Satis House

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Antha watched him for a moment, drawing just a bit closer without seeming to make a move. "If that's the case, then there is no problem." The witch's eyes gleamed and, in the blink of an eye, the spirits surrounding her and infusing the entire house flickered into vision as silvery clouds and threads as fine as spider webs. If one wished, they could believe they had imagined it. "We're quite capable of protecting our city, no matter what damage you might have otherwise caused." At his question, her lips curved into a crooked little grin. "If Ren does not suffer, then, well..." She stopped only to laugh, a witch's laugh through and through. "I imagine you've heard of necromancy. Fascinating subject, really; there are so many takes on how the art is performed, almost none of which are truly accurate."

 

[Vikteren]

Vikteren came through the woods, the way Antha and he had gone to the Talamasca. He moved fast over short distances, and found Antha's threshold soon enough. The wards on her house no longer gave him trouble--once extended, the invitation could not be taken back.
He moved through the ground floor silently, masking his presence with moderate success. Unless she was specifically searching out him--and he thought it unlikely that she would--he would hopefully pass unnoticed.
He wanted to see what was in the attic.
The vampire had not let it show, but Antha's outburst in the Motherhouse had disturbed him--something that it was becoming increasingly more difficult to do as the years went on. The outburst had been on the account of his queries concerning her attic--specifically, what task she had left him to accomplish up there.  

[Kaze The Despised]

"Heh, I'll make sure that Ren suffers. He may have been a friend, but he's still a rival I must defeat. Though I'd rather finish my opponents quickly. That way they don't get a chance to fight back. But I'll try my best." Kaze smirked at Antha. This woman seemed to had intrigued him. "Well, I best be off, Antha. But if I so happen to loose, I'm not coming back." At this he turned and went out, back to the city.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

"Adieu," she bid him in quite a soft voice, staring after him for a moment. She seemed lost to her swirling, hectic thoughts as she stood still for a moment, staring off into the darkness. It still seemed that was the case as she turned and began up the stairs, thinking all at once that she should find a way to make Vikteren realize she was a monster---truly insane--- and that she should turn her brother away from her bed now before assumptions were made and that Kaze was more intriguing than he should be, given the threat he posed, and that she did wish to kill Ren herself but obviously that was not the best solution at this point. Before she knew it she stood at the top of the narrow stairs to the attic, her long fingers catching the doorknob and turning it quietly. She only took a few steps into the room, her eyes passing listlessly over the childish scribbles of mangled bodies, dogs gobbling up children or passing out candy, and dead mermaids and crushed birds and mutated goats and rose vines strangling a number of beings on the floor and walls. Reverently, her eyes paused over the crude rose around which everything circled, the emerald of her irises dimming for a moment and her pupils dilating sharply. And then, all at once she turned and went right back down the stairs, ignoring her crayons on the floor and watching nothing. When she came to her room, when the sight of Nicolae calmed her, Antha collapsed on her bed beside him. "It's beyond me," she muttered in a great flow of breath, "Even if I wished it not to be so, I'll do it again and again, won't I?"

 

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

"Adieu," she bid him in quite a soft voice, staring after him for a moment. She seemed lost to her swirling, hectic thoughts as she stood still for a moment, staring off into the darkness. It still seemed that was the case as she turned and began up the stairs, thinking all at once that she should find a way to make Vikteren realize she was a monster---truly insane--- and that she should turn her brother away from her bed now before assumptions were made and that Kaze was more intriguing than he should be, given the threat he posed, and that she did wish to kill Ren herself but obviously that was not the best solution at this point. Before she knew it she stood at the top of the narrow stairs to the attic, her long fingers catching the doorknob and turning it quietly. She only took a few steps into the room, her eyes passing listlessly over the childish scribbles of mangled bodies, dogs gobbling up children or passing out candy, and dead mermaids and crushed birds and mutated goats and rose vines strangling a number of beings on the floor and walls. Reverently, her eyes paused over the crude rose around which everything circled, the emerald of her irises dimming for a moment and her pupils dilating sharply. And then, all at once she turned and went right back down the stairs, ignoring her crayons on the floor and watching nothing. When she came to her room, when the sight of Nicolae calmed her, Antha collapsed on her bed beside him. "It's beyond me," she muttered in a great flow of breath, "Even if I wished it not to be so, I'll do it again and again, won't I?"

A miasma of old madness pervaded the room, thick and heavy and as familiar to Vikteren as an old friend; if not quite as comforting. It overwhelmed him for a moment, cloying. He could sense Antha's trace here; crimson as fresh blood, the scent of roses, a haunting, high-pitched child's giggle. Decay and destruction, abuse, old scars.
He leaned against the wall, scant inches from a particularly vivid scribble. A mangled dog. He watched it through slitted green eyes, half-expecting it to move. Odd how something so crudely portrayed could give such a sense of realism.
The thought brought a half-formed memory to the vampire's mind--
It isn't a picture of what it looks like. It's a picture of what it is.
His sister's words.
Vikteren returned to the moment with a jolt, flinching back from the wall against which he leaned as though it might burn him.
He left the room in silence, unable to bear another moment in it's confines. Afraid of what he might become if he lingered.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

In the stillness, Antha watched with eyes closed, her sights following Vikteren cautiously. Against outcries that sent wind at the walls from outside that wished to run straight through the house and forced the tree limbs to bang in protest against the wood and windows, she stood quietly and glided down the hallway to stand at the bottom of the stairs, one hand on the banister as she went to stand next to it, eyes gazing up into the darkness. When Vikteren's form became distinguishable in the darkness, her sight locked to him with a very pointed blankness in her extravagant eyes.
Her silence, and indeed her perfect stillness, continued as the footsteps sounded on the stairs and presently the matter gathered together, not of her own will, to form a little girl in a bloody white dress with little red curls in disarray around her pale face and a boy chasing after her, looking more like a Greek God with his careless golden locks and honey eyes almost as wide as the girl's, even as she cried. "You made me!" she screamed, "You made me, you made me, you made me!" The accent in her voice was strong at such a young age, a bizarre mix of something western European.
"No, no," the boy was soothing her, reaching out for her tiny form though she scratched at his face. "It was meant, ma cherie," he continued evenly, "They do not deserve the life they were granted. You know they were only our lesser blood trickling into life."
The little child didn't listen, but only stood screaming and crying and ripping her own hair out as she stumbled around in frustration. "You made me a murderer!" she accused him at last, pausing long enough to point a thin, white finger at him, "She was one of us! She was bred of Julien! She was our sister, and you had me kill her!"
When she ran off screaming and the boy chased after her into nothingness, Antha's eyes diverted momentarily without the slightest movement of her head. And still without a single word she turned and left back down the stairs and headed for the front door, tendrils of red hair twisting in the draft.

 

[.David Talbot.]

When she came to lay beside him Nicolae ran a few fingers through her hair and ran them along down her arm. He didn't say anything when she left again and took a second or two to rise up and follow after her. He was just in time to watch the memories forming like ghosts and come bickering down the stairs and towards him down the hall. I hate you. Those were the words she had spoken next. I hate you. And Lawrence stood watching in horror at the door to the attic. I hate you most. He chased after her again after all these years, catching her in the first floor hall and grabbing her up in an embrace just a little too powerful for mortals. "We made a mistake," he admitted, "We did. And it was mine most of all. And i made you carry the burden. Antha, ma cherie, my precious little sister, please don't still hate me." He kissed her hair and then her cheek before he whispered, "I love you most of all. Don't hate me."

 

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Her instant reaction was to throw him off, though it proved impossible for weak little Antha against the powerful vampire Nicolae, so instead the thrashed helplessly in his arms, screaming bloody murder, and brought the umbra down upon him. They clawed at him with such force that any beast would be put to shame, throwing him off and a few feet back, as far as they could manage. Antha fled through the nearest door, through the dark kitchen and out the back door to the thick woods. She paused though at the drawer at the end of the counter, yanking it open and drawing from it a long butcher knife. She couldn't be sure if this was the one that had killed her father---they all looked very much the same. So with the knife held tightly in her hand and the entirety of her presence cloaked, Antha set through the forest at an arch, reemerging again quite far across the city. She had fallen a few times, scratching her arms and legs and splattering mud on every inch of her, most of which had dried by the time she stepped out into the street, and she hadn't paid enough attention to notice the knife cutting into her arm. No matter though. It was common for her to be such a complete mess, so much so that the humans walking by hardly spared her a glance. She came to the gate of Mayfair Manor in peace, watching the bugs hover about the streetlights in chaos. Here at the gate she stopped, hands gripping the wrought iron vines and eyes flickering up to the balcony and then to a moth that had landed gracefully on her shoulder. Malakai, Malakai, she called silently, Come out to play.

 

[Vikteren]

Vikteren had followed her down the stairs, watching the memories that unfolded in that dimly-lit hall.
Watching, his eyes luridly, brilliantly, otherworldly green in the darkness, as Nicolae followed her, attempted to calm her through love.
Half-maddened, this was no way to soothe Antha.
He heard, through the walls, the clatter of metal as her hands dove into the drawer, drew forth with a scrape a long metal object--knife--and fled out the door. Her footsteps seemed to last a long time.
Vikteren looked steadily at Nicolae, at the bottom of the stairs, resting his hand upon the rail of the stairs.
"Shall I go after her, or you?"  

[.David Talbot.]

"She's gone to steal Malakai," he answered with a little wave of his hand. "If you think you can get to her before she enters Mayfair Manor, or more importantly, the airship, then run along. But me? I made her this way. She wouldn't stand the sight of me right now." This little episode had made him tired as Antha's madness always did. "Be careful around her. Antha is insane you know, by every definition of the word. I really don't know why you stand her company int he first place. People only ever do when they fall in love with her. That or when lust gets the better of them." He chuckled darkly.

 

[Vikteren]

.David Talbot.

"She's gone to steal Malakai," he answered with a little wave of his hand. "If you think you can get to her before she enters Mayfair Manor, or more importantly, the airship, then run along. But me? I made her this way. She wouldn't stand the sight of me right now." This little episode had made him tired as Antha's madness always did. "Be careful around her. Antha is insane you know, by every definition of the word. I really don't know why you stand her company int he first place. People only ever do when they fall in love with her. That or when lust gets the better of them." He chuckled darkly.

He paused, his head tilted to one side, considering the implications of his words. "Perhaps." he admitted, with a soft laugh. His vampiric grace gave the shrug that followed an uncommon balance. "And perhaps not. Is it not acceptable to merely repay one's debts, in this city?"
And then he was gone.  

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

Antha did not laugh, but her eyes gave away her amusement. "Just buckle up and close your eyes," she suggested, her tone whimsical, as she shifted into reverse, the automatic garage door snaking up to the ceiling behind them.
Certainly it would not help Vikteren to know that the car went from 0 to 60 in 3.8 seconds, so she didn't tell him. Instead she merely backed out, threw it into drive, and before a passerby could even see who drove (though the tinted windows prevented that), they were halfway down the street. Antha sat back in her seat, arms entirely outstretched to reach the wheel, legs moving smoothly with every push of the gas pedal, and fingers drumming impatiently against the steering wheel. And meanwhile, Beethoven rose and fell in a rolling rhythm from all sides. Lawrence, gripping the sides of his seat in fear, had always called it ironic.
Perhaps five minutes later, they had crossed the city and she had slowed to a near crawl in an instant to pull onto the dirt road that led into the outskirts of the dark, murky swamp. Satis House lay around the final bend, which she passed in due time, careful not to stray off the path so that the muck on either side would not swallow the car whole. "Not so bad, right?" she asked with a grin when they were safely parked on the small slab of concrete behind Satis House, the car still running but Antha having left it alone in park. Even she knew the answer to her question, having counted the red lights she had nearly missed entirely and the cars she had cut in front of when they were too slow to turn and even the mingled frustrated and terrified thoughts as she had weaved through the mild traffic pushing a hundred miles an hour. "Of course, it's not like you had to ride with me. I imagined you would make your own way here and leave me to my ridiculous sport with innocent people in their slow little cars." She stopped there, arms folded carelessly over her chest as she settled into the back of the seat, watching him from the corners of her eyes.

Vikteren hadn't closed his eyes soon enough, and had been, from sheer horror, unable to force them shut throughout the remainder of the drive.
Now he unpried his cold, dead fingers from the edge of his seat. "How in any god's name did you get your driver's license?" he asked incredulously.
For once, out of sheer bloody relief, his stiff posture had relaxed, and he sank gratefully against the leather back of his seat, closing his eyes with a deep sigh.
Then he opened them again, and grinned like a cat, exposing, without the slightest trace of self-consciousness, the distinctive canines of his race. "I shall have to remember to do this again."  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Like with anyone else, Vikteren's reaction sent her into peels of laughter, which she veiled behind her hand out of mock courtesy. "Driver's license? Do you actually think that a girl who can read minds and detect the location of oh, say, a police car, is going to bother taking a driving test?" Antha laughed, remembering the once she had been at the DMV. She had gone with Malakai and Nicolae four years earlier to get their final permits. Malakai had done perfectly; Nicolae hadn't slowed below 60 mph at any given time and, at the end, he had knocked over a line of cones, a parking sign, and laughed at it like a maniac. Needless to say, Antha had ridden with him often.
Vikteren's second reaction stopped her in vivid curiosity for a moment, turning her head and watching him with careful eyes, before the absolute delight was quite plain on her face. "Any time, ducky." She paused just long enough to grimace, the nickname having slipped, and look to see if he would react badly.

 

[Vikteren]

+Rotting Lunacy+

Like with anyone else, Vikteren's reaction sent her into peels of laughter, which she veiled behind her hand out of mock courtesy. "Driver's license? Do you actually think that a girl who can read minds and detect the location of oh, say, a police car, is going to bother taking a driving test?" Antha laughed, remembering the once she had been at the DMV. She had gone with Malakai and Nicolae four years earlier to get their final permits. Malakai had done perfectly; Nicolae hadn't slowed below 60 mph at any given time and, at the end, he had knocked over a line of cones, a parking sign, and laughed at it like a maniac. Needless to say, Antha had ridden with him often.
Vikteren's second reaction stopped her in vivid curiosity for a moment, turning her head and watching him with careful eyes, before the absolute delight was quite plain on her face. "Any time, ducky." She paused just long enough to grimace, the nickname having slipped, and look to see if he would react badly.

He stretched langorously, his eyes emerald slits of light, set on her face. “So that explains how you drive. You’ve never learned.”
The vampire’s grin widened slightly. “I would say that it is a miracle that we yet breathe—“ Or rather, you do, “—but I do not think that any god would dare to interfere with you behind the wheel of this machine.”
Vikteren opened the car door and stepped out, walking around to Antha’s side and courteously opening it for her as well, with a slight bow.
As for the nickname, he graciously ignored it.  

[XCandy and LunacyX]

Gracefully Antha stepped out of the car, slipping the keys into her pocket. "Merci, monsieur," she thanked him politely, sweeping a slight curtsy before walking over to hop onto the glossy hood of the car, seating herself there as if she was quite used to it, "Aunt Mary Jane didn't know how accurate she was when she said that chivalry is dead." Again she gave him that wicked little grin, the adrenaline from the drive still fresh and hot in her veins.
That was when the look of deep thought---accompanied this time by an avid curiosity---came to her face again, her head tilting to the side as a habit of her rumination. She couldn't quite tell what had sparked it, or why she considered it. Perhaps she was merely curious as to his reaction, or maybe it was that she actually wanted it. With Antha, there was no telling. "Vikteren---" But regardless of her motivation, she voiced her thoughts as she saw fit. "What would you do if I asked you to kiss me?"