked. “Though you won’t get to know what that is my grandchild. I must be gone now. I’m sure we will talk again soon.” And with that KiChel was simply gone. AD blinked and was still for a moment, then in a flurry of motion let out something between a yell and a scream and threw the dagger from her hand. It berried itself with a thunk into a crumbling pew a few rows down.

“Both you and Raven are completely useless!” She screamed into the empty cathedral. “I go to all the trouble of summoning you and you tell me nothing useful! Not a single thing! I hate you! I hate you both! I wish my mother had killed my father like she was supposed to! Then I wouldn’t have to deal with this crap!” She then spun and kicked the nearest pew and it tumbled backwards into a less sturdy one that crumbled under the blow and crashed to the floor. Dust rose from the crash like fog and AD coughed and backed away from it. She went over in front of the alter, ran her fingers across it, then turned her back to it and sat down on the floor. That plan had panned out worse then the one with Gregory… She looked down at her right hand, opening it slowly so she could look at the scar Gregory Faust had left her. No, it wasn’t worse then him…

His hopes were soon fulfilled. The demon, with a few parting words departed for the abyss. Or he hoped it did. Hidden from sight as he was, he couldn't see what had transpired on the main floor of the cathedral. From the sound of it though, the demon was either gone, or very tolerant. He supposed the former, since demons were not known to allow words against them to go unpunished.

Unless that crashing was AD being thrown around...

Probably not. There'd be more screaming if the demon was around.

He waited a moment more in the dust and the dark, then crept to the edge and peered down upon the scene. AD was alive, the demon was gone, and several pews would never be the same. She sat with her back against the altar, and appeared more disturbed than she probably should have been. True, her idiot guide lay dead on the floor, a demon had been in the room, and that summoning circle was most likely made of blood, but she was messed up.

Emotionally, she was vulnerable, and if he played his hand right he might walk away this day with his business concluded. He knew she was volatile, likely to explode at the slightest mistep, and it would be a delicate thing to achieve his goal with her.

He decided that more information was needed before a final plan of attack was to be formulated. He would sit for a time, observe, and follow if needed. Smiling slightly, he moved deeper into the shadows and chose a pew with a fair vantage of her position and sat.

Let the show begin.

Turin came out of the pouch on her hip then and landed on her open hand, hiding the nearly white scar from her sight. When he spoke he spoke telepathically just to AD. "It's alright Aether. We don't have to worry about Chel anymore. We have a home and friends who can take care of us and who we are able to take care of. Don't worry about the other stuff. It will come when it will and we can handle it then. Alright?"

AD smiled at the tiny fly dragon, then reached up with her other hand to stroke his head. "Thank you Turin. So do you think we should go home now or explore this place while we are here?" She asked as she rose to her feet and Turin took wing to light on her shoulder only moments after.

"We can go home at any time. Lets see what all there is around here. Who knows, perhaps there is some treasure hidden in these old walls!" He replied in her mind and AD laughed.

"Exploring it is!" She said with a smile and let her gaze travel around. She saw a door ajar off to the far side. Feeling better about this venture she started for it. Unknown to her, her little fit had drawn the attention of some others who resided in this dead city. They were rather slow about moving about and hadn't even made it to the door yet, but if anyone who bothered to take a look out of the stained glass windows, their approach would be unmistakable.

He lost track of AD as she disappeared through a door down below. Considered sitting still and waiting to see what would happen, but the thought of her leaving him sitting in the abandoned building while she roamed across the countryside did not sit well with him. The distinct possibility of her finding him unaware was an even worse senario. He'd have to find her and keep an eye on her while he learned about her.

How the task grated at him. The girl switched moods like hats and was prone to violent explosions at any moment. With her inherent unpredictability he'd have a hard time getting anything done. He sighed, rose from his seat, and made for the stairs.

On his way down he passed one of the few unbroken windows in the place, and abruptly doubled back to the grimy glasswork. Something had caught his eye through the age-darkened glass. He looked for a moment, and then cursed quietly to himself. A horde of undead horrors were slowly making their way towards the Cathedral. While not incredible in number, the group was alarmingly large. He had no hope of taking them all down.

Escape seemed a good idea. Surely something had awakened the dead, and he had no intention of meeting it. Necromancers, Vampires, Liches, anything that fooled with the dead was not something he wanted to chance a fight with. Zombies, Skeletons, and all the minor undead were little better than meat-shields with teeth. Their masters were on a completely different level.

Disregarding noise and stealth, Melmoth hurried down the stairs and ran for the back of the cathedral, knocking over a religious urn in his haste. The delicate thing shattered on impact with the floor, but it was not high on his list of cares. At the back, he hoped to find an exit, and a clear run to the horizon.



[ooc]I'm surprised you haven't used you Shadowdancer powers yet.[/ooc]

((OOC: I didn't see there being a reason for her to use them. It would have been how she would go home though. It is also one of the reason's she is exploring. She can reappear in the shadows anywhere she has been. By exploring she can get back there.))

AD slipped carefully through the door to find herself in what looked like an office. A thick layer of dust lay about everything and there were cobwebs about. The spiders were long gone though. She saw some books on the far side of the room and what looked like two little figurines of some sort on each side. Turin took wing to get a better look around and she let him take a look at the things on the desk as she went past it. One was a horse rearing up high on it's back legs. It had wings and they were spread wide. She had never seen one of those before. The other one of the little things was a pair of horses, a mother and child, though each had a tail like a donkey's and a horn coming up in the middle of it's head. She thought she had seen something like that one in her summoning book.

She had just decided to look it up and was reaching for her beg when a sound came from outside. She wasn't too sure about it at first but then there was a loud crash. Turin looked at her as she looked at him. AD held out her hand for Turin and he flew to her. At which point she shadow jumped to the main doorway where she had come in. She saw someone running off. She parted ways from with the shadows in the doorway just as a loud crash came from a lower window on her right and a thumping started on the door behind her. Forgetting about the other person who had been in such a hurry she turned to look at the door and then toward the crash.

The door wasn't locked, but the mindless undead are not known to be skilled with doorknobs. The ones that had tried for a narrow window were more successful. As AD looked she saw one rising to it's feet. There were more trying to get in behind it, but they looked a little stuck at the moment. Aether Draka caught the sent of them then and made a face. Yuck. Behind her the pounding on the door continued. “Turin, go look.” AD told the fly dragon who zipped off to find out what was going on for her.

[ooc] Decided I could craft a post without the info on Turin. I would still appreciate it, however. [/ooc]

The back door was locked. The bar on the door had been closed, and age had sealed the iron tight, closing the door far far better than its maker had ever intended. He slightly laughed to himself as he went over the situation again and again in his head.

He was trapped in an old cathedral in a dead city, and was about to be eaten by undead, no matter his prowess in combat. You didn't fight that many undead and expect to walk away in one piece. If he was going down, he'd damn well take a few with him. He needed a small space, just wide enough to give him room to swing his blade, but too small to be surrounded fully. And definitely with something at his back. No windows, no corridors, nothing. He needed a dead end.

Failing that, he'd need AD.

The front door, old as it was, was holding up well against the wave of undead. Here and there it was splintering, but he figured it would hold for a minute or three while he found a place to defend. The breaking of windows and moans of undead told him he had little time to spend on his search.

"AD! Where are you?" He yelled as he drew his sword. She'd be angry to find he'd followed her, and explainations would be tough to sit through, but they both would need to help the other to survive. He could dodge her angels after the zombies.

((OOC: I sent you all I had on him this morning about 9am my time, he is just like it says he is in AD's inventory...))

Turin zipped around faster then any of the undead could even notice or recognize. He noticed someone by the back door and had just turned about when he heard the man call for AD. This caused the little fly dragon to stop mid-flight to hover. Ah! He knew this man! He wasn't that nice but he hadn't really tried to kill them either. Not like others had or threatened to. Unfortunately the man had caught AD at a bad time. His bad luck Turin guessed. It looked like he was having a bit more of bad luck too. Had he come in here after AD? Either way, he would tell AD where he was. Turin zipped back off.

Aether Draka was surprised to hear someone call her name. She froze and blinked and turned back. The running figure? Then Turin returned and spoke to her telepathically. “They are all around. The man from the ally in Taras is here. He's in the back and is who called.”

“Show me.” AD said and as Turin zipped off once again, AD took off after him. She dodged past the undead and as she turned the corner to see both Melmoth and the back door, she heard the front door splinter and bang open with a surprising force. She glanced back over her shoulder and thought she had seen something else in the air above the zombies. She tried to focus on it but was not able to see anything. Turning back to Melmoth she tipped her head slightly to the right and asked in a truly puzzled voice. “What are you doing here? Are you being followed by them?” She gestured to the undead who were now lumbering slowly along the main row between the pews and bumping into more then a few things as they went. Mostly each other it seemed though. She had no idea that the back door couldn't be open. It looked like to her that he came in one door, ran across the first floor, and opened the back door to find only more zombies so he had shut it once more.

Ah, there she was. Center of attention, girl of the hour, and he only knew her initials. Such is life.

She crossed the open space between then, and appeared puzzled to see him. She asked the inevitable question of why he was there, but it looked like she had more pressing business than to ask him go into details. At least she wasn't reaching for her cards again.

"I followed you here. You are... Interesting." He broke his gaze away from her and actively scanned the room for defensive options. The pews, if they could clear the room, would make a fair barrier against the slow dead. He could move them around into fortifications and kill from the other side. Getting the zombies out of the way would be the first priority though, before preparing for any later waves.

"I don't think they're following me. You're the one who has been summoning things. Maybe someone felt it, and came looking for you?" Melmoth grinned, and hacked down a zombie that came too close. The thing slumped easily to the ground in an oozing pile of rotting flesh and stirred no more. Far better than some zombies he'd seen. He figured it was probably related to how they were raised or the power of their master. Some zombies just refused to die again.

It all bothered him. Why did the zombies come? If they were just here to recruit, then the price was too high. He could take out enough zombies to make it too costly for any necromancer to eye his hide. With allies at his side, even one as volitile as AD...

This all screamed wrongness. They had to have a reason for attacking. Lone undead would attack without thought, but they were usually in smaller numbers. The attack spoke of a goal that he could not see.

AD paused and looked at him blankly for a moment. He had been following her? What? She blinked and then stepped out of the way as the one zombie that had come through the window came too close and Melmoth struck it down. Now she was curious though. Why did he think she was interesting? She was going to have to get rid of the undead first. The smell would drive her crazy if nothing else. Gah! They reeked! “You think they came because of me?” She asked in a slightly surprised tone and turned her back on Melmoth to walk back into the main room. “Then I guess I better do something about them.” She said and drew out her cards. She flipped through them rather quickly and pulled out the card she wanted. Slipping the rest back in her pouch she used it. The shadows ran across the dusty floor and into the summoning circle that formed in the air around the card. It turned black, but instead of becoming a single shape, it became two. The two large four-legged beasts shook off the shadows like they were ash and were promptly on fire themselves.

AD grinned. “I think they need a little help knowing how to stay dead. Just don't burn down the building.” She told the two hell hounds who looked more then happy to oblige. “Happy hunting.” AD said as the hounds lept at the zombies and started not only shredding them, but lighting more then a few on fire. AD rose her hand and Turin perched on her fingers.

“Turin. I thought I had seen something outside. Could you go take a peek for me?” She asked him.

“Of course! I'll be right back!” Turin chimed telepathically and was gone in a flash.

It was then that AD turned her attention to Melmoth. She turned and walked back over to him. Her head tipped slightly to the right as she asked, “What do you mean by 'interesting'?” Her own curiosity gave her little option but to ask.

Melmoth shook his head as AD shuffled through a deck of cards he'd seen before. He almost pitied the poor creatures. Nothing deserved to be at the recieving end of AD and her deck of cards. Even undead.

Shadows coalesed into a summoning circle, and two shapes stepped from another plane. Hell Hounds, by the look of them.

"Those damn cards again. Why..." He stopped as the two otherwordly creatures threw themselves into the fight. Damn. They fought pretty good. Zombies came to pieces before them, and others went up in flames. The smell of rotting flesh roasting filled the room. The hellish barbeque was sickening beyond belief.

"That is sick. I hope they get every last one of them." He shook his head again and tried not to gag. "You just... are. You intrigue me." Not to mention scare the hell out of him at times... She probably shouldn't know that, though.

He moved forward to the first pews, and bent down to examine the legs. They weren't bolted down, so they could probably be moved into defensive formations. "Help me for a minute, if we could move these things..." He began sketching out a defense for the room to AD. He planned a sort of V shape with the point towards the front door. They could sit in the middle and maybe get some zombies while they went around.

AD looked back over at the two hellhounds and grinned. "They will!" She then looked back to Melmoth as he started outlining his plan and tipped her head slightly to the right as she listened to him.

"That's rather complicated. I could just shadow jump home and not worry about any of this, as soon as Turin comes back at least. Though I don't like the idea of someone I know joining the undead." She shrugged and looked over the undead still lumbering in. "I think I'll just go close that door again and perhaps bar it this time. Then they won't just keep coming. I'll be right back."

AD started walking right towards the doorway and lifted her tight hand to touch the inside of her right shoulder. She felt the spell wrap around her in a protective bubble and she took a few quick steps and went through the zombies. She moved through them and got to the doorway where more were trying to press in. Finding that ridiculous, she drew her blade of illusions. The doors appeared to be closed once more and she appeared to have vanished. It took a moment, and in the mean time she lost her sanctuary, but a gap formed between the undead outside and the ones inside. She then closed one of the doors and was about to close the other when a blast of magic came seemingly out of no where to blast open the doors again. The one door that was closed in reality slammed open once more and AD was knocked back. One of the many zombies broke her fall and she scrambled to her feet, sword still in hand.

“What the…” she started when another blast flew through the illusion doors and instinctively she used her sanctuary spell once more. The magic blast flew around her and killed several of the zombies. Deciding that wasn’t a good place to stand she ducked under a pew and shadow jumped back by the alter once more. “Melmoth? What is that?” AD asked from behind him as yet another magical blast came through the illusion doors and knocked not only zombies down but one of her hellhounds flew back from the blast.

[/B]Shadow jump? Melmoth remembered the phrase from the book he had been using to study the arts of a ShadowDancer. So AD was a ShadowDancer too? She was a powerfull one by the sound of it, if she could shadow jump. Usefull to know, and probably best to keep his own status as a shadowdancer quiet unless needed.

"What about the windows?" He said as AD waded into the zombies. He figured talking to her was probably pointless at this point, but he might as well state his tactical concerns. She just might hear him over the clamor of battle. "They're all over the -"

He hadn't really seen what exactly had happened, but it appeared AD was under attack. Some magic spell had slammed one of the colsing doors back open. Quickly, a second one followed and slammed into the mass of zombies. Somewhere in there AD was probably down. Sad, but he could probably wade in and do a hell of a lot more damage if she was gone. Before his hand was halfway to his ring, the voice of AD came from behind.

“Melmoth? What is that?”

Somewhat shocked, he turned to see AD behind him near the altar. Shadow jumping. Of course. He'd have to learn that trick sometime.

"Magic Missle? I can't see through those doors you put up." Another spell smashed into the rapidly thining group of zombies at the entrance. Rotting flesh and gooy remains flew everywhere and the moans of the undead slightly quieted. "Whoever is casting that is not a happy person. And it looks like one of your Hellhounds may be down for the final count." He pointed to the hound that had been struck earlier. It might have been alive still, but he couldn't tell with the massing zombies.

He didn't like the idea of taking down the illusionary doors at the end of the room, but it might be the only way to get a glimpse of their attacker. Of course, the mage would then get a clear shot at them. "Any ideas?"

AD looked at the illusion doors, then around the entire space. She didn't want to drop the illusion or the room would end up with more undead and the shooting wasn't that bad. It was clearing away some of the undead in there, but still... Then Melmoth mentioned the hellhound.

“Oh, I'm not worried about them. They won't die or anything, just become unsummoned. I would just have to summon them again.” AD explained as she walked away from the alter to stand next to Melmoth. Her eyes were on the illusion doors though and her blade was still in her hand. From this side it looked like there were two sets of doors hinged in the exact same spot. What did it look like from the other side?

As AD thought about it for a moment she realized that it must look like the illusion doors were the real ones and that they were somehow absorbing the magical blast. That would mean... Aether Draka Grinned. “I'm going to make the next blast that comes through look like it broke the doors but didn't open them. Then we will see who it is.” And I'll fix the off double door thing on this side too, she thought to herself. She gripped the blade with both hands and fell into a fighting stance as she waited for the next attack. She was holding on to the magic of the blade as she waited in the ready. She wanted to make it look like was a fighter to whoever was chucking spells at them. Mostly because she couldn't chuck spells back. That was what Lynthaer did.

Just as she was about to give up on the idea, another magic blast came through the illusion doors that really did look like the real doors now, barred and everything. The blast passed through right above the bar and she focused on having the illusion look like it was splintering as the blast broke through, leaving a jagged hole and bits of wood everywhere and killing a few more on the zombies who had gone in the space cleared last time. She also had the windows turn black and then the black moved up even with the walls and tuned to the same stone the cathedral was. The undead that had been trying to get in the windows then gave up because they were mindless zombies. Unfortunately, AD couldn't see who was outside because she had to focus on the changing illusions to make sure they looked real.



Outside the now broken door was a floating figure with one pale hand still outstretched with her palm wide from casting the spell. A satisfied smile crossed her face, revealing two long fangs as her hand dropped back to her side. She saw the two figures inside then. She recognized AD. One little demon spawn or two, she didn't want the Divschatten here and if it took a few becoming undead, or simply dead, that was fine with her. She was dressed in a red brocade corset and a black silk skirt with red Celtic style embroidery on it. The skirt was also split up both sides nearly to her hips.

Holding both hands before her, palms facing each other, she started another spell. Magic began to swirl and crackle like lightning as it gathered in an orb between her hands. If the ones before were magic missiles, this one was either being empowered or infused with something. Using her entire body, the vampire threw the crackling ball of energy through the hole in the door, aimed directly for the pair of 'demon spawn' on the far side.

[ooc] How does the vampire know I'm a demonic infused? I go to great lengths to hide that fact. Or is he assuming that I am, since I'm with you? Doesn't really matter, but meh.

Also, considered using Major Illusion for this, but couldn't decide whether crackling balls of energy were considered physical beings. The spell owns as a defensive measure, if you look at it the right way. *conjures illusionary wall that can still physically stop people* :}[/ooc]

Melmoth watched as AD did her thing. She was the spellcaster here, and he got to play the old man with a sword. Sometimes hiding really got on his nerves. He had to play at the level a human could, instead of using his abilities fully.

Another blast went through the illusionary doors, but this time they broke open. It startles him to see an illusion break with such attention to quality. Splinters flew, the doors looked singed, and a bit of smoke sizzled from some of the pieces. She was good, he'd give her that. But he didn't think she'd be up for much more than maintaining the illusion. From what little he'd used illusions, the better they were, the more draining they were.

Outside, floated a ghastly figure. The spellcaster and necromancer that had been causing trouble, and by the look of her- " A Vampire. Great. Why in the nine hells is a vampire after us?" Melmoth bit back further comments as the vampire began casting her next spell. By all the glowy energy she was gathering, this one was going to be bad news.

Could he pick up AD and throw her across the room out of the blast's path? He figured he could, but didn't like the idea of her impaling his head on a spike afterwards. There was nowhere they could run before they were hit, and the ancient wooden pews, considered for defense earlier, looked like piles of so many twigs to him now. They were woefully inadequate.

As the blast left the vampire's hands, he stepped in front of where AD was, Fate held up protectively, and hoped she had the sense to shadowjump away from him.

He grimaced as the ball hit him. He didn't know what it was made of, but it hurt like nothing else for a moment before his illusion's pain contacts shut down. All around him furniture was demolished, and wooden debris caught in the blast burned lightly. He stood a winged silver form, silver skin boiling for a moment before racing across him and disappearing into his signet ring. As the illusion disappeared, his suppressed aura grew and filled the Cathedral.

((OOC: she doesn't know, the vampire just thinks that only demons would hang out with demons. And sorry I'm late at replying... :( ))

After she could stop making the illusions keep changing, AD let the sword's magic stay put. It would hold for a long time after all. She was just glad it was the blade's magic and not her own, though focusing on it so much was making her head spin a little. She better leave the illusion as it was...

Still feeling slightly light headed, she realized Melmoth had mentioned a vampire. She turned her gaze towards the door in time to see a huge ball of magical energy heading right for her... again. She cussed softly under her breath and put up her arm as her sanctuary spell wrapped around her once more. This was getting stupid. She was going to be starving before this was over at this rate! Then she saw a movement, and looked in shock as Melmoth moved not away, but right into the path! "Melmoth! Don't..." She shouted and reached out towards him, but it was too late.

She braced her self against the attack but took no damage. Instead she saw Melmoth's form turn silver and change shape some. For a moment she had thought that the vampire had turned him into a statue. She felt her cheat tighten and anger rise. He had been trying to protect her after all...

Then something moved, the silver seemed to melt but not down. It melted into a ring? She blinked at the figure before her. A demon. She didn't only know it by sight, but the moment his dark aura washed over her, her own responded in turn, a slight echo to his, but there none the less. She spun about and shouted, "Turin!" the fly dragon zipped over almost instantly. "Help Melmoth." She ordered and started over to the illusion doors with a very purposeful stride. She stopped in plain sight of the vampire hovering outside in the air. "What the hell is your problem!" she demanded, completely ignoring the zombies who were attempting to claw at her but were unable to get pat her sanctuary... yet.



The vampire smiled when she saw the blast hit with full force, though the result was rather undesirable. It seemed that the man was more of a threat then he had appeared to be and that damn little brat was perfectly fine. She seemed to have some sort of shield or barrier on her... Well, that would mean a spell that affected an entire area then... or... The vampire grinned more and spoke as she drew together the magic she wanted to use.

"You guessed right hon. It's Hell that I have a problem with. So you have two options. Be purged of not only you're demonic blood, but your living flesh to join the ranks of the undead, of I can send you back to your precious Divschatten guild members in little jars." She gestured towards AD and let the magic dispel AD's sanctuary and the zombies were suddenly able to grasp her now.

AD had survived again, it seemed. She had a talent for that, and he was glad he was on her side for the time being. With her little safety spell and her ability to shadowjump, she would be a hard person to kill. Once the vampire and its zombies were dealt with, he'd have to see how she reacted to his true form. He didn't think he could truely kill her even if he needed to.

Soon she was deep into the zombies and yelling at the as yet unnamed vampire. He took a look at her, and then moved to the side. When the vampire was distracted, he'd fly at her and take her down. Perhaps the zombies were connected to her and would die the final death with their master. If not, there would be one less enemy to watch out for as he fought the rest.

He crouched, spread his blood red wings, and jumped. As he reached the top of his leap, however, he forgot to flap his wings. Deep in the zombies, ADs shield had failed, been dispelled, or just timed out. Now, the zombies had a chance to get AD, and they gladly took it, surging inwards from all sides. Anger rose inside Melmoth, overriding his normal calm when fighting. He had fought with AD, and did not want her dead yet, but these zombies thought otherwise. He landed, and broke into a run towards the undead masses. There was no way he was going to let AD die here before he had decided if she was an enemy.

The first zombies he encountered fell like paper men before him. The next few had more time to turn and face him, but their teeth and bones did little against his hard skin and harder scales. They all fell the same. He couldn't see AD through the group of undead, but he headed towards the middle anyway, destroying anything that got in his way. Alive or dead, he'd get her out of there, and then pay the vampire tenfold for all it had done.



[ooc] Bah, bad post. I just don't see Melmoth abandoning a potential ally, even if she has the power to escape. He's a bit overprotective of his allies. [/ooc]

((OOC: so is AD actually, sometimes... ^_^ ))

AD felt the zombies touch her and she felt every muscle in her body tighten. She gripped the blade she had used to create the illusions with both hands and swung it violently around her. “Turin! Hellhounds!” She yelled as she swung the blade once more. Turin came faster then the Hellhounds did. She looked toward the vampire. “Do something about her.” AD said and then ducked as one of the hell hounds leapt over her to attack the zombies. The other showed up a little later with a bit of a limp and a lovely little bite and twist motion going because he was down one claw and needed the other to walk.

After a few more swings of the longer blade, she gave up on it. She didn’t use long blades like that anyways. She placed it in the small bag at her hip that the thing didn’t look like it could fit in and drew out a pair of daggers. One was the one she had brought with her from the Aceron Kingdom. The other was the one she had gotten while looking around the shops in Taras a short while back. It looked like it was made of glass. She put that one in her right hand. She felt the scar on her palm as she gripped the glass blade. The other hand was dominant now…

Better armed with the shorter blades, she took to removing the heads of the zombies one by one with an almost mechanical ease. It wasn’t as if they could really fight back too well and she was experienced with killing the undead. Their had been an army of them in Aceron while she was there…

AD had yet to notice the tear in her shoulder caused by the first one to go after her. The bite had hit bone, so it wasn't deep, but it was starting to bleed rather badly because she hadn't noticed it...



The vampire laughed at their futile attempt. She had more undead all around the building still. Those in the building amounted to nothing. She should get them out here. They were too well protected inside that infernal building and she didn’t feel like trying to bring the thing down.

She readied herself for her most powerful spell. The spirit of undeath would be happy to feast on these two and would repair her zombies in the process. Just as she was doing that, something zipped past and pelted her with a magic missile. The vampire turned to see what it was and saw nothing there. Then another hit on her shoulder caused her to turn about with a hiss. She saw it then a tiny something. As she looked it cast another magic missile at her. She dropped the spirit of undeath spell for the moment and used the magic to create a shield. Foolish little thing! She would teach it! Promptly she aimed her own blast of magic at the annoying little creature… and missed completely. Enraged she tried again, and again and again. Each time the tiny thing was just missed. She howled at it. “Stay still you annoying little creature!!!”

Opportunity. It came in many forms, at any time, and the wise man learned to recognize it and grab ahold of it whenever he had the means. Your opponent may slip in battle, you may have an idea for a wonderful product, or your companion's badass fly may distract the enemy, leaving it open for an attack.

Melmoth was skilled at recognizing opportunity, and hesitated only a moment at the distraction of the vampire. It appeared that AD had her end of the fight in hand. Severed body parts flew about in a gory cloud ahead of him, and she had yet to cry out. He felt no need to continue the fight on the ground, when he might end it in the air.

He crouched, flared his wings, knocking back zombies in the process, and launched himself at the vampire. A few flaps of his wings, and he was out the door and speeding towards his enemy.

Ever since he had gained his wings, he had treasured every moment he was able to fly. Flying into battle was doubly satisfying, and killing in midair was insane. Creatures with levitation spells active, as he suspected the vampire had, had a gratifying habit of hanging in midair after they had been killed, floating and dripping blood on anything below like hideous balloons. This vampire would be floating dead as soon as Melmoth was in range.

As he neared, he raised his sword over his shoulder, and swung at her as he passed by.

Turin was proud of himself so far. He was getting her to strike down her own undead with those blasts aimed at him. Then he saw Melmoth join him in the air, so he zipped the opposite direction and breathed his magic missile at the vampire again. She glared at him and started to create another one of those empowered spells like the one that had hit Melmoth. That’s when Melmoth’s weapon struck her. He managed to sever her spine and slice most of her midsection apart. More blood then seemed possible rained down on the undead below, the vampire’s meal before this little attack. She made a sickening gurgling howl then, this time at Melmoth. Her spell had fizzled and now she was enraged. Her eyes had become blood red without even pupils and she had a horrible snarl on her face. She drew her hands threw the blood, the source of her power, and used her magic to start to mend the wound. It would take a moment. It the mean time she turned to face the winged demon. She had one more little spell up her sleeve, even though she no longer had the power to use her spirit of undeath. False Curse. She would tarnish their victory with apparently loosing too. She readied the spell in her mind, but she needed the mending to finish, and quickly!

AD had been focusing on the undead around her with the aid of her hellhounds when she noticed something move over them. She paused to catch her breath and watch Melmoth do a fly by attack on the vampire. She smiled and ran towards the hole in the door. “Her head! Melmoth! Take of her stupid little head or use silver!” She shouted at him. An undead came up behind her and the uninjured hellhound took it down abruptly, then looked up at AD ash she looked back in surprise and wagged his tail before tackling another zombie.

The feel of Fate slicing through the vampire sent chills down his spine. He had not even had to swing hard, but his speed carried the sword with the weight his arms could not. Unfortunately he was past her in a blur, and did not get to see the expression on her face.

As he flew forward and banked into a tight turn, he realized he did not have a battlecry. He had nothing to strike fear into his enemies, courage into his friends, and just sound completely awesome to random observers. Fate was a possibility, but he gravitated towards something more violent. Disembowel them, perhaps. Bleed for me. Yes, that was it. He'd found his battlecry.

He completed his turn and the words died in his throat. The vampire was a fountain of blood hanging over the battlefield, and still was moving. Insanity. The thing rained blood like nothing he had ever seen. It was unnatural and he had a mind to finish it off.

Melmoth neared the vampire, and didn't hear AD's advice over the sounds below. Instead, he tackled it full on and bore it to the ground. It snarled once and tried to bite him before they both slammed into a wrought iron fence. He was thrown forward and slammed into a building across the decaying street, but behind him stayed the unmoving form of the vampire, impaled upon the fence as if by some giant shrike.

[ooc]And I'm down for a bit. Do the zombies live on?[/ooc]

The vampire had just managed to pull together enough magic to set off her spell as the damned demon hit her once more. She loosed it on him as she fell backwards threw the air and then everything went black.

Aether Draka saw Melmoth turn about and then practically dive bomb the vampire. She hadn't even had the chance to finish healing from the first blow when he did. AD hopped up and down a few times to see what had happened over the zombies. She saw the vampire skewed on the iron fence but no sign of Melmoth. She felt her sanctuary spell wrap around her once more as she slipped through the illusion doors with their gaping hole and through the milling zombies who seemed rather lost without their master's directions. After shoving her way through the undead, she saw Melmoth across the way. She paused, looking up at the vampire and the blood everywhere.

AD wrinkled her nose and drew out another card from her deck. The summoning was quick this time, an incredibly easy one for her, and she directed the fire elemental to burn the undead so that nothing remained of them, but not to burn down any structures or any thing else. The fire elemental was glad to oblige and started with the vampire kabob.

AD looked one way along the fence, then the other, until she saw a gap. It took a bit for her to slip through the narrow gap, but the gate was further away and it looked like the vampire had closed it. After she squeezed past, Turin showed up to land on her shoulder, which he immediately started to heal for her. AD ignored him for a moment and went over to where Melmoth was. The building he had hit looked like it took most of the blow, crumbling from the impact. She came around the edge of the debris as the dust was settling as saw a form on the ground. “Melmoth!” She called as she neared. Reaching him she saw that he looked very torn up. “Melmoth?”

All he knew was pain for a time. He had taken down the vampire, he thought, and then... And then... He tried to move, and something above him shifted, settling on a wing and sending jolts of pain to his fogged mind. That's right. He'd smashed into that building. All that weight on him, that was probably the remains of the building. The remains of an ancient civilization was doing its best to crush him to a fine powder. Least his arm was free. He'd get loose somehow.

His name was being called from somewhere. Who was that? Where the? His eyes refocused and found AD off to the side. She looked like normal, except for the blood all over and the gory knives. She'd taken a hit or two, but would come through alright, he expected. With that wonderfull little fly healing her, she'd be good as new soon. He felt like hell, but then he'd just been an improvised wrecking ball.

"I'm fine, AD. I just need to move some of this junk off me, maybe get my head looked at, and I'll be fine. But I feel like someone ran over me a few times with a team of horses." He raised his arm and knocked some building materials off himself, and then noticed exactly why he felt so bad. His scales had lost their normal red tint, and along with his skin, was a dirty black with patches of greenish rot showing in places. He looked like a zombie, to tell the truth.

He looked once more at AD and words of questioning died. She was beautiful. Her head was just the right size. He began to drool a bit and his eyes unfocused as he dreamed of her brain and how good the wonderfully proportioned delicacy might taste. He lunged at her grasping with rotting scaley fingers, gnashing his teeth all the while. He'd have that brain. "OM NOM NOM NO- Excuse me, what the hell was that?"

He put his arms down and leaned back against the rubble. He'd moved a fair amount of it off of him when he tried to eat AD's brain, but a roof beam held his leg and probably saved AD a nasty bite. Why the hell had he tried to eat her brain? And why was he so hungry for brains?

"AD. What happened? Why - OM NOM NOM!"

AD was relived when he answered her and she saw him move underneath all of that. She was about to see if she could help him when he suddenly lunged at her. She took a few steps back in surprise and he stopped. He seemed surprised and AD looked at him in shock. When he lunged at her again she got mad at him. She hit him with the flat of her blade on top of his head.

"You jerk! You died! You're undead!" She snapped at him. When he tried to bite at her anyways she pulled away again and growled at him. She took a few more measured steps back and crossed her arms, frowning as she tried to think about what to do now...

She perked up when she recalled the Academy of Magic! They said they could fix things like this and if he was really undead she still might be able to do something about it there. So how was she going to get him there? Well, he seemed willing to go after her. She was just going to have to say on her toes and keep her sanctuary spell close at hand. She was going to be starved by the time they got there if she walked though...

She looked at him. Well, he still had wigs, as raged as they seemed right now. She should see if he could fly. AD absently tucked her hair behind her ear and her feet floated off the ground she levitated up by the whole he had made and looked for another card. Her roc. If he could get airborne they were going to fly to the Academy of Magic. "Melmoth! Come on! We're leaving!"