[hr] [center][h1][color=92278f]Monsters Be Dead[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] [indent]Monsters come in all shapes and sized, they don’t always appear in the form of dragons, the undead, or the like. Sometimes they take a more common form of the man living next door, the farmer down the road, a barman, or even the form of a trusted guard. Devlin sat complacently while the peculiar young man went on to express his good intentions. She listened to his music – a tune no more than vaguely familiar to her – and she courteously read each note he wrote out, but she never once spoke a word, simply watching with an apathetic stare until a town guard entered the tavern and took him away upstairs. Ren…. She wasn’t sure at just what point of Ren’s charades she found herself believing he was being sincere. Perhaps it early in the piece, when his initial reaction to her accusation had caused a reaction that only the honest could muster. But as the minutes went by, Devlin found herself enduring a feeling she’d never felt for another human since the slaughter of her family. It was adoration, possibly… or was it something more, she wasn’t quite sure. One thing was however very certain; by the time Ren had stood to depart Devlin’s company, she didn’t want him to leave. She had enjoyed his grace. He had relieved her torment, and caused her to forsake the depths of animosity she had held close to heart for so long. Needless to say, that when the scarf inevitable fell from his neck in the shoving of the guard, the scars revealed beneath struck her with a familiar charge. There it was again, that old foreboding darkness, tearing down the tower of her newly built fortress. A bolt of violet energy dashed across her fingertips as her heart came near to exploding in her chest, like a hot blade being thrust between her ribs while a thousand needles of sudden rage prodded at her skin. For a while she was stricken by her own animosity. The sound of her teeth grinding may have well been heard across the room as she watched Ren disappear up the stairs in the company of that beast, and it was then, right at that moment, she realized just who and what Ren was. Taking the coins from the table, she left her bottle and meal behind. [hr] Devlin stood at the bar looking down at the fat little man behind the counter. The severity of her face and the additional shine to her purple eyes had him already gaping back at her in fear. She turned her eyes to the door behind him - which no doubt led to the kitchen beyond – and she knew he understood her intentions by the slow, defiant shake of his head. “Then I will do it right here in front of everyone.” She said. The naturally soft rasp of her voice was broken, grated and distorted by power that surged through her system. “The choice is yours.” The Barkeep’s chubby cheeks wobbled with trepidation as his frantic eyes moves about the faces of strangers in the room, before he returned his horrified eyes to hers with a nod. She followed him through the door and into the kitchen. A minute later Queno was up on his toes, back against the wall, Devlin’s hand throttling his neck as currents of electricity shuttered his stout little body. It wasn’t so much that he couldn’t breathe or, more importantly, talk. “Tell me what room he’s in.” She said, her voice now surprisingly calm as sparks spluttered like spit from her mouth. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” the man’s statically charged voice wheezed between his struggles for breath. His face was already turning red. “Ren.” She clarified, and brought forth a dagger with her other hand. Its blade danced excitedly with fingers of violet light as she pressed it to his stomach. “Tell me what room he’s in.” It hadn’t taken long for him to realize that he had no choice. It was either give her the information or die. Preceding a plea for his life, tears of humiliating defeat burst forth from his eyes, and then he uttered the words she wanted to hear: “Last... last door on the right.” “You let him sell his soul.” She said. While produced the words, her grip eased on his neck, yet the currents of electric continued to disrupt his system and the dagger remained flush to his gut as his feet became flush with the floor. “You don’t understand!” He gasped, as the red flushed from his cheeks. “There’s more to it than what you think – you need to know the whole story! Please, God, just please don’t hurt me right now.” “They take what they want.” She surmised, lip curling with contempt. “They do what they want to do. They give him coin…. Then he gives it you.” “Y-y-yes-yes,” He stammered, “but you don’t understand! Times are tough – and R-R-Ren isn’t what you thi –“ That was all that she needed know. Her suspicions had been proven true; there were monsters in this town. Queno’s eye popped with shock, his body shuttered, and his teeth clamped together as his words were cut short by the shot of electricity delivered by the blade that was thrust into his stomach. One more monster was dead. Many of those still drinking in the tavern were no doubt drawn to the sight of Devlin when she exited the kitchen. The sight of the blood dripping from her dagger would have been hard to miss – But she was weightless again; floating in a dream, she ascended the stairs and turned right down the hall while images of her father’s dead gaze flashed across the screen of her mind. “I’m coming…” She uttered the words, though she wasn’t aware she was talking at all. “…no one’s going hurt you today…” [hr] The entrance burst open! Splinters of wood sprayed from the doorframe as the lock to the door tumbled and skipped across the floor, while the darkness suddenly came alive with arms of violet light that dashed across the room. She never stopped to take in the dark, sordid sights of events taking place in there. Before the guard could even react, his naked body was thrown across the room by a thick bending arm of electricity that slammed him against the wall. For an instant he was pinned there, convulsing violently, then dropped to the floor where at once Devlin was straddled to his chest, both daggers razed high – one blooded, one shining in the light of the moon that shown through the window – and then they both came down, plunging deep into his head through his eyes. Though his monstrosity of a soul had now departed from his vessel, she didn’t stop there. She had lost all control, consumed in the rapture of her very own demon as she withdrew the daggers from his head, sheathed them to the small of her back, and then proceeded to expel a constant stream of power from the palms of both hands. The electrified arms of wrath scorched the guard’s corps until his flesh began fry, plumes of smoke filled the room and, despite her will to continue, she couldn’t go on any further. At last… depleted of even the energy needed to stay on her feet, the violet arms of light fizzled out and her own body dropped to the floor, unconscious.[/indent]