Ravenlock's Story

Jaeda stilled.

The sight of the blood, and the smell- oh, the smell! It washed over her like a current that was nearly too difficult to resist, and she knew, if she tried to fight it for too long, she would break. She took a step back, then another, heel dangling over the side of the table.

"You're right. I did not." she said, tilting her chin up. "I just know that Hatyara refuses to come here. For lots of reasons."

"Is that so?" he asked.

Something in his demeanor changed, darkened even. He set the glass down atop some multi-tiered serving dish and closed the distance between them, grabbing for her throat to jerk her close.

His eyes were sharp and searching.

It was apparent the scent of the blood was having the desired affect, and a heavy weight of hypnosis lay behind his crimson eyes. Mind rolling a vampire was substantially more difficult than a human, but with the woman's tenuous control already frayed, he needed only a crack to slip inside.

Her hands reached for his wrist, grip tightening as he roughly handled her. She looked deeply into his eyes, at first, and everything weighed down on her mentally, at once, trying to let her fall apart.

Jaeda, however, was stronger than the things she had faced. With a shuddering breath, she glanced away, and not a second after, aimed a kick for his balls.

"Fuck off!" she spat.

Ravenlock grunted as the blow was struck, and he shoved her backwards off the table. He didn't jump down after her though and crack of a grin reaching his lips followed by laughter. It started as a low chuckle before turning into loud rolling laughter.

What had provoked the sudden change in demeanor was hard to say, but it took several minutes before his laughter died back to a low chuckle. His crimson eyes bore into hers as he looked down at her.

"Such brilliance, wasted on them."

He spread his arms as his form exploded into a cacophony of screeching bats that flew past Jaeda, heading for the door.

'We'll be seeing one another again, hunter.'

Jaeda closed her eyes and cringed, waiting for the unfortunate impact that was sure to come, but she found her body twisting in the air, allowing her to land on her hands before she cracked her skull on the ground. She whipped her head around, watching him leave in a flurry of flying rodents.

"Ugh. The woman got up onto her feet, taking one of the empty glasses to smash it onto the ground in a fit of rage.

"Next time one of us won't make it out alive!" she screamed at him. Promised him. She leaned against the chair with a huff, and rose her head to look at the red glass he'd left behind. The edge of her lips twitched. She reached for it, then picked it up in her thin, pale fingers.

"As if you could get the better of me!" came an angered growl, just as she made her way to her room, glass in hand. She would treat it as she had treated everything else in this new experience so far; like a test.

The results of downing the potent concoction were immediate as Jaeda's eyes bled to crimson. Her senses heightened and her vampyric nature grew honed. She felt strong, invigorated. There was a sensation of vertigo though as her minds eye merged with another's. She could see through his eyes as he stood atop the crenelated heights of Castle Vankoryth and she could feel his curiosity coupled with amusement as he cracked a smile.

"Most of us never truly get to experience our own death," Ravenlock said out loud, knowing she could well hear him even without the aid of telepathy. "You though... a vampire who yet lives."

"I can feel your heart stilling, hunter. What have you done?"

"You're not yet ready to embrace your nature," Ravenlock replied. "Only when you welcome it will you be ready to take that step. Calm yourself, hunter. I can taste your fear, hear your cries, it is unbecoming of you. Now tell me, what have you done?"

"You let him take you," Ravenlock replied, distaste in his voice.

"Human, vampire," Ravenlock replied. "These are simply states of being. The real question is are you a hunter, or are you the hunted."

He fell silent for a time before speaking again.

"I have felt your nature, but you aren't yet ready to embrace it. Tell me what you did."

"You let him feed from you," Ravenlock reiterated.

There was disapproval, perhaps even disappointment in his words.

"Soon too you will share their vices, a common vampire clinging to her humanity."

"I trust you found the answer," Ravenlock replied.

This woman was not the hunter he thought her. She was just another... disappointment. She would detect a sinking sensation as Ravenlock abandoned his perch atop the stone walls and plumetted towards the ground. His form exploded into a cacophony of screeching bats before he hit the ground and his mind closed to her.

Even closed, she would feel his presence yet for hours, but no longer was she privy to his thoughts or his eyes.

Rynhart was seated within the inner sanctum of the Patronus Temple with several other senior members gathered, including that of Scarlet Dae who had made the trip from Academia Celestia to discuss matters. It had been at Elante's request that this meeting be held, and even with everyone gathered here today, the aloofness of the swordsmaster was present.

Each day that passed only took him further from the Patronus - a fact that wasn't going unnoticed by many. Even the young students could feel it.

Today though the topic at hand wasn't him, but rather that of the Cybran threat that had apparently risen up out of the ocean - quite literally.

"Glad everyone could make it," Elante said, smiling hesitantly as his friends - new and old - settled into their seats. The young mage was a little nervous at being effectively the de-facto leader of this meeting by his having requested it. "You've probably all heard by now about the cybran attack on Volaria. News travels fast these days and all. You've probably also heard about the other invasion force that's trying to set up on another island - Gonthar, one of the three titans. For anyone not up to scruff on their geograohy, they're a trio of islands to the north of the Great Black Water, and a popular tourist destination."

He coughed, "So, well, after hearing about that, I figured it was something we needed to be concerned with. There are a lot of innocents at risk, so whilst I know we don't really do wars, I think this is something that threatens Terra as a whole, rather than being political. I think we should intervene."

Across from him, Scarlet folded her arms and leaned back thoughtfully. "Cybrans. I don't know a lot about them, but everything I have heard is bad news. It's certainly nothing good that they're trying to stake a claim on a chunk of Terra, and the fact that they're apparently packing nukes to do the job just reinforces me not really liking the idea." The headmistress shook her head, "We may not do wars, but this is heading straight towards attempted genocide, and war or not, that's evil through and through. The kind of thing it's definitely in our job description to prevent."

"Yeah. Space Nazis, sea Nazis. Next thing it'll be sand Nazis and then magma Nazis, and that last one just sounds scary." Aeryn remarked, smirking. "I've heard enough about Nazis to know that anything with them involved is prooobably mostly gonna involve being a colossal evil jerk on a broad scale. Comic book villain level shit. I mean c'mon, who rises out of the ocean to invade for any other reason than making good entertainment? Style points, sure, but it's gotta suck for the whole "winning" thing."

Apparently realising he was going off on one, or possibly in response to a swift kick from Elante under the table, Aeryn coughed and straightened his face. "But, seriously. I'm with Elante. All fine and dandy to stay out of wars until there's another glassing that we could have prevented but didn't because it was part of a war."

In her own seat, Aiedai's expression had remained unchanging throughout the discussion. It was only now that she - however briefly - spoke up. "There is much malice in their actions." she said, "There is desperation. Vengeance for a believed injustice. I do not believe they will ever be receptive to reason or diplomacy."

"Did someone call?" a chuckling voice asked as the familiar figure of Ravenlock rose up out of Scarlet's shadow at the mention of genocide. "I thought you might be having need of my services..." he drolled. "I grow bored of Wing City."

His appearance garnered him some unpleasant looks from Shelby, but the Paladin kept her thoughts on the topic at hand as she too spoke.

"The Knights of Le'thorian are not as strongly bound in our neutrality as the Patronus have become," she began, "but if we were to send our forces to aid these other lands, we would leave our own unprotected. I do not know that we have the resources to extend our reach that far, but I am inclined to stand with the others that something should be done. Do the patroni not swear to serve and protect the people of Terra?" she asked. "How can they do that if they are unwilling to fight."

Rynhart listened to the others speak as he mulled the situation over. It had been Rhea's vision that had steered the Patronus towards pacifism and neutrality, not his. But truth be told, he hadn't a strong stake in either end of the spectrum. He was simply going through the paces day by day.

"If we were to send aid, our claim of neutrality would no longer hold any weight," Rynhart answered finally. He folded his hands under his chin as he thought on the matter. "We can't pick and choose what wars we decide to play part in. It is my belief that this war is the folly of man and nothing more. It is in human nature to war among themselves."

"Oh, for pity's sake." Scarlet glowered across at Ravenlock, "I thought I'd be able to catch a break from your pestering here." she muttered, shaking her head.

In the meantime Elante - used to Ravenlock's presence by now - hardly raised a brow at his arrival. "Neutrality is an almost impossible concept if we ever intend to take action on more than a local scale," he pointed out, "It isn't that often that evil dresses itself up in black robes and states that it wants to destroy the world in a very pointedly fair manner. It hides behind politics and wars. I don't think anyone could question that genocide against civilians is evil."

Scarlet nodded her head, "I think there's a notable difference between reacting to an unprovoked and enormous military assault on a civilian location and entirely shedding our neutrality. We aren't backing a government in a war, we're defending people across multiple continents."

"Rynhart speaks the truth," Aiedai noted, "It is in human nature to war. We lack the necessary information to be able to say with absolute certainty that there is not more behind this attack than there appears to be. Absolute certainty is, however, a rare thing indeed." Even while she spoke, the girl's eyes seemed hardly to focus on the room and the discussion, gazing off into the distance as though distracted by something far away.

"There is no questioning the nature of their acts, however. Regardless of their motivations, the assault on millions of innocents must be stopped."

Aeryn nodded, "Yeah, heck, I'd say fuck neutrality. Rhea would have us sit around making daisy chains and throwing bandages down from the sky before we stepped into stop a bunch of bastards being evil just 'cause some bigged up tit in a fancy chair told them to do it because some other bigged up tit in a fancy chair pissed the first bigged up tit off. Immoral's immoral, whether it's in war or not."

It would seem that they were all in agreement on this matter, and Rynhart's own resolve teetered on the brink of indifference. He finally simply nodded. He couldn't stay the Knights of Le'thorian, or the Academies from acting anyways.

"We will send assistance then. Take only the strongest, and the most experienced," Rynhart said finally. "The Knights of Le'thorian should remain here to protect Windcrest and the Temple in the absence of so many of the Order."

He stood then to take his leave, and it seemed likely he wouldn't be going with them, and even more likely that he would not be here when they returned.