Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide 
Posts: 146 
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 1, 2015 8:22:37 GMT -8
1 October Happy damn Halloween, I guess, because everyone knows Halloween season starts on October 1 and ends when the last candy pumpkins are sold from the discount shelves. It's always a horror show at Shepherd, though.
Freya: Too succubus. Knows things. Dad raised her. Dad raised her! Fuck me, I can't believe Dad raised her. From 14 on, but still. I'm trying really hard not to be angry at her because none of this is her fault but the anger wants somewhere to go and she's the most convenient target. I can't afford to be angry at her for things that were largely out of her control. She's the only person in my entire family who I can count on as a definite ally.
Dad: My father may be responsible for the Lyons curse, the one that's clouding Bethy's future and the one that took Doc away too soon. It's hard not to blame myself, even though I didn't know. Freya said I am the curse. How fucking right she is.
Demon: Cambion. I'm the worst at it. I had another fucking meltdown last night and grew wings and a mouth full of needles and took off running through the forest like some sort of American survivalist whackjob. My leg is killing me again. My knuckles are raw and hurt. I probably punched something inanimate. It's not very clear in my head, what I did. I can say very few things with certainty.
Things I can say with certainty:
1. I didn't harm anyone other than maybe myself
2. I didn't feed
3. I actually achieved some sort of liftoff
Feeding: Kinda forgot about it as a concept, really, because Bethy is oh-so-good at keeping me sated. But rage and growing wings and whatever is exhausting and I need to feed. It's a distraction. Hard to deal with this cranial suture business when her voice keeps popping into my head. Not in a scolding way, not in a way that's chiding me for letting myself daydream when I should be studying. Just the way her moans cut off into breathless silence when she comes.
Ash and Jaycee: I tried to get a hit off the two of them last night, before the world exploded. I tried to set them up with one another. I don't think it's working. Unsurprising. I'm a cambion, not a matchmaker. But it's better than having the occasional inappropriate thought about a pair of sixteen year olds. And if they want each other, I can feed off that.
Ash: Reminds me of me when I was his age. Makes me think of the kid I want to have someday if we can ever get this curse lifted.
Jaycee: How are breasts that big and that perky? Are they anti-gravity?! Also I'll never stop getting a kick out of the way she looks at me.
Love: I see it in Freya's eyes. She thinks love has made me weak. All well and good for her to tell me not to marry a Lyons. I can't wait to see my dear sister fall in love. I hope it burns her alive from the inside out until she's left gasping and disoriented. I don't wish her harm, I just want her to fucking understand. I'm not weak. I'm not weak.
Bethy: I have to see her tonight, full fucking stop. One, I need to talk to her about everything that happened last night. She'll help me get my thoughts in order, see the connections I'm too angry or too confused to see. We can do just about anything if we collaborate. I've never met anyone smarter. And two, I need to feed if I'm going to be of any use to anyone for anything and if I'm going to pass this exam tomorrow. I just don't know which I want first. My brain wants to start getting to the bottom of this curse thing. My body wants her underneath me and clawing her nails down my back while I make damn sure she knows she's mine. Now. Immediately.
To-do (no particular order):
1. Speak to Dad (ugh)
2. Speak to Aunt Ginger (slightly less ugh)
3. Heterozygosity between populations lab due Tuesday AM
4. Speak to Bethy
5. Feed off Bethy
6. Research connections -- Lucas and Lyons families
7. Speak to Mum
8. Buy litter for Clemens
9. Cranial sutures -- memorize order of closure
Sex: I want to be so deep inside her that she feels me there for days.
I'm falling apart. I can't afford to fall apart. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 2, 2015 17:45:50 GMT -8
2 October Voicemail from Dad, roughly transcribed, left around 2:45 while I was in class: "We need to talk, boy. Immediately. Call me." Haven't called him, don't want to call him, probably going to have to bite the bullet within the next few hours. I don't know what's so bloody urgent he expects me to drop everything to deal with it. He certainly has never dropped everything for me. Feeding: Handled. I'd thank Beth but it's not like she doesn't get anything out of it. Test: Did well enough, most likely. Drinking: This will drive me to it, and sooner rather than later. I never was an alcoholic, but I certainly didn't abstain like this when I was younger. It would probably be quicker to drive me back to smoking, actually, but I'm sure Bethy would put a stop to that before it could even begin. For the best. I only need one addiction, one vice. Two if you count the fiendish caffeine habit I've developed since starting at Joe's. Lucases and Lyonses: Told Mum we need to talk this weekend. She seems eager. I didn't tell her what I wanted to talk to her about. I feel bad. She doesn't know that I overheard her and Dad. I feel like I'm betraying her trust somehow. But it looks like she may have been betraying mine all along. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 5, 2015 10:26:31 GMT -8
5 October Mirrors: Cover them for the time being. Shadow-selves: They came out of mirrors last night, in the library. Myself, Alice Clare, Jaycee, Ash, Jasper, and a guy named Will. - Alice: Did some damage to her other. They bleed black. She was very concerned about not getting the black blood in her wounds. She's probably got the right of it. She wants to speak to the Headmaster, I overheard her talking to Jaycee about it. I'm coming with them. Once again, she's probably got the right of it. I don't think she knows what to do, not really, but none of us do because there's no fucking protocol about shadow-selves coming through mirrors, so she's as good a choice to lead the charge as any of us are.
- Jaycee: I heard her other. I feel really bad for her. Sexuality is hard and scary to come to grips with when you're a teenager. The last thing anyone needs is something else batting thoughts around in their brain. She broke one of the mirrors in a fit of rage and fear. I don't know why I feel like I should protect her, but I do. Maybe it's because she's one of Bethy's people, so to speak.
- Ash: Not sure what happened with his other. He was uninjured but very out of sorts and thrown off. He wanted to break the mirrors. I ended up grappling with him over a chair. In the end, the librarian shooed us out before any real damage could be done. I don't think breaking the mirrors is going to help, but I don't know what will.
- Jasper: I didn't see her other, either, but she was also uninjured. Still very uncomfortable-seeming. It dawns on me I know jack shit about her.
- Will: I know jack shit about him, too. But I do like him, just for the fact that he gave Jaycee his button-down to wear over her shoulders while she went into an emotional tailspin. It looked like he'd been in a scuffle of some sort with his other.
- Mine: How does a half-demon become a man of God? I don't care how much you talk the talk and walk the walk, holy objects will still burn a child of an incubus. Maybe that's why he wears gloves. Why? Under what circumstances would I ever decide I wanted to become a priest or a monk or whatever the fuck he was? He called me a beast. Maybe I am a beast. I have a wound on my back now where he pressed a rosary to it. Asshole.
Headmaster: So I suppose that's where we take this next, the Headmaster. I've never seen the guy before in my life, but maybe Alice has his ear or something.
Lockdown: We're pretty sure that's the current state of the school. I haven't made any attempts to leave campus, but I think we all heard the whispers about closing the gates and releasing the lions, carried on the wind. Release the lions. It just made me think of Bethy.
Beth: I told her she's to cover all the mirrors and gave her a brief rundown of what happened, but not the full details. I haven't seen her since it happened. I don't want to go with this wound on my back. She'll give me that sad-doe-eye look and I'll crumble. Well, no. No, she probably won't do that. She'll just put me on my stomach in her bed and slather something on the wound that'll take the sting out because she's amazing at that herbalism stuff. Maybe I'll go see her after I speak to the Headmaster. I suspect she'll want to know what he has to say.
Final thoughts: I want to kill other-me. It's not me, it's wrong-me. I don't like something wearing my face and doing un-me things. This is going to put my whole personal journey of self-discovery or whatever on the back burner, though. An immediate crisis at my school is more pressing than unraveling twenty-one years' worth of lies. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 7, 2015 10:38:16 GMT -8
7 October
Alternate me put Freya in the bloody infirmary and I'm going to kill him. Literally.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 9, 2015 0:23:01 GMT -8
9 October Monster (noun): 1. a legendary animal combining features of animal and human form or having the forms of various animals in combination, as a centaur, griffin, or sphinx. 2. any creature so ugly or monstrous as to frighten people. 3. any animal or human grotesquely deviating from the normal shape, behavior, or character. 4. a person who excites horror by wickedness, cruelty, etc. 5. any animal or thing huge in size. 6. Biology. an animal or plant of abnormal form or structure, as from marked malformation or the absence of certain parts or organs. a grossly anomalous fetus or infant, especially one that is not viable. 7. anything unnatural or monstrous. I hurt Hannah. I didn't mean to. Jasper looked at me like I was the devil incarnate. Cambion: The word cambion refers to a male "half-fiend", a cross between a fiend and another creature, often a human. The terms alu-fiend or alu-demon refer to its female counterpart. I told Ash there was no such thing as a monster here at Shepherd. I lied through my fucking teeth. I can't sit here in Joe's all bloody night. I need to hurt the thing that's wrong with me.
 They come in twos. You come in twos. You and you.
Kill your double. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 10, 2015 2:54:27 GMT -8
10 October (bloody early) Double: Dead. Or I think he is. I killed him with my own hand and I don't care how badly the holy blade blistered, it was worth it just to feel the satisfaction of the weapon going into his black, charred heart. I have his crucifix too, wrapped in about five towels and stuffed in a bag. I'm going to bring it to Freya. We can destroy it together. Holy wounds: When I was ten and I fell off my bike and tore all the skin off my knee and it went so deep I saw my own bone and Mum rushed me to A&E, that was the most excruciating pain in my life, before last night and being stabbed by a blessed blade. I hope I never have to feel that again as long as I live. I thought I wouldn't live. I guess it's true what they say about human flesh tasting like pork, because the sizzle definitely smelled like pork chops, which I'm going to be avoiding for a while. Healing: I had to feed off Bethy. Sorry, Bethy, I swear I'm not using you for the energy hits. But I had to, because I saw from watching Freya what happens when you leave holy wounds unattended for too long. I'm not about to be taken down by a massive infection. She had to feed from somebody familiar to heal, so I went right to my girl. I should really do something wonderful for her. Not overboard. She thrives on the simple. But maybe that weekend in the city that Hannah suggested before last night went tits up is a good idea. Headmaster: I had my appointment today with Alice Clare and Jaycee. I saw a lot of things that I don't understand and that worry me. There are too many connections. The scribbles in his book, the scribbles in the book that I looked over with Beth back in the summertime. The way he looked at me. Does he know something I don't? The man seems positively ancient despite not looking older than maybe my granddad. He has a lion statue. It looks like the statue that took me and Tig and Ash and Bethy out of Dr. Adar's office. He asked me about whether I visited Beth after my encounter with my double. For a guy who nobody ever sees, he sure knows a lot about what happens on campus. Security director: I'm going to make an appointment with Security Director Cavanaugh sooner rather than later. People are being hurt on campus and he needs to do something about it. Lions: Lyons? No, that's kiddie-level problem solving and whatever's happening around here goes deeper than that. Jaycee: I need to make sure she goes to class instead of hiding out in her room like a recluse for another week. I don't know why I need to do it. I'm not her father. But somebody ought to. I squandered my education when I was her age. I really don't want her to do that. I feel like everyone who was in that library on Sunday is now united in some fashion. Like we have to stick together. Hannah: I went to see her today and found out she's been released. I guess that means she's alright then. I still don't know what happened, but I suppose either Jasper or Ash might have some answers. They know her better than I do. I just hope her man doesn't decide to come around and start shit. I really don't think I can take him. The man's huge. Next steps: - Reconvene with Bethy
- Headmaster -- who the fuck is this guy?
- Doubles -- be on the lookout
- Appointment with Security Director Cavanaugh
- Find out what's up with Hannah
- Make sure Jaycee goes to class
- Do something nice for Bethy -- city weekend?
- Clemens vet appointment on Wednesday
I'm confused and tired. Going to bed, if I can make my brain stop chasing its own tail.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 11, 2015 3:58:24 GMT -8
[One photograph, uploaded from his phone in the late hours of October 10. A grave marker bearing the name of L. Lucas, with a death date of 1620.]
Breadcrumb. Found under Lily Hall during tour.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 15, 2015 23:53:01 GMT -8
The secret is out. Well, no, the secret is out to me and only me. No one else. Just Alice Clare, who realized the truth and blabbed, and Beth, who knew the truth in the first place. I wish she didn't run from me when she's afraid. I wish she didn't go rigid and turn into something she's not. And she is afraid. I am almost sure that's what I saw written on her face in the half-second before she shut down utterly. I know sometimes she has to be Beth Lyons, Impressive Witch Lady, but I wish she could always just be my Bethy, at least with me. Bethy is sarcastic laughter and harmless shoulder punches. She's Netflix and veggie pizza. She's arguments with squirrels. She's teeth and claws and fiendishly smart brown eyes. She's the same tea order day in and day out at Joe's. But when she has to tell the truths that she keeps guarded, she's Beth Lyons. I'll keep her secrets. I always have. She keeps mine. Who would I tell, anyway? I don't have any other confidants. She is my confidant. Not even Freya will know. Hell, not even Clemens, even though he's just a dumb cat. In a manner of speaking, I was right, or at least not as wrong as I thought I was. Release the Lyons. I'm afraid. There, I said it, I'm afraid. Thomas Lyons makes me worried, suspicious, anxious, and at the same time sort of exudes this aura of general grandfatherliness that I want to feel at ease around. And I mean, someday he's going to be my uncle-in-law or whatever it is. But those symbols in that book... Are there more books? Somewhere in the library? That's where the first one was found. If we have any hope of either breaking this curse or dealing with the shadow-doubles, which for all I know could be two halves of the same problem, I need answers, and if I'm not going to get them from my girl, I'll get them from her uncle's writings. I'm going to have to call on Mira again. She found the book over the summer, if I'm not mistaken. Lord knows I'd rather get them from her, though. Open, sincere, and away from prying eyes and ears. I was going to take her to the city over the weekend. Just surprise her with it. Get a hotel room. Divide 48 hours between walking through the city at night and rolling around in the sheets during the day. That may have to wait, what with this latest round of revelations. A cambion's work ain't never done. But it's quite literally a labour of love. I'd move the skies for her. I can't sleep. I'll work on picking a recital piece instead. I know Bethy wants me to do the Sick Doll, but I'd rather do something on guitar. Its portability appeals to me right now. I feel like my feet are going to do a lot of walking soon. If not literally, then maybe metaphorically. Did we create a modern myth?
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 19, 2015 10:44:02 GMT -8
19 October Doubles: Hearing whispers about them once again. I guess they've been seen once more. I don't know if mine was among them, but I'll be staying in this female body a while longer to avoid confusion. Or, well, generate additional confusion of a different variety. Watching Ash's face was priceless. I take my standard shape while I'm at work so nobody wonders who let the blue-eyed girl behind the counter, but on campus, I'm lady-Tucker for now.Breasts: How do people with breasts get anything done? I keep getting distracted by my own.Bethy: Doesn't mind. I think that says more about our relationship than it does about her sexual orientation. She loves me because I'm Tucker North.Beauty: Freya is still the prettier one, but I look damn good.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 21, 2015 0:56:23 GMT -8
Her name was Lily Carrington, but her tombstone lists her as Lily Lucas. She died in 1620. I think Lily Hall is named for her. She's certainly buried under there alongside Marie Edlington. I found this out today. Hannah, after offering up her forgiveness, gave me two items in a tote. The first was a ring. It's a pretty thing with a family crest on it. And the second? Oh, the second. It's a book. It's about Lily Lucas, but it's written by T. Lyons. Finally, a tangible connection between Lucas and Lyons, between my line and Beth's! Something other than our grasping hands and our entwined bodies and hearts, something that dates back centuries before we were even concepts. The journal is...hard to decipher, but the parts I have been able to read talk about Lily and were written sometime in 1620. This is going to be an ongoing project. I need help. I need Beth. But she won't talk to me. She brushes me off, ever since that night she stormed out of Joe's. I don't know what I did wrong, but I would rip out my own heart and eat it if it would make things right. (It wouldn't. She's a practical woman.) Maybe the first thing I can do to make amends is to get some answers and come to her with them. What I know: - Lily Lucas, nee Carrington, died in 1620. She is buried under Lily Hall, which presumably bears her name, beside Marie Edlington.
- She is listed as dead along with Edlington, and two other familiar names: Turner and Veitch.
- This book was a journal kept by a Thomas Lyons, which provides the connecting pin that Bethy and I needed to start drawing further conclusions.
What I don't know:
- How exactly were Thomas Lyons and Lily Lucas connected?
- Why did Lily die with three other individuals?
- What's with this ring?
- Who were the Carringtons? That's not a name that rings a bell from my own family tree. Does it matter? Is it part of the Lyons family?
- Why did Hannah have all this in the first place, and how did she know that I'd find it useful? It's not like I bear the surname Lucas. If anything, I would have thought she'd give it to Beth.
I want nothing more than to go to Bethy with flowers in one hand and answers in the other and drop them both in her lap and see her face light up with love and happiness and the scholarly satisfaction of a problem solved. But here we are again. I answer three questions and I generate five more. It's endless.
I'll have to feed eventually. I can't go back to taking scraps of positive emotions, not after feeding off something as raw and intoxicating as lust for so long. But I won't cheat on Bethy, either. If I can wait it out until Samhain I'll have my "day out," so to speak, but I hope I don't have to wait that long. Not only because I worry about my health and strength, but because I don't want to spend another ten days without her.
There's something else bothering me about this journal but I can't put my finger on it. It's like my brain doesn't want to expend the necessary energy to get there, like it's blocked off behind measures of genetic diversity in the peopling of the Americas and all the other crap I need to know for next week's midterms.
There are other people I can go to, people other than Beth. Freya, for one. This is her puzzle too, and maybe I can stand outside her bedroom and pull in spare energy while she feeds off a chosen victim, as awkward as that is. There's also Mum. But I don't know if I can trust her where this stuff is concerned. She thinks my dad drops sunshine out his arse and can do no wrong. But Bethy is the one I want to see the most. When we put our heads together there's nothing we can't do. The problem is getting her head anywhere near mine right now.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 21, 2015 23:45:08 GMT -8
22 October, early morning I'm just a crook with no intent or stash Pour gasoline on the vault, just to burn the cash I swear to god, I've never heard a better sound comin' out Than when you're whimpering my name from your mouth I plead the fifth in all of this When your chips are down and your drinks are all gone I'll still be here, wishing, waiting for you to come on Kaleidoscope eyes sparkle at the world My Emerald City downtown girl In the sickness of you I'm just a white blood cell, fighting like hell for you I've got an insatiable desire for your insides It's undeniable
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 23, 2015 2:40:44 GMT -8
23 October, early She let me stay the night. It's a start. I'll tell her about the book in the morning. She feels right in my arms, but I think she'd pull away if she was conscious. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 25, 2015 2:00:11 GMT -8
25 October, pre-dawn Ever since I opened my mouth about that stupid fucking book, it's been chaos.
There's a lot I don't understand, but I'll try to spin it out exactly as it unfolded. (There's always a lot I don't understand. I know fewer things than I thought I knew.)
I told Beth about the book and the ring. The ring she seemed mildly interested in. The book made her terrified. I'm not supposed to ever let anyone know I found it. It's the first volume of the journals of a Thomas Lyons and it's apparently been missing for ages, but not anymore. I'm sure Bethy returned it to its rightful place.
And then there's this Council and these Keepers. They know things about me. They have my academic transcripts. They know what I'm studying and they know my educational goals. Bethy said there will always be secrets that she has to keep from me, because of this Council, and I understand. I know she'll tell me what she can.
There's still more. Tonight we went back underground. Tonight I was prepared. Tonight we faced the doubles for the last time. I fought a mirror of Alice Clare and she said dreadful, dreadful things. She told me I was weak and that she doesn't understand what Beth sees in me. She broke my fucking nose. Soren had to shove it back into place. It's still throbbing, but at least I'll heal up pretty.
I feel like we rose to the occasion tonight. Alice's double proved devilishly hard to hit, but I got her on her way back through the mirror. I threw my knife into her back. It sank in deep. I don't know if it killed her, but I hope it did, because she killed the real Ophelia Donovan.
I never knew Ophelia beyond seeing her maybe once. But Bethy knew her. And when Alice's double put Ophelia's severed head in Bethy's hands, she went silent and shocked and my heart hurt for her.
They came through the mirror underneath Lily Hall, those foul things. But the mirror is broken now. Jaycee and Saint and I all saw to that. Saint, by the way, has that familiar touch of dark that I know so well. It's what surrounds me, and Freya, and Soren. He might be like us. A half-breed. I don't know. I didn't have time to find out. Between my broken nose and poor Bethy's trauma, there was too much to deal with after the fact.
I liked the sound the knife made when it hit Alice's double. I liked the way she bled. I wanted to cut her tongue out to silence her lying mouth. When she gave Bethy poor Ophelia's head, I wanted to snap her neck and feel her go limp in my hands. I think there's a part of me that wants to hurt things. Not just things in general. Things that threaten the things and the ideas and the people that I hold dear. I like the idea of killing things that deserve to be put down. It's exciting. It's sexy. Fucking hell I think I get off on violence, just a bit. (I am the son of an incubus, though. I wonder if there's anything I wouldn't get off on, at least a little.)
I wonder if that would scare Beth. It scares me a little, how willing I am to kill when the stakes are just right.
Poor Ophelia. She deserves vengeance. I hope I delivered. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 26, 2015 22:26:23 GMT -8
27 October, just past midnight Cambion: Noun. The male offspring of an incubus and a mortal woman. I've been over this before. Tonight's the first time I ever really sat down and perused the internet, though. When I first discovered what the word meant I was so shocked by the revelation that I didn't bother digging any deeper. I was too busy dealing with the fact that my absentee father was a demon.I had a little bit of down time tonight, something that's become increasingly rare as the month has progressed. I mucked around online a while, sprawled on the bed by myself, with Clemens sitting next to me and licking his big, furry butt. Just the way I used to when I lived at home, really. All it was missing was Mum popping in to say goodnight after her customary old movies and glass of wine.Merlin was a cambion. He was fathered by an incubus according to medieval lore. Allegedly that's where witches come from too, but I'm sure Bethy can attest to the fact that the only thing witchy about me is her--and apparently now my knowledge of and involvement with the Council. Gilgamesh was also a cambion, by the modern definition, fathered by the demon Lilu who seduced women in their sleep.I have very large shoes to fill. Oh, I'm sure not every cambion achieves something great and worthy of being recalled in history and literature for time immemorial. But maybe I want to be one of the ones that does.I also discovered that incubi were not always considered evil. The name comes from an ancient Greek practice of spending the night in an underground pit (same root as the word "incubate"). The result would be a visit from a guiding spirit, an incubus, who would bring prophetic dreams. It wasn't until the middle ages that incubi were demonized because of their habit of fucking around with those who sought their guidance, and because sex became some sort of sin in the Christian church.It seems incidental, but it explains why Bethy's faith doesn't harm me. I've danced about bonfires three times now, drank their wine and shared their offerings three times. Twice I've engaged in the orgiastic aftermath, and there lies the difference. Sex isn't a sin in her world. Lust isn't a sin. Desire is beautiful, natural, something to be explored and shared and enjoyed. Bethy could put her entire collection of holy everythings on my bare skin and it wouldn't even sizzle, but I still bear the mark of my double's cross on my back.Is a cambion naturally evil? No. Merlin and Gilgamesh were not, nor am I. Nor are alufiends, I'm sure. But we are all driven by a desire to touch and taste and feel and take until our hunger is, for the moment, sated.The more I think about it, the more I think Freya's right. Partially right. It's time to claim my birthright. I can do it without breaking the promises I made to Bethy. Love and lust don't have to be two separate realms of human and demon. The demon loves Beth, I think. The human certainly lusts for her. This isn't mutually exclusive. I don't have to choose to be one or the other.My name is Tucker James North. I am the son of Charlie North and Sebastian Moreau, the half brother of Freya Black. I am a cambion, and maybe I should get the stick out of my ass about it.
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Oct 28, 2015 1:04:54 GMT -8
28 October, early morning
{Note to self: Caesar cipher. Council families, what the Hall should be called.}
It was Mrs Thistlewaite all along. She captured the creatures. She had a lab--a fucking lab!--underneath the soccer field. She has the blood of the entire student body and was going to sell it to provide herself with a cushy retirement. The blood of Doc Lyons is on her hands. The blood of Ophelia Donovan is on her hands. Others, too. Lovecraft Shade. Jim Sullivan. There are probably many, many more that I never knew.
She set the creatures against us all year. It's her fault. It's all her fucking fault and her body is now a useless, limbless heap thanks to Alice Clare. She deserved her fate. I would have bathed in her blood. I hope she rots. I'd wish her hell but hell is too good for her.
I killed tonight. I killed five times. Remaining shadow doubles that threatened Alice Clare and Bethy.
1. Snapped neck. It felt amazing under my hands. It did something to me. Were there not four other things trying to kill us, and Alice Clare present, I would have bent Bethy over and had her right there.
2. Scalpel to the eye. Miraculous, considering the fucker was on my wing. Less satisfying, more utilitarian, kinda fun from a scientific perspective. It must have gone through one of the foramina in the orbit, because otherwise I have no idea how it actually killed somebody. Sheer bloody luck.
3. Smashed over the head with a beaker I found nearby, then stabbed in the neck with a remaining glass shard. And they said I'd never use that anatomy and physiology course I took on a lark as a fresher.
4. Same as number 1, because it felt so good. I should probably worry about that. But I don't think killing random passers-by is, or could ever be, my style. It's only satisfying when I'm putting down a monster.
5. It was me. It was my own damn face staring me down. I tore its throat out with my own teeth. That's the thing about half-demons, isn't it? You can't exorcise the darkness. It's in the blood.
The funny thing was that the ice elemental, the hellhound, and the sphinx all protected us. The icy thing protected Alice Clare, the wise sphinx protected Beth, and the hellhound protected me. I think it's taken a shine to me. It let me pet it, at the very least.
It's over. It's over. It's over. I can't believe it's over. My school is actually safe again. Is this how the students at Hogwarts felt when Harry Potter finally graduated? Like they could go back to, you know, learning? I have exams to sit in a few weeks' time and I would very much like to pass them so I can get my degree and move on with my life. (Good god, could I be more of a Ravenclaw if I tried?)
But it's just beginning, because I know so much more now than I did two weeks ago. Bethy told me so much. I know about the Veil now, and the Council, and I know that I want to do whatever I have to do in order to preserve the unstable peace we maintain with the mundane.
You know, I absolutely lied to Ash when I told him that there were no monsters at Shepherd. There were. But it wasn't us, and it wasn't the creatures. It sure as shit wasn't me. |
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Carley
VT:L Adventure Guide
Posts: 146
writes for: Alexander "Alex" Kearny (amoribundusher)
writes for: Tucker North (hesitantlyyours)
writes for: Hyacinth "Cinthie" Griswold (kerosenebridges)
writes for: Chelsea "Mackie" McIntyre (ficklefauna)
writes for: Miriam "Mira" Roth (ignafatua)
writes for: Ryan Malone (quicksilverwit)
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Post by Carley on Nov 22, 2015 8:46:26 GMT -8
22 November, morning (too bloody early)
Beth: Fighting is never pretty, but we finally fought. We finally said all that we wanted and needed to say to one another. You're spineless, you're frigid, be a man, be less of a robot. I gave in to the demon, I did what comes naturally to me until she was limp and breathless and pink-cheeked. It was only afterwards that we seemed to remember--oh, yes, we're doing this because we love one another. We fell asleep on the couch, my arm around her shoulders, her entire body pulled into my side, her arms tight around my waist. The honeymoon is over. The reality has begun. I love her no less, but I can't love her with kid gloves anymore. She doesn't want me to. I don't blame her.
Sterling Group: So apparently I'm needed here. They have room for somebody like me, a supernatural entity with a knack for research. I've been paired up with one Roman Kerrs, who I met briefly last night. Roman seems like a pleasant enough individual, so long as you don't bring up the fact that you've been within a twelve yard radius of "his girl," who is apparently Miriam Roth. Or maybe he just reacted like that because I laid my cards on the table early and told him exactly what I am. He did the same. I'm working with a water naga. Also the guy has the most ridiculous truck I have ever laid eyes on, but he gave me a ride back to Shepherd in it, so I can't complain.
School: Beth and I spend a lot of our time together these days preparing for finals. My final finals as the case may be, or at least the last ones of my time as an undergrad. Graduating early keeps sounding better and better. I've applied for a position as a teaching assistant while I'm in graduate school, but between that and the Sterling Group, I may end up needing to quit my job at Joe's. I think Molly would understand. I'll play it by ear. |
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