[b][center]Veyati - Chapter 2: Meatshield[/center][/b]

Empty and unalive as the premises seemed to be, Iroas, Caslin, and Veyati approached the Belial home with caution and care, checking their very feet to ensure nothing loud was stepped upon. The wooden front porch was treaded on like assassins, with lightly pressed feet and hunched postures. Iroas approached the door first, and after confirming behind him with the other two that they were ready, handled the doorknob delicately and hesitated. With a deep but quiet breath, he turned it and opened the door with an unanticipated, obnoxious creak. Iroas eyes clenched as the noise continued throughout the entire opening, looking inside only as he had stopped the entrance.

His expression of worry changed instantly as he stared down the lobby room. He appeared stricken, with a calm terror.

At the end of the room, frozen in place, was a maid carrying nothing but a broom in her hand, held tightly at her chest. She too, stared back with terror, though was clearly more frightened than any three of them. She remained taught, a clear sweat forming on her face, eyes wide and pupils dilated. She said nothing, only stared, likely too gripped by fear to muster a breath. Caslin and Veyati peeked in from either side of the door frame, then glanced at the frozen Iroas. Their expressions were thankfully hidden behind their masks, but both were truly as startled as the other two. Then, she got an idea.

"Iroas," she said, tugging on his shoulder, "Is it customary to walk into other's homes without invitation here on Garude?" A white lie buried under genuine curiosity. [i]Was[/i] it customary? Everyone on Garude so far, Iroas included, displayed very limited... etiquette. Veyati let her fingers slide off the door frame as she stepped in front, turning to the [i]clearly[/i] terrified maid. "I... think you may have startled her."

Veyati squinted at her behind tinted lenses. There was nothing off about her. Just a mundane girl working for rather extraordinary people. Caslin seemed to get the same idea, as he let Veyati do the talking and stayed barely peeking out from behind the door frame.

Iroas looked back, examining their appearances as if to ensure she wasn't simply letting off a sarcastic quip in the midst of their failed infiltration. Straightening himself up, he appeared more composed and proper, rolling his shoulders as if to shake off the mode of shadiness.

"Ah, forgive me. No, Veyati, it is customary to knock. I was simply so exhausted from the walk, I wanted to rest myself and forgot to knock," he said, mostly to the maid. Though she was still tense, the maid appeared more inclined to speak. "I'm sorry, I am Sir Iroas of the Bulwark's army. I fully meant to knock, forgive my intrusion." Veyati winced at how awful and transparent that cover was, but it couldn't be helped.

"Is the head of the household home?" Iroas asked.

The maid shook her head slowly, focusing on Veyati and Caslin instead as she answered. "The master is not home." 

"Might we rest here until he returns?" Iroas propositioned. The maid tensed up again, biting her lip. Caslin snorted and shook his head. Letting Iroas lead the conversation was a terrible idea.

"H-he won't be back for a-awhile. A few days!" she added, seemingly at a whim. Iroas turned to look at the other two, judging what they thought of the maid's words. There was a slow turn of Veyati's head to Iroas, then slowly back again to the maid, while Caslin kept his eyes on her. No expression, but as dubious a response as she could signal. The maid was scared, and sounded like she was lying about... something, but no one could tell why.

Veyati tried to appear and sound as amiable as possible, folding her hands in front to appear less threatening. [i]Something[/i] terrified the girl, so she figured she might as well rule out herself. "Oh? Where has he gone?" She asked.

The maid opened her mouth to speak but failed. She tried once more, though gave a vague answer. "He's out... to visit a friend," the maid did not await for a response, seemingly gaining the courage to speak with more authority. She stomped towards the group, keeping her eyes averted. "I'm sorry, but I must have you leave. The master would not allow-" she reached for the door, conveying her wish for them to leave. Her arm was seized in an instant by Iroas, who turned it around her back. With his other hand he covered her mouth, earning him an instant struggle. Of course, she was much too small and weak compared to the older soldier to do much beyond groan.

With a nod of his head, he gestured for the two to enter and shut the door. Iroas' belligerence was turning out to be a liability, but neither could've predicted how quickly he'd opt to use force rather than savoir faire. Might as well flow with it. They nodded and headed in, Veyati gently closing the door behind them. 

"Keep quiet," he told them before looking around the room, towards a set of stairs along the right-hand wall. Speaking to no one in particular, he rose his voice again. "Of course ma'am. We'll be on our way."

"Veyati, find me a cloth."

Veyati took a long step toward the maid, almost lunging forward and stopping with just a couple inches between their faces. She thoroughly scrutinized her expressions, her posture, her eye movements. "Not just yet," Veyati told him with a side glance, then turned back to the maid, uncomfortably close. 

"I'd really like it if you cooperated," she told the maid, "I only partly understand your reluctance; why have you been lying to us?" She mumbled a few times under Iroas's hand, trying to turn away from Veyati's gaze.

"If I let go, she might yell," Iroas pointed out.

Veyati placed a silken gloved hand on the maid's cheek and tugged to face her forward again. A calm and level tone spoke from behind the mask that stared her down. "You don't have anything to gain from shouting, and I do not [i]wish[/i] to hurt you, but I will not hesitate if you speak above a whisper. Do you understand?"

The maid's eyes searched Veyati's own through the mask, looking for the sense of safety in them. Somehow, it seemed she did. The maid nodded as best she could and glanced up at Iroas, who looked hesitant. However, with a sigh, he gave in. The maid covered her mouth upon being released and looked about.

"My m-master," she began to sweat, unable to properly convey what she needed, as if the words were plugged up by fear. The air felt tense. Wrong. It wasn't coming from inside the house, however. Caslin and Veyati exchanged a brief look with each other, but neither reached for their weapons. Yet.

"Your master?" Iroas gestured for her to continue.

"He... He is sleeping."

"Sleeping?" He repeated. The maid tightened her lips inward, clearly hesitating to reveal what the three had already guessed. "Sleeping where?"

"You're vampire hunters!" she exclaimed. Veyati almost rose her hand to swat the maid across the cheek, but Iroas already clamped his hand over her mouth. At the very least she confirmed it for them, though it seemed she was no longer willing to aid them calmly. Iroas attention was turned to the side stairwell, as a distinct creaking came from the top of it. Iroas let go of the maid's bound arm, allowing her to frantically attempt to free herself under his grip. With it, he reached for his sword, awaiting whatever it was to reveal itself.

Slowly, gracefully and with little appearance of fear, a young lady came down from the steps, speaking softly, "Mielle, is something wrong?" The question was curious rather than worried, seeming as if she was wondering what the commotion was rather than asking if the maid herself was okay under Iroas's clutches. Only once her head descended from the roofline did she catch on to what was transpiring. The young lady, clad in a grandiose black dress, looked down in astonishment at the intruders, her mouth covered by both hands as she gasped. Caslin tilted his head up at the stairs, and immediately his neck tensed up. Whoops. His eyes shifted between Iroas, the apparent offender, and the young woman.

The paleness of her skin and the crystalline blueness of her eyes revealed instantly what she was. Iroas let go of the maid recklessly, pushing with his quickly-turning body as he faced the vampiric figure. He practically shoved the poor girl into Veyati's arms as he faced the young lady. Awfully nice of the brute, Veyati thought, sneering at him behind her mask. Nothing seemed threatening about these people at all, as of yet. She glanced at Caslin it appeared he had the same idea. 

"Who are you people, and what do you want? We have money. Just please, leave us alone. Are you with Stensen? We already told you, we don't want any part. Please!" the young woman shouted, keeping her distance at the top of the stairs. Iroas looked quizically up at her, then to Veyati, apparently confused. Veyati shrugged. Who the hell was Stensen?

Iroas couldn't have simply stated at that time they were just there to, 'speak with the master'. His man-handling of the maid wouldn't have worked well with such a claim. He was at a loss for words at the moment.

She looked down at Mielle, then to the young woman on the stairs, then sighed inwardly. Why did Iroas have to be such a [i]pain[/i]? Squeezing her eyes shut, she concentrated on a solution to Iroas terrible manners that didn't involve throwing him to the wolves. Veyati gritted her teeth, but did what she could to salvage the situation.

"You're mistaken," she said, a little too quietly to be heard at first. Veyati let go of Mielle, stepped toward the stairs, and said it again, louder. "You're mistaken. We did not come here to hurt anyone or take anything." 

Mielle clutched her wrist and back away, eyeing the space in between Veyati and the stairwell, as if she were ready to jump between them in sacrifice. The young lady gripped the siderail of the stairs and put a foot on the step above her.

"Then what do you want? What are you here for, coming in uninvited, harming my friend?" she questioned.

Veyati sighed and halted at the foot of the stairs, holding at least until the tension dissipated. "I take no responsibility for Iroas' [i]brazen[/i] actions," she said, giving him a rather disappointed side glance, "But I have been led to believe that vampires are to blame for the attacks on my caravan; if I thought I could so easily receive answers and solace by knocking on the front door of someone who may be behind this chaos in Garude, I would've, but I was not willing to take the chance after I and my friends were attacked."

She appeared awe-struck, as if Veyati's explanation were either insane or wondrous, though by the way she started to relax her posture it seemed as though she was satisfied with it. "Vampires? I'm sorry, but we are not those vampires. When were you attacked?" The woman asked sincerely. The atmosphere lost tension, though neither Mielle nor the woman appeared ready to simply offer them tea and a seat.

"Two days ago," Iroas answered, "and we believe the Cain's were behind it-"

"Then why intrude here?!" the woman interjected, furious. Good point. Caslin stiffled a snicker. This fiasco was bordering on comical. Iroas just smiled, trying to ward off the embarassment, "I have been under the assumption that most if not all vampires are associate with one another in some manner. Why the Cain's attacked us is not known, but it was peculiar. We could not simply speak to them, as you must understand." Iroas looked back to gesture towards the other two.

"And so we felt it would be best to speak with someone else." He refrained from saying overtly that they originally planned to sneak into the home and interrogate them. In the end though, they had the upper hand here, being the ones with weapons. Might they have knocked courteously and asked for a word, they could have been denied, possibly even with an alarm. They went in with little knowledge and a host of paranoia; Iroas concluded the plan was sound, and they were in the right, ultimately. Veyati thought he was ridiculous and a terrible diplomant.

"I apologize for all of this, but we had reason to be cautious, as you can see," he said.

"The Cains? Surely," the woman said cryptically. With a glance at Mielle, she gave a stern command, "Please prepare some tea for our guests." The maid appeared unenthusiastic, surely because of her prior treatment by said guests, though she walked off into a hallway silently.

Caslin sighed in relief and relaxed. Crisis averted. He gave Iroas a sidelong glance, or at least tried to, but his smiling mask reflected his amusement.

Veyati stayed at the foot of the stairs, putting the pieces together. These people were either following some sort of elaborate ruse to trick them, or they were never the threat and... not all vampires were inherently scheming monsters. Quite the revelation.
 
"Not on good terms with the Cain's?" she asked.

The woman began to walk down the stairs as soon as Iroas sheathed his sword and bowed his head, seemingly apologetic. "Lord Cain was a man I respected, but he shifted in recent years. He has become quite frantic, paranoid. He wants to live, you see-" the woman paused at the bottom of the stairs, eyes wide as she faced each one of the trio in turn. Falling silent she mumbled a few things in dismissal, and hurried into the room next to the lobby. "N-never mind. Please follow me to the lounge." Iroas glanced at the other two before following just behind. Caslin shrugged, and they both followed without a word. There was more than enough time for questions.

The lounge was lavishly furnished, most of the cushions sporting a frilly piece underneath them, hanging over the space beneath the furniture. Iroas looked over it with a sort of distaste, but seated himself quickly anyways, eager to lie on something meant for human relaxation... never mind the fact that a vampire owned it. Caslin and Veyati gave barely a second glance before seating themselves, both still [i]very[/i] confused at how their morning had twisted and turned, but at least it was for better rather than worse. So far. Veyati mused about a scenario where the master of the house would revive the already resolved misunderstanding. Hopefully, that wouldn't happen. They seemed amiable enough, if still a little dubious toward Iroas. He did have a terrible habit of appearing threatening, however.

"Are you the head of the household, ma'am?" Iroas asked. The woman nodded after sitting down, pressing her dress in such a manner that it didn't appear messy when seated. Veyati smiled and folded her hands in her lap as she settled in, relieved. That immediately eliminated the chance of a blood bath happening from an egregious misunderstanding, thank goodness. The young woman conducted herself with elegance, but not arrogance-- almost the opposite of Auriga.

"I, along with my brother. He is asleep upstairs," she said, "My name is Lisil Belial."

"Iroas," the soldier introduced. Lisil turned to Veyati and Caslin, appearing eager to learn of their names as well.

Veyati introduced the both of them. "Veyati Cresna," she said, giving a short bow to Lisil, then gestured to her friend, "And this is Caslin Stygal."

"It's a pleasure, miss," Caslin said, giving her a short bow as well, "Though truly we apologize for the misunderstanding. Many of our interactions here on Garude have gone rather... strangely."

Lisil smiled warmly, somehow managing to turn her otherwise pale face into a ray of sunshine, "I can imagine," she said, smiling, "Garude is not a friendly place. I would direct my apologies to Mielle, honestly. She recieved the... brunt of this interaction." Lisil glanced in Iroas direction, who was busy surveying the rich room. 

Caslin turned his head down and cleared his throat to try getting his attention. "Iroas?"

"Of course," he replied, turning back to the conversation, "I presume she is still preparing tea?" Lisil nodded and turned to an open door in the back of the room as if to see if Mielle was already underway returning.

"So," Lisil began, "do you have any clue why the Cain's targeted you specifically?"

Veyati's gaze drifted off as she thought back to her first conversation with Auriga. The expression she gave when Veyati mentioned 'uncovering secrets'. The two that led her to the party in the first place. Nothing seemed like it fit perfectly together, but Auriga seemed to be the culprit. She waved her hand over her mask and chuckled. "Well," she said, "Our refusal to reveal our identities and origins seemed to infuriate Lady Auriga, and she seemed rather... hostile, perhaps, with her line of questioning? None too impressed with my curiosity, like she had something to hide that she thought I was after."

"And she certainly does," Lisil confirmed, matter-of-factly. Clinking porcelain signaled Mielle's approach, carrying a tray of small white cups filled with steaming tea. Respectfully, she put down a cup and tea-plate before all four of them. With a bow she retreated back to the same room. Iroas picked up his tea apathetically, sipping it lightly. The other two left their tea alone completely, unwilling to remove their masks, but listened intently.

"Explain. What did you mean when you said Cain wanted to live?" Iroas said. Lisil had begun to pick up her tea when Iroas asked, and hearing it, suddenly dropped her cup, spilling tea over the carpet with a clang as it hit the plate. Mielle rushed in instinctively, hurrying to pick up the mess even as Lisil tried to dismiss her from helping.

"I-I was mistaken. Never mind that, it is too difficult to explain," she hurriedly said, brushing her dress of remaining liquid. Iroas raised an eyebrow, unconvinced.

There was uncomfortable silence for several moments. Veyati spent them absently looking around the room, trying to piece together more of the puzzle. "Something disturbs you about the subject," she pointed out, "And with the use of necromancy involved in the attack on my [i]friends[/i]... I can't help but think it is related."

Lisil clasped her hands together, and after a moment of contemplation clenched them even harder, trying to resist a certain thought. She looked up at Mielle with worried eyes, and the maid responded with a question of worry herself. "Is something wrong, my lady?"

"If you could, Mielle, please leave us alone for a bit. I would like to speak with them in private," Lisil asked. Mielle looked over at the trio, hesitant, but nodded and left, shutting the door behind her. Lisil looked at the door for a few seconds, listening, before turning back. She adjusted herself in the chair and leaned forward.

"I take no pleasure in revealing this to ones uninvolved with everything that is happening here on Garude. Or in the entirety of Aurora for that matter. It is not something that would do well with the vast majority of the populace." Taking a deep breath, Lisil continued. "By telling you this, you [i]must not[/i] relay it to anyone else. Ever. However, I think you deserve answers as to why you were attacked. I do not think you would simply forget it all and leave it be unless you knew."

"What is it Lady Lisil?" Iroas impatiently asked, himself leaning forward. Once again, she stopped herself, waiting.

"Cain wishes to live. To live past the end that is to come. I believe he, or rather, Lady Auriga attacked you out of fear that their projects might be looked into. Being so novel here, and displaying the curiosity you detailed, she must have looked to you as spies from outside Bulwark."

"I don't understand. The end? What projects?" Iroas questioned.

"Please, you must promise me you will not tell this to anyone else," Lisil stressed. Iroas nodded.

Veyati's hands were closed over her knees, grasping handfuls of her robes. Was he really using necromancy to avoid his own end? She couldn't tell, but... what about [i]acting[/i] on that information? She bit the inside of her cheek, unsure, but nodded anyway. 

Lisil appeared distressed at continuing, as if every word brought her closer to certain doom. "Projects, to find a way to live past... To live past the end of the world." Iroas seemed apathetic to such words, waving them off as silly myth. Caslin and Veyati noted the seriousness in her voice, however, and listened closely.

"The end of the world? I would hardly call a lack of children the end of the world. Are you not immortal? You do not worry about having children to carry your name," Iroas commented.

"You do not understand Iroas," Lisil stressed, "I am not talking of the Silence. I am talking about the eradication of all life from Aurora. The end of everything, not just childbirth and a dwindling population. Cain wishes to survive this event."

"This seems silly. Who told you about this?"

"Cain himself. He has gathered many to his side to aid in the project's progress, including those he wishes to live alongside him."

"And I presume you did not opt in for life, then?" Iroas asked, crossing his arms. Lisil shook her head and glared.

"I have lived for many, many years. If my time is to come, so be it. Mostly, however, I do not support his methods. He is cruel, and to live on using the lives of countless others... I cannot stand for that," Lisil explained.

Veyati's mask hid her look of pure disgust. "What do you mean by his methods?" She asked. Her voice didn't so easily hide her feelings. 

"Garude is known for countless disappearances. It is no coincidence that he chose this place to carry out the experiments alongside Stensen. The use of living souls to protect one's own. He is sacrificing countless people to fuel the project's goals."

"What does he plan to do?" Iroas asked.

"He plans to turn their souls into a shield. A shield that will protect him and his chosen companions from the end," Lisil continued, "They know it is coming, unlike the majority of the world. I can only imagine who is orchestrating this is deep within the Empire itself. Stensen of Sabaton, and Cain of Garude, both powerful, well-known individuals of the country."

Iroas remained stunned, silent, contemplating the insane darkness that was undulating underneath the Sphere's very nose. Aurora's nose in fact. How they could possibly know about an 'end of the world' was unknown, and in the end he still believed it little. It seemed too far-fetched.

A knock on the door gathered everyone's attention. The front door. Another knock and Mielle entered the room slowly, wary of interrupting them while Lisil still wished to speak in private. When her master gestured towards the door, however, she hurried to it and opened the door. Veyati narrowed her eyes at the door. Who would have arrived so shortly after them? Her brother was asleep within the manor, Mielle was here. It had barely been fifteen minutes. Wait. There was that aura. Something felt wrong in the air. Veyati jumped from her seat and reached out to the maid, calling out to her.

"Mielle, wait-!"

She stopped short, frozen in place, hand still reaching forward.

A metal blade appeared from behind the opened door, followed by a splash of blood. Mielle was impaled through the chest by a sword whose owner remained hidden behind the entreeway. Tilting it upwards, Mielle slid with a sickening slick off and crumpled to the floor. Immediately, Iroas, Caslin, and Lisil jumped from their seats, the soldier's weapon already unsheathed and pointed towards the entrance. Lisil broke into tears, though withheld a scream. 

Heavy boots stepped out from behind the door, and two other pairs followed suit. Behind the foremost individual, two warriors clad in black armor held swords at the ready, faces obscured by metal visors. At their helm, a tall, formidable woman stood with arms crossed behind her back. Her eyes, face, hair, were all gray making her seem a lot older than she truly was upon looking more deeply. Most notable, however, was her mask; a metallic, strange object wrapped around her mouth and nose, with a tube extending from its chin below her trench coat.

Her breath was heavy, mechanical, and infrequent. They could hear it emanating from underneath the respirator, a sickly, pitiful breath. She looked over the four slowly, landing her eyes on Lisil.

"Guests I wasn't expecting, Miss Lisil," she mumbled underneath the mask.

"You monster! You killed her!" Lisil cried out. The woman didn't even flinch to look back over Mielle's body as she casually stepped over it.

"She only had a year anyway," she said dismissively, regarding the choking soon-to-be-corpse with a brief sideglance, "What would she have spent it doing? Serving you, what-- tea?" the woman said, looking at the cups and plates on the table. "You didn't even tell her she had a year. You wasted her time." Iroas edged forward slightly, and the woman turned her attention to him.

"Ah ah ah, Mr. Iroas. I came prepared. Put that sword away."

"Right," he said sarcastically, "Or what?" The womans' cheek bones lifted, she was smiling underneath the respirator.

"Your home in Majesty was lovely to visit. Not personally of course. Really I speak for the men I sent there. A great view of the palace from what?" she turned to the soldiers behind her, "The fifth floor of the complex? Is that right?" Iroas became awestruck, and the grip on his sword loosened.

"H-how," he mumbled to himself.

She turned to Veyati next. "I suppose I should have expected you here. Auriga was right in worrying about you after all."

Veyati's face twisted in anger for Mielle's sudden fall. She stood, back straight, fists clenched and arms at her side, trying to hold her composure. "Right in worrying about me?" She said, boldly standing her ground, "Auriga [i]instigated[/i] this. She attacked people that had nothing to do with her!"

"Hm, yes. Right. I suppose the same holds true for you too in the end. I wouldn't worry about all of this. You only have a year as well. Lisil however, has much shorter time." The woman snapped her gloved fingers, and the two soldiers motioned towards Lisil. Iroas once again motioned himself towards retaliation, and the soldiers stopped.

"Iroas. When I say that I had men visit your home, I meant they visited your family too," she said. From her coat pocket, she retrieved a small slip of paper with obscure symbols on it. "I can notify my men that you didn't cooperate."

"Damn you! You're lying!" Iroas shouted.

"You will never be 100% sure, and I believe that anything less will be insufficient for action on your part. Am I wrong?" He didn't budge. He didn't speak. That was all she needed.

"What do you want with me? I don't want to have anything to do with this madness, Stensen!" Lisil screamed.

"Lord Cain gave up on withholding his rage for your betrayal. If you will not stand at his side, you will stand before him when death comes. You will be... his meatshield, though that seems a bit less graceful than what it will truly be," the woman stated, "Now if you'll come with me calmly, we won't have to kill anyone else." Lisil glared, hands clenched into crushing fists so tight her nails nearly pierced skin. She did not want her guests to become casualties for her sake, new and unfamiliar as they were to her, but the thought of surrendering her own life was just as distasteful.

She took a single step forward, but stopped there. It wouldn't be so easy giving up, and it seemed the woman knew this; she displayed little impatience, arms folded at her back and eyes wandering. It was as if she knew clearly Lisil would need some time to debate with herself, and allowed her to do so.

Veyati retreated, shuffling back closer to the others. Her eyes remained focused on their assailants, shifting between them and her newfound allies. Caslin waited on Veyati's action. Lisil probably couldn't fight them. Iroas wasn't sure if Stensen was bluffing. She gritted her teeth. What the hell did it matter? They all had a year. Stensen was giving them the luxury of time to decide, so Veyati waited anxiously on Lisil's decision. Lisil had lived many, and by her decisions in this last one, she had made an enemy for herself. A powerful one. The End itself was unfair, unavoidable, and this situation too seemed just as unfortunate. What difference was there then? Her anger subsided. Lisil relaxed her fists and took in a deep breath.

"I'll go," she stated dully, head bowed. She walked towards the woman slowly, head still turned towards the floor in defeat. A blue robed arm swung out in front of her path, stopping her. Veyati gave Lisil a look over her shoulder. It was hard to tell through the mask, but her swift yet stern action spoke of stubborness. Tenacity. No words at first-- just a shake of her head. Caslin started to catch on to what was happening and dug his heels in as well. Lisil stopped, turning her head up to meet Veyati's obscured eyes. She looked unsure, as if scrying Veyati's mind for a guarantee. Iroas didn't budge from his position, but he seemingly caught on too, noticing Veyati and Caslin's shift.

"Why not let her make the decision?" the woman asked, offering a hand to Lisil, beckoning her closer.

Veyati took in a deep breath, then exhaled. Her voice came out surprisingly calm, but a deep-seated rage was hidden just beneath the surface. "Even a [i]day[/i] spent allowing an aberration like you to further their plans would be outrageous."

"[i]Someone[/i] has to live. Not another millennia must the world remain in obliviousness," she stated harshly, "It is no aberration to desire life and knowledge where the gods would take it from you for selfish reasons."

"Bullshit!" she snarled, "I know only of gods that [i]give[/i] life and knowledge, while you twist it for your own perverted desires, harvesting souls so you can cheat the inevitable end is selfish in itself." Veyati stamped her foot down and began removing her gloves, discarding them on the floor. She stood firm, making a challenge to Stensen and her minions. Caslin took that as a cue to prepare and did the same.

Veyati's pale hands clenched into fists, then opened up as she settled in her defiant stance again. "We have a year, and an empty year it would be if anyone allowed you to succeed!"

She shook her head and raised her shoulders, "Then I am afraid we think in vastly different ways." The woman snapped her fingers and the two soldiers began their approach. "I'm afraid I won't be able to use the failsafe after all, Iroas. There's no need to kill your family in order to maintain your obedience if you're about to die anyway."

There was a moment of uncomfortable stillness as both sides stared each other down, guaging their opponents' strength. Caslin looked to Veyati for a cue. He received a slow nod, and then the black-armored men began to march forward, swords in hand and ready to fight.

Iroas moved from his locked stance, charging towards one of them in anticipation that Veyati and Caslin would aid him. With a yell, he swung his sword upwards towards the rightmost soldier's arm. The soldier blocked his strike with both hands clasping their own sword. Both warriors did combat with one another, seemingly matched in strength and skill as their longswords clashed over and over, both of them stepping back and forth in the lounge room. There was a sudden flash of metal from Veyati and Caslin. Both drew their daggers in perfect unison as they dashed into the fray. As they charged, their masks seemed to take on meaning. Caslin's mask seemed to portray a smiling devil with the markings imprinted upon it, while Veyati's bore a face of emotionless focus.

"Wake your brother!" Veyati shouted, running to Iroas' aid. Lisil nodded and backed away to the kitchen door, her body still facing towards the action until she disappeared. The second soldier walked past his comrade, letting him engage Iroas on his own. The black knight thrust his sword at Caslin in an upwards fashion, attempting to stick him right in the chest. It was slower than expected, as if he were testing the man's capabilities before fully committing to the blow. Slow enough to read the tell from a mile away. Caslin grunted and dropped to a slide, feet first. Caslin was watched vigilantly, and the man followed his move downwards. He brought his sword downwards to his lower body, held in two hands to prepare for Caslin's assault. With his left foot, he slid aside and raised his sword upwards, readying to drop it down upon Caslin's belly. Caslin's momentum continued carrying him across the floor and away from the knight. Just an inch from his skull, the blade clanged against the floorboards, splitting the wood along its length. The knight wrenched it back and faced Caslin, prepared for another exchange.

Iroas lifted the other knight's blade with his own in a large arc, though threw a fist instead of another swing of his sword. His gauntlet impacted the knight's chestplate, knocking him back a foot for Iroas to gain his composure. That was her cue. Veyati slid the blade of her knife across her open palm as she rushed past Iroas' side to follow up against the staggered knight. "Ixu!" she shouted, thrusting her bloodied palm at the knight's side. A low boom resonated through the room as a ripple of invisible force instantly forced the knight aside, the metal of his chestplate caving slightly. He fell several feet to the side with a grunt and Iroas took no pause seizing the opportunity Veyati had created by assaulting the fallen knight. Iroas lunged at the knight with a slide, sword readied to swing around from behind. He brought the sword around with a twist of his hips, held low at the knight's face-level. Already staggered, the knight raised his guard, but Iroas' furious assault punched through his defense and sent him further away. He landed with a clunk of his armor plating and clang of his sword slapping the wooden floor, sprawled out and open for attack.

Out from Iroas' side, a blur of blue almost silently leapt past him and pounced on top of the prone knight, dagger poised to strike. The sword was much too heavy to bring about in time, and so the knight simply covered his most vulnerable parts from whatever it was this woman held. He raised his arms before his face, shielding his eyes from being stabbed right through. The sound of metal tearing through metal and flesh came as all eight inches of Veyati's blade found itself through the knight's right palm instead. The knight yelled out in pain, and his hand instinctively clenched, fingers clamping down on Veyati's hand. The man was hardened enough to continue fighting. Veyati growled at him from behind her mask, trying to force the blade down through his helmet, but the knight managed to yank it aside and let the blade stick into the floor. She shot a look at her knife, then back to the knight. Confusion could still be felt through the mask's neutral expression, if only for a split second before a sucker punch from the side quickly followed up.

There was a loud yelp as Veyati's head swung to the side, broken shards of her shattered mask scattering across the floor. When she turned back to the knight, she flipped her hood back, revealing her youthful face. Her skin was nearly white as her mask, and her silver hair fell free now, no longer held by her hood or mask. With her hand held over the bruise, covering part of her face, she appeared human. When her arm swung out to parry the next punch, that perception changed immediately. Veyati lowered herself below the arc of the punch, and the anger the mask was hiding was finally revealed. Muddy purple eyes stared angrily back at the knight, sharp vampiric fangs were bared, and the muddy purple blood dripping from the cut on her pale face became much, much more apparent.

Her free hand slipped under and grabbed the knight's helmet, pulling it open to reveal the face of her opponent. Startled eyes met with her own as the knights protection was lifted, and the knight became frantic. With his free arm, he grabbed her hand that still held the dagger and pulled it to the other side of his chest, twisting her arm into a painful position. She refused to let him without a fight, pushing against him the whole way, but winced as her arm started to bend awkardly. Veyati grunted through the pain and held her ground. Then, she pulled back her other arm, opened her palm, and thrust it down at the knight's face with a shout.

"Ixu!" Her words of power were met with a gruesome explosion of flesh, bone, blood, and brain matter. The knight's helmet was immediately turned to a container of pink and red slush. Veyati flinched as a shower of the gore spouted upwards into her face. His body went limp instantly, and Veyati stepped away from her fallen opponent.

"[i]Shit[/i]," Iroas muttered, his sword tip tapping upon the ground, as if he simply gave up fighting at that moment. He turned to Caslin's battle instead, quite sure Veyati had taken care of the knight almost too well. Caslin's opponent faired as well against him, slumped against a wall and futily clawing at a neck wound that was gouting blood, while Caslin appeared unscathed.

Both knights were vanquished, leaving Iroas, Veyati, and Caslin in the presence only of Stensen, who seemed entirely unfazed by the loss of her peons. She rocked twice on the balls of her feet and heels and gave a quick gesture with her chin to the floor.

"Unfortunate. Unfortunate that they were ordinary. Two less souls we have to promise life, I suppose," she said half to herself, "I hope Vane's scuffle is going better."

Veyati narrowed her eyes at Stensen. Vane? She almost cursed aloud, instead huffing in anger. Stensen was just trying to keep them busy... they were after Lisil and her brother; Caslin, Veyati, and Iroas were just a bunch of annoying investigators to them, not nearly as important as Lisil's soul. Veyati stayed frozen for a few seconds, then bolted off and up the stairs without another word. Caslin watched her leave and took that as a cue to lope over to Iroas' side and hold their ground against Stensen.

Even as Veyati dashed past Stensen, she made no motion to stop her, arms still folded at her back. In fact, she stepped aside so as to grant her extra room. She thought of tripping her, but that would have killed the atmosphere.

Iroas lifted his sword upon his shoulder, seemingly uninclined to attack Stensen given her apparently pacifistic behavior. She gave a sidelong glance at the stairwell after Veyati ascended, then to a few other areas in the home before rolling on her feet again. Stensen brought her arms forward and clapped them before rubbing them together.

"Well then, I suppose I've failed down here. I take it you'll care for the bodies?" she lifted up on her toes and stared into the mask of the knight whose face detonated, eyebrows raised in what appeared to be amazement. "I'll leave it to you, and take my leave." Stensen gestured to the door with her thumb and turned to leave, keeping an eye on the two men watching until she made it to the exit.

Iroas walked to the lounge's bay window seat, moving aside a curtain to look outside. Stensen had simply left, walking down the home's gravel road without a single glance back. Iroas turned back to Caslin and shrugged.

"I suppose some people just really know when to quit," he said.

---------

At the top of the stairs, a hallway split into two directions, each with three doors to them. Only one was open, and she could distinguish shuffling from inside it. She rushed to the door, her approach soundless thanks to the spell cast earlier. Inside, she realized exactly what Stensen had stalled for.

Another knight turned to face her from within, a body held in each arm. One of them was Lisil, she could see, and the other was presumably her brother. They seemed unharmed save for their unconscious state. The knight stared silently at Veyati, though he didn't seem surprised by her appearance, more so simply waiting.

He was not like the others, a full two heads in height above Veyati and donned in an armor similar in color to the others but entirely more intricate, appearing more like a skeleton of metal had encaged his body. Streaks of red color marked some of the ribs beneath the outer set, and the fingers of his gauntlets appeared sharp, animal-like.

"Morning," he greeted her. Veyati blinked, shifted her gaze to Lisil and her brother, and then back to the knight. She wiped some of the blood and sinews away from her mouth.

"Vane, I presume."

"That is my name, yes," Vane jerked both of his arms up in tandem, repositioning Lisil and the brother.

"You're not leaving here with both of them." She said. No threatening posture. Just a statement, "And none of this is going to save anyone from whatever end is coming."

The knight bent his head back and looked to the side, clearly bored with her claim. He reshifted the bodies again. "I don't think you really understand any of this. Not enough if you believe that," he said with a tone of warning. "No one would be mad enough to try this if they weren't a hundred percent sure it would work. I trust Stensen's work and Schiezen's word. And if they're wrong in the end, and we truly have a year left..." Vane rolled his head side to side, "Then I trust their money even more."

Vane turned away from Veyati, facing another wall in the room. "I will be going now," he claimed.

Veyati drew her blood-buttered knife and took a stance. "No," She said firmly, "You're going to leave them, [i]then[/i] you will be going."

"Ha. I'd be inclined to teach you a lesson, put you in your place. But these people are very heavy, and I'm growing tired. Picking them up was a hassle, and I'd rather not have to do it again if I can avoid it." Vane seemed poised to leave in some fashion, like waiting for an elevator to come. He spoke up one final time, however.

"How about this. You want these two," he rose each in tandem, "and I want to make sure my final days aren't spent doing petty things, like relaxing. I want things to be interesting and volatile. Chaotic. We play a game. I give you a lead, and if you can follow it, find me that is, then we fight. That seems to be what you're intent on doing. I'll personally hand these two to you on my knees if you win."

Veyati's eyes shifted about the three, contemplating her options. Vane wasn't even her main target, but this sounded promising. If she won, Vane fell, Lisil and her brother would be safe, and that would be a thorn right in Cain's side. Her posture relaxed as she lowered the dagger. A nod was all she gave him.

"Good," Vane nodded in approval, "Stensen is conducting her research within the Cain's grounds. The castle itself is hidden by a spell that I highly doubt you'll ever be able to locate on your own. This Sphere isn't a small place, you know. So here's what I propose: look for someone who knows everything on the Sphere, inside and out. There is only one, and I mean it when I say [i]everything[/i]. He can show you where the castle is, invisible or not. There's your lead. I honestly hope to see you soon." The knight gave a nod in farewell to Veyati and tightened his arms around the bodies.

Then, he fell into shadows. Vane literally disappeared through the floor, descending into a puddle of darkness just beneath his feet. As soon as his head passed through, the shadow closed on itself in silence. Footsteps sounded from behind Veyati, and she turned to find Iroas beneath the door.

"Find them?" he asked her. Veyati wiped a little more viscera from her face, then shook her head. 

"No," she said, "But we're going to."

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[b][center]End of Chapter Two[/b][/center]