The Feel of Fear...

[Lovely]

After Smoke and Mirrors


"That damn ripple!" He cursed long and loud, pacing up and down the length of his room. How could she have done this to him?
The lightbulb above him shattered, showering glass down onto the carpet as he pulled the Shadows closer around him.
"And Damn that bloody woman... Stupid ripple nearly killing her... Making me try to change... Not going to happen now... No way."

The door opened a little and Krys stuck her head around the door. "I heard broken glass. Is everything okay?"

He turned, glaring at her. It was partly her fault as well... If she hadn't been crying for help into the darkness, one of the Others wouldn't have made plans for her. They liked Vampires... They didn't break so much but were so much easier to torment... "Get out of here!" He growled at her, resuming his pacing once she hurriedly shut the door.
Trust the ripple to have created another of his kind. He'd taken great pleasure in pulling the child apart.

Part of the Shadows looked to harden around the glass topped desk seconds before he threw it, watching pieces shatter off the frame and listening the glass tinkle as it hit the floor.
The sound relaxed him.

Kiefer knew him too well... He needed to break things and hurt people, even after all that.
Maybe he needed to go back to his roots... His elders always used to go on about torturing creatures - the pure emotions they got from them. Being with Kiefer always drained him - good emotions just didn't have the kind of fuel he needed in them. Now, terrorising people... There was the kind of kick you needed.

He needed to watch a building burn, to feel the people's terror of it, and most of all, of him. He wanted to feel that pulse beating so hard beneath his hand...

It has, afterall, been two years since he had. He felt so drained... no major energy source.. not causing it...
No more stalking the Vampires when they hunt. No more feeling that fear...

Simple really... Find a human, terrorise them. He stepped into the Shadows with a smirk, out into the alley besides the club. Drunks were the best... So much easier...

"Well Ace. You do know how to make a girl feel welcome," Pharzuph tutted, materializing enough to be seen faintly, but remain ethereal near the bits of reflective glass at her feet. She, like her sister, didn't spend much time around shadows. There just was not enough to them usually for her to grab and grind the way she truly preferred, was her reason... Kiefer had her own issues. Pharz folded her arms, smirking at the Lord's discomfort and anger... nearly vengeful wasn't he? "Raziel was a little busy with Queenie, honey, so I thought I'd save him the trip. Lust... specifically bloodlust... or revenge? Eh, not too different. I'll share the wealth," she shrugged, standing just over the glass enough to provide him a multi-faceted view beneath her goddess robes as she shifted onto one foot, inspecting her crimson fingernails in seeming boredom. "What's got your knickers all knotted that you needed to smash up your lovely palace, sweetie?" She followed him to the shadows and to the club, wondering if he'd heard... or cared since she was Kiefer's sister afterall.


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[Lovely]

"Now really, if I'd have known you were there, I would have least put on a better show... or the kettle." He muttered before smiling and turning to face her. "And don't we look stunning today, as always of course." He raised his eyebrow, looking her over slowly. "And really dear, you know exactly what, or who, has got my 'knickers all knotted'. Better the mess be there than here. At least there doesn't cost me so much to fix. Few quick symbols and all that rubbish... So have you come to play, or just torment me further?"

He stalked down the alley, studying the offering of drunks it sported, dismissing them based on age, or smell, or state of intoxication - what good were they if they were going to pass out?

"Play -or- torment? Honey, they're just one big shiny ball of squishy wax to get my fingers all nice and sticky," she smirked, following him closely almost as if he was bathed in her. Lust was what his problem was afterall, wasn't it? Hopefully it would stop there and he wouldn't resort to being lost or hopeless. Lily had been through enough and didn't need to add grumpy shadow lords to her list of sad, lost, broken... "Ooo that one!" Pharzuph draped gently around his shoulders, pointing excitedly at a happy drunk that was singing to his newspaper 'girlfriend' piled beside him. He could use a little ride, she thought, in more ways than one. Ace's hunger and desire to torment, a lustful quest in itself, made her own pallette tickle with anticipation for the thrills of delight she hoped Ace would find in his games.

He curled his fingers around her wrist for a second - if she was solid enough. "Promise me.." he whispered. "That you're not here because of your sister.. that you're not here because you were sent."

He looked the drunk over briefly, preferring to keep his eyes on the Goddess. She had good taste in drunks to torment, he'd give her that. The man felt... perfect... exactly what he'd been looking for, even if the singing was more than slightly abusing the song - if that was even what it was.

"Honey, no one -sends- me anywhere," she smiled, humming past his ear with her retort, letting herself get captured in his grasp, letting him feel her presence surround him that much more. "I get called, I do command performances... and once in a while... I do what pleases me. I'm here because I want to be. You're one of my favorites, you know. You treated Kiefer so well and how did she pay you back? She got a new little squish to squeeze, didn't she? Well, not really so squishy - he's a tiny thing... compared to you. But my point is, Ace... you need someone to appreciate you just a little more for all you are." Her words licked over his skin and she turned her attention to the happy drunk. "You need to have some fun and I want to have fun with you."

"If that is the case..." He spoke slowly, savouring the words. "Then perhaps I dont need the drunk and you can do a little performance and what pleases you with me?"

He smirked. "I'm not used to being one of anyone's favourites... What exactly does that mean? Do I get special... treatment?"

[Lovely]

Love being cast aside or worked against was also a strong call for the goddess and she saw and heard what her sister had said about her. Pharz knew what had truly happened and had encouraged Kiefer to find someone else, because they had believed Ace was dead. She had encouraged both her and Deacon.. Kiefer felt more betrayed and hurt than she'd ever known was possible for her to feel. Despite what they were and what they represented, they were sisters.. and Pharz was twisting truths to use them against her and Ace. The tears slipped down her cheek as she watched, she almost laughed at the favorite comments. He had been hers and he knew it. "It means nothing to something like her." She whispered, shifting just enough to give Ace a swift and very hard slam and twist to his privates and then she was gone...

It would serve him and Pharz right if he couldn't use that area for her double crossing sister's delight.

"Kiefer! Oooo!" Pharzuph's foot smashed the ground like an angry ox and the crimson of her nails bled over her ethereal skin in her fury at her sister's reaction. "Go... hump your own little squish!" She yelled at the absence of shadow and form where her sister had appeared and vanished, leaving only her painful prints and dents on Ace's otherwise perfectly whole and beautiful form. She had her new little squish! What did it matter if Pharzie tried a little slap and tickle with her cast-offs? "Oh Ace, sweetie," she knew that pain - every once in a while taking a man's form and paying dearly for it just like this.

It took him a few minutes to straighten up and even longer to open his eyes, but when he did, they were darker than usual, almost pure shadows. He was angry... and having a hard time controlling himself.
"Where is she?" He demanded, his voice echoing and a lot lower than normal.
The shadows pulsed with his power and as he spoke a tendril sneaked out from either side of the alley and ripped the drunk apart.

Expected, but unexpected, the sudden convergence of shadowy 'knives' slicing the off-key croon into silence made her jump. That was nice, but not the kind of thrill she'd come for. Pharz was annoyed, but not into breaking things like Ace who uncurled from her silky embrace and started whacking at the universe to settle his temper. She folded her arms, lowering her brow with a scowl. "Ace...? She's gone and even if she weren't, what exactly are you planning to do, honey? Lock her up again? Remember how well that turned out the first time?" She strode around him, staying at arm's length and keeping an eye on the lines where light ended in the alley while she studied his dark expression. "I have a better idea. Want to hear it?" He probably didn't, but in truth, her sisters were her first and foremost concern, even if one of them truly didn't believe that right now. She knew there was bound to be a fight at some point, but didn't think it was going to be this soon. The road to hell and best intentions... best of traveling companions, she remembered, trying to keep herself in Ace's sight.

The shadows flexed almost, as he stretched, looking around. There was so much he could do... so many people around to keep this 'high' going. He watched with dijointed interest as a shadow-snake (almost literally a snake made of shadows... but a foot in diameter, and more... worm-looking), slithered a foot of itself into another drunk's view, and smiled... showing off rows of razor-sharp teeth, much like a sharks.
"Mmm..." He smiled at the sheer fear radiating from him as the whimpering started. "Now that's better..."
Ace tilted his head to the side slightly. "A better idea than this? Or than going after her?"

"Ace!" She almost seemed to pout that he wasn't really paying attention to her. She sighed and her foot nearly stomped again... petulance and her went way back, but fighting his fire like that wasn't going to get her what she wanted. "No, neither. It's called, keep ripping up the locals and you'll end up facing her little squish yourself," she sighed. That was a mistake and not at all what she wanted. She wanted Kiefer to be able to break free and be swathed in the happiness she'd found with her little stick-figure-man - the one who happened to be drawn to scenes like this when mortals expired as was his assigned duty.

[Lovely]

"Then let him come... Like I care anymore. They're so pathetic... whimping into the darkness to their God," he spat the word out, like a foul taste "to save them. Perhaps they should know who really hears them." He growled, eyes narrowing on Pharz. "Why are you so bothered? What's your place in all this? What are you to gain, pretty one?" As he spoke, his voice got lighter, sweeter... and the alley got darker.
He took a few steps and was infront of her. "And I do intend to find her."

Well there it was, the offer of his question, begging to know its answer. She dodged into his sight, more into the darkness than she preferred, but shadows were all he saw just now. If he needed a little more convincing, maybe she should simply dispense with her illusions of form and flow over his thoughts and skin, showing him exactly what was on her mind. "What do I gain? Honey, I thought that was obvious when I came right into your cellar door. I get you. There's no denying your power in my hands, or mine in yours. Lust and shadows get along so well, don't they? What creatures yearn for in the dark - comfort, grace, quiet passage, screaming passion, raging fear, silence? That's all us, honey. Beautiful music," she nodded, finding the right words to describe it when she felt the surge of bliss as he soaked up the fear from his little tripped up mortal puppets. "Why don't you just come find me, instead?"

Deacon had his hands full at the moment and wasn't likely to come to this little gathering, although dark eyes shifted back and forth, watching the happnenings in the alley below. A nearly silent flutter brought them closer to a perch nearer the torn up drunk. The suddenness by which it was expelled and the pickled state the owner had been in left the remaining spark of light hovering, disoriented and wandering like a moth bouncing around the hood of a weak security light for warmth and understanding. Venge knew it for what it was and it had seemed undetected by the shadow lord who had no need for disembodied souls that could only seek light and not react to his games without their shells. Luckily Tate was also absent it seemed, leaving him alone to do his work while he eavesdropped, quite literally, swooping down in his raven form to collect the precious essence and return home with it and warnings for his associates.

"Find you?" He raised his eyebrow slightly. "When you're right here infront of me and I could just sling you over my shoulder and take you home? No need to find you..." A slow smile spread across his face as the shadows started to receed.
"Just hold out my hand and perhaps you'll come to me..." The power tickled at the inside of his skin, wanting to go somewhere, needing to be released. His fingers tingled as he held them out to her. "Gotta do something with all this..." He flexed the shadows, sending them back to their original places, "Or, perhaps, I'll explode. Or kill more people. I haven't decided yet." She'd feel it, more than likely... the blood lust subsiding, being replaced by something altogether more... 'beautiful music'-esque.

Pharzuph's tongue clicked off her teeth as her hand went to her hip again. Insulted? Maybe. Intrigued? Definitely. "Sweetie, please. Just holding out your hand's not going to do it for me." Her head shook slowly but her eyes stayed fixed on the dangerously dark man in front of her. "But... I think I can manage to meet you half-way," she considered, smouldering thoughts igniting her wicked smile as she reached out into the distance between them to take his hand, thinking of many ways she could help him manage his.. containment.

"It wasn't intended to 'do' anything for you. I was just being... polite. Personally, I would rather just -take- you, without asking my dear. I'd bring you back eventually I suppose, but I'm just not that good at letting me toys go." He paused, thinking. "Perhaps I could make an exception for you, if it means I get to take you home..."