Ideas

You looked into the mask; the circular eyes of ruby red stared back. Something was very off about it, the snarling, roaring hatred of the clenched golden teeth, two round feelingless orbs gazed on, not in an inanimate object way, but more of a "I will tear out your lungs and feel little about it" kind of way.

It conjured bloody images in your mind, and as your fingers curled around the glass, sliding away the shield to expose the wrathful face within, You felt the cold metal touch your fingertips.

Rudy watched all along, dotingly, ripe with fascination. She said something... but you couldn't hear it or even see her, you were still locked in by the sense of dread it instilled in you.

Refusing to actually let it touch your face you clutched the Mask tightly like a wild animal, distant, cautious of the damage it could do.

■ Not many monsters like us can look in the mirror, to see our true reflection. You are nothing but a ripple in the water, a false image of the complete picture. You, Charles Drake, are a beast of unfathomable proportions, You have killed the guilty, fed on the innocent, killed everyone who dared stand in the way of you and your twisted little 'family'

The face you wear now is how you see yourself, but your true visage is the one that lies in your hands now. ■

"Rudy always wonders where your mind goes when you have that look on your face" The Blonde whispered from behind.

Although the wendigo seemed much less confident at the look in your scarlet orbs, You felt unleashed, inhuman, You wanted sex and ****, endless blood, nothing was held back.

You only meant to touch Rudy's shoulder in a calming gesture, but when your fingers sunk into her skin, the blonde bit her lip, thick blood clouding her dress like ink in water "Don't ever give anything like this to me again. Is that clear?"

Rudy licked her lips as if to taste your spite in the air "Yes, Master." She whispered in turn.

Sucking in a long breath through your nose, You took in the scent of all and found something familiar... "Jane is here isn't she?"

The Wendigo nodded slowly "That is where the Crybaby Cleo wanted to take you. I told you once, my iron maiden is anything and everything that I need it to be, You'll like the..." her eyes twitched, cheeks creasing with glee "...accommodations that I have prepared for our new Sister."

You nodded, staring with your predatory gaze "Where is she?"

"That cowboy is a surprise--"

You took Rudy by the waist, snarling coldly as she bit her lip in anticipation. The Air became thick with your impatience "Where. Is. Jane?"

"The Basement, there is an elevator at reception, it reveals itself to those I decide are worth a lick of salt..." She gasped softly as you tightened your grip on her curvaceous body, a flash of acute joy washing on her mousey but pretty features "--And you are worth every grain of salt in the blue Sea. Hmmm, I love it when you look at me like that, like a marshmallow about to melt in your mouth, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you want to swallow me whole? don't you?"

"I don't know. I just want to see Jane, go to Cleo, you can both meet me down there." Rudy seemed a little disappointed when you let her go, once again contemplating the mask in your hands.

"Hmph, so boring. Alright then, but don't say mama never offered."

"Just go, Before I do something I regret, I just... need to get my head on straight." You professed.

Spinning out of your arms, her dress waving in the air as she did, Rudy bowed lowly "You're the boss." and with a sly wink, the Blonde vanished behind the crimson door to the hall.

You lingered there for a while, unsure of what to do with this poisonous energy inside, so you did nothing at all. You felt the dust in the air, the cold aura oozing from the covered walls, allowing your world to stand still just for a moment.

Stretching the muscles in your legs and arms, You stood walking in a tight but fast stride towards the door.

Something was coming, it was growing stronger, stronger than You could have imagined. There was a fear of this feeling like it would devour you, leaving nothing but a shade of Charlie Drake behind, and yet to a degree, it had a level of allure to it unmatched by anything You'd felt before-- no, no perhaps, it was like a ****, a haze that washed away any accountability for your actions. 'It wasn't me, Charles Drake didn't do anything. The Monster did it, the Unfeeling beast that I have become, whose only friend is Hunger; whose only love is Blood'

When you emerged into the reception, neither Cleo nor Rudy was there, but a door that you had not seen before certainly was.

A diagonally crossed gate of rusted iron covered a pair of dark mahogany doors, You heard it screech as you pulled it aside, the body of the elevator quivering at your weight as you stepped inside. The elevator was clearly very old, with leather walls with hard buttons nestled in patterns like a Chesterfield, but two buttons gleamed a dull yellow, one for the 1st floor, another for the Basement.

With a press of the sticky glowing B, the Elevator began to roll into a screeching, creaking descent.

The Light of the above floor slipped away, and you were plunged into darkness, slowly falling through this geographically impossible abyss, leaving twin orbs burning in the shadow, gazing intensely at the mask in your tense hands.

"Vlad... Vlad? if you're there, please, help me. Tell me what to do in your roaring voice, overcome this call for blood. I need you, just one more time, please?"

You waited and waited, but the only thing that offered any comfort was the defeating silence.

It was enough to make you feel sick, the Face of Nox, it was everything that you feared, hated, a Lost memory of something that you'd never known you were. Claws like razors emerged from your fingertips, and with a sudden thrust fueled by bloodthirsty, you smashed the mask into the leather wall, making it crack under the power of your supernatural strength.

Angry and afraid, you smashed and smashed, the space-filling with crusty red hide and moulded cotton, tearing at everything in silent wrath.

When the reaction ended, you stood like a dark huffing beast, the elevator clawed and torn as the Mask; broke in two, the gold lower half split in an ugly rigid chasm, leaving the horns broken and the lenses smashed.

There was quiet as the elevator dinged and the rear of the ruined box clanged into the basement level... You felt the hesitation to leave that mask behind and so knelt, grasping the golden jaw and holding it close to your side, as you pulled the metal gate aside and emerged into the Basement.

The room you came to, radiated warmth; comfort. Rich oak was laid across a wide breathable space, the walls were a smooth hearty green that made the nostalgic smell of freshly cut grass fill your nostrils.

Voices sounded from a staircase ahead.

Everything here emanated a strange kind of rustic warmth, it was steadying, homely, pleasantly distracting.

As one would walk from the elevator, a wide antechamber branched into a space far too big and far too vast to make any Geological sense "She called it... 'her Iron maiden' sounds, very intimate."

This place was clearly host to some kind of unnatural power, loyal to Rudy alone.

But what kind of power would latch onto a Wendigo like this?

You peered at the huge metal door, something worthy of a bank vault, deciding that having a go at opening it would be foolish, as tempted as you were.

Instead, you carefully climbed the long winding staircase that stretched up above the heavy rigid metal structure, huge and slightly offensive to the senses.

When you reached the top, a small group crossed one another in a contest, like swords.

"No that isn't what I'm saying." Cleo; snappy as ever.

A blonde southern tone seemed to interrupt "Will ya'll ever just relax, come on now, Oooh how about we have a Skinless jumping jack competition?! that always cheers Rudy up!!"

...There, there are just no words.

"...Look, however you interpret it, your idea isn't going to pan out. If you'd take a minute or two to stop and listen to me then maybe we'll actually get somewhere for once?" Soft and gentle as honey, You were not only happy to hear Muninn's voice but just seeing her, sitting around in what appeared to be some kind of monitoring station, made the tightness in your chest a little less constricting.

You smiled as you saw her, and when they all turned to you, Moonie's girlish cheeks creased in a grin that could break hearts.

"There he is, If it were possible, Rudy would have thought that Mr Muscle Dick went missing, Hah!" Rudy cried as her arms flailed in excitement.

Cleo cringed, lent against the wall, physically closing herself off from everyone else "Muscle dick?" She whispered in disgust.

Slipping the cracked half-mask of gold behind your back, Moonie grinned like a sunrise when she saw You, standing from the chair in front of a forest of monitors.

Her top was loose, exposing the marble skin on her shoulder and bust, a black bra underneath, her jeans were tight, the left side torn. A deep blue beanie contained only a little of her dirty blonde hair; two cute braids spilling on her shoulders like rivers of gold.

You walked closer, she eagerly approached throwing her arms around you, squeezing all of the air out of you.

"hmmmm I missed you, Babe." She smelt divine, like pine needles and cinnamon as she buried her head in your chest.

"I saw you the other day?" You chuckled.

Ramona only hummed, looking up with eyes like a storm. "Hmph." Cleo reviled involuntarily, hiding her narrow eyes behind her shining black fringe.

Rudy cooed somehow sweetly but dementedly, and Moonie parting from you flushed with red before pardoning herself "Sorry, I had... a big lunch." Rubbing the blood from her cheeks with cold hands, the Raven seemed suddenly puzzled "Are you alright? By the blood god, you look exhausted."

"I can sleep when I'm dead, right?" You chuckled.

Folding her arms, you struggled to tear your eyes away from her bare shoulder. The Blood was dead, but you bet it was sweet like glistening maple syrup melting on your tongue.

Sniffing back your hunger, You scratched your head with your free hand the other still clutching the broken mask tightly behind "Hey... I thought it was funny." You grumbled.

"You've looked like 10 pounds of shit in a 5-pound bag since that little Wiccan started prancing around." the room seemed to agree with Cleo.

"Espanyol Danearys Targareyen is bad juju." Rudy whispered twitchily.

Witches and Vampires are untrusting of one another. It was hardly surprising, Humanity was barely kept from ripping one another apart, and in this upside-down world of monsters, conflict came as easily as wolves or apes fighting over territory. But why? Diana always said that history dictated love and hatred between all who have lived it... what terrible history must have taken place for the dead to hate the anomalous.

"You don't trust her--" You started.

"Trust her?" Cleo interjected, pushing away from the wall to look serious "Those transient little broom-jockeys have been meddling in everyone else's affairs for centuries since they moved here from Salem. They act all high and mighty as if they are so enlightened; beings on a greater plain of mental existence. But I'll tell you what they really are, fragile little china dolls who talk like intellectuals when in reality they are just as damned as the rest of us."

Rudy pulled her cheeks revealing her sharp teeth and glowing magenta eyes "Monstershhhhhhhhh." She squeaked in delight.

"Izzy isn't like that." You spoke softly.

The Gothic Beauty bit at her lip, clearly uncomfortable "Oh Please."

"No." face hardening, Your red eyes gleamed in the low light, they all shifted at the exchange of ire that flowed like a river from you "Listen to me, I have known Isabella since I was a kid, we've had our problems, perhaps before I would have even agreed with you. But now... she came here of her own choosing, into a House filled with Vampires, that means something, _She _means something."

"You don't even know what that something is, do you?" Moonie cut in, in the gentlest way "She is not like the others, I felt her presence since she walked through the door. She's frightening Charlie, I've never seen one of her kind so deep, so endless. She is the new second to the Arch-Wicken, no normal person has eyes that black."

"Why does it matter? I said that she is not the enemy, so she isn't that's it." You were adamant.

"You wouldn't say that if you knew the bloody History of this..." Cleo made a face as if a bad taste had invaded her pretty little mouth "...coven had with your family."

"Half this piss-smelling city has a history with my family."

"Not with the Rabbit they don't." Rudy pointed out. She waltzed around her chest heaving with a grim excitement "The Black Rabbit is undefeated, she's been washing her explicitly named cloak with pitiful blood for centuries, living, dying, unliving, undying, but when the little Wiccans came... well, it seems not everyone enjoys unliving."

You raised an eyebrow nurturing the small ache behind your eyes "Whatever the interesting story behind that likely is, if Hilde has something to tell me, I'm sure she'll do so, in a very long complicated way-- or not, You know how it goes, Drakes don't-"

"Don't say it for fuck's sake." Cleo spat as they all rolled their eyes.

You did as she asked, grinning as You walked closer to the couch beside the wide array of flashing blue screens.

Rudy whizzed next to you hungrily looking at you, desire painted her face sure as ever, the woman was clearly clinically insane, murderous, hungry, gluttony was her nature, she was growing on you.

Jane pressed on your mind, You wanted to make sure she was okay too.

"You want to know where Jane is?" Munin perked up as if having read you...

A small chill flowed down your spine "Can you not do that? does she always do that?" You gauged the room.

"Yes, It's... very invasive," Cleo called.

The Wendigo tore her eyes from you only to scowl at Muninn from the corner "Get out of my head man, get out of my head!!"

Moonie showed her taloned hands "Hey! I can't always help it-- I- Cleo you know about my issues."

"I know they got a lot worse since your..." Dark eyes fluttered to you before she spoke "...Head Injury."

Pushing back her blonde hair and rubbing her temples, the Raven grumbled "It wouldn't be a problem if you didn't all think so loudly-- Look, it doesn't matter, what does matter, Charlie, is that Jane is safe."

"I'd like to see that for myself?"

"Well then, Cowboy!" Rudy slid over to the tall wall of monitors like a blur, splaying each arm after clicking the spacebar on the large mechanical keyboard on the neatly organised desk. Like a swarm of light, the monitors flashed to life "Feast your eyes!"

You moved to your feet, keenly observing the pixeled images on each screen, portraying a different angle of a huge open space with rigidly shapen. It was clearly heavily reinforced, octagonal in shape with high-quality cameras in each corner.

But that was not what you focused on. A Body, small, limp was bound to the ground in thick chains of what you assumed were hard steel, the arms pulled behind to the lower back, each knee pressed into the ground in bolted restraints; a huge wide circular plate was shackled to the neck, bracing the shoulders with a long frizzy mane of Mousey hair splaying on the cold metal floor.

Your face twisted, turning to look over the balcony, where a Huge metal structure absorbed the vast space. It had to be 20 meters tall, heavy walls spaced out into a lean octohedron, sealed tight with heavy bolts and dense steel.

"She's in that thing?" It wasn't a smile on your face then as they all saw.

"Don't sulk." Cleo approached from the side, like a beautiful shadow, resting her form on the desk to gesture to the monitors where Jane's chained corpse lay. "This is necessary to protect our Home when the Breaking begins."

A collective grim spread through them all, the term was quite familiar, You had read about it a dozen times in the Drake family histories, though the hunger made it difficult to focus on the consequences of your actions.

"How long does she have to be chained up like that. It feels so wrong." You lent in next to Cleo, looking at the unmoving mess of steel and cold flesh.

"If we let her out, she'll kill us all, Charlie. The Breaking isn't something any of our kind want to understand."

"Pft, they call the Breaking the worst part, Rudy's seen the real worst part, We are like cheese, yes cheese left in the sun to melt, and to sour when we sit in the dark for too long."

Moonie sat back down in the chair, placing her thick glasses on her face, each lens inscribed with tiny little red symbols.

"When the time for breaking comes, every bone, every muscle, every strip of flesh dies and is simultaneously reborn, over and over, until the very fabric of our nature is beyond every limit, down to the smallest cell. I've seen a breaking blooded tear through people like a chainsaw, splintering bones ripping houses from their foundations, arteries splitting trees in half... Don't even get me started on when a superior begins breaking."

Moonie paused as if in thought.

"That explains the chains." You frowned, Cleo noticed, lightening a little as her cold pinky mingled with yours, a small show of the sweetness she hid away.

"She'll be fine, we've all gone through it, I'm sure she's tough enough to make it to the other side," Cleo whispered, her bright red lips arcing into a small smile. Your fingers crept back to hers, her black eyes met yours and the beautiful smile deepened.

Muninn leaned in closer to the screens "Get a room."

"Fuck you, Stevie nicks," Cleo grumbled.

"Seriously, Wednesday Adams, can you hush for a minute, I need to concentrate." The Kiwi closed her stormy grey eyes and raised both hands over her keyboard. Claws extending, face tightening, Moonie's fingers suddenly flashed into rapid movement, touching each key with immense speed and accuracy.

A thousand functions went off in seconds, flashing so quickly on the screens that they were nearly a blur, a deep grey mist flowed from elbow to fingernail, infusing into the keys.

"That's either 100 Octa-core processors in that PC, or... but, is she seriously...?" at a certain point, her tapping became inaudible it was so fast, that the image of her fingers blended into a mess of dark smoke, her body tethered to the machine.

You moved closer, a fascinated grin crossing your face.

■ I like the way you think, Lover-boy. ■

Crimson talons wrapped around your neck, red hair mingling against yours.

"She's using her Mystar powers on the Computer... that isn't supposed to be possible? Night powers only work on Animate objects, that's rule number one." You muttered curiously.

Rudy scoffed "Ignorant ass Cowboy, you hunt like a descendant so you spare no one, You speak like a Vampire So you assume everything, and You think like a Human, so you know nothing. Let me ask you a question, sugar dick, do you really think that the Mortal concept of 'Animate Life' is older than the curse?"

You raised an eyebrow, trying to wrap your head around that. Even looking to Cleo for help didn't actually help, she seemed to agree "She's not wrong, Undeath is as old as Life and **** itself. We can't break the rules, so we make them instead."

Looking closer, you observed how Moonie manipulated the PC down to the primary commands, inputting strange words and symbols that were not present in any alphabet or numerical value you'd ever seen. "I've never seen any prompts like that in a console before?"

"The Octahedron is perfect." Rudy hissed deeply "It allows for the manipulation of its environment within, UV lights in each corner to mimic sunlight, building a natural resistance. It will not stop you from turning to ash but it'll give you minutes enough to drag your hideout of the daylight before you become sexy grilled cheese. Silver dispensaries mix oxygen with Silver nitrate, toxic to those already Unborn like us, but strengthens a new blood's Immune system to silver-poisoning. Even... blood is introduced, not a lot, just a few drops in a vat of petroleum jelly which excretes from micro-vents in the walls, just enough to introduce the smell so that frenzy doesn't go ham when the rebirth kicks in."

"And it's all controlled from here, no normal human could fathom such a complex algorithm, but Moonie is more than Human, she is the strongest Mystar we have." Cleo reached out, gently placing a hand on Muninn's shoulder.

The Blonde snapped into an unnatural stillness, her eyes opening, fingers halting in place. "Hmmm?" it was like watching someone possessed, but with the smallest disturbance, Muninn was exorcised. "Oh, sorry, It's hard to stop when you start."

"That's what she said!" Rudy laughed hysterically.

Cleo visibly cringed, While You and Moonie shared a small laugh.

This was a whole other level of power, and You'd be lying if you didn't already have ideas.