Just the great fortress that was Erebus Castle, a pair of dark brown eyes scanned through the eternal darkness with a bit of worry. The ethereal glow of the ever-present moonlight did little to illuminate Wu Zekinake's surroundings, and she found herself wishing she had the eyesight of a full vampire. Anxiously she cast her eyes from one way to the other, searching for a familiar, child-like form that was nowhere to be seen.

The cold breeze of Erebus swept her long silver hair up gently, sliding against the smooth surface of her armour and tunic. There was no symbol of any nation on the tunic; icy steel armour over a plain white tunic. Technically she served the kingdom of Derah, but ultimately her loyalty lay in the girl she was tasked to protect, the girl she was currently searching for--calmly, it would seem on the outside, but in her mind she was frantically hoping the girl would turn up. Wu hesitated to call out, knowing how badly vampires took any sound interrupting the everlasting silence and peace of Erebus, but at last, she could not help it.

"Trinette!" she called out, hoping to hear the Nixie's voice in return through the darkness.

For a moment, Wu listened anxiously, hoping dearly for any indication of Trinette's voice against the overwhelming silence of Erebus. Soon after, to Wu's relief, she heard the soft reply; even with the advanced hearing afforded to a half vampire like Wu, it was difficult to make out, but it was definite. She immediately started towards the direction of the quiet call, moving hurriedly to find the young Nixie princess.

After no more than a few moments, Wu stumbled upon a great oak tree, and, leaning against the trunk of the tree, was Trinette. Wu stepped forward, shaking her head. "How many times do I have to tell you?" she said in a stern voice. "Don't wander off to look at the flowers without me! We're not in Derah or Verul anymore. This is Erebus...land of the vampires..." Despite the reproachful look in her eyes, the slightest hint of a relieved smile was appearing on the corners of her lips.

Wu glanced around at their surroundings for a moment. Erebus Castle was situated more towards the south of the kingdom, where there was much less snowfall than in the brutal northern reaches. Around them was a small forest of sorts, a forest of great, snow-capped fir trees; the grass beneath Wu's metal boots was patched here and there with fleeting ice and snow. And, scattered around the small glade into which Trinette had wandered, were silvery flowers with large, curving petals; they cast a eerie, otherworldly, faint purple glow against the quiet darkness of Erebus's eternal night. Called hatsu in Erebus--a shortening of an old Strigoi Viu word--even the vampires appreciated the ghostly beauty of this flower.

Reluctantly turning from the lovely hatsu, Wu gave a sigh as she looked back to Trinette. "Well...we came here to see Desir...but we may not have chosen the best place and the best time for it."

Some small rustling shook the trees with a grotesque screech that would have awoken any creatures of the forest had there been any at present. However, very few creatures wandered this close to a large city within Erebus and thus there was nothing to provide response to the shrilling of the wind and branches. Though within the forest sat no animal, aloft or crawling across the lowly dirt, there was above a small and yet majestic creature that flew with strain. A young Ibong Adarna with the brilliant hues of blue and violet adorned with the fairest silver delicately placed throughout her feathers was that creature of majestic beauty and intense strain.

A curious soul that would wander within such dangerous spaces between an almost dead forest and the castle of a vampire prince, and true that she was. Never before had fear stood in her way for she cold run away later, or rather fly, but this wind may prove a dangerous obstical and her dainty and small wings may not be able to take on the harsh gales the she was forced to fly against. Still however, she pushed on; wonder stood before her. Large stone walls, strong to be sure, and perhaps indestructable, although the sight itself was not soft on her eyes; it still held mystery enough to allow her to thirst to see it.

The little bird flapped harder and harder still; as she got closer a flicker of happiness lit a flame within her heart. This flame gave her the strength to ignore the sharp pain of exhaustion and her own shortness of breath. This flame gave her the strength to beat her wings harder and faster and as she flapped the closer she got and the stronger the flame became. The flames glorious colors of orange, yellow, and brilliant red erupted upon her feathers, the dainty slivers of silver were replaced with the strong look of gold. Just a little farther and her hunger would be soothed.

Finally after what seemed like forever the small Adarna dropped lower and lower untill the castle walls themselves blocked the mighty force of the wind. Truly these stones were like and unmovable object, for it could stop the unstoppable force that was the air itself. Light flickered in her crystaline eyes as she landed on a window sill; it was a simple matter to enter and so she did.

Dropping down from the high window she landed on the floor of the castle; the stone was cold beneath her but after having faced a bone chilling wind it seemed like the warmth of a fire. With a little more hopping that was echoed by the tapping of her pathetic talons she decided that exploration would be much more easily accomplished in a less useless form. So wrapping her bright wings around her whole entire body they glowed brighter and brighter still untill they echoed the light of faires far and wide. Seperating them a small girl had taken the place of the bird. She seemed somewhat normal aside from the fairy like wings that held on tightly to her back. Standing up the child began picking at the small items, ranging from a picture to a flame upon a candle.

Stopping in front of what appeared to be the image of herself, she grabbed at her semi-long brown hair and then stared at her matching brown eyes. Though she saw herself clearly she was completely ignorant of the social error of her appearance, for she had no cloth upon her body. After all what ever would a small bird do with something so pointless as clothing. Turning on her heels the child known as Cyaires continued her pointless appraissal of the vampire prince's home, though she herself did not know whom it was the resided there.

Vincent's cold black eyes trailed over the words on the pages before him. Only the faint shine of candles, and the ethereal glow of the everpresent Erebus moon shining through his window, provided any light to the dimly lit room. Most beings would be unable to see a single word with such a lack of light; Vincent, as a vampire, was able to easily make out the tiny, intricate letters of the vampire language on the pages.

Despite his attempts to read the book, his mind wandered. To Cain, to Desir, to Damia, to politics--and to the human girls currently under the care of his castle. A grimace crept onto his otherwise apathetic expression as he thought of them. So much trouble they were stirring up--and they chose his quiet, serene land to bring that trouble to. Ever since they had arrived, a thing unheard of had happened.

Sunlight. In Erebus.

Only for a few seconds at most, but for those brief seconds, the rays of the sun suddenly pierced the endless night of Erebus. It was a calamity, a disaster, an absolute terror, if this were to happen again, and for longer periods of time. The most that had been sustained were a few burns on the younger vampires, but had it been only a moment longer, the damage would have been much more serious. Previously, Vincent had been interested in these humans; now, he only wished for them to be gone as soon as possible. Interesting as they were, they threatened his land, his people, and Vincent would not allow it.

He cast the thought from his mind, but a new one soon replaced it: Desir. Ever since Cain had disappeared, he had been drained of the energy that so irritated Vincent. Hell, it was almost more irritating to Vincent to see Desir so melancholic rather than the usual madly energetic Villi he used to be. And, though Vincent was far too preoccupied with the latest calamities to notice, Desir had tried to reach to him in a last attempt to find solace, hoping that Vincent would at least remember the times so long ago when they had been friends, when they had been happy together and melancholic together.

And yet Vincent had angrily refused to give the Villi any comfort in his 'time of need'. Viciously Vincent had pushed Desir away, unaware of the turmoil that was occurring in the heart and mind of the Villi prince who had once been his friend.

Annoyed even now, Vincent shut the book and placed it on the small table next to him, standing up from the armchair and stretching a bit before opening the door and stepping into the vast maze of halls and chambers that was Erebus Castle. It was entirely silent and still, almost eerily so, until a single sound echoed lightly down the twisting hallways; two knocks, that could only be heard by a vampire.

Bored and deciding to see who was doing what in his castle (as he happened to be something of a controlling leader) Vincent set off towards the sound, stifling a yawn as he did so. He had hardly gotten any rest all week, in a flurry to solve the many problems that now seemed deadset on ruining the peace of Erebus.

Vincent had turned the corner into yet another winding, seemingly endless hall, only to discover Damia and one of the 'human' girls who had suddenly appeared in Millenia and decided, for whatever reason, to go to Erebus rather than one of the other, perhaps more suitable, kingdoms: Clarise, he believed her name was. Somehow, out of all the human girls who had returned with Vincent to Erebus (though he found them all equally undesirable, especially with the latest events) Clarise was the one who irritated him the least. Her polite, distant manner was well suited to the vampires of Erebus, and her instrument was, it seemed, more elegant and likeable than Angel's 'instrument' (remembering the infernal thing she called a guitar brought a scowl momentarily to Vincent's lips). And at least she didn't call him 'my lord' or 'my liege' as the rest of the castle did--excluding, of course, Damia and the rest of the human girls.

"No occasion," he grunted in response to her polite words. "Just observing what exactly is being wrought in my castle." Without any actual intention, Vincent placed the slightest emphasis on the word my. He turned to Damia. "I still, however, await reports from the scientists concerning...that incident." He spoke, of course, in reference to the sudden event of sunlight in Erebus, though to Clarise he could be speaking of any 'incident'. "And..." he glanced around, as if noticing that something was missing. "The Villi. Where has he gone?" The irritated tone of voice, as if to say 'wonderful, who knows what destruction Desir's wrought now', suggested Vincent was still too stressed and hard-pressed to realise how badly he had hurt the Villi prince.

Lucifer

Lucifer licked the blood off of the blade of his gauntlet and turned his back on the being that had been his kill. It had enthralled him up untill the moment its life had gone from its eyes and it lay still, unbreathing, no longer a sport. It had screamed though. The beautiful sound of those cries for help, for mercy and then just pure pain still rang in his ears. It had been delicious but the blood disgusted him. It didn't smell the same as the blood of humans and it certainly didn't have the same lure. It smelt of oil and Fey. The green pixie had just been a bit of fun and now Lucifer needed to eat he wished he'd picked something slightly more...well, more. He had heard the rumors that were sperading across Millenia. Prince Cain was missing and human girls were residing in Erebus. The home of vampires. Lucifer licked at the blood again. He was slightly like a vampire in that respect, he needed blood to stay strong but not to survive. Demons would call him a freak, vampires wouldn't consider him as one of them, he was old blood from a time before the humans had vanished and for that he would be shunned from current society. His sister was the only other survior like him, old blood ran through her veins too, he just didn't know where his sister was. He'd hunted her for the last twenty yers, desperatley seeking something of his that she had in her possesion, but he had been unable to find her. She'd told him she was going to hide well; she hadn't lied...

Lucifer, I am not doing this for me. You must understand that this is for you. I will give my life to keep it safe, I swear it. By our blood I will swear now that you will never see me again. Even if you search for a thousand seasons you will not find me. I know you will try for a man cannot live without his heart but you are no longer a man. Remember that...

She had left then. The woman who had taught him how to make poison and made him the one antidote to counter it, the only one who had ever cared for him. His sister, Azure. Lucifer clenched his fist at the memory. He knew he could find her if he was more powerfull and the only way to gain power was through drinking the blood of humans. He finished with the pixie and wiped the blood from his mouth. The scent of human blood carried on the wind. He had to go to Erebus...


Amyy

Amyy had been lying in a bed in her room of the castle, a bandage wrapped around her head and round both her arms from wrist to elbow. The woman who had bandaged her thought that she could heal the scars but it wouldn't work. She had said something about it only working if the patient was in the right mental state and Amyy certainly wasn't. In all the chaos how had she managed to get so injured? Falling rubble had knocked her unconciouss and she had almost been killed she was told. How could anyone be as useless as she was? Amyy tried to sit up but pain shot through her head and hip. She'd had to have stiches in several other places and her ankle was swollen too. Vincent already didn't like her much, now he wouldn't even bother with her. The only good thing that had come out of all of this was Cain had gone missing. She still resented him for that kiss. Amyy sighed. She hadn't been in this strange world very long but she already wished she could go home.

"Hmm, I see," Vincent muttered under his breath at Damia's response. It was difficult to gauge what he was thinking behind the ever-present scowl that seemed to have been glued to his face at birth--which made one wonder what kind of child Vincent had been in his youth. Somehow, it was difficult to imagine the Prince of Erebus, who was always either apathetic or irritated, playing games with other children. It seemed more probable that he would have been the one dark, haughty kid who sat some distance away from the rest of the children, reading a book and occasionally glancing up to remark on how foolish those other children were.

At that moment, however, there was the sound of shattering glass, and Vincent reacted immediately; pushing Clarise to the side--not roughly, but quickly--he stormed to the window, his boots crunching over the glass that lay scattered over the floor, and cast his eyes through the window to the ground below. A moment later, he looked back to Damia with genuine annoyance and anger in his eyes. "Nothing." He stated, the scowl on his face becoming more and more pronounced. "Get soldiers patrolling the castle to investigate." Only a second later, he added, as if Damia had protested, "Oh very well, I'll deal with it...what the hell was that supposed to be, anyway?" He turned to Clarise, clearly demanding an answer, as it was her room. Even Vincent did not lose his composure this quickly under normal circumstances. But lately, Vincent had been even more bitter than usual...

Meanwhile, outside the castle's twisting, maze-like interior, Wu's hearing zeroed in on the same noise Trinette had heard, and as the girl tugged at her hand, Wu placed a hand on Trinette's shoulder and without a word began walking swiftly towards the source of the noise--which seemed closer and closer to Erebus Castle, a little too close for comfort. Nevertheless, she continued, and soon, she saw, lying amidst a patch of hatsu, something vaguely...was that a body? The faint glow of the hatsu flowers did little to fend against the overwhelming night of Erebus, but she could barely make the shape out...

Moving closer, Wu approached Desir; when she was only a couple of feet away, she began to make out the details of Desir's face, but she could not identify him yet, her half-Villi lineage, unfortunately, 'canceling out' the more night-oriented vision of the vampires. It was only when she kneeled down next to the body that she realised who it was, and nearly fell backwards. "P-Prince Volliern?" she stuttered, her calm facade disrupted by the Villi prince's presence in Erebus.

Eres, though, would have liked to have taken her time, ended up speeding through the hallway that she had been exploring only to find herself at a staircase from which voices could be heard. Looking around she quietly tip-toed down the stairs and peeked around the corner and found, to her surprise, a rather large group of people gathered around a room. Apparently something bad had happened because there was a rather large crash and then a thud followed by a commotion.

As tempting as it was to get closer she found herself inching away instead; she would hate to get caught. Especially by vampires. On a normal basis Adarnas are rather graceful in their motions and basic everything however Cyaires was rather young and had yet to gain said gracefullness, so instead she tripped over a candlestand. That the large metal 'stick', as Eres had such named it, fell to the ground with a large clatter knocking over something fragile which fell to the floor with an obvious shatter. She herself also fell to the ground with a plunk. If she had known how, the little Adarna would have cursed but unfortunately she had yet to be educated in said language and thus didn't know any; choosing instead to yelp with her little child-like voice.


Meanwhile, in a rather distant room from the previously mentioned one surrounded by a throng of people, Angel sat attempting to play her guitar without causing her shoulder to gush blood. It didn't hurt but basic common sense told her that if it was bleeding so badly through a bandage then more than likely it wasn't in the best of shape. Not only that but she had by then figured out what was life threatening and what wasn't. Sighing in discontent she stood up and walked into her rather small and cold bathroom. Removing her shirt she undid the rather obsolete bandage and gaped at her shoulder. It looked much worse then it felt to say the least.

With not much else to do she grabbed a random peace of cloth and started to tap against the edges of the imbedded stone. Blood rushed out in masses and that in of itself made, even the long hardened to the sight, Angel dizzy. That was after all quite a bit of blood and it was hers. Looking around once again she spotted the dress she had literally been forced into wearing on the bed and decided to make use of it. Perhaps more than anything it was to annoy the made instead of actually helping her (perhaps maybe even the Vampire Prince, though by then she hardly expected a reaction). Shuffling over she tore up the dress using her good arm and her teeth.

Take the longest peace of torn cloth she wrapped it around the somewhat bloody towel (which had been placed around the wound to the best of her ability) in order to hold it in place. Walking back into the bathroom she then proceeded to put her shirt back on, grab her guitar and leave the room.


Somewhere even farther off a sleeping monster was being awoken from a six thousand year sleep. Sin himself had long since wondered if he was truly dead rather than asleep however that ache in his stomach and the soreness of his throat allowed him to remember the hell that he lived in. He himself did not even realize why it was his throat stung even more or why his stomach felt as though it were being stabbed untill he had finally walked into the sunlight. Sunlight, though it wore him out, was not much of a threat to one as old as him and so he felt no need to remain in his cave. Once outside a dark shadow lit his stiff features. Though he had been slumbering for so long the old vampire looked as though he had been depraved of rest for twice that time. Sniffing the air and smacking his lips a small smile flew across his face, "I smell a rare treat, a human's blood. Though it smells somewhat sweet, my favorite." A bright pink tongue traced the form of his mouth as he spoke untill afterwards at that time it returned into it's spot on the bottom of his mouth.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" Wu muttered under her breath in Trinette's direction before turning back to Desir. How Trinette could forget something so important was simply beyond the young half-vampire--but then it wouldn't be the first time, she thought with a hint of amusement before she realised she had not yet spoken.

"Ah, er..." Wu paused for a moment, trying to formulate a coherent statement in her mind. "You see, Prince Volliern...Trinette--" she paused to gesture to Trinette, "--is a nixie." She didn't expect the young Villi prince to know of what nixies were--she didn't expect any Villi these days to know such a thing. "And as it happens, she's in danger...grave danger, specifically because she's a nixie." Wu was quite aware of how utterly stupid she sounded--at least, to herself--but forced herself to press on. "And it's something only you can help with...we really need your help, and we came all the way from...across Millenia," she hastily ensured that she mentioned no specific kingdom. "Across Millenia to Erebus, just to find you." She pondered whether or not she should mention that Desir's own mother was the grave danger she was speaking of.

Meanwhile, up in the castle, Vincent's scowl could only deepen. "The owls of Erebus are far too peaceable to do this--all the birds, all the creatures of Erebus are. As for mana...I should assume you are referring to magic. And no." He flatly rejected her suggestion before explaining. "Animals are incapable of harnessing magic. It is an ability afforded only to a select few individuals of a select few races."

Even as he said this, Vincent became aware of another crashing sound followed by a loud yelp. Turning swiftly, muttering something about 'never been quiet around here since those...' he muttered some word in vampiric. 'arrived here', he started towards the sound, and a moment later he found the source--an Ibong Adarna? His eyes narrowed on her--what was an Ibong Adarna doing in Erebus, and even more strangely in Erebus Castle?

A moment after he thought this, he realised that the bird woman was, as was typical of her race, wore no clothes; immediately he averted his eyes, an angry red streak appearing on his face. "What...how..." he stuttered, before realising the girl probably did not understand what he was saying. Dammit, Damia, get over here quick...

Valerie Evin glanced up at her brother over the book that was held in her hands, directly before her eyes; it was a massive volume that looked to Victor that it might contain more pages than could be obtained from all the trees of Millenia, though that was just exaggeration. As for Victor himself, he sat in the armchair directly opposite of Valerie, a strange, metal object held in his hands--or rather, four strange, metal objects, all intertwined with one another so impossibly that they could easily be confused for one object. Victor's blue eyes, exceptionally rare for a vampire, scanned over the object held in his hands intently; Valerie paused from her reading to watch him. It was a rare moment when her brother suddenly became serious about something: puzzles. He was practically the deity of puzzles; she had never seen one he couldn't solve.

In a single, fluid motion, Victor seemed to turn one object into four; four strange, metal objects now lay on the table next to him. He smiled a self-content smile--one that could be easily mistaken for arrogance, before turning to his sister with a yawn. "Man, there's just nothing fun these days around here," he sighed melodramatically. Valerie watched him warily, aware that her brother was probably planning something. "Don't try anything, please," she said. Her voice was exceptionally quiet and soft, matching with her quiet, bookish appearance. "Vincent's been...strange, lately."

At that moment, the sound of the door opening startled Valerie, who turned her head to see Damia walk in. Before she could greet the Strigoi Viu, Victor leapt to his feet enthusiastically. "Just what I was waiting for!" he proclaimed, striding over to Damia with a charming expression plastered across his face. "Look, book-keeper sweetie, I'm getting kind of bored hanging around here. What say you and I go out a while, just the two of us?" Of course, Victor was well aware of what the response would be, and he wasn't even being serious about it, but it never hurt to try...

Meanwhile, Wu nodded, catching hold of herself, and calming her nerves slightly. Normally she was well in control of herself, but having finally found Desir, and finally being able to secure safety for Trinette, to whom Wu had become more or less attached, she had become a bit jittery; that was now done with--mostly, anyway. "The problem we face is that Trinette's kind was killed. The Volliern Family, at that time, was involved in it, and should someone learn of Trinette's existence...she will be placed in a most dreadful situation. Only you can aid us in this." She leaned against a tree and tapped against it, the darkened, murky steel of her armour quietly touching the bark of the tree trunk.

~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~What a Poor, Poor Book Keep~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~;~

"Aww, c'mon, Damia," Victor persisted in a fake melodramatic tone, using (as was rare for him) her actual name. He could see that she wasn't about to budge, but without Vincent to build him a complicated enough puzzle (as Vincent often did to get Victor off his back), that left Victor with only one thing to do: bothering Damia. Really, he looked at it as actually helping her loosen up a bit, and perhaps he had made some progress. At the very least, he was still connected to all his limbs--for the moment, anyway. "Vincent's not around to give me something to do so that leaves you." He flashed an annoyingly charming grin towards Damia that was quelled when Valerie threw a stern glance at him, which immediately shut him up; she then turned back to Damia with a shy smile.

"Of course not, I always love working with you," Valerie replied to Damia. "What is it that you've been studying?" Valerie, as she had said, truly enjoyed working with Damia and her research, but she sometimes felt that she was only bothering the much older, much more experienced Strigoi Viu. Unfortunately for both of them, Victor did not seem to mind doing that. With a flourish, he seated himself into the armchair he had been sitting in previously, watching Damia and Valerie silently--for the time being. Victor really did not know--and he often wondered about it--whether or not Damia genuinely disliked him. In fact, he had spent so much time messing with people's heads he wasn't entirely sure what he genuinely thought about Damia. Nevertheless, the smile pasted across his face refused to disappear, and he simply sat there as if waiting for an opportunity to irritate both Valerie and Damia.

Amyy

Amyy was extemely bored. She had been feeling sorry for herself but this had soon got boring too and the huge commotion just down the hallway had caught her attention. The sound of splintering glass and people talking. This was the perfect time to just slip out of her room and go exploring. Slowly Amyy sat up again ignoring the pain in her skull this time. and gingerly slipped both her legs off the edge of the bed. She tested her ankle gently before trying to stand up on it incase she colapsed she it seemed to hold out well. A few seconds of mental preperation and Amyy stood, still holding on the the bed for support. It really wasn't as bad as she had thought. She let go of the bed and limped towards the door. There was a lot of noise but it was slowly getting less. Amyy opened the door a crack and peeked out to make sure there was no one standing directly outside before sneaking, as best she could, out of her room and off down the hall in the opposit direction. She hadn't seen a lot of the castle and now some of it was damaged from the attack. After a few minutes of limping down the hall she came to a huge oak door with ornate carving surrounding the frame. Her fingers brushed the gold handle. There was something in here she had to see, her curiosity had got the better of her. Such a beatiful door wouldn't be used for a normal room. Amyy had to use both hands to push down the handle and her entire body weight to open the door. She pressed one shoulder against the wood and pushed with every bit of strength she had in her and the door opened slowly. Amyy had never seen so many books in her life. Rows of them filled shelves that reached all the way up to the ceiling. It was a libary. Amyy slipped in through the partly opened door and hopped over to the nearest shelf she could reach. One particular book caught her eye. It was bound in red leather and had strange symbols printed in gold down the spine. Amyy pulled the book from the shelf and was suprised to find it was really quite heavy. The entire book fell to the floor making a loud noise and sending a cloud of dust into the air. A picture of a girl who looked a little like Amyy was on the front and the word 'Humanity' was written underneath. Amy was sure that the princes hadn't known anything about humans, they had said that humans didn't exist in Millennia, so what was a book about humanity doing the the Eberus libary? Amyy sat down on the floor next to the book and opened the first page. The writing was not english and there were a lot of symbols instead of words but there were also pictures. Pictures of men and women who were not demons or vampires, who were human. Why was this book here? Amyy pondered the question as she turned the pages.

Lucifer

The scent of blood was getting stronger. Lucifer could feel the thrill of the hunt rising inside him but he also knew he had to be careful. He couldn't just waltz into the vampire kingdom and expect to get away with taking one of the humans from under the nose of the vampric prince. It just didn't happen. It was a well known fact the vampire price disliked demons because of his relationship with Cain and he would not forgive one for arriving unnanounced in his castle. This hunt would require planning and tact, things that Lucifer knew and could use with deadly precision. Halfway between Hades and Erebus was a swamp like area said to be haunted by the ghosts of the lost and the murdered. Because of this the people of Millennia hardly ever went near it, it would be the perfect base for him now. Metal trees stood at the entrance to the swamp, their silver branches cutting the mist with pointed tips. The place was beautiful to him. Dangerous and feared, just like he was. Lucifer would have to wait a while before he could kill but the planning made the hunt so much more exciting...

Eris was, as was typical for her for really no apparent reason, holding back tears. During the fall she had twisted her ankle and after the fall had skuffed up her hand. Then the vampire prince found her; though that was of no surprise to her, the most ungraceful of all Adarnas. This was after all not the first time she had been caught, however, as is obvious by the fact she was here now, she had always gotten away.

Looking at the prince she saw his cheeks flush, and then almost immediately (if not faster) he averted his eyes turning around completely. Eris, being as smart as she was, stood up at that moment and ran as fast as she could in the direction she had come. Her fairy like wings constantly brushed the things around her and thus in a affect knocked down some of the more fragile, and let us not forget expensive looking item. For all intents and purposes she was leaving a trail of destructon behind her.


In a much farther and different scene than Erebus Castle a sound that resounded like that of mad cackling echoed throughout an unrealisticly dark forest. The question in this case, as is in many cases is, of course, what the hell? Simply put a creature of a less prominent species than that even of an Ibong Adarna resided within this forest. It was only a temperary residence for once he finally had his fun he would leave in a heartbeat.

Now who exactly is he? His name is Ericar Nosuku and he happens to be the creature that creates and accompanies the death. An Ankou. AraSi's woste nightmare, or rather on some occasions he is; though on most he is simply a nuisance that knows who and what they are. Like he cares. He after all is much more interested in living flesh coming close to death, which was something he had sensed eminating from the direction of the vampire kingdom: Erebus.

How long ago was it that he was exiled? Oh, he couldn't remember. How many times had he visited said kingdom since being kicked out? Too many to count.
((NOT DONE!))

Victor simply returned Damia's wary, suspicious glare with his own bright, lively eyes, and smiling a wide, sweet, and on the whole very untrustworthy grin. If he was planning anything, however, he kept his mouth shut about it, content to let Damia feel the discomfort of wondering whether or not he was up to something. Ah, how he loved playing with people--Damia in particular, simply because he could feel the irritation that she kept deep under the surface of her cold, unfeeling exterior.

Valerie's ghostly pale hand rose to gently brush at her jaw, a habit of hers when her interest was piqued. "Humans?" she asked in her soft, serene voice. "I heard a sort of rumour that there were humans, or creatures believed to be humans, here in Erebus, but I have not seen or heard of them..." Realising (or rather, under the impression) that she was taking up Damia's time with such useless talk, Valerie quickly added, "But here, I think this may actually be the book you referred to..." She held out the book, which was written in a very old Nixie script; in truth, Valerie had been having some trouble trying to decipher the old language. "Hmm...? I thought I may have heard something, but I assumed Vincent had..." Well, gotten angry. Usually Vincent kept his anger in check, but lately his irritation and dissatisfaction had manifested itself in somewhat more violent fashions.

Meanwhile, Vincent turned back only to see the Ibong Adarna fly down the hall, knocking over as she did many intricate and interesting objects--most of whom did not belong to Vincent. "W--hey!" he snarled, but the strange creature was long gone, leaving Vincent to look down at the fallen objects, some of which had shattered. "Oh, for the love of all that is bloody...can't have a single damn day of peace..." grumbling to himself in his irritation, Vincent turned from the objects. A vampiric servant made his way to Vincent and said, "Sir, shall I clean up this mess?"

"Not now, for now I want you to clean up this mess," Vincent replied, as if he had not properly heard the man, before turning around and stomping off, leaving the servant staring at his back before he proceeded to do as ordered.

Angel was feeling slightly lost, nothing she hadn't felt before and nothing she was all that concerned over, however that didn't mean she didn't feel it. In all her lifetime never once had she been in a building with so many stairs and different corridors. Simply put she had yet to see the same thing twice and she had been wandering for a good hour. Once or twice she though she had heard voices but would turn the corner only to find nothing there. Admittedly it was somewhat spooky but she didn't give a damn. No instead she just decided to walk down that corridor only to find herself more lost.

"Stupid vampire, building a stupid castle like this. Maybe he likes mazes but most people don't. Idiot." As mentioned before she wasn't really bothered by any of this, however she had come to seriously dislike the vampire prince, Vincent and she wanted a reason to insult him. His castle made it easy to insult him. It was poorly ornamented, poorly lit, had absolutely no color scheme, and it almost seemed empty. In general it was an all around boring castle.

However, very quickly she heard the pitter pattering of little bare feet accompanied by the sound of shattering delicates and it was getting closer. Turning around she vaguely and quickly saw the image of what seemed to be a giant fairy before getting tackled to the ground by said fairy. Angel and Eres both hit the ground hard enough to bruise what ever made contact with the other and the floor. Honestly Angel was worse off and to make matters worse the Eres had landed on her should and she could just feel the blood gushing out. It didn't hurt but it felt somewhat awkward.

Poor little Eres had begun to bawl. She had knocked some poor unsuspecting girl to the ground and she was bleeding; she knew so due to the fact that she wasn't in pain but was covered in blood. "I'm sorry, so sorry. I really am sorry! ... sowwy....so sor....I...rea...." After a while the words became nothing but heart shattering sobs. Angel quickly realized that the fairy looked like a little human girl with fairy wings and that she was completely nude. The poor child! "I- I'm fine but where are your clothes." to the child that had seemed like a strange and random question, but to the teen this was a necessity.
"What do I nee...clothes for?" Eres finally respond with a broken sentence interrupted by another tearful convulsion. As could be expected the teen gasped in shock.