chapter five ♔ it'll be a day like this one when the sky falls down

[eldritchweaver]

the blues - switchfoot

WHO || The Knights
WHAT || Failboat returns from the disaster in LA as the Knighthood goes on lockdown
WHERE || The castle, London
WHEN || Directly after this, Fall 2017
HOW || Actionspam

Hasmed's announcement does not brook any rebuttal: all Knights are recalled to the Castle, where they must remain until the Section Heads and Jack Chessing have spoken about the events in Los Angeles that have left the Knighthood without their usual leader.  

The entire Los Angeles area is now covered with a dark miasma that has interfered with any signals that might be sent out from phones, etc., leaving the whole world wondering what exactly is happening down there.  Final images showed horrendous monsters, a panic of citizens, looting and violence from humans and Shadowkind alike.  

Hasmed has warned of extra magical wards on the castle, and anyone arriving will immediately take notice of one very prominent one: above the entire roof of the excessively large building hovers a black and red sigil in the air, a pentagram in a circle surrounded by runes or words in an unknown language, stretching for miles.  

[ This is the social log for post-LA lockdown.  Failboat must complete the top log before being allowed to tag outside of it. ]

Comments

[nolifeking]

Are you going to stand there and tell me you've never felt the joy of the kill?

[slay]

[ her expression goes cold. ]

Never. I kill demons because I have to, because it keeps people just a little bit safer. But I do not enjoy it.

[nolifeking]

If that's what you wish to tell yourself.

Deny it all you wish, but it is in your very nature.

[slay]

You don't know anything about my nature.

[nolifeking]

I can smell it on you as clearly as death. It's your blood. There's nothing human about that power of yours.

[slay]

Say one more word about my blood and I will start spilling yours.

[nolifeking]

I look forward to seeing you try.

[slay]

The more you yap, the shorter the wait gets.

[ she drops her hands to her sides and tosses her hair. ]

Just because you were invited into this castle doesn't mean you were invited to speak to me. I don't think your master would like it if she knew you were upsetting this very delicate truce.

[nolifeking]

And neither would yours, for that matter.

[slay]

I don't have a master. Or a leash. One of many colorful differences between us that you'd be smart to remember.

[nolifeking]

Of course. I forgot your master was missing in action.

[slay]

Wynn was never my master. What he was to me, you could never conceive of.

[nolifeking]

A figure who commands your respect and loyalty? One who inspires your passion, who you would follow to Hell itself? [ he sounds, irritatingly enough, amused as ever, as he turns from her to start walking away, pausing to add: ] A master chosen is no less a master.

[slay]

[ she wants to be rid of him. to let him go.

but this might be her last chance. and if he does know something, really know something, then— ]

Wait.

[ a few steps forward, then she stutters to a stop. she wrestles with the words.

it's only because she knows she'll be gone soon that she bothers, that she surrenders the dignity to ask for a vampire's time. but ... if hellsing has information, if they have anything about her that faith can't provide, then ... well. this is her last chance to get it. ]

What you said about me. About ... my power. Is that just what you can smell — which, creepy, by the way — or do you know something?

[nolifeking]

[ he stays standing with his back to her, but turns his head slightly to the side so she can see his profile, see the way his smile widens just a little bit. strangely, a more serious look enters into his blood red eyes ] Do you really want to know?

[slay]

Yes.

[ she had gone this long trusting sehanine's word, but even sehanine had admitted she had only borrowed buffy's power for her cause. she wasn't the source of it. if alucard knew what was ... ]

[nolifeking]

[ the devil within - digital daggers

he turns once more to face her, something shifting in his entire aspect. he's not the mocking vampire now: there's an intelligence and shrewdness there that speaks of considerably more depth than a mindless monster. in some way, he sounds almost intrigued by the situation. ]

The blood carries the essence of a human soul, in a way that mortal science will never be able to quantify or explain. I can drink from a human and see straight into their heart, their deepest memories. When I say that I scent something inhuman in your blood, I do not mean something so irrelevant as your DNA.

It's in your essence, an arcane source of supernatural power that makes you what you are, just as much as my own makes me a vampire.

That strength, that resilience to mortal wounds, the connection you feel to the demonic world: all of that stems from the strain of power that floods your essence.

The demonic power.

I can see it as clearly as I see you standing there.

[slay]

[ as much as she wants to refuse the belief, to take him for a liar, a manipulator, a monster, the reply speaks to something deep within her, as though confirming some dread she's always felt. it sinks in deep and settles in her gut. ]

Say that it's true. Say that I believe you, that this power inside of me comes from some demon essence. It still wouldn't make me like you.

[nolifeking]

No. But it also doesn't make you like them. [ he's just gonna

start walking off slowly ]