Allister scoffed at the paladin. He hated the holy righteousness of these paladins. If they had any sort of agenda, they could have started with preventing this. It's not like they had the chance to though. Allister was sure of that. He probably shouldn't even think such things.

Allister noticed the others that the paladin was talking to. One of them had wings. Surely, he should have been surprised, but he had a strange sense of calm the closer he got to her. As he neared further, he noticed that there was a woman there with the the angel and what appeared to be another perso.. He got close enough to see her full features. She was stunning. He kept walking closer, now realizing that he couldn't control his feet anymore. He was blindly walking.

"Uh...I...Uh..." Allister stuttered as he looked directly at the woman. "What..uh..." Allister shook his head. He felt like he was entranced by this girl's beauty. He snapped out of it, but it felt like she was still tugging at his mind.

"I'm Allister. What happened here?"

Renée's eyes, shimmering in the blackness like molten gold, had been fixed on the Valkyrie and her Einherjar, the only two in the group that was of any interest to her at the moment. The paladin seemed to have left, taking his entourage with him. The prince was having them penned in like a bunch of animals, hoping that his guard, a bunch of humans, could hold them within the walls of the ruined city. However, even ignoring her strength, her speed would be more than enough for her to leave whenever she so chose. This news didn't concern her in the slightest. She was eager to question those two again, now that she was herself, now that she was sane, and the smell of their blood wouldn't drive her to lose herself again. In fact, now, she even allowed herself to breathe, savouring the unnaturally delicious scent of their blood; enjoying the bouquet, and ignoring the wine, as her adoptive father had once put it.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by a young man speaking to her. She blinked and glanced over, raising an eyebrow slightly. He was approaching her? That didn't happen often. However, she saw the expression on his face an understood. Like the insects to the carnivourous flower, as always. Her lips pressed into a thin line and she shook her head, her expression irritated. "Vampires raided the city." She responded simply, feeling no need to sugar-coat the statement, though she herself would probably once again get lumped in with the rest of them.

Watching them speak. "Have fun now." A large projectile flung at them at quick speeds, warriors stood the fronts of the city. "TAKE THEM ALL!" Ordered to play nice but still show force. They fired a large chain into a building, plunging down as it tugged and pulled. The building came shoving down on top of them as several warriors moved in for an assault. "Let the show begin."

Vampires. It made perfect sense. No other animal or monster could do something like this, thinking about it fully. At least, nothing he had ever heard of.

"That makes sense. The gore seems to coincide with that. It wasn't just that though. It seemed like Allister was willing to believe anything that she had to see. Her eyes were so persuasive. They seemed to pierce Allister's soul. He could feel it. He had never believed in love at first sight, but he was willing to believe this was it. He caught himself in the middle of an awkward stare and shook himself out of it. He had to keep his wits about him. No need looking like a fool in front of her. If he really did have feelings for this girl, he had to come across like an intelligent human being rather than some sort of idiot with a slack jawed stare.

"I guess they left then. Have you guys looked for survivors yet? I..I'm afraid I've had no luck in locating even one. I'd imagine that if vampires did this, there would be nobody left alive." He caught himself staring at the girl again, but he couldn't help it. They were like deep pools of amber beauty that he couldn't look away from.

"I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Allister."

A loud crashing sound was heard above them, and Renée looked up to see the prince watching on as the building closest to the group began to be heaved downwards, bringing down a ton of debris and stone down over their heads. Cursing, icy-cold arms snapped around Allister's torso, pinning his arms to his sides as she easily lifted him, rushing out of the way of the debris as it crashed down where they'd been standing.

She'd probably hurt him, she knew; her body was as hard and cold as an ice sculpture, so she wouldn't be surprised if he had a couple bruises. However, he was safe. She released him again and turned to the attacking guards, her fangs bared slightly, a low growl escaping her throat. What could she do? She couldn't kill them, not after that damned Paladin put this seal on her. She couldn't even attack them. She could flee, but... No, that would be wrong. The Valkyrie, at least, had defended her. She owed her for that.

She turned back to the man, offering him a small smile, the tips of her brilliant white fangs being revealed. "You'll have to give me your pardon, Allister. We can make formal introductions later. At the moment, more pressing matters, I think, need to be attended to." He seemed kind enough, but she wasn't sure that he realized what she was. Otherwise she was sure he wouldn't be so comfortable speaking to her.

Anthony was startled by the sudden appearance of the man, saying some nonsense about a "test" of sorts. What is he blabbering about? Anthony frowned, and then jerked in surprise. A large group of heavily armored soldiers advanced upon them. Then the building fell down.

Right on top of them.

Anthony yelled a warning, not that they couldn't have noticed the impending squish, it was mostly reflexive. So he yelled, and hauled his rear end out of there. Turning, he took two running steps, and then leaped. A cascade of debris and rubble showered his back, as he landed spread eagled on the muddy ground, knocking the wind out of him. There was an almighty crash, as the building crumbled into a heap of brick and mortar.

Several large chunks flew towards him in a cloud of dust, and he instinctively raised his arms in defense. A bubble of force expanded out from his outstretched hands, stopping the rocks in midair. He grunted, and then released the rubble, letting it crash harmlessly to the ground.

Anthony got up slowly, attempting rather unsuccessfully to scrape the mud from his robes. Then he looked around, to see if the others had also escaped being permanently flattened.

Allister looked up. He had almost been flattened. This girl saved his life. Not only did he feel something for this girl, he possibly owed her his life. He'd have to repay the favor with a good display of magic. He could probably hold them of, but it was obvious that they were shooting to kill. He might as well return the favor.

Besides, Allister wasn't in the mood for dying today.

Allister began chanting his spell. This one would definitely do some damage in the initial blast hit. He was hopeful that it would at least slow them down. It was a frost spell, after all.

"Dayu na Asrum Sagra!"

From behind Alister, a chilling breeze ran down the street. From him, the ground and the buildings around him started to frost over, as though winter was making itself known unreasonably soon. "You might want to step behind me."

This was only the beginning of his spell. The wind picked up, lifting small objects, and then larger objects, off of the street, frosting them over and tossing them at the warriors. Soon, it would be incredibly difficult to walk against this wind, let alone stand on frosted ground.

Allister grinned. Their armor had to be feeling cold, possibly frozen to their skin, but he wasn't sure if that would take effect so soon.

Felix watched everything that had happened before, not saying anything and feeling kinda of useless. What could he do? He had no powers that he knew how to use. He got angry at the paladin, an arrogant bastard... just like he thought them to be. Why would he touch her on the head like that?

A lot happened and Felix merely watched... in till.

And then... the prince. He came with an army and was attacking the city. For no reason. Felix could think of no reason for this. A useless action by a self centered prince. So many people had died and the prince wanted MORE?! Felix was beginning to get very pissed off. The energy was returning. He was not sure if he could go back to being calm again.

"Unforgivable..." He spoke softly and then yelled, "Unforgivable!" and he charged the crowd of soldiers.

Renée watched, her face in an expression of idle, bemused surprise as Allister stood and released a magical assault upon the guards, a hail of wintery ince and snow like a blizzard in the dead of winter. The temperature drop was drastic, she was sure, however to her icy skin it felt like nothing; she could have been standing naked in the arctic though, and it would have felt like nothing. She saw debris freeze and get whipped up by the wind, striking the guards hard and successfully blasting them backwards. Again, a testimony to the strength of the wind, however she stood still, no effort required on her part to keep her footing.

She was impressed by his display, and it only served to further frustrate her that she was unable to do anything herself. Damn that Paladin, meddling where he didn't need to! In his ignorance, he'd ruined her. Then a thought struck her. Allister could use magic. That would mean he could remove this damned seal. She considered approaching him, but he was clearly preoccupied, so her topaz eyes began casting around the rest of the group, trying to see if anyone else could help her.

They fell upon another young man, one who'd been with Allister, she was sure. He was weaving and dodging the falling pieces of the building, barely making it out it seemed to her. However, human speed always seemed unbearably slow to her. Then she cringed and was about to rush forward as she saw a particularily large amount of debris fall towards him, certain that he was going to be crushed. However, that wasn't the case. A shield of some sort appeared as the man held up his hands, encasing the rubble in it and keeping him from taking any damage. He stood and released it, and the rubble fell. She grinned. Perfect.

She hurried over and stopped in front of him, her face determined, bright gold eyes focused on his. "I'm sorry, this is absurd for me to ask you this, considering what I am. But please, help me, that Paladin... that seal he put on me, I can't attack, and you can use magic, right?" A snow-pale hand reached up to hold her crimson bangs away from her face to expose her forehead, her expression pleading. "Please, if you can, remove it."

Faith stood there, angry and frustrated. She could do nothing for Renée. Today was becoming a hell hole. Everything was being screwed over. Including, at that very moment, the prince yelling out words she did not even care to listen to. Only now there were soldiers lined and marching their way. Felix took off in a run, yelling. She shook her head and was about to follow him until the building above came crashing down. She leaped to the side letting her wings take her away from the carnage.

"You damn coward!" She yelled to the prince. She needed to calm down, seriously. She needed to breathe; to escape. But to escape was to leave these others behind -- her Einherjar; the vampire; the two mages. Yet it looked all right from her perspective. One mage carried on protecting himself with his magic, while the other seemed in control with Renée. As for Felix; Faith lifted herself from the ground and hovered swiftly into the mess of soldiers, weaving between attacks and taking down selected foes. Her sword shown red with blood. It cried out for more. Her shield cried for attacks. Her gun cried for the sake of loneliness. This is what she lived for -- to battle! And battle on she did.

Uther and his companions were already outside the city when they heard a loud <boom>, obviously from some building collapsing. They were stunned for a moment, trying to realize if what they heard was true. After that some shouts and the sound of battle could be heard.

"Damn it. Those guys are really not joking." Uther thought and run back with his battalion behind him. A few seconds later they saw the same people that they have seen earlier, just that now they were surrounded by a lot of soldiers. Without questioning Uther made a motion to his fellows to gather up.

The vampiress, Renee, was still there near the young mage, Allister, Faith had released her wings and was now attacking those who were on the walls. But in the crowd Felix was fighting with all his might even though he was surrounded, still untouched. As a big part of the building was collapsing on Anthony he managed to control it's fall with his magic.

"Nikita, Ando and Lara, you cover the northern road, Lily, Davion, Nemesis and Remos, you cover the other street. Remedy, Ken and Niki, with me. My squad will hit them from the back and the other two squads run around the houses to ambush the others from behind too. Push them to the middle. Nemesis, check if they are illusions. Lily and Ken. you are the leaders of your groups. Good luck brothers and sisters." And with this Uther waited for the other two squads to get out of sight and then he charged shouting "In the name of the Light!" attacking the soldiers from behind with himself to lead the attack and his giant hammer smashing the enemy soldiers one after the other, although they seemed endless.....

Raising his hand as his Warriors fell back, bowing down now in the mist of the battle field, clapping his hands is what the Prince did. "Hold your tongues, I had no means to kill any of you. Nor do I plan to lock you up or anything but that was amazing! I mean the way you guys just stormed through, I have a lot of Elite Warriors but that was truly a sight to be seen no more." Gasping as he stood up. "Truly admirable." Turning around. "Stand your ground, collect yourselves and return to the Palace Walls." The men standing up, weakened as they shuffled back, some being dragged off as they headed off quickly. A lot of them hurt.

"I owe them for that, they asked to go so I let them. You can't say I sent them in a world of pain otherwise." Musing. "Since this, I allow you to my Palace if you wish. A feast awaits, as for you Vampire, as much blood as you could imagine, Glass fulls." Raising his brows to the others. "Anything you wish." Turning away. "Come or go, your choice." Finally he started walking across the buildings, leaving.

"I am not done with with you yet Prince!" He hissed, slamming thru anything in his way. He was raging, he could not see the difference between friend or foe. He just simply was sprinting to the prince with alarming speeds.

"What are these lives of your soldiers not important?! Do you play with lives like some sort of child's plaything?! I WILL KILL YOU!!" He sprints thru soldiers, slamming them out of the way. Even tho it may be a little hypocritical, his rage was not letting him think straight.

He made it to prince and lunged full force at the little bastard. Energy pulsing in his hands, ready to explode on a hit. Any mortal could not stand a hit from his attack, their body who be decimated. Not even blocking would be a choice. The only one who could stop it would be an upper gods and even they would be hurt. If the prince wished to live, he had two choices to not get hurt. Avoid the attack or put something in the way.

Uther's soldiers surrounded the units that have already surrounded the others. A fierce battle begun with Uther's units trying to get to the others in the middle, making their way through the crowd.

Lily's squad was advancing quickly but Ken's was left behind as they were overcrowded by soldiers. A strong hit at Remedy's back and she fell down while fighting with three others. A strong scream of pain, not from Remedy, but from Ken who got in the way to protect her was heard. Ken's shoulder was heavily wounded and bleeding as he fell to the ground, dieing. Uther, hearing this, he run towards Ken, smashing everyone in his way with his shoulder. Reaching him he outageously swinged his hammer to see two soldiers falling to the ground but more taking their place.

Then the prince's voice was heard. "Hold your tongues, I had no means to kill any of you. Nor do I plan to lock you up or anything but that was amazing! I mean the way you guys just stormed through, I have a lot of Elite Warriors but that was truly a sight to be seen no more.". "I had no means to kill you... Then what was Ken's death? An accident?"

As he saw the prince leaving he kneeled to see Ken's face. His voice came out, weak and quiet. "Tell my friends... Tell my friends in the chapel how i died..."

Uther's voice was calm and soothing. "I doesn't matter how you died, but how you lived your life. Rest in peace my friend." And, as he completed his words, Ken smiled and slowly closed his eyes to sleep the eternal rest....

Uther looked upwards. He saw Faith charging towards the prince, not able to hold herself. "Faith!" Uther shouted. "Hold your rage. No more blood should be spit today. Control your rage."

Faith subsides her fighting for a moment and floats in the air. She turns to Uther and says, "It is not I who attacks the priest, fool!" She looks to Felix. "It is my Einherjar. I will stop him!" For a moment Faith built a short burst of speed, letting her self push out the energy from beneath her wings as she headed in Felix's direction. She could feel her hands burning with strength, hoping it be enough to suffice Felix's attack.

The wind burned her eyes as she made her way past Uther's men and a few of the others, including Allister and Renée. Anthony seemed to be all right on his own. But Felix, he was out of control. Something or someone had to stop him. It was her duty anyway. Lord Odin specifically placed this Einherjar under her jurisdiction. And she would be damned to let anything bad happen to him.

With one clean sweep she was in front of him, trying her hardest to fly backwards with his speed. "Felix!" She cried; wings flailing back and forth, creating a large wind resistance to him, which seemed to no avail. "Felix, this is quite a ridiculous move!" And with one quick swing of her sword she clashed with his fist as he leaped up into the air, towards the building the prince stood upon.

The impact of apposing powers created an immense blast that took half of the house down. The light radiated enough to cover up both Faith and her Einherjar. Everything went up in dust. Silence filled the air, as the light with the dust and debris dissipated . Faith was first uncovered. She was bleeding profusely from her hands and arms. The blast had taken her into the falling debris. Her wing were relinquished back into her body, and she lay there staring towards the sky, breathing heavily and waiting for Felix to appear.

Minutes earlier...

Anthony looked up at the vampire, and raised his eyebrows. A spell? Hmmm. He carefully got to his feet, and examined her forehead. Yes, he could sense the spell. It wasn't one he recognized, but he thought he knew what could be done about it.

A gauntlet shod hand clamped on his shoulder, and he spun around. One of the soldiers stood before him, grinning as he raised a large sword, preparing to strike. With a deftness born of long practice, Anthony's hand darted into his robe, and came back out clutching a small glass vial. With a confident flick of his wrist, he chucked it at the soldier, whose eyes went wide at the sight of it hurtling towards his chest.

It struck, and shattered upon impact, releasing a purple liquid that instantly evaporated into a rapidly expanding cloud of indigo vapor. The cloud engulfed the soldier, and a cry of fear split the air, before being abruptly cut short. The vaporous mass cleared, and the soldier stood there, absolutely still. If fact, he was standing so still that it was as if he was carved from solid stone. And he was. Anthony mused that he'd now make a great lawn sculpture. That face frozen in a mask of fear was very dramatic.

Anthony turned back to the vampire, "Sorry about that, here, this aught to do," and so saying, he pulled yet another vial from beneath his cloak, and pulled the stopper. A puff of green smoke erupted from the opening, and wafted into the air. "Hold still," he instructed, and poured the liquid over her head.

The effect was immediate. The green liquid seemed to sink through her skin, and vanished. Her crimson hair suddenly whipped upward, as if she was standing over a column of rapidly rising air. Then it settled back against her head, and the potions work was complete.

Anthony nodded in satisfaction, and smiled at the vampire, "That should do it."

Felix was right on his mark. Aiming perfectly to smash that smug Prince's face off. And in mid flight Faith her blade, Felix swings his fist. A burst of energy, a flash of light and Felix is launched into the building. He flew through wood, bricks, and debris before landing thru a metal pole, breaking the metal's hinge off the wall. He screamed in pain, the pole stuck him just above the gut. He was impaled, lying on a bed of debris.

Bones probably broken, bleeding from random gouges and cuts along his body, the pole sticking out, and his hands shredded from the hit with the Valkyrie. "The Valkyrie...I actually swung at her, at Faith. Tears formed in his eyes. "Those soldiers... I am a monster..." He tried to get up, his body refused. He couldn't even get his fingers to move.

He just sat there staring at the dust settling. Tears falling and making wet patterns on the dirty floor.

The young vampire watched in amazement as the assaulting guard was petrified, seemingly turned to stone, frozen with a permanently terrified expression on his face. She said nothing, but she was astonished, bright amber eyes widened slightly. First the hailstorm, now this; she'd underestimated the kind of power magic-weilders were capable of. It almost made her wish she wasn't a vampire. Magic was impossible for the undead.

The next thing she new, the man was pulling another vial out of his coat, turning to face her. She tensed, eyes narrowing slightly as her lips pressed into a tight line, immediately fearing the worst. Was he a vampire hater? Had he decided to just get rid of her right now, while she couldn't retaliate? She prepared to run, but just as her legs tensed, he said, "Hold still", and his voice didn't sound hostile or threatening. It sounded like the way a doctor might address their patient.

So she stood still, however warily, allowing her eyes to close as he tipped the little vial over her head, feeling the liquid run over her head. She was expecting a wet drip, but it never came. Whatever filled the little bottle dried immediately, absorbing into her skin until it was as if it had never been there. Then, a sharp rush, and a bright pain in her head. It lasted for but a moment, and then she opened her eyes again, feeling a light tingling in her forehead.

"That should do it." The young man said with a smile, and Renée blinked at him for a moment, feeling her forehead idly, then offering a smile back. She knew the effect was probably not quite the same as it would be from anyone else, seeing as the pearl white teeth were sided by razor fangs. However, the intentions were good.

By the time she turned to look around, the soldiers had retreated. Felix seemed to be dying, the Valkyrie looked wounded. Allister seemed fine... the Paladin was back. And the prince was nowhere to be seen. She sighed and frowned, swiping a loose strand of fiery hair away in frustration, kneeling down. She refused to breathe, the smell of the Einherjar's spilt blood fiddling with her senses, and she dared not get any closer.

As the soldiers were retreating Uther left his fallen comrade to run to Faith and Felix. His battalion followed him. Altogether they forgmed a circle. Doing that they noticed that a spot was missing, so they filled it up by making the circle smaller. They grabbed each other's hand, Nemesis in the middle, and begun chanting and praying. Nemesis's voice could be heard, loud and clear.

The wounds of Felix and Faith were slowly closing and mending. A bright light was coming out of their wounds. Although this would not remove the lack of energy Felix and Faith had, it completely healed them and restored any physical or mind damage they have suffered. Also, the part of the pole that was inside Felix's body was absorbed, leaving the rest that was outside break and fall down.

After they have finished, Uther walked towards Faith and gave his hand to help her stand back on her feet....

His hand was warm in her grasp. She wrapped her soft fingers around his rough palm and helped heft herself to her feet. She laughed and said, "You've got some pretty flashy tricks up your sleeve, old man." She looked away, in a form of embarrassment. "Thank you for saving my Einherjar and myself." She coughed.

Everything seemed to piece together because of this incident. Faith had many occurrences with multiple paladins. Almost every one resulting in unneeded words or actions. She felt ashamed at thinking Uther was just a loon waltzing around with his hammer of "justice" and careless paladins.

She looked sternly at him, all amusement lost; a serious look. She said, "I could use Paladin's in due time. I will ask for your help, if you ask for mine. A tooth for a tooth." She let go of his hand and forced herself over to Felix. She put her hand out for him, emotion returning to her face. "Are you all right, Felix? Forgive me for what I've done. You know I did it for the well of both you and the prince."