St. John Bovinesque Jr.'s Story

“Yeah… while that might work if this were a normal bar… it won’t work with a hotel on top of us. Fire is a big no too. I’m not letting this place burn down.” Gabrielle shook her head, refusing to let down her father and in her head, letting the place burn would be doing that very thing. Granted, it was reinforced by Trantor Industries' best technologies, fire still wasn’t a good idea. Musing a moment, she wondered if she could trick the Sabbat into following her into one of the pocket dimensions and then blowing up that doorway or something.

“Is there a dimension that’s quite cheerful?” Gabby hoped that they understood that she meant, extremely sunny. Her attention was still on the bastard wanting revenge and as he leapt towards her, she swung the shotgun around and fired off as many rounds as the thing had left before quickly charging it.

“You’re going to die just like your pathetic brother.” The mutant spat out as she shoved the now charged shotgun into Tung’s chest, attempting to penetrate the flesh to make him go boom.

"Where the crap did all these other people come from!?" The dread-locked man, who apparently took over as leader after Paladin Leeroy's death seemed visibly upset. He was out of shotgun shells, so he snapped the gun in two and grew claws, muscles bulging with a rush of Vitae.

Some kind of thorny black-mawed hybrid was tearing through the strike-team, if this ended poorly the Regent would have them all eradicated. Kamikaze seemed the way to go then. The stone-skinned, hulking, dread-locked Vampire threw himself at the hybrid monster, tearing at it with his preternatural claws.

The war-formed Vampires began to frenzy wildly, turning on friend and foe alike, and causing general mayhem. One threw a table at the assembled police and charged them. Another simply picked up one of it's comrades and threw it in Gabby's general direction, missing entirely and turning the creature into a splat on the wall.

Tung's brother took a full spray to the chest, his stomach oozing syrupy Vitae which fell with a splat. He placed a hand on the shotgun, trying to pry it from his chest and hissed, foul-smelling breath that reeked of decay. Then he exploded into a spray of viscera. Gabrielle had a plan, she wanted to go somewhere cheery.

Oh... Oh no. Caine be damned, no. Akshasha couldn't go out in sunlight, not without some very unfortunate side-effects. It definitely would get the Sabbat out of here though. "I'm sort of a night-owl, I have no clue which dimensions would lead there. Bovinesque, any ideas? Surely you've seen someone come in from an extremely sunny dimension?"

Gabrielle would be safe from the Sabbat in that dimension, but what if something there hurt her? Akshasha would be next to powerless to protect her, she'd be relying entirely on the minotaur to get her back safely. She grit her teeth, and swallowed hard, she hated these kind of catch-22s

Becca looked at Vincent when he spoke to her showing a mouth full of moving thick spines of teeth erratically racing about the whole of her throat. Then some lung for teeth inhaled them through her flesh leaving behind those of normal white enamel. Even one adult tooth near the front a shade whiter than the rest of her mouth wiggled through her gums to fill a gap. Other molars a flotilla rearranging to align properly. Her bruised face and fractured did much the same as purple slowly drained out of the former hacker's pale freckled face. Relics from bullet impacts even under a thin shimmering psychokinetic veneer over disc shapes of squirming subdermal projection loci.

Blood soaked through her flesh then ashed off her hoodie as Becca blinked at Vincent, "Uh, Hi guy. No problem. Watch my back, oka--"

"FLANK!" Said Ducky's strained voice in her head.

Becca turned with an upraised hand the teeth exploding out of her mouth and to race around her hands. The closest forearm deflected one arm and claw met her flesh he hit not a stony one as his own but an acrimonious bag of heavy sand eating acridly at the tainted surface. Blood spilled from the gash in her forearm leached a black dust racing back to her arm. Raking an offender of hostile stony flesh with a flotilla of tiny furrows. The other claw of dread-locked man hit true burying the claws in her shoulder as a shimmer of psychokinetic fields reestablished to throw it back out again. In a Race from the hole the claw left a four-beaked worm poured from fleshy surfaces to bite off the tip of claw then retreat back inside.

Becca screamed in pain but could feel Ducky holding her mind up enough to strain out through the rasp of teeth, "AArrrGH! Gonna eat you, Jerk Chicken!"

"Uhm… Sorry, no," John said to Akshasha. "I just... I only ever came here once, to get this job." He stopped a moment. "No wait, that's not right..." His face scrunched up. "That's odd. My memory about coming here other times is kind of fuzzy."
Meanwhile, the police dove for cover as a vampire threw a table at them. One of the officers started to pull out a grenade.
"Are you crazy?!" Christopher shouted to the man over the sound of his gun and the screams. "You'll blow up the whole place with that!"

It was becoming chaotic and Gabrielle hated chaos when it centered around her, which this definitely did. Gritting her jaw tightly, she snarled and knew that if she didn’t act quickly, innocent people were going to lose their lives. Cursing just as the war-formed Sabbat started to turn on friends and foe alike, the mutant knew only she could get them out of the bar no matter the cost.

“Rrr, fuck this.” Gabby muttered and snatched part of a table to cover herself and anyone else nearby just as her foe exploded, just like she hoped would happen. It was messy and what parts of him were left stunk to high hell, but at least the bastard was dealt well.

“There’s no time to discuss this any longer. I’m going to do something and hope it works out. We LeBeau’s always were a bit reckless anyways.” Grinning a bit, the teen slid to her feet and jumped on top of the bar.

“You fuckers want me?! Then come and get me. I dare you.” Smirking, she jumped down and rushed out one of the side doors, it a doorway into a different dimension. She just hoped it was full of sunlight and not like snow or something.

The new head of the raiding party continued his fight with the hybrid. Ripping, tearing, and clawing, soon the defenses of the hybrid drove him into a frenzy. The Worm-Girl was slowly eating away at his flesh, worms chewing at his claws, but it was glory or death and the beast within him took over. No longer capable of speech, slobbering and growling, its senses left the beast and it became pure fury. With a throaty howl, it's jaws snapped forward, trying to sink fangs into the girl's face, claws tearing at whatever it could gain purchase on, rapidly expending Vitae to keep itself in as ferocious state as possible. The poor beast didn't even notice a majority of its pack following the mutant girl out of the Bar.

John was no help to Gabby's question, and the police were getting desperate. Something must have snapped in the girl, or so Akshasha thought, as the mutant did something decidedly reckless. Goading the Sabbat, she sprinted into one of the Ways that led out of the Bar. The part of the Sabbat with their senses still about them followed quickly after her, only a few stragglers too far gone to care or notice.

Akshasha didn't like the girl's chances, too much had been going wrong in regards to her. It was like she was her own jinx. "Newly hired bodyguard, guard your employer's body." Vitae and Arcana rushed through Akshasha, her eyes taking on a harsh glow as the beast within her and her suddenly reappearing fangs ruined her disguise. With a swift motion, the Drow Vampire that had been protecting Gabrielle and caused the Sabbat to target her, picked up Bovinesque and threw him out the same door Gabby had ran out of.

The first few Sabbat following Gabrielle ignited instantly, turning to dust and scattering to the wind, partially blowing back into the Bar. At the sight some faltered and retreated out the Way they came, others blindly strode forward to True Death, and a few in heavy black clothing simply drew the shadows around them into a set of Black Plate Armor and continued their pursuit. Akshasha let out a hiss, "Tenebrous Armor... Of course."

Akshasha moved fervently, the howl of the beast within her threatening to tear loose at the excitement. With a leap and a plunge, the last Vampire in Tenebrous Armor had a sword in it's clavicle, and was pulled back into the bar to have its head torn off by the Drow. However three Sabbat clad in Black Plate Armor were already in the sunlight of the other Way, outside her reach, and painfully in reach of Gabby.

"Bovinesque, if a scratch befalls her I will hunt you to the ends of this existence."

“V-Vincent.” Staring at the shapeshifting creature, Vincent felt extremely lucky that he seemed to be on her side in this fight. There were definitely two of them in…there, whatever it was. He had no idea which one was controlling which, but he hoped that it was the pretty freckled face that had spoken to him just seconds earlier, and not the irregular, erratic creature that was now fighting off an extremely loud and obnoxious vampire.
Vincent aimed his Luger at the it, trying to regain his focus so as to not hit the fluctuating monster. He fired, causing a spray of black blood to fling in a bloody arc out of the creature’s head. It howled and stumbled backwards, falling and clutched at its cheek. He noticed that behind the vampire there was a young girl charging into an open door in the bar that did not look in any way like it was part of the building. Had she opened a portal of some kind? Wherever it was, he was sure that it was safer than Gambit’s at the current moment.
As he watched, three black-clad vampires began to stride towards her and simultaneously heard someone yell something about throwing a grenade. He cursed the chaos of the whole situation and began to strafe towards the doorway that the girl had opened, uselessly gesturing at the shifting entity to follow him. “We need to leave!” He yelled over the gunfire and cries. “Follow her! The girl! Different dimension!” In that moment, he almost felt like laughing at the absurdity of his words and situation, but he suppressed his chuckle until after he and the others were safe.

John grunted in surprise as Akshasha picked him up and tossed him towards the other boss person, who was charging towards a door, three of those vampires in black plate armor nipping at her heels. With sudden precision, he turned and twisted himself in mid-air to perform a perfectly executed clothesline on the two vamps on the left and right, and doing a dropkick to the one in the middle. He landed in a roll on the ground in front of Gabrielle, following her through the door, looking back at the toppled vampires before shutting the door behind them, and grabbing some large rock or something to bar the door with.
He then looked around, trying to get a bearing of wherever he was.

The creature slashed and cut across Becky's hoodie the blue turning dark from all the rabid strikes pounding into her body. Ductu managed her pain levels as the beating heart hurt in her chest working hard to hold her together. Given the gashes holes forming in her body even with the amount of energy she'd consumed it struggled to cope. Ulna and radius fractured then hurriedly reknit in deflecting the beast's stony sinew even the parts of her that once were Ductu fired and dodged.

Concordance had adapted her cortical implants as well however. Once visual processors the internet she could now here had long since been chattering in her own voice. The heart didn't have the same sense of knowledge she could access but somewhere in the dark it was thinking and moving her thoughts around like some benign trojan. The former hacker had a good head for keeping up with options as well as when other hackers set up tools. Down the rabbit hole the concordance marched. Parts of her were reading manuals or at least what little the Jinhai recorded for such things. The blackened part the concordance sang around left particular page in front of them to read. Psychoportation? Limitations.

The Ductu was similarly curious at Becky's strategy a creature as lacking inventiveness as they were, 'This is a big fellow. You don't have enough understanding of my skills or the raw resiliency yet to keep this up long. What's your endgame? I see a lot of yourselves reading parts of the Almanac. We can't psychoport with an unwilling cognizance you have to get rid of him first.'

Becca smiled at the man for a moment before his claw fist dislocated and fractured her jaw replied with a pained thought to Ducky, 'N-No there's a play to get out of this. I don't think you're the only one in there, Ducky. There's not enough will left of big boy anymore. Just an empty beast. The manifold will hold. We'll have to deal this hungry heart later before it gets me killed though. If there's a later.'

Though rage blind she eyed the dreadlocked vampire for a moment to make sure there wasn't anything there. Sure wasn't after a bullet raced through its body and just howled in pain. This was the city where the core gate lie so Myrkul could most certainly reach a few blocks and move objects around. Especially if they gave up cognizant thought.

She reached to Myrkul through Ducky and passed along three shift quaternion shouting, "Myrkul! Emergency Psychoport. Connected object to open space. Two targets short-shift across aperture."

Once it had let go three small firefly raced in from outside a piece of Myrkul's thought executing the commands. Targeting the beastly mind to shift it half a kilometer upward into Wing City sky. The other two hunting down herself and Vincent to squeeze the space in between and put her on the other side of the walled-up door. Becca didn't want to be in proximity when that psychoport went off if it got enough brains to fight back. A connected scalar will not seeing this side so well would likely turn the shift into a blender of gravimetric shear if a tainted mind tried to push it away.

Becca stumbled a bit from her fractured bones with a shout as she phased several meters past into the lighted place and a foot too high. Vincent likely the same once the firefly of psychoportation locus made contact.

"Best keep running, Vincent!", She added with a pained grind of teeth, "These things are still coming! Hope the dreadlocked guy can fly, Haha!"

Vincent nodded and took off, running as fast as he could towards the door, not caring what lay beyond. As he ran, he fired wildly over his shoulder into what sounded like the general direction of the remaining vampires. The gun felt hot in his hand, and he suddenly realized he hadn’t been counting his shots since the beginning of this…situation. He turned to look back and saw bright flashes of light flickering around the undulating creature. Gunfire? He wondered, and looked back just in time to see a snarling vampire lunge at him. He did a sloppy duck-and-roll, haphazardly firing into the stomach of the beast as it flew over him. It howled and black blood sprayed onto Vincent’s face and hair. Gritting his teeth in disgust while using his forward momentum to quickly recover from his slide, he sprinted the rest of the way and into the blinding light of the portal.

Immediately finding herself on a beach, Gabrielle turned around and watched as the first wave of the Sabbat burst into dust. Smirking, she knew this was the perfect plan, though her expression faltered when some of them were suddenly wearing black plate armor of some kind. Well, that certainly wasn’t part of the plan. Biting on her bottom lip, the mutant just shrugged and geared up for war. It could be worse after all… this place could be dark and snowy. At least one thing was going right in her plan. However, when the bodyguard shut the door to the dimension, which ironically was in a cavern near the beach, she grunted and pulled out a card as he rolled a huge rock to block the door.

“Damn it, no. The entire reasoning for me to rush out here was for them ALL to follow me to protect the patrons in the bar.” Charging the card, she threw it at the rock, causing it to explode. Stepping to the door, she yanked it open and stared at those left. “You all were ordered to bring me back, right? Stop being pussies and come on then!” Moving back, she grabbed more cards and hoped that they would get past the armor that several were wearing.

“You guys weren’t supposed to follow me.” Gabby added, shaking her head as she started throwing charged cards at the Sabbat before reaching down to her pants and pulling out a hidden pure silver bladed dagger. She could multitask like the best of them and planned on throwing charged cards and stabbing if necessary.

"Sorry, Boss Lady," John said apologetically, "but the one drow person said that if you got hurt she'd... do bad things to me." He shivered. "Sorry, but I'm here to make sure you won't get hurt, and I'll do it right and make sure you don't die!"

Water lapped on the shores, three undead monsters staring down a minotaur and a mutant. The Sabbat faced their enemies, standing in a triangle, the Vampire that was closest to the two spoke.

"Well, girl. You're pretty canny, how unfortunate for you. Caine isn't going to be happy about all this. Listen up, if you know whats good for you, lie down and let's get this over with."

"Stop being pussies and come on then!” The mutant girls's words would rouse the ire of the three before her, but the Sabbat left in the bar were either in full retreat, or entirely lost to the Beast Within. Slowly, they were all being cut down by the Scourge or the motley militia of gunfire and hairworm.

"I'm afraid we're the only ones needed to corral you and bring you back." The triangle of Sabbat laughed to each other, a quiet inside joke.

The rear two Sabbat sprinted forward, each one grabbing the front Vampire's hands, and getting tossed over Bovinesque. The lead Vampire then sprinted at St. John, crashing into him full force, aiming for his center of gravity. The other two soared beautifully and terribly through the air, landing in unison at either side of Gabby, one aiming for her head with a swipe and the other trying to kick her feet out from under her.

"Becca, Becca, You have to get up. There are still hostiles," called Ducky through the white clouds of pain rolling Becca's eyes back into her head.

She'd landed a few meters up and shattered her legs then promptly rammed the shoulder with holes in it into the ground. After forcing herself to find which way was up Becca stood up through stabbing pain and clutched the knitting shoulder. The cracked bones reknit in her legs soon enough but replacing flesh in her shoulder took longer. After the Almanac reconnected she realized she was way the fuck off target explaining the sudden drop. Psychoports translating across rogue gates apparently were not advised. Somewhere in a different section of the planet Jinhai hadn't wandered to yet by the confused looks around she felt Ducky making. That meant no quick port off of this side like in Wing City. No point of reference for dadworm in the Almanac. There was an odd sense of vertigo not just from her nausea but being in an isolated subset of the Almanac.

Ducky saw her putting her wits back together the soft voice a calming camaraderie to her nerves, "I think they're over the next rise behind us. There's noise. It fits for the psychoport being straight out and over too far across the hill."

Becca looked at the ground full of dead grass underneath her but there was that strange feeling of someone staring at her. A hollow of eyes set not with disapproval but frustration at a lack of training options. Creep-sensei was really starting make her worried at what her new heart brought with it. It had to wait so she pushed the thought away to check on why she wanted to be here in the first place.

Jinhai were following the lady's sister across town as best they could. Servitors trying to deliver a vault. Not exactly hunters it was really easy to stay out of their reach but a bit harder to stay out of their notice given how many there were in Wing city. Dozens of them clustered somewhere underground in the almanac looking to find something again as four slowly toted a Vault in the general direction. Sounded like this lady's sister. With Ducky in her head they both wondered if it was on purpose or not with the vampires around. They'd meet a twenty-four many three stories tall if she stayed in one place under threat long enough for all of them to catch up.

That settled her offbeat steps pounded specks of withered grass blades as she started up the rise. Someone talking on the other side. Though it hurt to lean into a jog the giant bull man's horns were kinda conspicuous once at the top. It did stall her for a moment as she wondered if it was wise for those two guys to be leaping at someone with pikes on his head. One step further down the hill she picked up the pace running at the rear guard a warm throb in one leg at the strain of every impact. Blades of grass wither to brown which left a rustle of leaves and footsteps. Two quiet if eagerly grinding hands and glowing patina eyes rush forward intent to ram her palm into his black armor.

Vincent burst out of the door and was immediately confronted by the strong scent of sea water. He heard a girl yelling, but he was too dazed by the sudden dimensional change to notice what was going on. He stumbled off to the side and shut his eyes, knowing that the effect would fade soon. He heard some snarling laughter, and then the sound of running feet crunching on the damp sand.
He blinked away the strange pressure he felt on the back of his eyes every time he switched to a different dimension and stood unsteadily. Narrowing his eyes to focus them, he saw three vampires fighting a strange girl and a minotaur in a manner that was completely contrary to the other vampires back in the bar. These vampires were clad in a black armor, made of a material Vincent had never seen before, and they fought gracefully, with purpose and precision.
He made a split decision to assist the two strange fighters, and sprinted towards the battle. As he ran, he heard a unsettling growling noise approaching quickly from behind him, and was surprised to be quickly passed by the shape-shifting creature back in the bar. He laughed and let out a short cheer as she rushed by him towards the elite vampires, watching as she rammed into one of the vampires, knocking him off balance.

“Hnn…” Gabby just shook her head towards John, not sure what to think about his words. She wasn’t a fighter… that was her mother and Renee, but she was tired of people hurting her and trying to kidnap her. However, she didn’t want to be the cause of anyone else dying if she could help it. “Don’t die on my behalf.” The mutant managed just as one of the black clad Vampire’s spoke to her. Smirking, she just rolled her eyes at the notion of lying down and getting it over with.

“I’m a LeBeau. We don’t just lay down and roll over for anyone.” Despite not being a fighter, the blood of Gambit ran through her veins and she wasn’t about to be taken again. Her eyes rolled a second time at their overly confident words and her fingers twitched a moment around the handle of her dagger while she started to charge a card. She knew that if things got too hairy, she could utilize the other abilities she was born with, but didn’t want to unless it was utterly vital.

“I’ll be sure to send pieces of you back to Caine.” Gabby snapped out her words just as two of the three were tossed over the bodyguard’s head while the third was intent on smashing into the minotaur. No longer able to focus on him, she instead tried to remember what little training she had gotten in close combat and squeaked as she attempted to dodge both the body parts coming towards her frame. While she managed to block the swipe to the head, she didn’t get above the sweep to her feet. Landing on her back, the teen cursed loudly, but instead of just lying there, flipped herself around and back to her feet all the while throwing cards at the two Sabbat that were attacking her. She also sliced towards one of them with the dagger, though she wasn’t’ sure whether or not it would pierce the armor.

The vampire charged towards John full on, and John barely managed to set his feet and put up his arms when the vampire crashed into him.
There was the sounds of crashing metal, and the vampire bounced off of John, landing on the ground. John looked just as surprised as the rest of them, looking down at himself and saying, "Huh. Didn't know I could do that."

It is said by the Archbishops that govern most Sabbat that the final days are near, and soon the predecessors would rise from their sleep and devour all the lesser Cainites. The thought made the Sabbat desperate, and desperation makes you do crazy things, such as three Vampire having a showdown in broad daylight on the beach shore against a Mutant, a Minotaur, and a Hairworm. Even should they succeed, there was no guarantee their armor would hold until they got out of the sunlight, or that they could return to the bar safely.

As such, the Sabbat fought with desperate fervor. The first Cainite slammed into the Minotaur, getting thrown back by his bestial strength; thrown right into the eagerly grinding claws of the Hairworm hybrid. It writhed, struggling to right itself and make eye contact with the hybrid. Eyes of patina stared back at the Vampire, as it attempted to delve into the girl's mind and control her from the inside. That was where it saw something horrible and alien. Something so ancient as to create a terror that sent the Undead's heart metaphorically racing, and to cause it to lose focus on the shadowy armor keeping it alive. All at once the armor simply evaporated, and the Vampire burst into flames with an agonized yelp before turning to dust and being lost in the sand.

The two Cainites that had been launched at Gabby were fairing better, managing to catch most of the cards with their extremities where their Vitae could quickly restore wounds. However at the death scream of their fallen brethren, one hesitated for just a moment and had a silver dagger plunged into its leg. Where the silver hit and immediately surrounding the wound, the armor dissipated and the Vampire's leg began to burn in the sunlight.

With a howl, that Cainite dropped to one knee, eyes wild and leg all but ash halfway down the thigh. Its right arm grossly distended with muscle, Vitae pumping strength into an already inhumanly strong monster. With a resounding thud, it brought its fist down directly on the sand in front of it, creating a shockwave that sent sand flying into the air and creating an impromptu sandstorm.

Their shadows were stronger when not in direct sunlight, and the shade created by the sandstorm elicited a throaty chuckle from the still standing Sabbat. "Blessed is he who kills the sun. Ehehehe, you and that Cammy bitch, Akshasha been real chummy lately, huh? We'll be sure to send her your hands when we're done with ya." His armor took on a spiked, thorny appearance as it had more shadows to work with, and he pulled a leg back to plant it directly into Gabby's side.

Gabby heard John’s words and although she didn’t witness what had happened, the sounds indicated that he had been thrown backwards away from the Minotaur. What happened to it afterwards wasn’t pleasant to anyone watching, but thankfully she was busy with her own battle to see anything. The stench was enough to make her figure something had happen and that meant there was two left and four of them. Those were good odds in her mind. As her dagger found purchase in one of the Sabbat’s leg, she smirked and watched as part of the leg had turned to ash. Yes! They were making headway! Her excitement dissipated the moment the Cainite slammed his fist into the ground, sending sand up into the air to cover the sun.

Shit. There goes my plan B. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that she could no longer use the abilities that her mother gave her. Shifting her attention towards the still standing sandstorm, Gabrielle narrowed her eyes at his words.

“Yeah, that shit ain’t happening!” Gabby snarled and twirled the dagger around her fingers and started to formulate another attack just as the Sabbat’s armor took on a thorny appearance. That caught her off-guard and before she knew it, the leg planted hard against her side. Gasping, she stumbled backwards as agony surged through her body. She struggled forward and attempted to plant the now charged dagger somewhere in the bastard’s body, wanting to make it and him explode, though she was less sure of it working than she had been earlier.

As pained footfalls of a hungry girl in the blue hoodie neared a Sabbat to strike him the one that leaped at a minotaur lost a battle of might. Thrown backward at speed Becca turned a wide eye planting hurried steps to slow momentum as they clashed in a loud whump throwing her to her back on the ground the creature facing away atop her. Wrestling with the black plated creature he turned with a piercing gaze looking deeply into her. A part of her felt elated, pleased by the contact, but more one rising in sympathy to another. Then his face slacked in horror darting up and to the distance a grinding hand of moving sharp teeth reaching upward to swipe at him.

~~~

What the Sabbat saw in that moment a panic of going one's reach gone a step too far down into bottomless patina eyes. What ought to form the floor of her Lie ripped away and replaced with something else, not darker, but deeply empty. Past the plans of gunmetal gears, the broken husks of places of abominations that once were, and over the bulwark created by the Angel Ophaniel crossed only by the journey of 2500 years. A point of no return created to contain the tides of a place where light failed to contain a deep loyalty to Mankind where they'd created a deep hunger for the end of the Aether. In that drawing hunger the Sabbat's point of control fell faster still than even a corrupted astral tether could pull against among riotous storms beyond the bulwark. Waterspouts of inky fluid and trundling gears sent an eternal tide at weakening Ophaniel backwashed through the link into the Sabbat mind.

All sides buoying a drowning soul into a false image of its last frozen moment within an inner reality twisted by a cancer of willpower in gear and void. Ground and light in that place now gone nothing but withered grass sparse among dunes of grey ash alit from all directions suppressing all shadow. Sun gone or blotted out by twitching clouds in this place the light no elemental force but a controlled awareness devoid of light or shadow in hostile ticking from all corners. Becca's own face held into a moment of anger and though his hand around her throat pressed her into some metal relief inside a ash drift. A delicate clockwork heresy writ in red brass and stained glass depicted the death of Aetherkind in careful metal curves that cradled her body.

A clinking of gears in the distance over once grassy hills lurked as the astral tether frayed. Whirlwinds of moving funnels of wrath spinning long gunmetal chains ending in long barbed spears. Like some twisted circus ride as tall as a sky they screamed among screeching chains spinning along with the funnel's wrath. Until one stopped for a moment, just for him, a single spear headlong to the Sabbat the brass screeching among crying souls floating in midair.

Screaming came from each skewered soul a machination of howling along flashes of a Necropolis ringed in tall watchtowers deep within the Black Storm, "Etiam Deum, ut moriatur."

~~~

Becca saw him sit bolt upright and the black armor collapse inward with the Sabbat's chest then outward from his back. A sickening crunch and jerk as his body went slack the broken husk leaking cobalt ichor from holes for eyes. Though with the failure of his black armor his chest exploded from sunlight turned the vampire to ash. At least she figured that's what it was. Though there was that sense she'd missed something. A distant noise in a single instant she couldn't grip, as Ducky was curiously silent looking backward through her hair, and the Vampire had looked at something too just behind her. The ash left by the vampire made some weird angular pattern among the sand in grey and blue as she looked around.

There wasn't time to consider it as jeans swung around to get up. A leg with growing fragility shot a painful reality up her knees and hips pushing the thought further away. Then she stumbled out of the imprint as the other created a mini earthquake to make a small dust storm. At her left the imprint seemed almost indolent and sat unmoved by impulsing shadow but there was more than enough free sand on this beach to make it really damn dark. As Ducky's thoughts crossed with her own it helped hold back the pain though it left her with a strange notion.

The mixed female voice rung with a resonant quality, "Said by one who does know as much as they think what Aetherkind used the sun to contain."

A small hud appeared in Becca's view as the concordance slowly understood how to communicate with the foreign cortical hardware attached to her eyes and requisite implants. Red lines complained to an image of herself of vast minor and severe fractures attended with various uncomfortably long timers attached though some of it in unrecognizable language. Okay so she'd pushed her body even with Ducky in a smidge too far. Apparently some of it she didn't even understand yet was damaged, probably. She worried a bit about Ducky with the exhaustion she felt in her head but the things had to go.

Becca shot forward in seeing the ashen leg of one Sabbat intent on reaching into the draining wound. Good leg forward for stability, and to cover the fractured one, bent low with an eye upward to defend with a forearm as hands reached to grasp the bone. Hoping she could by widen the hole with her tearing hands fairly sure Ductu was still strong enough to hew some of it out of his tasty meat by force.