Glory
Nyx had let her guard down, the wards were falling.
"It's time to strike," Glory said to nobody in particular. She slipped into the mansion, and crept down into the med lab, where Dawn was lying, still comatose on a bed. There were many people asleep in the hospital wing.
"My pretties did their jobs well," Glory said to herself. She unhooked all the leads attached to Dawn, and lifted her up, sneaking out of the room.
Cain
Cain.
"Yes, Loki?" Cain didn't stop sharpening his knife.
The cat has faltered. The wards are down.
"Really?" Cain looked over the edge of his knife and nodded thoughtfully, before tossing it into the air and catching it by the hilt and slamming it down between his outspread fingers. "Guess I'll havta go pay them a little visit. Who d we have to thank for this?"
Glorificus.
"Interesting name. Should we send her a thank you gift?"
A little girl wrapped up in a bow, all crying and ready to be devoured. I think she would like that.
"As you say. Gods know what other gods like best, I'm sure." Cain got to his feet. "Let's get this show on the road then.
Glory
Glory was walking through the courtyard, Dawn in her arms, when she saw a man, bearing Loki's mark heading towards her.
"You're marked by Loki!" she said, surprised.
Cain
"Yeah, yeah. Flames and burning. Went and saw him." Cain swaggered up to Glory. "Oh, it's the Key. Hello, girlie...gonna try and rip my spine out again? Oh, there's fun to be had here. You wanna come play, Glory?"
Glory
"Violent killing fun? I'm always up for that. And I finally have me Key back, so, yeah. I should go store her away. I'll be back in a wink." Glory teleported out, and put Dawn in a safe, cloaked location, and appeared back in front of Cain.
"Let have some fun with these nasty goody-goodies"
Cain
Cain shook himself into the bloodfrenzy. "Oh, to spill the blood and watch the pain. I only killed one the last time I was here. Do we want to watch them burn?" Flames danced through his eyes and the gem on his hand pulsed.
Inside the stable, Slepnir went mad. ASTRID! SIGURD!
Glory
"Oh, I need a brain to eat. This room looks good," they walked into a room where twin boys were sleeping. Glory reached for oe and stuck her fingers in his brain.
"You want the other one?"
Cain
"I've had such trouble with twins lately..." Cain mused. "Dark and golden. But this one can pay for the sins of the other. Wake up." He shook Elisha hard, grinning as the boy gasped. "Time to play. Loki, silence outside and all around. Let no one disturb the games." Cain drew his knife.
As you will. Cain's back arched as the flames spun through him, and then he refocused on Elisha.
"A bit of blade and burn." He traced the point of the knife down Elisha's chest, smoke rising as the hot blade parted his shirt.
Elijah and Elisha
Elisha and Elijah screamed. "So dark, biting, and dying!" Elijah screamed.
"Get away from me!" Elisha screamed, pushing Cain back with a blast of water.
Cain
"Oh, that's not nice." Cain shook his head, water dripping down his face. "Just for that, you get to hurt a bite more." He placed his hand, the jewelled one on Elisha's chest and watched the skin sizzle. "Really gotta thank Loki sometime," he said conversationally as Elisha screamed. "How's yours, beauty?"
Elisha
Elisha screamed. he couldn't move, and cain was burning him!
--
Spike sat up in bed, and shook Vort. "Babe, somthings happening, I think they're here!"
Nyx, Mordred, Vortigern, Astrid, Sigurd and Cain
"Hunh, what?" Vort sat up, shaking his head. "I can't sense..." He concentrated. Mord? Spike's freaked. You feel anthing?
No. I'll go and ask Nyx. Mordred teleported himself to where Nyx was sleeping in the medroom. "Nyx? Spike says somethings happening."
"Nnn." Nyx got up, eyes still closed. And then she opened them. "Dawn. Where's Dawn?!" She looked at the empty bed. Astrid was sitting by Sigurd's side, dozing and then he got up.
"Han er her." (He's here)
"Ingen!" (No!)
"Komm, Valkyrie. Det er alltid en god dag dø." (Come, Valkyrie. It is always a good day to die.) Sigurd smiled at Astrid.
"DAWN!" Nyx wasn't listening.
~*~*~*~
Cain chuckled as he moved his hand and burnt some more of Elisha's skin. "Scream for me some more, boy. Scream." Elisha did.
Nico and Glory
Nico shot out of bed, and ran to his brothers' room.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHERS?!" He screamed. "Lady Nyx! Willow! Somebody! quick!" Glory reached out and bashed the boy's head against the wall.
"I hate it when I'm interrupted. I was just about to break some toes." She systematically broke each of Elijah's toes.
Cain
Cain laughed, a high sniggering animal sound that crawled with evil. "You know what? These boys are Amish. Oh, such fun. You know my name is Cain? And I bet you know your Bible stories. Cain the brother killer, that's me." He looked at Glory. "What do you think?" He sliced open Elisha's pants with a few quick flicks of his knife, not caring overmuch if the blade cut skin. "Should we play a little harder?"
Ben and Elisha
Ben screamed, unable to moved. *Brother!* he called out telepathically *Can you hear me?*
*Dying, biting, I've been bad. I've been bad.*
*No! We're going to get through this, I promise you!* Elisha began to pray aloud in Dutch.
Cain
"Awwww, Glory look, he's praying." Cain bent down and licked up some blood. "I love the taste of piety. So sweet...and tears..." He licked at Elisha's face. "Mmmm..." He let his fangs graze along the boy's cheek and lapped at the blood that welled up.
Elijah, Elisha, Glory, Scott and Jean
Elisha couldn't stop crying. And Elijah couldn't stop screaming. Glory was breaking every bone in his body, one by one.
---
Scott shook Jean. "Jeanie, there's somebody here, somebody's screaming." he hit the alert button and the alarms went off in the building, waking everybody up. Scott and Jean threw on some clothes, and ran to the twins room, but when Jean saw who it was, she ran away in fear; fear for her baby's life.
Cain, Sigurd and Astrid
"Awwwww, look. People come to play." Cain grinned up at them, his face a mask of blood. "I would so love to play with you more. Stay here for a bit." He casually broke Elisha's ankle with a twist of his hands.
Asrid and Sigurd advanced down the corridor. Sigurd carried his ax in his hands, and Astrid had unslung and loaded her bow. "Lo der I ser min far. Lo der I ser min mor. Lo der I ser mine søstre og mine brødre. Lo der I ser ledningen av mitt strekkende folk rygger til begynnelsen..."(Lo there I see my father. Lo there I see my mother. Lo there I see my sisters and my brothers. Lo there I see the line of my people stretching back to the beginning...) Sigurd started, and Astrid joined in.
"Og lo, de krever meg. Jeg ser portene av Valhalla, og mitt folk krever meg forbinde dem. For der sjelene av det modige bor, og de ønsker at meg tar mitt sted der." (And lo, they do call for me. I see the gates of Valhalla, and my people call for me to join them. For there the souls of the brave reside, and they wish me to take my place there.) His low booming voice was matched by her lighter female one as they prepared themselves for death. Astrid's eyes gleamed and her wings unfurled. "For vi er på formålet av Aesir, og vi kommer til slaget i dag, unafraid og ler av død. Hels, De tar oss ikke. Vårt sted er Valhalla, hjemet av det modige." (For we are on the purpose of the Aesir, and we do come to the battle today, unafraid and laughing at death. Hels, you shall not take us. Our place will be Valhalla, the home of the brave.)
Cain looked past Scott, and stood. "And here we are then."
"Cain." Sigurd held his ax ready.
"Sigurd. Astrid. Loki told me about you."
Glory and Astrid
Willow appeared. "Glory."
"Oh, it's the lover!"
"Haven't you heard? I'm a god now too!" Lightening came out of her fingers and struck Glory.
"Ow, that actually hurt! Well, I might as well be going, since I have my Key back. And don't you worry about finding her. You won't" And with a jolt, Glory disappeared.
Cain, Sigurd, Astrid, Vortigern and Mordred
Cain shrugged. "Good thing I never depend on women. They can be very undependable. Course, they always scream so loud. Kids are better...it's that innocence. Does me in every time. Shall we move this along then?"
"Aye." Sigurd nodded. "Astrid." Astrid stepped back slightly, and *moved* the three of them outside. Cain hit the ground and flared upward in a blaze of fire and agony. "SLEPNIR!" The horse broke down the wall of his stall and came galloping out. Cain hung midair, watching his adversary.
Look after him, you hear me, horse?! Astrid said, eyes wet with tears. Sigurd mounted and looked at her. "Vokt Deres rygg." (Watch your back.)
Sigurd leant over and kissed her. "Alltid. Jeg kommer tilbake for De." (Always. I will come back for you.) Slepnir leapt skywards, and Astrid beat her own wings fretfully, one hand going to her mouth as she watched him engage Cain in battle.
~*~*~*~
VORT! DAWN'S GONE!
"Spike! Mordred said Dawn's gone!" The two scrambled out of bed.
"Bloody hell!"
Dru
"My baby's gone!" Dru cried. "The stars are unclear, I don't know where she is, I can't feel her!" Dru was wailing now, "Sabre! Why can't I feel my baby through our bond?!"
Sabre, Nathan, Astrid, Nyx and Vortigern
"I don't know...I can't feel her either. I can't." Sabre's hair was lengthening steadily and his claws were out. "GLORY!" He howled, and then he smelt blood. "Come on, lovely, I smell blood and pain."
~*~*~*~
Nathan got up from his chair and went outside. Cain's laughter drifted to him from the sky. "Dies Irae..." he murmured, rubbing his arms as he felt a sudden cold.
"You see, ja? Sigurd will beat him." Astrid's eyes were fixed on the skies.
"What concerns me is that the God has taken her Key. I can't see with all these gods, they burn my eyes."
"They don't like mortals to see them clearly. But they are gods."
~*~*~*~
Nyx ran up to Spike, sobbing. "I can't find her! I can't! And oh, the room stinks of Glory."
"Shh, pet. We'll get her back. We did last time." Spike was gamefaced and growling.
"Nyx, what happened?" Vortigern was panting.
"I fell asleep! And she slipped through my wards."
Jean, Elijah and Nico
Jean rushed into the twins room and felt for Elisha's pulse. None. Then she ran over to the whimpering Elijah. All the coherency that held his mind together was gone. He was still the same person, but his mind had fallen apart. In addition to that, he had witnessed his twin brother's death through qith his eyes, as well as through the empathic and telepathic link they shared. He was a mess. Not to mention that every bone below his sternum had been broken, and he was unable to move.
"Somebody, quick, help me!" Jean cried to anybody that could hear her. That's when she noticed Nico. "I hope this works," she said, pulling on the link she shared with her baby. With a pop she teleported Elijah to the medlab and laid him out on the bed.
"Hank go to theYoder twins room and check on Nico. I think he has a concussion, but hurry back, I may need to take him to a hospital, if we can't set all these bones ourselves. Hank hurried out of the room and quickly returned with the other Amish boy in his massive arms. He took a good look at Elijah.
"Jean, this is just a minor clinic, he needs complete care. You need to stay here, I'll take him to the Emergency Room." Jean nodded.
"Go, now, while Glory's not here." He picked the small boy up and headed out. Meanwhile, Jean woke Nico up
"Nico, Nico you need to stay awake." She looked in his eyes. "You have a concussion. Talk to me."
"Dr. Grey?" Nico asked confused. "Oh no, my brothers, what happened to my brothers?" Jean shook her head sadly.
"Elijah's on his way to the emergency room, but Elisha didn't make it." Tears welled up in Nico's eyes.
"Is Becky okay? And Martha?"
"Becky is still unconscious from the snake bite, but alive, and Martha's fine. She hasn't left Becky's side all night." Jean gestured to the girl who had fallen asleep in the chair next to Becky's bed.
Cain, Sigurd, Astrid and Nathan
Cain screamed and then sent a blast of flame at Sigurd. The other man dodged it, but some of the fire caught Slepnir's flank. The horse bucked, sending Sigurd off his back and descending towards the earth.
"SIGURD!" Astrid screamed, and she shot into the air. Cain surveyed the tableau. Winged woman who looks like an angel ascending to catch a fallen angel. Almost poetic. But it needed more blood. Cain looked around, and smiled. Or fire.
"Dies Irae, Dies Irae, Dies Irae..." Nathan mumbled, swaying.
Cain stepped down onto the ground, flames spreading out from his footsteps. Nathan backed away. "Oh, look. It's the one who found me last time."
"I know you. Brotherblood on your hands. Sisterblood on your mouth."
"Aw, and ain't you just a looney tunes?" Cain punched Nathan in the jaw. He went down. "Nutters tend to annoy me." Cain kicked Nathan in the side a few times. "But you, you *really* annoy me." He knelt down next to Nathan, and drew the other mutant's head back to bare his throat. He was surprised not to scent any fear.
"Goodbye, Cain."
"What the-UH!" Nathan drove a stake into Cain's chest. The other mutant fell over and Nathan scrambled to his feet and ran. "I'm gonna kill you for that."