Since the Fall of Veiron the Kingdom of Valeria has not been a hospitable place to call home. The infernal hordes roam free. Some seeking mindless destruction, others plotting and planning the increase of their own power and some just enjoying the world crashing down all around them. Dangers are everywhere, demons walk the earth and even when distanced from them travelers still fear their servants, the orcs. These tribal creatures do the bidding of the Abyss and are often as dangerous as their masters simply by numbers alone. Then the people of Valeria are a hardy folk. They refuse to be driven from their lands by anything least of all the minions of The First. These are times of strife and suffering but despite that some still manage to eek out a pleasant existence. For some however that's not possible, for some peace isn't something they can ever hope to have again because they were there that day. They were at Veiron the day of the fall and they paid dearly for it. For some it is something to hide from, for others it fuels the fires within and pushes them to fight but for most they do everything they can to forget it ever happened. They are those marked by the demons.

[h2][color=DarkRed]Susanna Grace[/color] - Vi'Zur Tavern[/h2]
Susanna starred straight ahead focusing on one point in space. Her vision tunneled till all she could see was that speck of light. Susanna let everything fall away from her, sights and sounds and smells and simply was... For about ten seconds.

[i]"You cannot think that meditation can rid you of me?"[/i] the demon inside her asked, a laugh echoing inside Susanna's head.

Susanna's concentration broke and the sounds of the bar she was sitting in came rushing back. She was at a corner booth, securely away from anyone watching her. She sighed "Do I look stupid?" she asked covering her mouth with her hand so as not to attract attention. "I thought maybe you might leave me alone with my thoughts for a few minutes."

[i]"Why would I do that? Who else do I have to entertain me?"[/i] Lilith paused for a fraction of a second. Susanna had lived with the demon a long time and while it might not have facial features or a voice at the moment Susanna knew enough about it to know when it was going to do something nasty. [i]"Then again he's cute."[/i] Susanna could almost feel the smile that accompanied the words.

Susanna glanced up, instinctively knowing where Lilith was pointing her towards. At the bar sat a man, a large physique with black scraggly hair and a three fingers missing from his right hand. Susanna's breath caught in her throat. She recognized him. An image flashed into her mind: [i]a knife held meticulously between her thumb and forefingers, blood staining the front of her shirt, a man chained to a table as Lilith almost lovingly sliced the knife slow and sure through his flesh.[/i] Susanna gave a gasp of fright and the memory died. She was looking in horror at the man with his fingers missing. Then he turned to order another beer and Susanna saw his face. It wasn't him, it wasn't the same man.

[i]"You are too easy Susan. Try to lighten up some, I think the blonde boy by the window is glancing this way."[/i] Lilith spoke, her voice slinking through Susanna's mind.

"Fuck you." Susanna whispered into her hand.

[i]"Why waste it on me? He looks willing enough, but then when did we ever need consent."[/i]

Susanna could feel the smug edge to her words as they pulled up so many painful memories. At that point Susanna might have been willing to down a gallon of holy water just to get Lilith to shut up, though that wasn't exactly an uncommon thought to cross her mind she was prevented from acting on it by what happened next.

A rowdy group entered the bar. Four uproarious men with swords at their sides, perhaps come from a fresh kill or else another bar, whatever the case they were more than excited. The crest on their tunics proclaimed their identities well enough.

[i]"Stormbringers."[/i] Lilith hissed. [i]"Leave. Now."[/i] No matter how much Lilith might have loved torturing Susanna with her words and wished desperately for her freedom the demon didn't want to end up dead and since neither of them knew what would happen to Lilith if Susanna perished they were both set on one thing: Self preservation.

Susanna got up discretely, placed a few gold pieces on the counter to pay for the drink she hadn't touched (it was cider, she didn't drink anymore) and she started to walk towards the door, her footsteps even and unassuming. Unfortunately for Susanna the same thing that had drawn Lilith to possess her all those years ago at Veiron also drew the Stormbringers attention. Susanna was very beautiful, even with her hood pulled up casting her features in shadow her face turned heads.

"Hey girl." said one of the demon slayers, taking in her full figure. "Why don't you let one of us warriors buy you a drink? What do you say sweetheart?"

As he said this the Stormbringer sidled up to her and put his arm on her shoulder intent on guiding her to the bar. A surge of intense annoyance flashed through Susanna. Who was this fool? Just cause he could use a sword with some skill didn't make him God's gift. How'd he expect any self respecting woman to talk to him if he treated her like that? Her hand twitched towards the knife at her belt. Half of her wanted to grab the weapon and slice his hand off her body. What stopped her was the thought that she didn't know how much of that near outburst was actually her and how much came from the demon within.

The Stormbringer held a gold piece in front of Susanna's face. "How 'bout it girl? You and me could have some good times."

Susanna hesitated. She didn't want to be anywhere near this man or for that matter any of his friends but she was very scared that if she rejected him as he was, half drunk, he might get and angry and if he did Susanna might call on Lilith's powers of of instinct. It was like having tornado inside her. When her emotions ran wild the storm burst out of her in waves. And they called [i]themselves[/i] Stormbringers.

The warrior took Susanna's hesitation as a yes and slammed the gold piece down on the counter. "Another round for my friends and my beautiful girl here!" He shouted to the entire bar.

Susanna was so close to slapping the Stormbringer and walking out but the fear that she might let Lilith's powers out, that they might find out what she was kept her rooted to the spot. She needed a way out of this and quickly or one of the two of them was going to end up dead.