urban fantasy Sightlines (Incomplete)

[YourFNF]

So the control go back over a century. Fascinating. I'm wondering what the timeline looks like for this universe. It would also explain why no body was able to stop it. It happened before we had the technical capability to resist. Although I'm surprised they let tech develop normally.

[Wannatripbaby]

I really like Tristan! Aside from his dry wit, the fact that he has Witch blood and hates Witches makes him a sort of Dark Warrior. Which is an Archetype I've always loved.

Also I think his child will come up later. I don't think that was just a throw-away line to develop his back story. Time will tell if I'm right. 

[bbykimmy]

20 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

So the control go back over a century. Fascinating. I'm wondering what the timeline looks like for this universe. It would also explain why no body was able to stop it. It happened before we had the technical capability to resist. Although I'm surprised they let tech develop normally.

I'll talk more about the worldbuilding and timeline when we get a little deeper in.  I'm glad you're interested in it, worldbuilding is one of my favorite parts of storytelling <3

18 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

I really like Tristan! Aside from his dry wit, the fact that he has Witch blood and hates Witches makes him a sort of Dark Warrior. Which is an Archetype I've always loved.

Also I think his child will come up later. I don't think that was just a throw-away line to develop his back story. Time will tell if I'm right. 

Yes!  We're starting to get to the larger cast.  Sasha and Tristan are a lot of fun, I'm glad you like them.  Both of these character's are Kachan's brainchildren.  She wrote the first 2 paragraphs, I wrote the next few, then she picked back up again.  She's so much fun to write with, these characters spring into reality as we compose.

So here's our cast so far:

Rachel (Hunter)
Faye (Familiar)
Claire (Rachel's sister and former Familiar)
Sal (Rachel's friend?  And unknown "type")
Oscar (Some kinda devil?)

Tristan (Witch-blooded detective)
Sasha (Human detective)

Sarah Trippoli (White Witch - deceased)
Aurora (Miniboss Witch)
Mia (Aurora's Familiar - deceased)
Serena (Witch - deceased)
Donna (Witch - deceased)
Lorenzo (Witch - deceased)
Bianca (Witch - deceased)

Benny (Imp - deceased)
Frankie (Troll - deceased)
Guard #1 (Troll - deceased)

I won't do that every time, and I'll remove the dead next time, but it's fun for me

There are 8 still-living characters on that list and 9 dead :O

[Wannatripbaby]

12 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

There are 8 still-living characters on that list and 9 dead ?

You forgot to add Mayor Vidal. So it's 9 and 9. 

[HyperShark]

Worldbuilding

[bbykimmy]

Chapter Nine

Faye moaned softly as she regained consciousness.  Everything hurt - everything.  Every muscle, every tendon... even her hair hurt.  But she woke up in a sweet-smelling  bath.  This was how her Owner bathed her - bubbles and sweet smells.  She sat up slowly, looking around... this wasn't her home, and this wasn't an ice cream parlor.  This was a dingy room with no windows.

"Are you okay?" a soft voice came from her left.  A girl - a girl just like her - was sitting on a stool, holding a towel.

The Whisper didn't like this girl, she could feel it.  It made Faye feel uneasy.

"I want my Mommy," Faye answered, causing the other girl to wince.  It didn't make sense - when her Owner was Mommy, she was nice.  She cuddled her and told her she was sweet.  She reached inside her and touched the magic and told her how special she was.  Why wouldn't the girl like that?

"You don't have a Mommy any more," the girl said.  The Whisper really didn't like that.  "You don't have an Owner.  You're free."

"No," Faye said softly, sitting up further and wincing herself - moving hurt.  The Whisper was louder here, in this place.  She could almost hear it.  "I do.  She has white hair and she's very tall, she's a powerful Witch.  I belong to her."

"The White Witch of Winchester is dead," the girl told her solemnly, laying a hand on Faye's arm.  "You're not her pet anymore, you don't have to suffer through her punishments, you don't have to live in the dark.  You're free.  We can help you find the life you had before her."

"No," Faye said again.  "No!  No, this is bad!  I did bad!  I wasn't supposed to leave, I did bad!  I'm stupid!"  She balled her fists and pressed them to her temples, panicking.  The Whisper reminded her that she belonged to the Witches, she loved the Witches, she needed the Witches.  And if the White Witch was gone, she needed to find another one.  The Whisper wouldn't lie to her.  The Whisper made the pleasure that her Mommy gave her so, so much better.

But she knew the Whisper made the pain so much worse, too.  She couldn't trust the Whisper - it wanted her to hurt... but it wanted her to feel pleasure, too.

"Shh," the girl soothed her, "Everything's going to be okay.  You're not stupid, you didn't do bad.  The White Witch told you that you were stupid, didn't she?  She told you over and over and now you believe it."  Faye could only nod, she wasn't sure why this girl knew that.  "You're not stupid, she was lying."

"She's my Owner," Faye insisted.  "What she says is the truth.  Everything she says is the truth."

The other girl looked like she might be sick.

Faye began to climb from the tub, but she was weak, shaky.

"I have to go," she explained.  "I have to find a Witch.  I belong to them."

"Rachel!" the girl called.  "Rachel, I need an assist!"

Rachel, ice-cream in hand, was in the door in ten seconds flat. Her own hair was damp and she was exhausted; someone, likely Sal, had splinted her leg.

"Hey, honey," Rachel cooed the second the passed the threshold of the bathroom. Jerking her chin at Claire - who moved aside quickly - Rachel dropped onto the library stool and held up the pint of ice cream. "Cotton candy ice cream, as promised," she said sweetly. "We also have bubble gum, rocky road, and some neopolitan in case you like the classics." One-handed, Rachel popped the top of the pint and dug the spoon in, scooping up a large spoonful.

"Sit down, sweetheart," she ordered kindly. "We're going to feed you now and isn't it better to be fed when you're already in the bath? You can't get messy! How fun!"

Claire's stomach turned as she saw the other Little's attitude change immediately at the trigger words.  Sit down sweetheart and we're going to feed you.  She was obviously conditioned - she was new, but the spells the Witches used to seed the conditioning were pretty universal... and it was harder for Transformed humans, like Claire herself and like the girl in the bath.  Claire knew that this girl was Transformed - the tell was in the small stretch marks on her skin near the shoulders and elbows, part of the transformation process.

One moment, the Familiar was visibly upset, ready to shout and protest and the next, she was sitting docilely back down in the tub, her eyes a little glassy.

"Rachel," Claire groused.  "Don't do that to her!  It's awful.  She's allowed to be upset."

"You asked for an assist, you got an assist," her sister replied held the first bite in front of the girl. "But sure, okay. Here, have a bite."  The Familiar opened her mouth and Rachel gamely spooned the ice cream in. "We're going to play a game," she said kindly as the girl's eyes fluttered closed as she savored the ice cream. "You don't have to play if you don't want to. This is Claire. She's my little sister. Claire is going to ask you questions and we'd like you to answer them. You will get ice cream whether or not you answer, no matter what your answer is, but she's going to take the ice cream now and ask the questions, okay?"

Then, grimacing, Rachel slowly pushed to her feet. 

"I have to get some help," she whispered to Claire. "Oscar's on his way. He's got that nurse friend who can hook me up and get me a cast without any records, off the books. But it's going to take a few hours. Please tell me you can hold down the fort that long."

"I can," Claire whispered back, grimacing.  "Sorry, I forgot about your leg.  You... you never get hurt this badly.  Sal's got my back, it'll be fine."

"I like games," the Familiar said once the ice cream was melted on her tongue.  "Is my tongue blue?" she asked innocently, sticking her cotton-candy coated tongue out.  Claire shuddered.

"It is blue," Rachel cooed.  Claire tried very hard not to be angry with her sister over her patronizing tone, it was the opposite of what was needed to help break the conditioning.  They weren't in danger now, it was time to help the girl become whole.

"Do you remember your name?" Claire asked directly, no cutesy tone, no triggering words.  She didn't expect an answer to this one, most Familiars forgot their name entirely - Claire only recovered hers thanks to Rachel.

"Faye," the Familiar answered before opening her mouth for another bite.  Claire's mouth opened as well - in shock.

"I didn't even bother asking," Rachel mused behind her quietly. "I figured she'd forgotten." Then, wonderingly, "How new is she?!"

Before Claire could answer, Sal was in the hallway. "Oscar's here," she said quietly. "He said to move your ass or he's leaving you here."

"My gallant knight in shining armor awaits," Rachel joked, leaning down to bus Claire gently on the cheek. "Love and hugs."

"Hugs and love," Claire responded automatically, spooning up another bite of ice cream and slipping it between Faye's lips.

Rachel turned to go but, surprisingly, she paused in the doorway. "Faye? Claire's pretty awesome, okay? Please be nice to my sister, she's my favorite one."

And then, as quickly as she'd arrived, she was gone again, leaning heavily on Sal for support as she thunked down the hall.

"I like your sister," Faye smiled to Claire, savoring the ice cream.

"Me too," Claire smiled back, not the same smile, not the innocent happy smile of an empty-headed Familiar but the sad smile of a woman who didn't get to see the sister she loved nearly often enough.  Faye was a strange sort - she was empty, she was conditioned, but she remembered things... Claire decided to take a risk.  "Do you remember when the Witch took you?"

Faye froze, her happy smile gone in an instant.

"Some," she whispered.  "I was a food-servant... she said she wanted me, then she became my Owner.  She... she cut my clothes off and cut me open and... "

"Hey, hey," Claire soothed.  "I'm sorry, that question was too hard.  Hey - I still have some ice cream."  Faye nodded weakly and opened her mouth, letting Claire feed her another bite.  Claire sighed her relief as the other girl calmed again, but she seemed fragile, shaken.

"I miss my collar," Faye complained.  "I want it back."

Claire grimaced and thought quickly. "We don't have any collars here," she said. "But I do have a necklace. Or we could wrap a ribbon around your neck like a choker? That might work..." she drifted off and quietly fed Faye as the water around the Familiar cooled and the ice cream vanished, bite by bite. When Faye was done Claire, troubled, helped the tiny girl stand and eased her out of the tub, supporting her weight the entire while.

"Come on," she murmured, wrapping Faye up in her own, overly-fluffy bath blanket. It had been a gift from Rachel the first birthday Claire had after her rescue - it was large for a normal human but for a Little the bath blanket was as large as a King-sized sheet. Faye giggled as Claire first squeezed the excess water out of her hair and then rubbed it between the corners of the bath blanket until the fine blonde strands were dry and fluffy once more. Then, yawning, Faye followed Claire into Claire's own room where Claire set her on the floor between her knees and proceeded to gently work free the knots and tangles, one at a time, until Faye was actively purring beneath her fingertips.

"I'll get you the ribbon in the morning," Claire promised when she realized that Faye, yawning, was starting to list sideways. "You can't sleep with it around your neck, you might choke. In the meantime, here." She held out her spare nightgown. It was, in actuality, an old tee-shirt of Rachel's - this one said Self-Rescuing Princess in cutesy block letters, an irony that never ceased to either amuse or sadden Claire when she let herself think on it - and when Faye just stared at the shirt in confusion, Claire took the Familiar by the hands and showed her how to dress herself.

Someone had done this for her once. Rachel, in fact. Had walked her through the motions of learning how to be self-sufficient once more. It would just take time. Time she'd make sure to spare.

When Faye was warm and dressed and dry, Claire crawled into the bed and lifted up the covers, patting the bare space beside her. It was a twin bed, narrow and creaky, but they were both small. They fit together nicely.

"Shh," Claire soothed when Faye curled into her arms. Idly she stroked the long, blonde waves. "Sleep if you can. Tomorrow is another day.”

*    *    *

Rachel flopped into the seat of the sedan with a grunt. "Evenin', officer," she said cheekily. "What's a handsome devil like you doing in a shithole like this?"

"You're so fuckin' funny, Rach," Oscar rolled his eyes and rubbed a finger on the horns protruding from his forehead.  "Which hospital are we headed to this time?  How come you're not getting magically stitched?"

"I'm not knocking on Jojo’s door for a broken leg," Rachel retorted grumpily. "I can’t even afford to go to a hospital with this.  Any cop worth their salt is going to be looking at the intake rolls, hoping for survivors or anyone who might know anything at all to come in damaged. No, this has to be strictly human and off the books."

"It’s your leg," he shrugged. "So seriously, how'd you do it?  Winchester Tower is just gone?"

"Believe it or not, I didn't," Rachel admitted. "Some kind of psycho spell backfire. Nothing like anything I've ever seen before. I was out of it but whatever they had going on... boom."

"I guess that's a good thing," Oscar sighed, disappointed.  "If you actually had that kind of firepower, every last Witch - all of them - would be gunning for you.  Oliver's gonna be disappointed that you don't though."  He laughed a short laugh, shaking his head.

"Right," Rachel whispered through lips gone numb, thinking of the small pink mouth opening for the spoonful of ice cream. "That's... a really good point." She fell into a thoughtful silence.

*      *      *

Tristan knocked on the door of Elena Romano, known second-in-command of the Winchester coven, about an hour after the explosion.  There was no answer.  The judge refused to grant a warrant for the detective to enter a Witch's private home in the middle of the night, regardless of the circumstances.  Any Witch could put pressure on the judge, it wouldn't even have to be someone who liked Elena - Witches weren't above the law on paper... but everyone knew they were above the law.

There was no answer.

He knocked again, and waited.  There was never any certainty where a Witch might be, but the rumor was that Elena had been away from the Tower for days.  Winchester Witches didn’t usually even have a private home.

After a long moment, he faced a hard decision:  break into the Witch's condo illegally or give up.  Sasha had gone home for the night, he was solo.

With a sigh and a shrug, he pulled his bump key from his pocket and set it, breaking the lock.  He slipped his spellshades over his eyes, looking for tripwire spells and hex circles.

Elena wasn't in her apartment. It was a bust. Tripwires and hexes and spells aplenty, sure, but no missing Underboss.

That... that was perplexing.

There was, however, a laptop on the desk. Out of juice, naturally, but fuck it. Tristan scooped it up and tucked it away. It wasn't the fancy kind that the White Witch normally assigned her subordinates, which meant this particular machine was a personal purchase. It was a long-shot, but he knew Rachel had contacts who were good with this sort of thing. Maybe one of them could get inside somehow, maybe ferret out ... anything, really.

[Wannatripbaby]

Yet another excellent chapter. I like the way Rachel and Claire have almost-opposing methods of helping the girl--with Rachel focused on getting her stablized and Claire wanting to immediately start treating her conditioning--neither method is wrong but both together achieve a sort of yin-yang balance that I'm sure will be a common motif throughout the story, at least in regards to those 3.

[HyperShark]

7 hours ago, Wannatripbaby said:

Yet another excellent chapter. I like the way Rachel and Claire have almost-opposing methods of helping the girl--with Rachel focused on getting her stablized and Claire wanting to immediately start treating her conditioning--neither method is wrong but both together achieve a sort of yin-yang balance that I'm sure will be a common motif throughout the story, at least in regards to those 3.

Yup, very much a kind of good cop/bad cop thing going on. Where one can work on pulling Faye out of out of the conditioning, while the other can help calm her down and slowly ease her into recovery, rather than trying to force her to instantly forget/disregard all of the conditioning the witch did on her.

[CDfm]

Another spellbinding story. Definitely has me hooked. I don’t know how you can do it either? The amount of material you are putting out boggles the mind. Not only the amount either but it’s all really good stuff. I am looking forward to reading more. 

[bbykimmy]

5 hours ago, CDfm said:

Another spellbinding story. Definitely has me hooked. I don’t know how you can do it either? The amount of material you are putting out boggles the mind. Not only the amount either but it’s all really good stuff. I am looking forward to reading more. 

Well, I was writing this one with Kachan while posting Breaking the Girl... but I'm going to be honest, progress on Sightlines is stalled around chapter 20 or so.  I changed to working on my Secret Weapon, a story unlike any that I've ever attempted.  Secret Weapon is at 31k words out of 40k, I think.  Shorter than most of my work, but I can't post even a little of it until it's 100% done, it's not designed to be experienced one day at a time like most of my stories, it's designed for someone to binge it like crazy.

I wrote 20,000 words on the Secret Weapon is 2 days about a week ago, it was bonkers.  I was a girl possessed.

[Wannatripbaby]

7 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Well, I was writing this one with Kachan while posting Breaking the Girl... but I'm going to be honest, progress on Sightlines is stalled around chapter 20 or so. 

Well, if you're still stuck by the time we get there maybe I can help you brainstorm? Many heads make light work. And I tend to make everyone a little light-headed when my brain gets involved.

[HyperShark]

15 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

it's designed for someone to binge it like crazy.

That sounds like my kind of thing.

Challenge accepted: Finish the entire story, start to finish in one sitting!

[bbykimmy]

15 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

Well, if you're still stuck by the time we get there maybe I can help you brainstorm? Many heads make light work. And I tend to make everyone a little light-headed when my brain gets involved.

Stuck isn't the word, I'm just not directing my energies toward Sightlines right now.  I hope to have Secret Weapon posted and be back to Sightlines before I run out of chapters to post

Thanks for the offer though <3

3 minutes ago, HyperShark said:

That sounds like my kind of thing.

Challenge accepted: Finish the entire story, start to finish in one sitting!

I think you're gonna like it

[YourFNF]

38 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Stuck isn't the word, I'm just not directing my energies toward Sightlines right now.  I hope to have Secret Weapon posted and be back to Sightlines before I run out of chapters to post

Thanks for the offer though <3

I think you're gonna like it

I'm definitely interested

[bbykimmy]

4 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

I'm definitely interested

I think you will love it and hate it at the same time.  Parts of it will make you squee in absolute delight, and parts of it will make you stare in abject horror and leave you wondering how much of me is Princess and how much is Torment.

[bbykimmy]

Chapter Ten

A six A.M. board meeting was almost unheard of, and yet here they were.  The Blue Witch of Apex was addressing them directly, in person.  To say he was intimidating would be an understatement.  

"Last night at eleven p.m.," their CEO was saying, hands behind his back as he walked around the assembled Witches - this was all information they knew, but no one was going to interrupt His Grace, Marcel Dubois, the most powerful Witch in the world.  "The Ivory Tower of Winchester collapsed.  This is bad for us."

He paused, resting his hands on Margot’s shoulders, leaning slightly on his Chief Security Officer.  Marcel's skin was alabaster white, his fingernails black, and his eyes the deepest, darkest sapphire blue.  In his jet black suit, his figure was striking, powerful.  His silver hair was slicked back against his skull, his face deceptively youthful.  Margot, by contrast, was dark-skinned with distressingly common brown-colored eyes.  All of that was offset by her shock-white hair… which didn’t fit in with the Apex, but no one was going to give her trouble for it, no one would even mention it.

"We have several objectives in dealing with this situation, our Q4 goals are going to be disrupted by this - this is okay.  One, we need to find any survivors - Witch, Possessed, Familiar, anyone with Winchester ties - and kill them.  If they regroup, they could be absorbed by another coven whole, if they scatter then several covens could have access to their magics.  Neither of these is acceptable."

"Sir," Sebastian, the Chief Financial Officer interjected, "Why not absorb those assets ourselves?"

Marcel's eyes narrowed and everyone turned to Sebastian, waiting.

"Apex is pure," Marcel countered.  "Our line is pure and we don't need the Winchesters muddying it up.  We're not the top coven because we whore out our bloodline to anyone who wants to join."

"Their wind magic is-"

"Trash," Marcel cut him off coldly, "Their wind magic is trash, let it be lost.  Let it die.  Our first goal is to hunt and kill every last Winchester, wherever they might run.  I have gotten word that Elena Romano, their 'Underboss'," he said the word with distaste - his opinion that the "family" structure of the Winchester coven was absurd and stupid was well known, "was not at the Tower that night, and they have many field operatives.  Find them and kill them."

"Yes sir," Margot answered sharply.

"Our second goal - which should be taken into account when executing the first - is to discover the source of the explosion.  If the Winchesters were working on a new artifact, I want it.  If anyone is going to have the kind of destructive magic that went off last night, it should be Apex.  Our third goal is simply to continue with our Q3 objectives - I expect to see progress on the Transformation magic, we've almost got it so that Familiars can accept more powerful souls from the Other Place.  We're close.  But we have to deal with the Winchester problem first.

"Any questions?"

No one said a word - if there were questions not one of them was stupid enough to present them to Marcel himself. That's what his underlings were for.

The Board filed out, leaving one young woman in an impeccable suit still sitting. Her lips were cherry-red, her eyes nearly as bright blue as Marcel's, and her expression was bland. 

"Cerise," Marcel said. "Do you have a question?"

She blinked slowly at him, thick black lashes sliding down over that brilliant blue and then back up again. Her lips pursed. "I feel," she said seriously, "that you are in error." Her fingertips danced across the tabletop for a moment before dipping down, past the edge of the table and into the bag at her side. There she unerringly reached deep into her pack, her gaze not once leaving Marcel's, and she pulled out a file. "For you. As requested. From the greenies."

So much drama. Marcel bared his teeth in a smile. "The prophecy reports are already in? This should be interesting."

She didn't smile but, then again, Cerise never did. "They are," she assured him, setting it on the table and sliding it halfway between them.

He picked up the file but kept moving forward, stopping at her side and resting a hip on the walnut table edge. "And how is your mother doing?" he asked, smirking. "Still into yoga and tantric chanting?"

"She says her hellos and wants me to pass along that your mistress is screwing Sebastian. Or will be screwing Sebastian. You know how it is." Cerise slowly rose and presented her cheek. He kissed it gently. His daughter looked so much like her mother it was still disconcerting some days. "Have a productive day, Father."

"I'll need your own Q3 estimates in by the end of the day," he reminded her. "It's August, we're going into the fourth quarter very soon. Don't disappoint me."

There was a long pause and she nodded once. "I never do."

Then, like a gazelle, she gracefully slipped from the room, leaving the scent of expensive perfume and incense behind.

It was true, Cerise never disappointed.  She was an exemplar of Apex virtues... as well as those of the Jade Mask.  It was an open secret that Cerise was his... the identity of her mother was the real secret. Jana was a Seer in the Jade Mask coven, only a few steps down from the Green Witch herself.  He knew their love was wrong, that's why it was secret - Witches didn't mate with each other, they always used humans to carry or sire their offspring.  The child of two Witches often came out... wrong.  He and Jana were beyond lucky that Cerise was relatively normal.  A little emotionally stunted, a little unstable magically, but a brilliant child, and cunning.  Just as Jana had seen it.

Marcel sat in the chair at the head of the conference table, choosing to read the prophecy reports right there - this was not data he was supposed to have, it could mean war between the Jade Mask and Apex, which would be disastrous for both.  But he wouldn't give up his forbidden love for anything... which is why he was especially wary of his Chief Officers.  Any one of them could make a move against him, use his love against him... so he kept a tight rein on them.

Marcel ruled the Apex coven with an iron fist and was personally responsible for their present day glory.

And he didn't like what he read in the report.

On a moonless night, the stolen child of the seven winged, the fruits of the labor of the zenith, will bring doom to the house of Blue.

The rest of the report was the usual financial predictions, translated into tidy charts by his daughter, but this cryptic message had no figures, no use case... it was a warning.

Their Transformation project was going to fail on the new moon.  He had to postpone the testing.  Shame, he was looking forward to a new Familiar.  His own was beautiful, she was obedient and quiet, content to sit and play and look cute until he needed her... but she was a normal, unenhanced Familiar.  It seemed a crime that Apex was the forefront of Familiar research and his own was so... plain.

He tucked the folder under his arm and strode to his office.  He had to hold his calls until he could talk with R&D and postpone the Transformation research - if Jana said it was going to bring doom, he wasn't going to tempt fate - she was rarely wrong, but she hadn't predicted the fall of Winchester Tower either.  He needed to set up a meeting with her, something romantic.  He needed to make sure his nanny picked up the dry cleaning.  Then he had to have his mistress killed.  Then perhaps lunch.  After that, he had a call with the Mayor to hear the latest on the Winchester investigation from the public side.

*     *     *

Aurora stood at the entrance to the Thanatos Funeral Home - the Thanatos coven didn't bother to hide their shame, their necromancy.  She looked down at her gloved hands, as obvious in this heat as if she weren't wearing them at all, any Witch would be able to tell she was Deathmarked.

And she still hadn't been able to save her Familiar.  Sleep had not been kind to Aurora the night before, Mia's mewling and coughs had haunted her dreams.  Her precious Little, her beloved Familiar.  She had only had the beautiful girl for a few years, it wasn't fair that she had been taken from her so soon.  The Witch focused on the memory, the stolen glance in the firelight as she rushed toward the human medical vehicles... a woman, all in black, limping away from the wreckage of Winchester Tower with an unconscious Familiar on her back.  She hadn't seen the woman, but Aurora knew every Familiar in the coven - she was very selective regarding who Mia got to play with - and she hadn't ever seen that blonde girl before, she was sure of it.

Taking a deep breath, she pulled the tall, heavy door open and stepped into the funeral home's lobby.

The Witch at the counter smiled at her, a cruel smile.  Her light green hair fell over one eye in an unkempt style and the Deathmark was crawling up her neck and encroaching onto her face.  This one had worked with a lot of life energy.

"Well hello sister," the smiling Thanatos witch greeted her, beckoning her into the dimly lit room.  She sat at a small desk, an array of bones laid before her.  "We don't see many Witches in here.  Mostly humans come to sell their dead."

"I seek an audience with the Black Witch of Thanatos," Aurora thought she'd get straight to the point, sitting in a chair on the other side of the desk.  The other Witch grinned her amusement.

"And why would Her Grace want to see you?  What coven are you here on behalf of?"

"I am Anomic," the word stuck in Aurora's throat - the word for a coven-less Witch, an outcast.  It was a shameful thing, that she had abandoned the ways of her people.  She stripped off her gloves as she spoke, showing her own Deathmark.  "Winchester coven is likely no more.  The Ivory Tower is gone."

"I heard," the Witch's smile was gone.  "Her Grace is very concerned.  Please sister, come with me.  I will see if the Black Witch is taking visitors."  She rose, a skeletal mouse scurrying from her lap up to her shoulder, perching there.  Its pointed skull looked at her.  Aurora hesitated, wondering if she was making the right decision.

Maybe it would be better to be Anomic, after all.  The Thanatos weren't known to keep Familiars, they made their own pets... and she missed Mia desperately.  She wanted another Familiar to fill that hole.

But she had information - she could have gone to Apex, but they wouldn't take her now, not with the Deathmark.  It would have been worth it if the spell had worked, if Mia had been revived, but now she had nothing.  No coven, no Familiar, no hope.  No, Thanatos was her best bet.  She rose, following the other Witch deeper into the Thanatos sanctum, down a long hall lit not with electric lights, but with candles held in severed human hands.

This was their way - death dealers, life takers.  Maybe it would be nice, to avoid the politics of the covens altogether... Thanatos lived on the fringe, content to study the magics that were forbidden, the ways of the lifeforce.

"I am called Irina," the other Witch offered as she led Aurora down a flight of spiral stairs, to a basement made of rough hewn stone, blocks stacked atop one another like some medieval castle.

"I am Aurora," she replied.  "Well met, Irina."

"Well met, Aurora," Irina echoed, smirking.  Aurora knew her name would stand out here, it was a Winchester name, an old one, a proud one.  She wouldn't be giving it up regardless.  She looked at the tapestries as they walked, a zombie human dusting the old things depicting the Wars long ago.  Thanatos had done well in the larger conflicts - the fallen became their troops, after all.  

The dead were everywhere down here, skeletons and zombies, ghouls and ghasts.  Thanatos was a disturbing coven, and Aurora was unsettled as she was offered a chair in an antechamber, two Troll skeletons wielding ancient looking blades flanking the door.

"Wait here, sister," Irina said, walking for the guarded door.  She turned to Aurora again, pausing.  "Were you at the Tower when it fell?"

"I was," Aurora said gravely.

Irina nodded, slipping through the door.

Alone, in this place of death, Aurora waited, her heart aching.  Mia should be in her arms right now, purring, pleased just to exist with her.  She missed feeding the girl this morning, missed pulling her out of her crib, missed holding her close.

The fleeing woman had something to do with the tower collapsing - a Witch-blooded servant from another coven, most likely.  War was brewing and Winchester was the first casualty.  Aurora wouldn't give in to despair - not while that woman ran free.

She wanted vengeance.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Irina, tapping her on the shoulder with her Deathmarked hands.  Aurora's head snapped up - she hadn't even heard the door open again.

"Her Grace, the Black Witch of Thanatos, will see you."

[YourFNF]

12 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Chapter Ten

She wanted vengeance.

Her thoughts were interrupted by Irina, tapping her on the shoulder with her Deathmarked hands.  Aurora's head snapped up - she hadn't even heard the door open again.

"Her Grace, the Black Witch of Thanatos, will see you."

Wow these people are about as subtle as a Norwegian Black Metal band.

[bbykimmy]

4 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

Wow these people are about as subtle as a Norwegian Black Metal band.

They have physical, inconcealable evidence that they've violated their own culture's sacred laws.  What's the point in being subtle? 

So, is Marcel your favorite character yet?

[YourFNF]

10 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

They have physical, inconcealable evidence that they've violated their own culture's sacred laws.  What's the point in being subtle? 

So, is Marcel your favorite character yet?

Marcel? I'm terrible with names.

[bbykimmy]

18 minutes ago, YourFNF said:

Marcel? I'm terrible with names.

Marcel is the primary focus of the first 3/4 of the chapter

[Wannatripbaby]

20 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

So, is Marcel your favorite character yet?

I liked him!  My favorite line in this chapter was the whole "make sure the nanny picks up the laundry, then have my mistress killed, then maybe some lunch, then..." Lol. ?

The idea of commercial Fortune Telling/Prophesying is extremely interesting to me. I hope we get to meet a Prophet in person soon. I'll bet they're an absolute riot to talk to when they can't differentiate present from future! 

I can see them in a car or something:

"Look out!"

*car screeches to a halt* "What!!??"

"That man was swerving!"

"Where?"

"3 minutes from now!"

"GAH!"

[YourFNF]

6 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Marcel is the primary focus of the first 3/4 of the chapter

In my defense I woke up like about an hour ago. Fuck mornings

[ELLIE52]

42 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

Our third goal is simply to continue with our Q3 objectives - I expect to see progress on the Transformation magic, we've almost got it so that Familiars can accept more powerful souls from the Other Place.  We're close.  But we have to deal with the Winchester problem first.

Does this mean that the Whisper is a powerful soul from the other place?

43 minutes ago, bbykimmy said:

On a moonless night, the stolen child of the seven winged, the fruits of the labor of the zenith, will bring doom to the house of Blue.

 

This reference is to Faye.  Does this mean she will become or already is an Angel?

7 minutes ago, Wannatripbaby said:

then have my mistress killed,

Is the mistress Jana? or does mistress mean something else here?

[bbykimmy]

6 minutes ago, ELLIE52 said:

Does this mean that the Whisper is a powerful soul from the other place?

This reference is to Faye.  Does this mean she will become or already is an Angel?

Is the mistress Jana? or does mistress mean something else here?

I love this first question, but we don't have enough information shown in the story for me to say yea or nay.

The second question is fun, why would they have to be angel wings?  Vague prophecy is fun

Jana is not the mistress.  Marcel has a wife, a mistress, and a love.  Jana is his true love <3

[Wannatripbaby]

8 minutes ago, ELLIE52 said:

Is the mistress Jana? or does mistress mean something else here?

No, Jena is the one who said that Marcel's mistress was cheating on him.