April 14 2017

-place: Quickie Stop and Gas outside of Bellinghanm going to the Hot Springs, about 3 AM Sabhaal-

The Sheriff looked dubiously at the young woman marked and marred from an attack. It was clear what ever attacked her was no animal and she could see that on his face. "You were out in the woods, alone?" He said slowly, as if to let those words sink in to her. "At this time of night?" His eyes were on hers, watching, studying.

"This is Five Niner, we are heading back." Nate called on a radio.

Delores interrupted the Sheriff. "Allen, you can question her back at the hospital, the doctors want to see her." She turned back to Allison. "I am just going to give you a mild sedative, it will help you relax for the ride back, ok." She said as she prepped a needle.

-place: Corner of Melfit and 9th, about 3am, Shanna-

"Yeah, go have fun." Travis called back.

It only took a few moments for her to get a text back -I am down, I will meet you there :>-

When they arrive, Jon is waiting, standing in a pool of lamp light, the fog swirling around him. DOwn here near the docks the sea air was crisp and shilled. She could not see anyone else around, and there was no evidence of any club.

What was here was warehouses and offices, the southern side of the docks, nothing like up in the city proper where it was more for tourists and visitors.

"You brought a friend. You do have secrets, your kind." He said and turned starting to walk as if he was expecting to have her keep up. "So how long have you been in the city. A friend of mine got word of you just a few weeks ago, they happened by and you were serving your special drinks." He paused and looked at her from the edge of the light. "We figured you should know how things happen in Bellingham, so we are taking you to Pandora’s."

There was something different about him now, something that felt old. Like some massive oak you happen on in the forest, impressive, tall and while you felt big when you started the hike, in front of this old tree, you suddenly realize how small and fast your life is.

"Come, in for a penny, in for a pound, yes?"

-place:Holland Street, about 3 AM, Wiki-

She spoke on the phone, silence responded to her. As she walked the noticed all sounds were starting to fade, as if the world was filling with unseen cotton and sound was just drowning out. Shadows started to creep in at the edges of her sight and as she turned it looked like tree branches were moving in around her, covering the street light, climbing the poles. The round glass balls that capped the black poles were being wrapped in shadows.

Looking back down the street, down the footpath she walked on, her legs carrying her just a bit faster. She saw a form, then she heard the laugh, madness and evil, it was like the cackle of a wild animal, something she had never experienced before in her life. The mortal part of her, the part of her that dated back to the planes of Africa when humans were not even humans, when animals lept from the shadows to devour them, that part of her recognized it, this was a predator, and she was now prey.

Then she felt something, a spark, deep down, like that old ancestor, hitting flint to steel, something, power...

-place: Quickie Stop and Gas outside of Bellinghanm going to the Hot Springs, about 3 AM Sabhaal-

While he was an angel straight from the Golden City, this was a human he was in, and she was quite mortal. The pain was real, the blood was real, the shivering and goose pimples on her flesh was all real. When the needle stuck, the pain was followed by a blissful euphoria.

A stretcher was rolled in and she was helped into it. The world seemed to move around her, the light were brighter, and she could see the auras of the, The faith they had, Delores had little to none. She spoke softly as she was put in the ambulance. "Do not worry hun, we have one of the best doctors on the coast." She said and smiled. "If anyone can get you better, he can."

"I am going to drive up the road a bit, give me a call when she comes to." The Sheriff said as the back door shut.

The lights flashed on the walls of the old gas station, it was hard not to focus on it, the pulse, like a heartbeat. She had a heartbeat, she could feel it in time with the flashing lights.

The car started moving, time was an illusion, reality was nothing like what they thought it was. The drugs racing through her made it hard to change, made it hard to move, to focus, and for some reason that did not matter. Things were in motion now, he could feel it.

Then everything in the ambulance started to fly about. Delores lifted off her chair and flew into the ceiling. Gravity seemed to choose to play tricks, throwing everything about.

The back door opened, and the world was on it’s side. She was being moved, drug out, barely walking. Another car, black, behind her she saw a small sports car turned on it’s side, and the ambulance was rolled over.

She was set in a seat, and next to her was a woman in nice suit. "Welcome back, you have a meeting I am to get you too. Of course we have to make you presentable." She slipped a necklace on Allie and smiled. "For everyone’s protection, we are friends here."

She knew she was in a car, an SUV, that was the make, the interior was leather, and two people were up front, faith radiated from them, but her, she was aglow with it. They were human.

-place: Corner of Melfit and 9th, about 3am, Shanna-

He nods. "I do not blame you, dangerous world we live in, no one is really who they say they are, or what they are." He says and looks back at Shanna. "Well, first it was just to see what you were doing here. With all that has been happening, a new face in the city can be upsetting." He told her and walked to a wall where some gang had tagged it.
He ran his finger over one of the letters and then walked to a door, knocking on it in a musical pattern. The door opened and music poured into the street. If the place was a club it had wonderful insulation, not a note leaked out before the door opened. The music was lively, a sort of jazz house music fusion.

Looking in there were rough wooden stairs that led down to where a thick man sat on a barrel, like any good bouncer would. He was big, his shoulders easily four feet in width, with a chiseled look about him. He wore a tight white shirt and faded jeans.

The smell of food came up, it reminded her of home, it was as if they had gotten the smell just right for her. The sound of people talking could be heard as well as someone singing off key.

Welcome to Persephone’s." Jon said and motioned for them to step in.

"I will of course introduce you to Gale, she is the appointed leader of your sort in the city." He said as he waited for the women to step up.

-place:Holland Street, about 10 AM, Wiki-

She started to run, the whole of the area around her, slowly came to mind. The whole path, from her to her home was clean, she knew it down to the last step. The image was unlike anything she had experienced before in her life. It was as if she was in every point from here to her home at once, she could see it from all angles and all positions.

The fear she felt was unlike anything she had in her adult life. The closest she had ever felt was as a child, the pure dread of looking into a closet and seeing nothing, seeing just the void.

There was a pop inside her, then she felt it, something took hold of her.

She stood on the other side of her door. Turning around the ally was gone, the street the darkness. She was home, safe. The door locked behind her. Then the backlash hit.

She woke up in the morning, still in the entryway, the sun pooling in her living room.

-place: Outside Bellingham, about 3 AM Sabhaal-

As she looked around she could see the two in the front were wearing looser fitted clothing, they seemed a bit more as if they were there to just drive. Eyes forward, and alert on the events outside the car.

The drugs in her body was a new thing. Allie did not use recreational drugs, and had no concept of them. Medical drugs were not known to her either, or if they were it was not information she left behind.

"We are friends." The woman said. "The hospital they were taking you to would not be safe. It is on holy ground." She informed her as they drove. "You want to rest you can, if we wanted you harmed we would have done it by now. But my Master wishes to see you, seems you are family."

Nothing in the SUV gave away who they were, though the necklace she put on her she could feel was binding the demon. It would be harder, even if she was not drugged, to change, to switch. It was magic.

The car was leaving the scene of the crash, and she could see the woods thinning and giving way to buildings and houses.

-place: Persephone’s, about 3am, Shanna-

Walking into the bar, she saw the crowd was eclectic, if one was being generous. Behind the bar was a woman in some sort of cosplay, it appeared her skin looked like scales, the make up was perfect. Others in the bar went from alluring to grotesque.

"What do I mean?" He asked and stopped, sitting at a table. He crossed his legs and looked at her. "I mean, your kind, the other worldly, the visitors, the… fae." He said with a flourish. "I know I am not of your kin, but like I said, Gale here is."

As if on command a woman came up with a tray of drinks. She was dressed like a playboy bunny, ears, tail, and even wearing a pink tux cut to flatter her figure. She was young with bright pink hair as well, and red eyes. "Honestly, I have never seen her in the courts." Gale said as she looked Shanna over. "But she is…"

Gale slowly let a hiss slip through her teeth. "You were not born, you were made." She said and she looked at Shanna. "Oh, this is bad, Doc…" She said looking at Jon. "She is not aware. I thought you said Leena saw her using powers."

"She did, a few times." Jon took one of the drinks from the tray, the blood red one.

"Well, then she has been doing it without her…" She turned back to Shanna. "Tell me, have you had anything strange happen in say the past year?"

The rest of the while, Caitlin seemed to be drinking it all in with a sort of drunk look on her face, as if she was not completely there.

-place: Sterling Tower, about 6 AM Sabhaal-

The body needed sleep, and for Sabhaal, this was the first time they had ever rested. It was unlike anything the former angel had done before. It was a strange bliss, one that was weakening, and made them defenseless. All senses shut down, but unlike the abyss, it was calming, relaxing, and even rejuvenating.

When she woke she was laying on a couch, light was pouring into the room from a wall of windows, single panes of glass that looked over to the mountains and around the room to let the person view the whole of the city.

"Welcome to earth." The voice was deep and rough, and a man in a fine suit walked in. He was average height, and average weight, older, about Allison’s father’s age. "Sleeping is nice, isn’t it, wait until you have to pee, that is a sensation I always enjoy. Nothing like a morning piss."

A cup of coffee was set on the wooden table, the place was decorated in older furniture, all wooden and cloth.

"I am Apophis." He said and nodded. The name was familiar, she was a Namaru, one who fought hard against god in the first ranks. She was known as one of Lucifer’s lovers. "You have questions?"

-place: Persophone’s, about 3am, Shanna-

Gale turned to Jon. "Those are the two I spoke about, we do not know who they are and they have not come to court. They are not from around here." She said and then looked back to Shanna.

Gale cleared her throat. "Ok, this is going to sound strange, but, you are not you, well, not the you that you thought you were but a you that you always were but now you are the you that you were supposed to be."

Joh laughed and leaned forward. "You are not human, might be you never really were."

The woman from behind the bar came out from around it and her lower half was a snake. She started to look around and she could tell, everyone here was a little more, real, then her friend Caitlin.-place:Home, about 8 AM, Wiki-

The morning would seem to be rolling out as normal. Yes, she did walk up in the hallway, but other than her phone being dead, nothing else seemed different. On the surface at least.

She could feel something though, something different about her.

As she scrolled through the news, someone was killed on the street she had left, a few blocks from where she had… run? She could not remember getting home, just arriving home. And yet, in her mind she knew she traversed the distance, but could not remember the run.

Her phone started to buzz.

-place: Home, about 4 am, Attica-

Sometimes, Spring break is just a chance to go home for Easter. And that is where Attica was. Back in his old room with his old things, Mom had not changed a thing. Even still had to posters on the wall.

His old computer was still here, a weak machine compared to the stuff he had been using at college. At 4am he was checking on the status of his classmates, they had a project going. It was made to uncover black money the government was using. The data he had mined off that unknown site might have keys to tables he could use once in the Treasury system.

Then a console window popped up. -You need help, I can offer it-

The cursor waited for a reply.

Attica is sitting in his dump of a bedroom. An unmade single bed lies against one wall, with freshly washed sheets. Clear signs that his mother has been into his room to prepare it for him.

His unpacked bags are stacked in front if his wardrobe and piles of unwashed clothes and dirty dinner plates lie scattered about the room in some kind of parody of feng shui.

He sits at his desk wearing a black Van Halen T-Shirt despite having no idea who they are.

Attica looks at the popup. Strange he thinks. I haven't given my ID out to anyone recently.

His fingers tap on the keyboard.
Heeeey. Who dis?

-place: Sterling Tower, about 6 AM Sabhaal-

He laughs, looking over his shoulder at her sitting on the couch. He turns to look back at the city. "You do not want to know how, you really want to know why." He sipped coffee from a mug he held in his hands. "The how is not important, and you know yourself there are so many ways to know how. How I watch things is really not anything you need to concern yourself with."

He turned around. "Why, no there is a question. Why we do things is important. Why shows motive and motive shows truth. It is revealing. Something you should always wonder is why."

He walked closer, moving to sit on the old mission style coffee table across from her. "Why is because you need to know how things go here. You need to know we have a balance here, a truce with the others, and destruction is not something we turn a blind eye to." He says very seriously. "Needless death is checked here, and you will keep the killing to a minimum. Offer respect and respect will be given in kind. Ignore this at your own peril."

"No, anything you still wonder about?"

-place: Persophone’s, about 3am, Shanna-

She stopped the action in the bar. Everyone was looking at her now as she rant up to the bar. Gale followed close at her heels. "Now hun, it is not that bad, look, you are a slave yes, but a powerful one and one that needs to reckon with her situation." She offered with a sympathetic look in the mirror.

Gale was still herself, pink hair and even still in the tux and bunny ears.

Jon sat back, and seemed no different then he was, others in the bar seemed normal as well, though she could feel there was a difference in them.

The Naga poured her a drink. "She going to be ok, Gale?" She asked and looked then at Shanna.

"She will be fine." Gale rubbed her back. "Your with friends and family. You got to understand we would not have shocked you so if we had known, but those who changed you. Well the pair aint exactly friendly around here." She explained to Shanna.

"And with the soulless turning up, well, we did not know who you were wandering with."

Jon stood. "Pratt spotted here, I could give him a line and see if he can help." He said, and that is when Shanna noticed it, Jon was drinking blood. She did not know how she knew what was in his glass, but she could sense it, as if drinks were something she could just feel.

A glass of something with a foggy haze over the top of the cup was set before her.

-place:Home, about 8 AM, Wiki-

She hangs up the phone.

Normalcy, a word that was now redefined for her. Before this she was not the norm, the norm was a box house in the suburbs, a pair of crotch goblins and a husband who worked at some investment firm and golfed on the weekends.

Now it all had a new frame.

The knock at the door followed about an hour later, looking out the peephole she saw a man and a woman, they looked like cops.

He was mid fifties, salt and pepper hair and bad mustache with thick rimmed glasses. He was dressed in a button up shirt, green grey with buttoned down collar and no tie.

She was dressed in a pants suit, dark brown with an orange blouse. She could see a badge on her hip. A black woman with dark hair was in cornrows.

-place: Home, about 4 am, Attica-

-This is the Singularity, the point to witch all information flows. We know who you are.-

An image of Attica pops up, a feed from the school CCTV. He is just entering a computer lab, then walking to take a seat. It seems it might have been from just a few days ago.

-We have eyes, and you have taken something from us. We are impressed, and so we want to help you.-

There is a pause.

-You need us.-

The Google maps pops up with a location and a time, 8PM, with a rout from your house to a place down at the wharf.

-place: Home, about 10 am, Alan-

Good friday is always a thing for his family. Catholics all celebrated it by remembering the Crucifixion, and for him this means usually attending a short play about it at his Grandmother's church. Of course after there will be food, a lot of it, and some drinking.

This early in the morning though he was looking at a blank screen, his next book was supposed to get done, and he had a publisher waiting for it, but nothing had blossomed in his head yet. It is not that he had not tried, three different books started over the past month, but a few chapters in and he just eas not feeling them gel.

His phone buzzed, it was Pratt, he ran the local rare book store, a place when found you sort of wonder how you ever missed it, but he never saw it until he went looking for it. A first edition of "Through the Mirror Darkly" had just arrived, he was willing to part with it if the price was right. The message read: "Come, have coffee and cake and we talk, ok?"

-place: Prattle On Books, about 9 am, Beth-

She had been able to find work at the book shop for the past few weeks. He did not ask questions and paid in cash. She could sweep up and put books back on the shelf. The store always smelled of milk and cookies. Books and shelves filled the place and she always wondered how such a small shop seemed so big inside, but when she would try and focus on it the ideas would seem to get slippery and want to get away from her.

Old Pratt was a thick man, with a rough long beard. Glasses sat perched at the edge of his nose and always looked about to fall off but somehow never did. He would usually be at the front counter near the door, and he had a plate of cookies with him there with a cup of creamy tea.

There was only one place Beth was not allowed to go and that was the Vault. It was not really a vault but a room in the back where he kept the good books. It might have been just a big porn collection. But he always would keep it locked and shut, letting her know she was not allowed in there.

Today though, as she was putting books back in order, she walked by the door and it was opened, just a bit.