Atrophy
Shin Ghost Note
Qia
Wayward
AtomicEmperor
High Moon
ScreenAcne
WhiteAngel25
Lexisheeps
The House of Cards Mafia
Valencia Vorpal
Isabella Blackthorn
The 317 Leadership & Supervisors
November 2nd, Evening, Before the Kari House Incident
Hearts Club Casino Warehouse, Industrial District
In collaboration with @NoriWasHere
Isabella's cool gaze glanced at the crumpled man on the floor, before inspecting her watch. They were set to move in five minutes. That meant getting the sacrifice ready for transport.
Isabella glanced at the suited men surrounding her, and waved her hand to the warehouse door. The men nodded, one reaching down to grab Bruno by the collar of his bloodied shirt.
“Wait.”
The garage door slid open, the piercing headlights of an SUV illuminating the men and Isabella. One suited figure stepped out of the passenger seat, door slamming shut behind her as she approached the group.
“Let me inspect him first.”
It was none other than Valencia Vorpal, the consigliere. Isabella's face gave nothing away as she stared for a moment, then stepped to the side, letting Valencia get up and close to the target. Valencia ran a finger down the man’s cheek, before grabbing his chin roughly, forcing him to look up at her.
“Mr. Arno, do you know what's happening to you?”
Bruno trembled under her gaze. “N-no ma'am…”
Valencia huffed a strand of hair out of her face. “‘Ma’am.’ What bullshit.” She wrinkled her nose, like she was touching the scum of the earth, and let the man's face go.
“You're about to pay for your crimes against the innocent women you killed, Mr. Arno.” Her silhouette against the headlights darkened the cold smile on her face. “By the time we're done with you, you won't even be recognizable!”
The man whimpered. “Please, no, d-don't hurt me…”
Valencia cockily grinned. “That's what your wives said before you mercilessly killed them, isn't it?”
“That's not-”
“Isn't it?!” She slugged Bruno across the face.
The man was reduced to muffled whimpering. Staring with a look of disgust on her face, she nodded to Isabella and whistled. “Get him outta here, gentlemen.”
Bruno was roughly hauled to his feet, ziptied as he was, and thrown in the back of the SUV. The rest of the men, Isabella, and Valencia, piled into two other SUVs, and the convoy moved out, disappearing into the night.
The Cards convoy rolled to a stop in front of the designated place, men filing out and dragging the whimpering Bruno into the open. Isabella led the group, Valencia at her side, as they entered the building.
Inside the building, a long way away from the physical home of the 317 Faith, Octavia, and Sypha stood ready to do what was needed to ensure the survival of their collective. Around the room were Summer, Jordan, Jason, and Alex. They each knew that this dirty work was needed once again to ensure that they had the supplies to continue building more automatons, and the money to continue their expansion through the old industrial district. The three had selected an old, formerly abandoned building on the edge of town for the site of their ritual, and the supplies were ready and the location was secure. What the mafia did not know was that there were monsters that lurked in the dark corners of the house, and if they tried anything they would learn just how monstrous Faith’s spellbook could get.
“Welcome,” Sypha said, “let’s get this over with,” she whispered briefly to her two coven mates.
“Hope we didn't make you wait.” Valencia smirked, thumb brushing against her lip as she appraised the group gathered in front of her. From her information pull on the 317, she recognized the leadership in front of her. All three were present. Four more helpers on the other side, though she didn't pull up anything on their names or abstractions.
They were here for business, and appeared ready. Maybe even sincere. But Valencia wasn't taking any chances, and signaled to her men. They filed out, filling the entrance of the room, many carrying briefcases, others with their hands clasped cooly in front of them. Their eyes were watchful, appraising the movements of the 317 and the dark corners of the house with vigilance.
Last to file in were two suited men dragging Bruno Arno by the arms, unceremoniously dumping him in the center of the room. Bruno weakly crumpled to his side, movement inhibited by the zipties.
Isabella’s eyes glanced to Bruno, before crossing the room slowly, her gloved hand extended out for a handshake. “Sypha, it is a pleasure to see you again.”
Her face was set in a neutral visage, ready for business just like any other day.
“We've brought the remaining amount we owe you, as well as the proofs you requested.”
She waved over one of the men, and presented a briefcase filled with all of Bruno’s dirty little secrets. Intercepted texts, emails, diaries detailing how and why he was murdering his wives, and how to hide it so he could live his extravagant life.
“How would you like to proceed?” Isabella asked.
Faith rubbed her temple. “Take his shirt off, and strap him to the table,” Faith said as she lazily pointed towards a table. This would not take long but Faith had already regretted taking this deal.
“Once he’s on the table you all will wait in the side room until the ritual is finished,” Sypha responded as she pointed towards a room off to the side.
“This service is off limits to all but my crew. There will be no video recording, and no outside presence allowed,” Octavia crossed her arm, “we’ll know if you try.”
Isabella glanced at Valencia. They exchanged a look, before Valencia's eyes narrowed the slightest. She glanced at her men, and jerked her chin toward the table. Bruno gave a surprised whimper as he was dragged towards the table.
“Don’t move.” One of the men said in a disinterested tone, pulling out a knife. One could see the uneven breaths shaking Bruno’s chest as he tried to stay as still as possible. The sound of a knife sliced through cloth, and Bruno’s dress shirt was removed in shreds. More men placed their hands on Bruno, hauling him onto the table, slicing his cuffs to pin his hands to the table. By the time they were done, Bruno was a sad, sniffling mess strapped to the table.
Isabella glanced at Valencia again, and the silver-haired woman whistled, gesturing for the men and Isabella to follow her.
“We’ll be waiting for the good news, friends.” Valencia bit out as she stepped into the side room with Isabella and her men. The door slid shut.
Faith watched with anticipation as the mafia left the room..
“Okay,” Jordan said with a sigh, “let’s get it over with yeah?”
“Agreed, Faith?” Octavia said as she began to bite her nails.
“Someone stuff his mouth with a sock,” Faith sighed as she moved to her bag and began to pull out her jars filled with the salve that would change the man on the table forever. “Summer, verify their information.”
“On it,” Summer said with a sigh, “Bruno I’m about to either save you, or be the one to sign your death certificate.” Summer paused as she plugged her laptop into one of her homunculi. “I really hope their intel was wrong, Bruno, I really do.”
Jordan began to move towards the sniveling man with a ball gag. He could not look the man in the eyes.
“I’m innocent, you gotta believe me!” Bruno whimpered on the table, watching with strained eyes as he went white, seeing the ball gag. “Please!”
Unfortunately, as Summer looked, the information kept checking out. There were five wives: Lorenza Ordo, 21, cause of death: poison made to look like a heart attack; Talia Bueno, 25, cause of death: locked in a car while a train T-boned it, made to look like an accident; Evelin Dwight, 29, cause of death: pushed off a building, made to appear like a suicide; Amelia Armstrong, 22, cause of death: Negligence to frail state, died of ongoing medical conditions, made to look like it was her own fault; Olivia Johnson, 24, cause of death: murder, made to look like Bruno hadn’t hired the assassin.
“One final chance Bruno,” Summer said as she sighed. She knew he was guilty, she knew the law failed all those women when they let the killer walk free. It did not make what was to come any easier. Summer reached into her bag and pulled out a butterfly homunculi. A golden glow extended from her hand to the butterfly and it spurted to life in an instant. It took off from her hand, and flew across the room to Bruno and landed on his chest.
“Did you kill Lorenza Ordo?” Jordan asked as he took another step forward.
“N-no! I didn't, I swear!” Bruno said, trying to keep the lie out of his throat.
The butterfly erupted with flashing red lights. “Did you kill Talia Bueno, Evelin Dwight, Amelia Armstrong?” Jordan took three steps forward.
“I-I don't wanna answer!” Bruno squeaked out, sweating on the table, his eyes on the flashing butterfly.
“That’s okay Bruno. You don’t have to answer any more questions. We’ll make this quick at least,” Sypha responded as she pulled out her knife and cut across her palm. A moment later several tendrils of blood shot out and impacted Bruno all across his body. Sypha infected Bruno with her fast acting blood based disease. In an instant he would feel chills, and have a cold sweat break out across his body. A second later, he would feel dizzy and disoriented.
“F-fuuuck….” Bruno moaned on the table, his eyes rolling in their sockets.
Jordan walked over and put the ball gag in Bruno’s mouth. He strapped it on the back of his head holding it tight. Bruno only gave a muffled whimper in reply, too dazed to resist. He gave Faith a thumbs up as he did. The butterfly flapped its wings and took to the air and flew back to Summer. Summer pulled back the golden energy from the butterfly. She grabbed a ball from the bag and transferred her energy and it took to the sky.
“Light Out ready,” Summer said as she had the ball fly directly into the center of the room and a low hum filled the air. Any electronics, cameras, and even peeping eyes would suddenly go fuzzy, and any listening ears would only hear a jumbled mess.
“Who are you calling out,” Sypha asked as she grabbed a few containers of the salve.
“Tralvo, the horror of the deep,” Faith responded with a fit tone as she opened the first jar of the salve and began to paint it on his skin. She worked fast but the line work was precise. “He killed his wives in life, and she’ll probably kill more in this next life. But poor Bruno won’t go on to the next place, so I don’t think he’ll care.” Faith knew that there was a powerful ingredient in the creation of a monster and that was the soul of the person who was used in the creation of it. Bruno would be no more, and Tralvo would be born to wreck havoc on the world.
“Failsafe,” Octavia asked as she chewed at her nails.
“Always,” Faith asked as she grabbed the artifact from its carrying case, “a monster will always listen to their mother.”
Faith gave the signal and the rest of the 317 seven began to chant. “Tralvo, horror of the deep rise through our offering. Rise, rise, Tralvo horror of the deep. Tralvo, horror of the deep we compel you to rise to the land of light, rise rise horror of the deep” The group kept chanting. As they did, lights began to flicker and an unnatural wind began to spin through the room.
As the coven chanted Faith raised up the sword slowly and with purpose. She walked over to the head of Bruno and brought the sword to its zenith. She held it there for a moment before it began to vibrate, signaling that it was time. Faith
spun the blade in one quick motion, pointing the tip towards Bruno’s heart and plunged it downward.
Bruno tried to scream, but the gag muffled his cries. Instead, his muffled cries subsided to gurgling, as his eyes slowly grew glassy. A blessing in disguise, for what was to come next…
As the blade pierced his heart the sigils drawn across Bruno’s body seemed to constrict at once and begin to pull inward second by second forcing Bruno’s skin to give way inch by inch. Faith twisted the blade and pushed it in deeper which caused the sigil to move all across Bruno’s body. Seemingly moving faster and faster, causing the skin around the sigil to begin to crack and flake away into the wind. As it spun more and more of Bruno was lost to the wind, and as more of Bruno was lost the faster the wind became. Soon, as Bruno’s skin was completely gone a form began to form in the center of the wind. At first it was nothing more than the decayed remains of his skin just forming together but soon, as the entirely was connected a sick sight began to take form. Tentacles, and lots of them. They began to take form using the sacrificed remains of the serial killer himself. Soon, Bruno’s internal organs, bones, and every last fabric of the being that was became pulled away and the true form of the monster took shape.
Several tentacles shout out and grabbed Jordan, pushing him through the wall, sending him into the room with the mafia members. Jordan tried to fight through the strength of the monster but no matter how much he pumped his magic into his muscles he could not push away the the raw strength of the monster.
“Faith,”Jordan eked out as his veins began to bulge and a terrifying rage began to fall across his face. His stature began to change, and he began to move some of the tentacles away from his body. His strength surged as the calm, collected man that was Jordan was forced aside in this sudden, and unexpected moment of fight or flight. The tentacles simply gripped down harder on Jordan in response. An instant later more tentacles shot out from the room targeting all the male members of the mafia.
“Oh shit.” Valencia exclaimed, pulling Isabella to the side as a tentacle shot past them, constricting around one of her guards.
Isabella's eyes betrayed a hint of fascination, “This is the monster? Our monster?”
Valencia grit her teeth, staring at her men gasping for air under the tentacles. “Oggle later, we gotta do something about this!”
Valencia summoned one, two, ten, twenty needles from the blackness, The slivers of metal shining as they hovered about her.
Isabella yanked on Valencia's shoulder. “Don't hurt it, are you mad?”
Valencia shrugged her off, eyes locked on Jordan. “Why do you think I'm going in so small? Minimal damage, maximum pain, yeah?”
With a wave of Valencia's hand, the needles shot forward. Some stabbed deep into the meat of the tentacles constricted around Jordan. Others stabbed the tentacles holding her men. Just enough to make the monster twitch, to release her men so the ones attacked could try to escape…
A groan could be heard but the monster still pushed to constrict all of the men present before, as suddenly as they appeared, the tentacles released their victims and was pulled back into the other room. A moment later Sypha, Faith, Octavia, and Alex emerged unscathed but shaken by what they had just seen. Behind them, walking on the writhing mass of tentacles that made up the creatures arms and legs, the monster followed. It chittered, clicking its teeth as its face scared the men in the room. It began to drool with hunger.
“Tralvo seems to have an intense hatred of men. Do well to remember that,” Faith said as she held out the artifact. The artifact was a well crafted, balanced, and sharp gladius styled sword. “She will obey the commands of anyone who wields this but,” Faith said with a dry tone, “no men.”
Valencia lowered her stance, needles disappearing as the situation de-escalated. She stepped forward, accepting the artifact with a nod, “Duly noted.”
Jordan looked to the monster with a magical rage in his eyes. He wanted to rush it, he wanted to to kill it, he wanted to eat each tentacle while the light left the monsters eyes. But he was able to pull back. His muscles returned to normal, his height did too, and moved towards Sypha as he grabbed his head. “You never know what they are going to do at first.”
“I did not know it would hate men,” Sypha responded.
“The soul can affect how a monster is born. The kind of evil that permeates it. For Bruno, his evil was directed towards women, and the new monster’s rage is directed towards men in response,” Faith paused as she titled her head and listened to the chittering response from the monster, “no, no that’s not it. She just hates men.”
“Interesting.” Valencia said in response, her gaze on Faith. “You can communicate with her?”
She moved her gaze upward, and addressed the monster. “Pleasure to meet you, Tralvo. I will ensure I have everything I need from Faith to take care of you.”
Valencia weighed the sword in her hands, admiring it for a moment before her gaze flickered to Faith. “Does she need any special care, besides ensuring she never takes commands from men? What does she eat?”
Valencia’s eyes flickered to Isabella, “We’ve paid up, right?”
Isabella nodded. “I believe we have, the briefcases have been handed over. They can count it while we wait.”
“Don’t feed her after midnight,” Faith chuckled, “she’s a monster, she does well on any source of red meat. She won’t eat much more than a normal person but she does like her meat a bit more,” Faith shrugged at the next word, “decayed.”
Summer pulled another device out of her bag. It appeared to be a metallic monocle with a yellow glass frame. Summer transferred her power to the monocle and examined the briefcase. “We’re good,” she said as she pulled back her power.
“We’re good,” Faith said as she looked back at the destruction and sighed. She’d have to fix this mess herself.
Valencia nodded, then offered a half-grin. “Well, it’s been a pleasure, ladies.”
She gestured with the sword, looking up at Tralvo. “Time to go home, honey.”
And with that, the House of Cards and Tralvo made their way out of 317’s building and into the night.
