Nicodemus limped down the dark paths of the village, looking around for a house that was quiet, everybody asleep. All the homes were on alert now, he had been caught feeding and nobody wanted to be caught off guard. His best hope were those in the center of town, who thought themselves untouchable. Nicodemus could still get by the guard, lazy as they were.

The demon sneaked into the center of town, unseen by weary eyes and unheard by ringing ears. The guard were all too tired to notice the tall, skinny demon. He picked a home and entered it silently, leaving the door open behind him. Nicodemus strode up the steps, wavering form seeming to sink into the wood a little. He approached the door of a room.

The door was unlocked, so he walked in. The bedroom only contained one person, a grown woman. Nicodemus strode across the rug with a slight shuffling sound. He bent down and raised a hand above her face, hovering there for a second, before bringing it down hard on the woman's nose. There was a sickly crunch and a spurt of blood while nicodemus pumped a minor wound spell directly into the wound, opening sores and cuts up her sinuses, into her brain.

There was a gasp and nicodemus turned away as the woman thrashed about in the bed, drowning in her own blood. There was a little blond girl standing in the doorway, a hand over her mouth. Nicodemus ran across the room with two huge strides and seized her by the hair, wrenching her head back. She screamed and a knife entered nicodemus' back, the last move of a dying mother.

The scream caught the attention of a wandering couple. Mikael's eyes darted to the direction the scream had come from. "Anaya, move!" he said, his blade ringing from its sheath as he dashed off. His eyes burned. That had sounded like a child. That meant it was go time.

He sprinted through the open door, slamming up the stairs and into the room, his eyes widening at the sight of the bloody faced woman, and the little girl in the hands of a... ghost? No, that wasn't right. One hand came off the hilt of his sword, dropping a Heal on the creature. "Let her go, or you get another taste of that," he said, sword pointing right at the creature.

He swore mentally. This was not good. Knowing Anaya, she would follow him in here, and then she would be in danger, as she was unarmed. He whistled and a small figure came padding into the room, as well as a fluttering shape that landed on his shoulder.

Anaya had been walking with Mikael in the Norwood Village, both calm and content until there was a loud scream. Her eyes went wide and Mikael had taken it upon himself to be the hero, just like he always seemed to do. While he went off running, she had simply stood there, unsure if she should follow or not. There was a twinge of guilt in her stomach for not doing anything, especially since that had been a scream of pain, but if she went she knew that she would get in the way. Still, though, she was far too worried not only about Mikael but about whoever had screamed that she couldn’t just stay there.

Against what all logic told her to do, Anaya strode silently to the open door of the home, standing in the doorway. She heard him talking and bit the inside of her lip. She absolutely hated confrontation, and she knew she would be useless in a physical altercation. She had been made for dancing, not sword fighting and trying to act tough.

She slinked inside, stepping onto the first step of the stairway, a nervous pit in her stomach. She should have left this up to them, but if she could solve this without anyone getting hurt then she most certainly would. She then jogged up the stairs, standing outside the room. The young woman was close enough, however, to see the thing holding the child like that.

“Let her go,” she pleaded, green eyes wide and her voice cracking slightly. Who would threaten a child…? Who was low enough to threaten someone so tiny?! “She’s done nothing… and even if she did surely it can be reversed! Please…?” So it was a tad submissive and begging, but she didn’t want Mikael or the girl to get hurt, and whatever that creature was surely it could be reasonable.

Right…?

Nicodemus was about to feed on the girl when a man stormed up the stairs and cast a healing spell on him. Did he think he was undead? The wound from the dagger healed around it, sealing the blade there. Nicodemus scrunched up his face. The man's actions confused him. “You...Heal me?” Nicodemus managed out. He was a bit slow and had a hard time speaking, but that would go away. He was still the child equivalent of a fiend.

He held his iron grip on the little girl and watched the cat and hawk enter the room. The man wanted to fight? Nicodemus stared at the sword blankly, not sure of what to do. In his confusion, his grib on the girl's hair tightened, drawing some blood. The girl gave a high pitched scream and began crying. The sheer power of the girl's terror nearly drove him mad. He began panting heavily, wanting to feed.

The woman appeared on the scene and Nicodemus' flaring golden eyes darted back and forth. Predator instincts began to creep in, telling him they were ut to take away his prey. Nicodemus stood and backed up, girl backpedaling quickly to keep her footing and keep the fiend's grip from tearing her scalp away.

Nicodemus sighed. “She's food... not matter.” His eyes dimmed and went out, leaving two black pits in his face, his head lowered and his mouth clamped over the girls sideways. He seemed to take in a breath from her, but instead came a wispy white substance. Nicodemus' body jerked as he fed on her soul, fingers digging into her arm and drawing blood.

Mikael's eyes glazed over, and there came a dark look, a look of fury only another gypsy could appreciate. His hand clenched around the hilt of the sword, and he let out a low hiss, his eyes darkening until the entire eye was blacker than night, gleaming with death in them.

The whole eye - iris, pupil, and sclera - had turned the shade of the darkest, deepest night, and only Anaya could fully understand what was about to happen.

Without warning, Mikael lunged at the same moment that Midnight (the cat) pounced, and Orin (the hawk) seemed to plunge at the monster. His sword came back and he swung low, aiming to take out a leg, put the creature on the ground, force it to let go of the girl.

"You will not harm her while I am alive!" he said, as he swung the blade with all his might at the back of the creature's knee.

“She's food... not matter.”

Anaya didn’t think she could bear to look. She was feeling nauseous; usually she wasn’t so squeamish, but to call such a small child food was unbearable. Still, though, there was nothing she could do about it. She hated confrontation and furthermore, she wasn’t powerful enough to do anything. She merely took a step back and covered her face with a single hand, not being overly dramatic about it. If she didn’t see it, then she could pretend that it hadn’t happened, and would never have to speak of it again.

"You will not harm her while I am alive!"

Why did have to Mikael have to get involved like that? She looked up, feeling a tad awkward because of this. She was useless and while she wasn’t in their way, she still felt like she was. “Mikael… does it really matter?” she squeaked, looking at all three of them. She felt guilty for saying such a thing, especially in front of the little girl, but what did he think he could do? “It’s too late, come on, there doesn’t have to be another death here tonight.” She knew he had already probably gone and lost his temper, but she could at least try to talk some sense into him. Maybe it was cowardly, but she preferred to save him and herself and really felt no obligation to save anyone else.

Nicodemus finished off the girl as Mikael went berserk, dropping the limp body to the floor. She lay there, eyes wide open, breathing just barely. She was soulless. Nicodemus smiled as he watched her. He had left just enough of her soul to leave her alive. He chuckled as he watched her, turning to look at Mikael. He had dove in and took a swing at the back of his knee.

Nicodemus tried to get out of his range, but the sword's tip cut into the back of his calf. He hissed and reached around to his back, pulling free the dagger that was lodged there. Nicodemus brought it above his head, left palm of the little girl's chest. With a gleam in his eye, he brought the dagger down into her skull, lifting her by the back of the head.

The fiend relocked his jaws around her mouth and sucked free the last of her soul before it escaped her dead body. With a sick thump, he let her drop and pulled free the dagger, a thin coat of gray liquid on it's blade.

He reached out his hand and cast an Emotion spell, a wave of overwhelming hopelessness spreading to infect Mikael.

But the mood Mikael was in, his rage fed off the hopelessness, and just pissed him off that much more. His eyes flamed, and he growled. "You sick son of a cool person. She was a CHILD!" There was a clap of thunder, and at that precise moment, as Mikael lunged forward to run this creature through, his cat pounced at the creature's head, and the hawk dove for his eyes, claws and beak extended.

Mikael's blood was running like fire through his veins, and fueling every bit of rage he felt from the carnage he'd seen in his many years. His aim now was not to protect the girl, but to take down this creature that had slain her. In addition to the rage from what he had seen, there was also the grief and despair from not being able to save her, or her mother. "FOR THE INNOCENT!" he roared, as he drew nearer to the moment of truth.

Anaya backed up slightly, still feeling awkward and as if she was in the way. Now, though, she was beginning to become more afraid than anything else. Things were getting more intense and she really didn’t want to get stuck in the middle of a fight. She didn’t want Mikael to get hurt, and she didn’t want to get suck with that… well, whatever it was, really. Her hands flew up to cover her mouth when the girl got killed, unable to stand it. What he had tried to stop wound up becoming inevitable… she felt terrible, but if he wasn’t so reckless then it wouldn’t have happened!

“Mikael, please, just stop…” she said, raising her voice but keeping it steady. “There isn’t a point… she’s dead, all right?! There’s no point! Just leave it be already!” She was dead, the creature had won. Why was he still doing this? There was no reason to keep doing this – there was no reason to have started it in the first place. If he had used words instead of actions then this whole thing probably could have been avoided.

She knew he wasn’t listening, though. He was too concerned with vengeance to listen to her, to listen to anything she would say. Sighing inaudibly, she carefully began to back away, each movement of her body trembling a little bit. She didn’t want to leave; she wanted Mikael to be all right, but she couldn’t stand there and watch him blatantly get himself hurt. All in all, she was really just too afraid to stand there. Anaya slinked back until she was down the stairs, her breathing becoming heavier once she was out of the way and out of sight. She raked her hands through her hair, clenching her eyes shut. Maybe that hadn’t been the greatest idea… but what else was she supposed to do?

Nicodemus was somewhat surprised by his reaction to the spell, but stumbled backwards to block the attack. What little soul he'd sucked form the girl had healed the cut on the back of his leg, but he wouldn't have anything to feed from afterwards if this continued. He heard the girl speak to Mikael, to try to stop the fight. Nicodemus nodded to her gratefully, even if it wouldn't do anything.

“Listen... to girl....” He said, in the middle of casting. Nicodemus backed up and paused momentarily when he sensed the fear coming from the girl. He shook it off. She was an ally, even if she wasn't trying to be. He finished his casting and thrust his palm outwards at the charging gypsy.

A wave of spirits flowed out of it, only sound the whispers of the dead. The girl's spirit led the lot of them, seeking to share the memories of her last moments with the gypsy. Memories of being barely alive, wishing the man with the sword would stop fighting, to not force the demon to kill her.

Hoping t use the spell as a distraction, he began casting another spell, the wave being nearly unavoidable in the enclosed space. He muttered, fingers of his free hand dancing. He finished casting and thrust out two fingers, throwing an ignite spell over to the gypsy, seeking to set him alight.

Mikael's rage faltered as he heard the whispers, the rage in his eyes flaring fitfully, and then dying completely.

His eyes closed, and he backed away, backing out of the room, trying to get away from the voices. He shivered, not from fear, but from doubt. really to blame? Was it really his fault that all these things had happened?

He headed down the stairs quickly, sheathing his blade. As he went by Anaya, he grabbed her hand, and pulled. "Come on, dear one. We need to get out of here."

He could already smell the smoke from upstairs, and his sense of magic told him what had happened. Apparently the thing had tried to set him on fire, and missed, hitting something flamable upstairs.

Anaya turned just as Mikael came down the stairs. She looked at him, a worried look on her face. He didn’t look like he was in the best condition, and that, too, scared her. She didn’t want him to hurt… but at least whatever that creature had done it had made him get out of that fight. “Thank you…” she muttered distantly and inaudibly, despite the fact that it probably couldn't hear her, glad that it hadn’t hurt Mikael. Even if it had killed those two other people, it hadn’t killed the only person that really mattered to her and for that it deserved some amount of appreciation.

"Come on, dear one. We need to get out of here."

She stayed stiff for a moment when he pulled on her hand. “But what about…” Her voice trailed off and she looked back up the stairs. Was it right to leave all of them in here while the house burned? They were dead, and at least deserved a proper burial. She was silent, though, deciding it would be best to go with Mikael. She could smell the smoke as well and didn’t want to get added to the list of people who died that night.

She walked with him outside of the house, standing a couple of yards from the entrance before stopping. “Darling, what happened when I left?” she asked in a whisper, thinking now would be an appropriate time to ask. His spirits seemed to have been defeated; she had the right to make sure he was all right.

Nicodemus watched the man retreat with a smile, hearing the woman's voice in the silence, he nodded, having not wanted the fight. She did not want it either, he could tell that before she left. He was there to feed, nothing more. He did not want a fight.

Nicodemus sniffed the air and looked around, realizing his ignite spell had missed, catching the house on fire. The doorway was blocked by fire and debris, the house was growing unstable from the magically heated flames. He cursed and looked around for an exit, running to the window.

Nothing.

He felt a piece of burning wood fall onto his back and he grasped at it, running from the window straight through the wall of flames into the wooden wall in the hallway. He hit it hard, knocking him unconscious. Nicodemus' body rolled over and down the stairs, coming to a stop at the bottom. He barely awoke, looking around with faint yellow eyes.

He shook his head. "That... that thing did... something... a spell... I saw... the gir's soul... she... she blamed me..." He sobbed, and crumpled to his knees, and tears began to stream down his face. "She blames me... what if... what if she's... if she's right?" he said, looking up at Anaya, his eyes looking forlorn and lost.

"I can't... I can't even... save a child," he said, shuddering slightly. "How can... How can I protect you?" he said, shaking his head. "If I can't even... save a little child." His eyes dimmed, and his shoulders slumped. His head bowed to his chest, and he shivered.

"I'm a fool," he murmured under his breath. There was no fear in his soul, only despair and grief. "How can I think that I can protect anyone?"