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The Seductive Caress of Evil

Started by Retribution, February 16, 2013, 02:07:16 PM

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Retribution

My mind was a jumble of thoughts both my own and those of another being.  That other being was no more and I was not sorry for him.  Sage had been a stocky redhead who lead a rough and tumble life working construction and living alone. He was rather like the Trace Atkins song he liked "cold beer, hot wings, Wrangler skoal ring, get just what you see."  Me on the other hand, I was around at the dawn of Creation and knew the love and hatred of the creator and for my crimes had been tossed into the roughest prison the world had ever known.  I had been tossed into the Pit or hell as most would call it and had suffered for untold ages. It was all because I cared too much about humans.  But then I escaped and Yglloa the Craftier of Musculature was free on the face of the earth once more.

The problem was even after untold ages prisons crafted by the Almighty had power.  And that power even when cracked sought to suck me back to the Pit and eternal damnation.  Yet again I needed the aid of humans and at about that time Sage was in a drunken bar fight.  A beer bottle across the forehead turned his lights out and loosened the hold of his soul on his bones.  From there it was not hard for me to dislodge him and send him spinning unmourned into oblivion.  And then I opened my ancient eyes on Sage's attackers and sent them screaming after him their raw belief and fear served to give me my initial boost of power to begin reestablishing myself.

I had easily slid into Sage's life going through the motions that nothing had changed, but everything had in fact changed.  Now I was Faith starved and I did not seek the equivalent of Infernal fast food. I needed followers, worshipers, servants, but those took cultivation and nurturing.  I sought those who needed something and were willing to make a deal with ageless powers of Creation in order to get it. The price was cheap really just their soul but when done correctly my new chosen would not realize that until it was too late. 

To that end I sat at the end of the bar in a run down dive and sipped a watered down draft beer.  Sage was no longer the same and I got a wide berth as the mortal herd around me sense my age and power on a primitive level.  That was fine with me as I wanted to watch first like any wise hunter would. I slowly lifted my beer to my lips and sipped and let my gaze shift over the mortal herd and waited for one to offer up the signals that they were weak and receptive to the approach of another king of predator.  God and the host were gone and that just left me and my brethren and I for one planned on making sure to make the most of my last and best chance to carve out my place in Creation.

FaeBorne

#1
Charlotte Franklin stumbled into the bar in a style that could purely be called sloppy. Bleary blue eyes red rimmed with the effects of too much alcohol seemingly stared at the bar, but who knew what she actually was seeing in her minds eye. She pulled down the skirts hem, and tugged at the strand of fake pearls around her neck. Some would call her a hot mess, others a whore, most would label her in the drunken bitch category.  She licked her her lips smacking them rudely and leaned too far over the bar than was necessary, slapping her hands on it to get the bartenders attention.

"Hey, hey......HEY!" Slap thump slam, went her hands again as her voice slurred. "Schmake me wonna thoseshhh one drinkshhh. Ya know tha pretty blue ones.."

She grinned stupidly at the tender, hoping he would just do it. Otherwise this would be the third bar that denied service. She'd show them! Her eyes narrowed as her thoughts turned angry. Her angry drunk face covered the grin and she slammed her hands again. Slam thump slap! She swayed there one hand clasped to the bar for balance the other digging in her purse for something.

One merely had to glance at her to know she was wasted, but if one looked a little longer, there were tear stains that tracked her cheeks. Behind the red rimmed bloodshot eyes, a deep penetrating sadness plagued her look.  Charlotte was in the depths of grief and depression, her abuse of alcohol keeping her from feeling the true numbness that was ripping through her mind, body and soul. The death of her husband over a year ago had been life altering, her best friend had been ripped from her life and she didn’t know how to cope. Putting a brave face on for family and friends got easier to do as she drank a few more sips of wine at dinner. A few clever after dinner drinks and by the time they left her for the evening she was well on her way to pickling her liver. What they failed to realize was that Charlotte was going out after they had gone drunkenly searching for escapism each night. Her faith in God was tarnished, her life in upheaval.

And there she was, ten sheets to the wind, staring Sage down as if she were the predator and he was the prey. She squinted at him…grabbing an empty beer bottle next to her she lifted it to the sky in salute puckering her lips in a kiss and then she chucked it on the floor laughing hysterically as it shattered. Once it broke, so did she seemingly in a million pieces, in front of a bar of strangers, she sobbed like a baby. She would not remember it the next morning most likely.

Retribution

Sage/Yglloa raised his glass back to the drunken mess of a woman in salute before he knocked the rest of it back. Alcohol, drugs, hell poisons and some of the greatest magics ever designed by man did not affect him. Being a card carrying member of the primal forces of creation had its perks. The woman was just what he was looking for and as she smashed the bottle he got to his feet to make his way toward her. Unfortunately the bar tender was also headed that way as well Yglloa simply captured his gaze and said in a calm voice "y'all just go back to work I'll take care of her."  At the same time he subtly twisted the threads of reality and the tender literally had to obey him as the Fallen Angel utterly and completely subjected the man's will with nothing more than the turn of a phrase.  The others in the bar did not see anything unusual take place but the bar tender felt like someone had just stepped on his grave and had the sensation that this was a man he did not wish to screw with as he made his way back behind the bar.

Upon reaching the woman Sage scratched the red stubble along his jaw line with one hand and offered the woman a hand up with the other. "You look like you are having a rough night little lady. Let a gentleman give you a hand and buy you a drink." Of course a few around the bar snorted into their drinks because he was clearly not a gentleman and the hot mess was clearly not a lady but on the scale of lines there had been worse heard in this place.  And much like the bar tender they got an odd feeling around the redhead nothing one could put their finger on but on a primal level one did not wish to mess with him.  It was like something very old and very scary looked out of his eyes and it was hard wired in humans on a very basic level not to cross him.

FaeBorne

The wires inside Charlotte were crossed, and regardless of her primal instinct to run, she instead slid a slim pale arm around his neck after he helped her up, using him for balance much like she had the bar. Those blurred eyes stared into his yet the contact was seemingly one sided, as she was out of her mind and unknowing of her movements consciously.

"Yer a tall drink o shomething huh?" She laughed through the tears that continued to fall. She trembled being so near him, inner alarms going off like sirens that she drunkenly paid no mind. Watching as the others that moved to help her shrank back from them. Oh well! She smiled again and dashed her tears away with her hand as she nodded. “I’ll take a drink yesh…tell him I want the blue one” She continued to slur her words staring at him as if she wanted to say something else, but instead stayed silent. “You come here a lot?” She stared at him with that same vacant expression.

It wasn’t as if Charlotte was a bad person, to the contrary she had been a model citizen previous to her husband’s demise. The man who had robbed and shot her husband had never been found. It deepened the wounds to her psyche, as she still never felt a sense of justice in at least seeing her husband’s killer made to pay for the crime that had upended her perfect little life. As the bartender slid the drink towards her she placed her lips on the straw and sucked it down as if it were water, not vodka. “Barry used to come here after work each night for a drink, and then he’d come home…’ She began to tell the ginger haired stranger.  “That guy…” She pointed at the bartender who rolled his eyes and walked to the other side of the bar as she went on yet another drunken tirade. “Didn’t see anything..” She said it as if she didn’t believe it. She picked up her drink, sloshing it about. “Nobody saw anything!” She said louder and a few replies were heard through the bar. “Shut up Lady!” “Go Home Drunky” Charlotte looked at Sage and narrowed her eyes on him. “Bet someone saw something.” She whispered in a drunkenly conspiratorial way. It would be evident to Sage and the Demon that inhabited him, that Charlotte needed vengeance and or justice.

Retribution

It did not take Yglloa long to tell that this woman was one of those that paid the price for the existence of those like him.  He laid some crumpled bills on the bar top to cover the cost of her drink and then slid onto the stool beside her and listened to her grief.  He reached up with a callused hand and rubbed the back of her neck the skin to skin contact gave him what he needed to work. With but a flicker of a thought he purged the alcohol from her system.  The caress was fleeting and he soon moved his hand but in that time it felt as if electricity danced across all of her nerve endings and the poison of the booze left her system leaving her feeling more refreshed than she had in ages. He then simply pulled his hand way and folded both his hands in front of him and let them rest on the bar.

He then nodded sympathetically while giving the grumbling onlookers a warning glance. "There is always someone who sees something just often times those looking do not know who to ask."  It was a simple truth and one of the Rabisu's talents could ask things that were not human what happened. Oh yes, there were certainly things that could be worked with here. It all depended on price and the former member of the Ebon Legion was not above justice of the biblical type.  "Of course the hard part is going on once the messy part of things is over." As the Demon living in Sage's bones took more control his language skills improved markedly.  It made the short hairs at the nape of the neck stand on end and set of warning bells on a very basic level.  Such is the case when one is in the presence of an ancient and sentient power.

"Might I be so bold as to ask who was Barry and what happened?"  It was mining for information while trying to be subtle about it.  This one had the potential to be a very profitable bargain. If she just wished for vengeance that was easy to arrange and it did not even have the cost of special abilities or healing.  That in turn left more power to be used by hungry eternal beings who needed such reserves.  It was after all a dangerous world and there were many things out there in the night that could be a danger even to something as frightening as Yglloa.

FaeBorne

Charlotte stared at him, clarity coming into those sweet blue eyes as he massaged her neck. She had just been falling to pieces, and now she seemed well within the mental means to hold a decent conversation. It was surprising even to her, and it gave her pause. Licking her lips she looked at the drink set before her and let her mouth close over the straw. Why did it feel like she was starting her buzz all over again. He wanted to know about Barry. God, Barry.... her sweet sweet Barry. Those startling blue eyes closed lashes making a crescent on her cheeks as she mentally conjured her late husbands face to mind.

"My high school sweetheart, the man I've been married to for the last 10 years..." She said softly, her voice catching as she spoke. She looked at Sage then, brows furrowing as she pieced together a tragic turn of events in her life. She drowned herself in her drink again, sucking it down hard the straw making a slurp at the bottom. She looked at Sage and said softly. "He'd come here every night...supposedly got robbed by his car." She said it coldly a waspish hint to her voice as she told him the story. "Someone wanted his wallet.."

She took a heaving breath and pushed the empty cup forward and looked at Sage clearly in an appraising way. Where she had been drunk just minutes previous, in control of her faculties she shivered at the caress of evil that slid over her. Her eyes narrowed on the redheaded man and she leaned in and said softly. "I've been looking for his killer... "

Retribution

The big redhead inclined his head "careful what you look for hate and vengeance can be some very damming emotions and I do happen to know a bit about damnation."  He let her digest that a bit while he got himself a Beam and water from the tender.  He then slid up and onto the stool beside her and gave her a bit longer to compose herself.  "Do you happen to have a picture of Barry?  I might have seen him around and I got a few friends on the streets." He gave a cynical  grin and then added "what do you want if you find them?"

For his part Sage did not seem to care if anyone heard or that he gave most the willies. Of course this woman now that she was sober would probably be well advised to listen to that little inner voice that said run away.  But there was also another little voice that said this 'man' could certainly help with what she sought.  The real question was starting to become which would she listen to?  There was just something about the creature seated beside her as if someone had just stepped on your grave or as if there  was a faint taint of evil in the air. He kicked back his drink and then ordered another and it was apparent that alcohol was not affecting him either.

FaeBorne

The devil on her shoulder argued that this could lead to her vengeance, and the angel told her to run away screaming. Who she listened to was determined easily as she scooted her bar stool closer and pointed to Barry in the picture saying softly. "This was from 3 weeks before he was killed.." The photo was recent, it meant they had been happy, and whatever had taken her husband from her had nothing to do with their marriage. She stared at Sage with an odd smile and it was clear, that even sober, the irrational part of her brain had control.

Fishing through her clutch and wallet, Charlotte produced a picture of her husband, smiling with her next to him. They were the quintessential happy couple. She handed it to Sage with a small wistful smile and nursed her drink, having felt so refreshed she was almost scared to drink it. How odd? She thought as she looked at the big redhead next to her. Lips pursed and she cocked her head as she looked sidelong at him seated at the bar. "What's your name?" She asked him, not responding to his question yet of /what she wanted when she found his killer/.


Retribution

He looked at the picture and nodded a bit as she got the feeling he had already memorized her late husband's features.  He then motioned for another drink straight Beam this time and proceeded to knock it back like it was a mixed drink and still showed no affects or intoxication.  After he had let the pregnant pause linger he said "he was a handsome man."  The big redhead then turned his full attention on her and something seemed to change in those dark eyes.  The orbs of his soul seemed ancient and tired and in the dim light of the bar they almost seemed to change color taking on the same hue as his hair.  He added with another cynical smile "and be careful names are powerful things but you may call me Sage for now."

He then turned his attention back to the far side of the bar and lifted his drink and took a sip.  "What is your name? Your full name middle name and all."  His strange attention then shifted back to her and his studied her with those odd and intense eyes. A feeling of a moment of no return settled in the space between them as if once this bridge was crossed there was no turning back.

FaeBorne

She gazed at him. Did his eyes just turn red a second. Must have been the flash of the neon bar lights she shrugged the pervading sense of danger away and took back the picture. Full lips pursed and she rolled his name off her tongue. "Sage..." She extended a delicate well manicured hand to him and gave him her name. "I am Charlotte Rose Franklin." It was a pretty name eloquent and classy, which fit her in this sober nature. It wouldn't have twenty minutes prior. She stared at him hard a second and smiled slightly.  There was a note of curiosity now in those blue eyes, curiosity and doubt that he had any good intentions as he looked at her so boldly. She was a fine figure of a woman, but these weeks since Barry had taken a toll. She asked him softly. "Had you ever met my husband?" 

Retribution

He took her hand and shook his grip was sure and when he touched her she once more felt that sense of electricity dance across every single one of her nerve endings.  It also felt like all of her hairs stood slightly on end as if she were in a cold breeze.  He then took his hand back and intoned in perfect grammar and in a voice that did not at all sound like the rough neck she had initially been speaking with "I am pleased to meet you Charlotte Rose Franklin and no I did not know your husband but I can help you if you are willing to do homework.  Think really hard and sober on what you will do when his killer is located or what you would have done.  You have well probably a few minutes I will be back."

With that  the 'man' slid off of the stool and slipped out the back door.  As he left the few other patrons in the bar looked at Charlotte in silence but their expression all screamed 'run.'  If the mourning woman cared to look at the clock over the bar Sage was gone exactly fifteen minutes before he returned and slid back onto the stool next to her and picked up his glass and knocked the last of the amber liquid back before he pushed the empty toward the tender and got a refill and then shifted his questioning gaze to her.

FaeBorne

Fifteen minutes to consider the numerous possibilities. The sick twisted perverse ways she had dreamt, thought wished since descending upon the cold lifeless dead body of her husband lying in the morgue. The pity in the eyes of the police officer that had held her while she screamed in pain and horror identifying Barry positively was burned into her memory forever. Charlotte Franklin did not need their pity. A breath made her chest rise and she seemingly held it in. Thinking more on what she will or would do her blue eyes narrowed.

When he returned she stared at him long and hard her brows lowering. This must be a game to him, a joke. It was cruel to make her think of such things, especially when he just told her he didn't know Barry. Her eyes bore into his own, and though she instinctively wanted to look away she forced herself with gusto to face him down. Her words were full of sober clarity. "I will make sure he is brought to justice,  to rot in prison where he belongs..." She said in a voice that trembled. It wasn't as if she could tell this stranger the dark fantasy of shooting her husbands murderer to watch him bleed out in slow agonizing death.  Those blue eyes challenged him to doubt her.

Retribution

The redhead that on some levels seemed like death incarnate dipped his head "there are many kinds of justice and not all of them are fair.  Creation for that matter is not fair. "  He then motioned for another drink and was served and had her filled up as well she did probably need a stiff one right now despite her alcoholism.  He let the moment hang in the air, and let her stew on what he might or might not say.  At long last he shifted his attention back to her fully "I know who killed your husband and were to find them." That cynical smile appeared again "there is not enough evidence for the justice system but I assure you the information is correct."

Once more he let that sit there like a dead rat in the middle of the floor "so what do you want to do?"

FaeBorne

She shook her head negatively. How could he know? This was madness, this was someone playing on her grief and she could sense it. Her eyes narrowed and she slapped her hands down on the bar loud enough to make the tender jump. Tears welled in her pretty gaze, but she wouldn't let them spill. No. She had embarrassed herself enough this evening. She stood up and with a cold accusing look to Sage she said in a tight voice.

"You are sick. You're expecting me to believe that you magically just -know- who the hell killed Barry..??"

She could say no more, the tears finally spilled over the edge of her lids and slid down her cheeks. She turned and made her way out the bar, standing street side to hail a cab. Upon her barstool, lay her purse forgotten. She stood in the night arms clenched about herself as she dashed at the tears on her cheeks. She would be going home alone once more, to the sound of a silent house, to lie in bed and stare at the ceiling while sleep would elude her. It was unbearable.

Retribution

Of course the other patrons all stared but the large, male, ginger, did not seem phased.  Instead he just stood and picked up her purse and trailed her out of the bar.  He had not paid his tab and the wise tender did not seem to feel any real inclination to press the issue.  The looming figure walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder with her purse. "Come, if you are brave enough I will show you, but I am starting to suspect you do not have the courage."  He stood there holding out her purse and waiting for her to take it.  The proverbial gauntlet had been slapped across her face and then tossed at her feet with the skill of a being who had, had all of eternity to learn the game.  Silly mortals were so easy to manipulate when it was all said and done.

FaeBorne

Courage Schmourage... she wasn't drunk any more, and he could thank himself for it. Her eyes stared at him, crystalline blue and intelligent. She reached out to take her purse and gazed at him warily. But she did feel as if the challenge was too hard to resist. Perhaps he did know something and she considered for a moment before she whispered softly.

"I want the responsible party for Barry's death to be punished..."

The words hung in the air between them and she stepped closer to the redhead when every fiber of her being screamed at her to run. Her lips compressed, she had wanted vengeance for so long it was hard not to be tempted. She tapped the purse on his shoulder back, eyes narrowed as she frowned and said in exasperation.

"So show me Sage...." She taunted..

Retribution

He did not say anything he just turned and walked a bit down the street and then up to a Harley Fatboy.  He slid astride of the bike and pushed up the kickstand then waited to see if she would crawl into the bitch seat behind him.  But while he waited he told her a story. “There is a couple down the street a ways about fifteen blocks to be precise. Man and a woman and a two year old daughter.  The parents have a nasty meth issue and the kid has been with DCFS more than her family. Neither of the adults has ever held a job in their life but they are always on the lookout where to get money for their next fix and not on the lookout for their kid.”

He looked at her with too knowing eyes and then carried on. “Meth heads tend to get worn down and lose their souls to the drug. They can be up for days and not even know it. They get kind of crazy when coming down and needing to sleep and recover and well if they happen to run into a middle aged husband leaving a bar one never knows what might happen. Course too bad for their kid she is probably fated to repeat the cycle after she spends her whole life in foster care getting abused by those who were supposed to take care of her.”

He stood the bike up and still waited while she digested that “it is just another part and parcel of a blighted Creation that god being the raging bitch she is has turned her back on it. And trust me the almighty is a woman and I think she has been ragging for the last few eons.”

FaeBorne

She slid behind him. The skirt riding her thighs as she slid her arms around his chest. She listened to his story, her mouth twisted in a wry grimace. Oh course a man would blame a woman. Typical. Her eyes rolled and she said something potent speaking of the raw intelligence she had been hiding behind her alcoholism.

"And why wouldn't She turn her back, how disappointing we all must be..."

The words were poignant yet said with a hint of acidity. It was obvious Charlotte had lost faith in any type of higher being the minute her life had been upended by the death of Barry. She narrowed her eyes as she thought of the family he spoke of and she asked for clarification.

"And what do they have to do with Barry?"

Retribution

#18
“She actually became angry with me and my brethren, but as most already know the quarrel was mostly with the Morning Star. As for they with Barry, they are the ones who killed him.”  He then fired the bike up effectively making further conversation impossible in the rumble. He smoothly pulled the Harley out into the nighttime traffic and wove his way the few blocks to the seedy part of town. He then parked the bike and waited for her to get off in a section of the city that no lady wished to be in after dark.

Continuing his tale like nothing had happened he went on “they wanted what he had in his pocket and were out of their mind. I can show you if you would like to see but reliving the death of your husband may not be pleasant.”

FaeBorne

Her breath came in soft pants. Her brows lowered in consternation. None of his words were comforting and as she removed herself from the bike in a part of town that she should never have stepped foot. She pointed at him and accused hotly.

"Of course it won't be pleasant! Are you serious?"

She was incredulous, her face a mask of fury and sadness. Her emotions flowed like the ocean,like a constant wave of water overlapping the other. Her eyes strayed to him in a condescending manner, lips pursed in pout. Sober and in her right mind, she was fetching. Blue eyes pierced into Sage as if he were a saboteur.

"What's yer game?" "You could give a shit about Barry...."

It was a soft whisper, eyes narrowed on him like he was some sort of mystery to be solved.

Retribution

“I don’t” he replied with utterly brutal honesty “I deal in souls, wants, and desires and you told me some very specific wants.” He folded his hands in front of him and regarded her “but as I hope you see from this little tale things are seldom black and white.” He starred back at her with ancient and knowing eyes. “So sure the parents are a waste of molecules and their souls are long dead, but with the right help their child might still have a chance. Barry did not do anything he was just wrong place, wrong time, on the face of the blight that was once Creation before God being the cunt that she is turned her back.”  He smiled a bit predatory then “the Host left also and stuck humanity with me and mine who once gave all for you and were rode out of Heaven on a rail for it.”

He stepped a bit closer and extended his hand “so what is it going to be? Take my hand and seal your fate and theirs? Or be satisfied now that you own and turn away from the seductive caress of darkness?”

FaeBorne

Dawning in blue eyes the color of a sunny day. She winced as he spoke, his honesty stunning as she realized she spoke with an utter psychopath because surely...?Oh my Jesus Christ no way! Her eyes narrowed again and she stared at him hard. He had taken her out on a bike, she had gone. He had been kind to her in the bar, she remembered. This Man offered her a chance at the purest most perfect revenge ever, all she needed to do was take his hand. Her mouth twisted as the want and penchant for vengeance wreaked havoc inside her brain and soul. She would be helping this kid out, that was a good thing right? Licking her lower lip she stared at Sage and reached out and took his hand. Her eyes closed and she whispered so softly it could have only truly been heard by Angels or Demons.

"This better be worth it."

Retribution

Sage took her hand in his warm and work worn one. Then without a word lead her to a dilapidated house. It was pure squalor like one comes to expect in a ghetto.  He then led her to a window and peeked in. Inside there were two un-kept and clearly stoned parents with the missing teeth common to meth heads.  They also had the haggard and drawn faces of those who have lived a life that aged them way beyond their years. In the corner their bright eyed little girl played with household items amusing herself while he parents were in their own little world. The adults were clearly burnt out mind, body, soul.

He then looked to Charlotte “there is the reason your husband is dead. So what would you have for revenge?  And do you enter into such an undertaking of your own free will without being coursed Charlotte Rose Franklin? What would you have right now for your vengeance?”

FaeBorne

She stared at them, all her hatred and rage boiling to the surface. But it wasn't right, something was amiss. She looked at the child, playing as if her parents were normal. Her eyes softened and she looked at Sage and stepped backwards quickly as he spoke of coercion and free will her eyes wide.

"I... I... I don't know.."

She whispered it softly. By rights she didn't know, the child confused her. What right did she have to take away the child's parents. Not like this, not in the way she wanted to. She wanted them dead like Barry, suffered as Barry had. Her eyes closed and she stepped back again on wobbly legs. She was tempted yet she was not a murderer. Was she? Her blue eyes went to Sage and she choked out softly, her doubt and her reason playing to her sense of reason.

"The child...I cannot do this to a child.."

Retribution

"The point I was trying to make" he let her fingers slip free and then turned to walk back in the direction of his bike. He did not seem to have a care in all of the world despite it being a very bad part of town. "So many fail to realize all of the various aspects that can come into play until it hits them right in the face. And Creation used to be much more rich, now it is just a hollow shell." He peeked back over his shoulder at her but kept walking slowly and once more leaving the weight of decisions all on her shoulders. Free will and choice could really suck sometimes.