Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Lutetia City: Caer Manor Ruins

As written by Script and glmstr

The first popping sound outside the building saw Jamie looking up abruptly from his conversation with Aurelie, frowning in confusion. It had been an odd sound, mechanical and loud. It was certainly out of place, but he didn't initially know what to make of it.

When it was quickly followed by another, he rose to his feet, and his brow furrowed. He made out running footsteps as they moved from the grass to concrete, the sound of bodies hitting the dirt following each of the pops. It took scarcely a moment to connect the dots.

He blinked, glancing back at Aurelie. "We're being attacked." Though he sounded surprised, there was neither fear nor anger to his tone. If anything, he sounded a little excited.

"Attacked? By who?" Aurelie shot up from her chair, beginning to faintly hear sounds of intruders. She gripped her cane with her right hand, having only brought it because Nox insisted she be at least armed with something.

Only a moment after Jamie had spoken, the door to the kitchen was barged in with a cacophony of splintering wood and falling metal. They were several rooms away, in the front parlor, but that still wouldn't give them much time to react. Focusing for a moment, Jamie closed his eyes, and his face began to change. His features changed in proportion and position, until he was almost unrecognisable.

Should these invaders be from House Sylvestre - which seemed like the most likely assumption, given their speed - he didn't wish to be recognised.

"Please do what you do best, I need to get my things from my room," she edged slightly towards the door, still holding the cane in one hand.

"Wait," Jamie stepped to stop her, blocking the route to the doorway. "They're inside the manor already. They're coming. You need to get behind me."

As he spoke, his hands were forming into vicious claws in preparation for a fight.

Aurelie scowled, but her expression softened with a sigh. If they made it this far past those spawn, they were surely a serious threat.

"I hate being the damsel in distress," she mumbled and moved behind Jamie.
 
As Written by Jester and Knosis

If Noemi had been in the middle of saying something, Nox had quickly forgotten, his eyes going wide. A look to his daughter, fear and anger building in his eyes, the rage quickly winning out. "Some one is in the house. My spawn are dying."

"My thrall is dead." There was a note building in the Caer's voice. It was a sharp edge, well refined by years of practice. He'd been expecting this, but so soon? So quickly?

"We have to get you to the others. We need to get Aurelie and you out of the house. Get dressed." It was clear that her father wasn't going to take questions at the moment, as he already began to fold his white duster, draping it over his arm. He was already in communication with his creatures.

"Protect the Mother." That was their order. Those that had survived outside, and those in the house, all those spawn began to quickly move towards Aurelie's location, as quick as the could.

Noemi's sensitive ears picked up on the sounds and she froze. She knew those sounds. Emotion drained from her face as she moved purposefully to her closet, grabbing the first thing her hand grabbed onto. It was a loose black dress and she slipped it quickly. She ignored shoes.

She also grabbed a knife that she had stored away in the closet. It wouldn't do for all out combat, but it would do for a surprise attack.

"Ready." She stated, staying close to his heels.

"Good. Now then, time for us to meet up with our guests." The smile on Nox's face was one nothing short of murderous. He hated that it had to be done, but simply put, it was the most efficient solution.

He'd grab his daughter, every muscle in his right leg tensing. He could feel his bones straining under his own strength, and with a single, devastating stomp...

The floor gave out from under both of them, as the two would fall with the debris into one of the bedrooms on the first floor.

Noemi felt her stomach in her throat as both her and Nox fell through the floor. She couldn't help but let out a little squeak of shock. Dust flew up and some flung into her eyes as they landed and she scowled. She hadn't complained though and waited for the next orders from her father, or for him to let her go.

He'd stare up through the hole, tsking loudly. It was awful, but at least it could be repaired. And this put the two of them closer to Jamie and the mother of his child. "We move towards the kitchen, towards the cellar. Be careful and stay close. If you see anything, don't hesitate for a second to tell me."

Nox wasn't a fool. He very well knew what the night might bring. With a forlorn look towards his favorite piece of attire...he'd drop the coat on the dusty floor. "Lets move."

Noemi nodded silently. She wasn't sure what she could do, but she knew she had to survive. So she listened to Nox, and followed on his heels, and remained very quiet.
 
as written by Krysis, Tiko, Script, and Glmstr

The crashing elsewhere in the building was audible to everyone, of course, but it also implied that the ruler of the place didn't view the manor as something that he would not damage. That meant that the walls and counters were not the cover that Enrie had hoped for. She creeped along, planning to follow the wolves' noses to the not-Nox vampires that Eloi had mentioned. If the Wraiths could take out the lesser opponents quickly, they would not be able to use swarm tactics later, when the main target was engaged.

At this point, Eloi and the wolves had better senses for knowing what rooms to ignore and which ones had nasty surprises in them, and Enrie was depending on them.

There was little stealth at play any longer, as the wolves barreled through the building, massive paws beating against the floor boards as they snarled in their rush to scramble through the tight confines of the hall. Two of them fell back with but a thought from Edouard, while the third took point.

As it met a closed door with hackles raised, Edouard raised his side-arm and fired a shot past Enrie into the latch of the door, splintering it and leaving the path clear for Enrie to enter the room unhindered and unslowed.

Enrie smiled behind her mask. The shot into the lock might as well have been a monogramed letter, declaring the intention to enter the door. To anyone with the reflexes and speed of even the most average vampire, it was an invitation to retaliate. Knowing that, the Wraiths could adjust their own tactics to suit. The tall, slender woman kicked the door open so she could shoot through it, but stayed to one side, just in case someone within had a ranged weapon.

Enrie's own heavy firearm gave a brief purring burst of bullets in a level line about three feet up and paralell with the floor, though the arc was narrow because she knew she had to move soon. The decision to move quickly was confirmed when a black iron poker tossed by Jamie came flying past her nose and took a swatch of cloth from her hood. The improvised javelin sailed past her into the hallway and punched straight through the opposite wall.

However, upon recognising the masks of the attackers, Jamie's excited aggression immediately shifted to defensiveness, and he took a step back. "Change of plan," he hastily directed back at Aurelie. "We run."

"Lead the way," Aurelie reached for the teapot she was drinking from and grabbed it.

Edouard squeezed off two more rounds past Enrie, one striking the teapot in Aurelie's hand as her fingers closed around its handle. The impact of the bullet exploded the pot into fragments of porcelain and splashes of boiling water across Aurelie's arm and face. The second bullet missed its mark as a spawn spilled into view from off to the side of the doorway, taking the bullet meant for Jamie. More spawn were rapidly pouring into the room from the main doorway into parlor, and the cluster of arriving spawn rushed to Aurelie's defense as they loped across the room towards the attackers.

At least one of the spawn never made it into the room, since the first burst of gunfire from Enrie's impressive weapon would had stitched right through it. The bullets had been close enough together to actually cut it in two. Now that she could see what she was doing, it was Jamie that she was mostly aiming for. When Aurelie's teapot exploded, she assumed that Edouard was going to focus on her, and that Eloi was guarding their backs against anything coming up the hall.

Those ugly little goblins seemed nearly mindless, so it was the intact vampires that were the biggest problem. Enrie fired in one-second bursts, tracking after Jamie, though the spawn continually got in the way and absorbed the majority of the bullets. As she had only a narrow doorway to fire through, all they had to do was jump in front and be blown in half with the ridiculously huge hollowpoint rounds.

Tracking after Jamie proved, at least initially, to be more of a challenge than anticipated. By the time Aurelie's teapot shattered, he was already moving, and moving faster than even a vampire had any right to. Though some of the gunfire grazed him, none of the bullets scored a solid enough hit to cause him any real damage.

Aiming to be out of the room before the attackers had time to readjust their aim to account for his unexpected speed, Jamie didn't pause to wait on Aurelie's recovery from the spray of boiling water. Instead, he swept her from her feet without so much as a warning, dashing with her in arm for the door into the lobby, towards the crashing sound he was counting on being Nox.

With their quarry beating a hasty retreat, Edouard withdrew a second firearm and squeezed of a single round. In the spray of gunfire and fighting, the release of compressed air would scarcely go noticed, as would the small tracking device that burried itself into the flesh of Jamie's briefly exposed back. A moment more and the spawns had blocked out Edouard's line of sight on the pair and he was forced to focus his attention into thinning the herd.

In the meantime, as predicted, the spawn that had tried to close on the Wraiths' flank and rear from the corridor were met with a cyclone of blades, as Eloi's swords danced nimbly through the hall. Directed with uncanny precision, the weapons struck for necks and spines in vicious arcs, leaving the creatures well and truly out of the picture before they could so much as lay a finger on any of the team.
 
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As written by Script

Meanwhile, at the other end of the street...

"Ethan, get your Masters on the phone. Right now."

Ethan had already sat up sharply, letting the notepad he'd been drawing in fall to one side, upon hearing the muffled cracks of suppressed gunfire in the distance. It had taken him too long to recognise it for his comfort. "What's happening? Can you see anything?"

"A group of three masked and hooded figures just entered the manor yard, accompanied by a trio of massive wolves, a few seconds before that gunfire. They crossed the lawn around to the side of the building, then I lost sight of them. I haven't been able to figure out what got shot, if anything."

Ethan's eyes widened. He'd assumed it was just gang violence, but the activity was around the manor? "Any sign of who they were?"

"No," Ariane replied, "But judging by the speeds they were moving, they weren't human. The wolves would suggest werewolves, but they didn't move like it. Given that this is the Caer Manor... it's possible they're vampires."

"Allies?"

"Didn't look like it. If anything, the masks and the weapons they had made them look like assassins." Ariane shook her head, grimacing. "I don't know what to make of it."

It was at that moment that they caught ear of a crashing sound from within the manor, loud enough to be heard even from their vantage point. Moments later, more gunfire followed from inside. Ariane shot Ethan a glare.

"Get them on the phone. Now."
 
as written by Emperor_Jester and Knosis

The sounds of gunfire only spurred Nox to move faster. He did his best to be attentitive to his daughter and any possible movements around the pair, but his mind was elsewhere. Every spawn who fell only fed his rage, and as they moved, he seemed to swell with power. The Caer had kept Noemi so close for a reason. Much like he had in her apartment, after turning her, his physical form began to shift and expand, taking on a much larger, brutish, fel appearance. Gone was the facade of nobility and class. Instead, here was the monster, even worse than he'd been at the height of the Skirmishes.

"We run now. The intruders are seperated, and we gained ground by breaking through the floor." Already his pace was rapidly escalating, and if the follower had any doubts of being able to keep up, they'd soon be put to rest. Nox wouldn't be the only one getting a substantial boost.

The girl hissed in pain as her sensitive ears rang with the sudden sharpness she hadn't prepared for. She threw her hands over her ears to try to help muffle the sound, but to know avail.

The girl forced herself to move faster in order to keep close to Nox. She wasn't sure if she was afraid, but she knew that her life was on the line again tonight. And after the relief she had been given from her sire, she wasn't about to squander it away because she couldn't keep up.

But to much of her surprise, she realized that she was keeping up quite well now. Another peel of gunshots straightened her thoughts. He said to run, and that's what she would do for now.

"I smell Jamie and the girl. Quickly. The spawn didn't buy them much time." A wall would block Nox's path to an adjorning hallway, connecting the kitchen to a small cluster of entertainment rooms. It pained him each time he smashed part of his ancestral home, but it could all be repaired, and he swore to make his enemies pay for each and every bit of damage in blood and ice.

Instead of coming across Aurelie and her protector however, Nox would deviate, crushing his way through barrier upon barrier, making it clear his intended destination was the waiting parlor...
 
as written by Knosis and Tiko

Zieg's pace quickened, as it no longer mattered to hide their positions. "Target is most likely on the first floor now.." He stated quietly. "Irenee and I will try to flank him from the other side.."

The pair raced down the hallway until they came upon the room in which Nox and Noemi had been only a short time prior. "Go." He whispered, motioning for her to go through the hole. He would wait for Irenee to jump through first before setting to work on his own agenda. He swiftly pulled out a bottle of foul smelling liquid and dabbed it onto a cloth. He set it down by the bed and then trailed a line of slow burning black powder from the cloth to the hole.

He then tossed one of the sticks of dynamite he had onto the bed. His estimations would say that the fire would take a bit to get to that point, and they would be well away from that place by then, or dead. He lit a match and let it fall onto the black powder as he jumped through the hole. It would have taken him less than a minute to set it up. But now the clock was ticking.

As Zieg dropped down the hole after Irenee she was crouched, staring at the gaping hole in the wall.

"The target is heading straight for you guys," she said quickly.

When she looked to Zieg, her pupils had taken on a feline gleam in the dark, and there was an anticipation there as she felt the exhilarated rush that came with the chase. She didn't move to pursue Nox though. No, there were swifter means of travel that would reunite them with the main group much faster and she reached a hand out towards Zieg. The pair - like the rest of their team - had worked closely enough that words weren't even necessary to understand and anticipate one another's moves and actions.

No words were spoken as Zieg landed beside the woman. The shadows had already started pulling the man within them as he reached Irenee. He grabbed her hand tightly and dragged her into the shadows as well, where they would travel through the darkness of the manor towards the Caer lord.
 
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Krysis, Script, Emperor_Jester, and Tiko

The crashing and the warning from Irenee alerted Enrie. She peeled back from the parlor battle and tapped Edouard's shoulder to indicate that he should do the same, and let Eloi mop up the rest of the spawn. Keeping that fast little fucker from joining up with Nox was now important, since it had been proven (with a poker through a wall) that he was strong enough to be a problem. Though the female vampire didn't seem impressive all and one had to wonder why the Caeruleum would bother to keep-- Never mind. Nox was coming.

Enrie flicked a switch on the massive firearm she carried, changing the ammo from the cruel hollow points she had been using to explosive rounds. The sort of thing that could splatter an elephant over the landscape seemed appropriate to use on the Caer, if she could get a clean shot. Until such a time, she was reduced to using the sabre as she advanced to meet his charge and keep him from reaching the rest of her team.

With his dancing blades doing the work of eight men, Eloi had quickly made short work of the remaining spawn. Once the cluster moving in from the hallway had been downed, he slipped gracefully into the parlor itself and sent his swords into the fray. Within short moments, the last of the creatures would fall, leaving him ready to respond just in time to greet the oncoming storm.

And oh, what a storm it was. The inky blackness of the Caer's aura was almost overwhelming, even with (a rapidly shrinking number of) walls between them. Eloi was forced to dim his soulsight, or else he would scarcely be able to keep track of the man's physical form amidst the intensity of his essence.

Edouard was swift in unloading both of his sidearms into the explosion of rubble from the wall as Nox errupted into the room. He moved as he fired, keeping his line-of-sight open as Enrie moved to engage Nox physically. He would have only a moments time to unload as many rounds into the Caer lord as possible to slow him down for Enrie before he too would be forced to move into melee lest he risk hitting her.

Raindrops tapping against his chest and abdoment, shoulders, arms and legs. Raindrops that would have a rather explosive impact against his body. Once the first few had hit, the Caer would disappate portions of his body into smoke, reforming them as bullets passed through. He wouldn't be able to do that for much longer. His mastery over the more arcane crafts of his family had never been strong, at least comparitively.

"Get out of my house!"

A wall shaking roar, even more so given the recent, massive structural damage. His aura would flood out even more for each wound he aquired. His vision red, Nox would home in on the closest target, still growing in size, easily topping eight feet by the time both fist would be swinging straight down through the air, aimed like an overzealous sledgehammer, heedless of the massive guns his target was carrying.
 
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as written by Script and glmstr

The entire building was shaking as Nox plowed through wall after wall in his charge towards the parlor. Jamie came to a halt on the far side of the lobby, turning to stare back at the chaos unravelling behind them. He set Aurelie down unceremoniously, hesitating for a moment. Should he stay with her? Or go back to help Nox? It didn't look like they were being pursued, but if she was left alone, against the Wraiths she might as well have been defenceless. If they had more than just the three in the parlor...

He wasn't cut out for this sort of decision. Until now, the choice had always been binary: fight or flight. Having a person to protect... complicated things. His conflict was painted clearly on his face.

Aurelie's mind was going into overdrive, running itself into circles trying to figure out what to do. The Wraiths were attacking. The bogeymen of the vampire world, she (like many others) feared the possibility of being their target. Now she was one of those targets, a deer caught in Sylvestre's headlights. She wanted to fight back and help her future husband, but she feared for her life nonetheless and her instincts told her to get as far away as possible. She looked to Jamie, hoping he was any more certain than she was. She blurted out her next thoughts, with little time to consider the look on his face.

"What should we do?"

No time to overthink in a combat scenario. Jamie's training kicked in quickly upon the prompt. The Wraiths were dangerous, but Nox was more so. Alone, perhaps they'd be able to bring him down. But he wasn't alone. "Stay close, but out of the line of fire."

His response was brief, but hopefully Aurelie was savvy enough to put it into practice. Readying his claws once again, he started back towards the door into the parlor, muscles poised to react if anything appeared through it - or the wall, for that matter.

Aurelie nodded and stuck close to him, her cane still at the ready to attempt to defend herself.
 
as written by Krysis, Script, Knosis, Tiko, and Emperor_Jester

There were two things that Enrie particularly excelled at. Being fast was one of them. The human eye could not track her as she zipped to one side of Nox and let him smash where she no longer was with his doubled fist. Such a blow was sure to leave him off balance for a fraction of a hundredth of a second, and she was fast enough to take advantage of it. The sabre would leap and fly in her left hand with the speed of a hummingbird's stroke and all the force the undead female could muster behind the well honed edge against Nox's exposed left flank. For the surviving Caeruleum scum, she only counted on three cuts to land or pass through, from his shoulder towards the middle of the chest.

She had seen him phase to mist and back again, so the gun hung dormant on at her side, ready to deal it's version of death only when Enrie was sure that it would be caught in flesh.

Enrie's assault was joined by a half dozen more blades, thrusting and slashing towards Nox from all angles. Eloi's blades didn't strike as fast as Enrie's rapid assault, but they were plentiful - and there were no swordsmen behind them to strike back at. Two blades struck in from the front towards the Caer's chest, one from behind into his back, and one swept across from the side towards his neck.

Eloi himself hung back at the edge of the room, two of his swords hovering idle in readiness to defend himself if needed.

Zieg pulled Irenee from the shadows and immediately looped his wire around one of the blades he held.

He nodded to the girl that stood where Nox had left her hiding behind the broken wall, indicating to Irenee to go for her. He then threw the blade.

Noemi hadn't seen it coming, paying more attention to Nox and avoiding being shot. The blade itself shot past her lower limbs, but the razor thin wire had caressed her skin. Zieg had moved in such a way, the wire would wrap around her legs and the blade would bury itself on the backside of Noemi's right thigh. With a slight tug, the wire would bury itself into her skin. The pain was enough for Noemi to let out a surprised scream and fall face first into the floor. Every flail made the pain worse, as the wire continued to cut into her flesh, cutting slices of skin off onto the floor.

As Noemi hit the floor with a low thud, Irenee unleashed her throwing knife once more. This time it found a home in the back of Noemi's hand as it severed flesh and bone, to embed its razored edge into the floor.

Before Noemi could make to try and pull the knife free, Irenee moved to stand straddle over the top of her so she could jerk the fallen woman's head back by her hair. A second blade flashed as she brought it across to sever the woman's throat, straight through to the spinal cord in a messy decapitation.

Another use of his mist form would cost him greatly, but there was no telling what those blades were coated in. Both the saber from Enrie as well as the blades from Eloi would pass through his form. Nox had fully entended on taking on the melee combatants first, the upfront fighters, but Noemi!

Noemi had been struck. She was struggling. A burst of power would shake the room as the Caer power jumped from where he stood, almost flying through the air shoulder first, his charge aimed straight for Irenee's back. He'd flood the room with his aura of fear and cold as well, trying to swallow their own energies in his ever growing wake.
 
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as written by Script, glmstr, Krysis, Tiko, and Emperor_Jester

As they dashed across the lobby, Jamie indicated for Aurelie to wait behind with an outstretched palm. He didn't pause to make sure she'd understood, launching himself back in through the door towards the nearest threat - Edouard. He shot across the distance between them like a bullet, bringing one clawed hand across for a slash through the wraith's neck. The initial sweep was followed by his other hand being driven forwards at Edouard's stomach, aiming to pierce through far enough to grab hold of his spine.

Aurelie listened to Jamie's command, and stayed out of sight in the lobby. She crouched down and pulled aside one of the multiple spawn told to protect her, and gestured towards her room. "I need you to get my things, and get them out of the house. Put them somewhere safe, or bring them to me when we leave." She spoke slowly and clearly, using lots of gestures, so the spawn would hopefully understand what she was asking.

"Strike true!" shouted the ex-paladin as she charged after Nox. Her leadership abilities made it easier for her team to shrug off the wash of fear from the Caeruleum scion as long as she didn't loose heart herself. Protecting them, and Enrie's training, made it certain that she would not let fear slow her.

If he was going to strike Irenee, that meant he couldn't cheat with that misting trick or he'd miss her. Zieg had to be back there someplace too, doing what he did best. The three of them could catch the arrogant monster between them. She launched herself after the more massive vampire, her sword held pointing slightly up. That way, if Nox did that trick yet again, Enrie would not accidently stab Irenee in the process.

Eloi's blades halted with precision the moment Nox evaded their strike, so as to avoid endangering his allies. Nox's aura washed over him like a wave, and he breathed in heavily, finding its darkness intoxicating. Oh, how he looked forward to seeing it twinkle and die - the exquisite beauty of its final moments.

Another movement caught his eye, however, as the Caer's ally from before re-entered the room. Immediately, he directed his swords after the attacker, but Jamie was moving faster than his blades could pursue. They wouldn't reach him until after he'd already reached Edouard.

Irenee's hand shook as the suffocating fear hit her like a battering ram, and the intended blow fell short as the blade clattered to the floor from her fingers. She looked up, wide-eyed as Nox closed the distance between them. It was Enrie's shout that pierced through the fear and she reacted with a feline grace as she dove to the side, and clear of Nox's incoming path. It left the way open for her allies to close on him while granting her a few moments to reorient herself from Nox's aura.

Edouard meanwhile showed no intent to dodge Jamie's attack and as the blow seemed about to strike true, the Wraith exploded into a swarm of bats. Though the animals could do little physical harm to Jamie they effectively swarmed and blinded him with the thick flapping of their wings, leaving him vulnerable to Eloi's blades descending upon him.

At first the sudden appearance of a swarm of bats had caught the Caer off guard, but once he'd realized he wasn't their intended target, Nox was able to halt his charge, barely in time to avoid smashing into his daughter. A quick display of footwork would swivel the giant undead around, back to face his original target, but he had not been expecting the assassin to continue their assault. They knew who he was, how he fought. Even given who he suspected them to be, Nox couldn't help but be impressed.

As the saber came flying towards him, all the muscle in Nox's arm would tense and bulge before his hand would fly forward. The patron fully intended to meet the blade with his flesh, but was accepting the blade's attack on purpose, intending to retalitate with a nearly full strength strike to the invader's solar plexus.
 
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as written by Knosis, Script, Krysis, Tiko, and Emperor_Jester

Zieg pulled back on the wire with a sharp tug. Noemie let out a sharp scream as the wire ripped through most of her right leg, but then suddenly the pain stopped. The dagger came flying back to Zieg and he grabbed it in mid-air as he rushed forward towards the elder Caer, his eyes narrowing as he had watched the woman mist. She wasn't fully realized, but she was awakening to the the power of the Caer. Still, the injury would keep her from moving for a while.

Zieg made a rush towards Nox, aiming to stab the dagger into the Caer Lord's shoulder, readying to shadow walk away if the Caer's attention were to change to him.

Naomi gritted her teeth and grabbed the dagger that Irenee had dropped and ended up dragging herself towards the wall, her right leg useless. The fear had been replaced now. She had survived worse, and she wasn't going to let these people kill her before her goal was complete.

The explosion of bats caught Jamie by surprise, but he adjusted quickly, retaining his balance and allowing his momentum to carry him past his target's previous position. The harrying swarm played havoc with his senses, but he'd already caught sight of the incoming blades as he was charging. There was no way he could fend off all of them with his sight and hearing obscured, and if he stopped to take out the bats, the swords would catch up to him.

So he kept moving. Aiming to use speed to escape the swarm, he changed direction abruptly and darted to the side, then around. He moved erratically, to keep the one controlling the blades from pinning him down, whilst attempting to shake the swarm. As he moved, he struck out where he could, cutting multiple bats from the air with every swipe of his claws.

The momentum of being airbourne, even for a second, made it difficult to shift course when Enrie saw the hand coming for her middle, but the tip of the blade sinking into flesh made it worth it. She twisted slightly, using the force of the strike from Nox to spin her and drag the blade through his skin like an oar through water. The manuver both gave her a stable point to work with and used her adversary's own strength added to her own to do greater harm to him. The blade was sharp enough to humble ordinary steel, so flesh, even bone, was rarely a problem and she expected this to be the end to the foolish creature that tried to resurrect the Caer House.

Irenee was quick to recover from Nox's debilitating aura with Enrie to maintain group unity and morale while taking point in engaging Nox directly. With her senses shaken but her own once more, she shifted her gaze between Nox and the swarm of bats harrying Jamie. With Noemi crippled, and Nox caught between Zieg and Enrie, Irenee could afford to break away to go to Edouard's aid.

It wasnt difficult to locate Jamie via the swarm of bats that engulfed his movements, and she coiled her muscles and sprang into action to intercept him. The bats parted like water as she passed through the swarm, a blade drawn into both hands as she moved. One slash she aimed low, to catch him across the midsection and to lower his guard for the second that would sweep higher, across the level of his throat.

As Irenee made her move, the flury of bats peeled way and descended upon a point next to Jamie, but opposite Irenee. The re-assembling was as disorienting as their abrupt appearance had been, and one moment the room was full of screeching bats, and the next a tattered Edouard stood once more. His clothes were ragged and lines of red criss-crossed his skin where the damage done to the bats seemed to have had some lingering affects upon him, but the injuries seemed superficial at best.

Jamie would rapidly find himself caught between two vampires, and an assault by Eloi's blades.

Though Jamie's movements had kept him from the path of the searching blades until now, Eloi kept the deadly flight hot on his heels. As Irenee moved in from his front, the swords dove in from behind to take advantage of what Eloi anticipated would force Jamie to halt.

Jamie's reactions were swift, however. The parting of the bats in front of him provided him with a split second warning of something, though he knew not what, and so he sought to lurch sideways. The initial slash of the blade still struck home, scoring a relatively deep wound in his stomach and side as he swerved away, but he was able to duck away from the follow-up strike.

With his vision cleared, Jamie was able to take in his situation more clearly. Eloi had halted his blades to avoid skewering Irenee, and so the young vampire now found himself facing three dangerous foes as the swords fanned out to cut off as many angles of escape as possible. He raised his claws defensively, the gash in his midriff already closing up, but he held no delusions about being to fend all three of them off for long.

The words of his father flashed through his mind, “Find your limits, son. Break them. It will be your true gift, an indomitable fighting spirit paired with boundless strength and a ceaseless discharge of hate,” And with a overjoyed screech, his flesh accepted the blade of Enrie. His flesh parted like black butter against it's edge, but the pain was transformed into power, and an eager will to use it. Nox would turn into the cut, following its own flow and momentum, a sharp fist connecting to his opponents ribs, just below them actually, with enough force to send his foe catapulting into a nearby barely standing wall. The impact and transfer of force was like a thunder clap before the Caer Patriarch turned to Zeig just as the dagger planted itself deep in Nox's shoulder.

"You...your smell...Why does your smell remind me of the old days?" Nox would demand, his tongue rolling from his mouth as his wounds already began to close...though much slower than they should've been..
 
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as written by Knosis, Krysis, Tiko, Script, and Emperor_Jester

Zieg pulled away, ripping his blades back out of the Caer as his eyes meeting that of the Caer lord's defiantely. The only answer he gave was focusing on the shadows to try to make Nox think he see something move out the other corner of his eye near him to break his concentration. To Nox, what he'd see is the briefest of shadows race across the edge of his vision to his blind side as if someone had moved in to make an attack.

Zieg needed to confuse and break the Caer's concentration up on multiple targets, not focusing on one at a time. The shadowy vampire made a move, despite if Nox had been fooled by the shadow or not, to go for the Caer's spine next, aiming to jab his dagger in as deep as he could, still keeping the shadows close in case he needed to make a retreat.

Enrie hadn't been expecting the blow at all. She had almost cut the man in half, she thought, so he shouldn't have been able to punch. The ex-paladin gave a gasp of shock as the fist shattered her lowest rib on that side and sent her tumbling into the crumbling plaster and broken lathes of Nox's intitial progress through the structure. She slid far enough to need to take a moment to reorient and recall which way the fight was.

It was with practiced efficiency that Irenee and Edouard moved, each seeming able to anticipate the other's actions almost before they even occured. Irenee shifted a pace to her left and allowed Eloi's swords to take her place across from Edouard as Edouard began to empty his sidearm at Jamie without worry of any bullets making it through to strike Irenee. The situation was looking grimmer and grimmer for Jamie by the second.

As the bullets flew, so too did the Eloi's swords arc in. Jamie met the incoming attacks with his claws, deflecting the blades and doing his best to stay out of Edouard's sights. But there was only so much he could do without being able to disengage entirely. If he didn’t act quickly, he was effectively a sitting duck.

So he did all he could do – he went on the offensive. Edouard had only gotten off two shots before Jamie launched forwards, forcefully deflecting a swing of one of Eloi’s swords as he ducked away from the third shot and outpaced a sword that had been coming in from behind. He aimed to use his superior speed to close the gap between him and the wraith before either he or his partner could react, once more going for a brutal slash across the vampire’s neck and seeking to decapitate him in a single strike.

The intended slash was swiftly intercepted by a flash of steel and Irenee's lithe form, but despite Jamie's hit missing its mark, Eloi had predicted his destination, and Jamie met with the business end of a sword as he completed his swing. The weapon missed his heart by mere inches, embedding itself in his chest. He spat up black blood, responding by hardening his flesh into a black carapace-like form around the weapon to prevent it from cutting across and causing further damage.

Jamie's actions had the unfortunate side-result of immobilizing himself though as he stood skewered upon a sword, and Edouard was quick to capitalize upon it. A smirk of amusement touched upon his face as he fired his next bullet for Jamie's head.

Would this be Nox's first battle, perhaps his concentration would slip, even more so given his rage. But this was what Nox had been bred and conditioned for nearly four hundred years to do, and do well. Almost subconciously, he began to siphon off his own power, sending it to those tied to him in abundance., to Noemi, Aurelie, and now Jamie. And he had fought shadow-walkers numerous times during the Skirmishes. He was familiar with their tricks, their ruses, their cunning. The decoy edging its way around his periphieral vision would prove ineffective at best, allowing the Caer to focus his might on Zeig, for the time being. Divide and conquerer was the Patriarch's method of choice, but something was beginning to crawl at the corner of his mind - pain.

Not the pain he was so attached to. Not the pain that fueled his bloodlust. Pain that registered as what it was, approaching death. Something was not right. His wounds were not closing as fast as they should've, his ebon ichor flowing dripping heavily onto the ruined floor.

But the dagger would never reach his spine. Nox would instead focus most of his power in his feet and leap to the side at the last second, twisting his upper body to rake his black claws up and through the stomach, chest, and shoulder of his shade dancing foe, cursing himself for missing the heart or a clean decapitation, quickly back-pedaling so that Noemi was directly behind him, and so that his eyes could keep track of his retainers struggles as well.
 
as written by Knosis, Krysis, Script, Tiko, and Skull_Jester

Zieg had expected the Caer lord to attack, and could have very well saved his life. As he felt the pain of the slice through his skin, he had pulled away slightly which had spared him. The next moment, though, Zieg was gone, disappeared into the shadows where he'd remain until his wounds had healed enough to emerge.

Noemi was still sitting where she had pulled herself, dagger in hand. She was trying to will her leg to work, but nothing came in response to her leg. As she saw Nox back his way back towards her, she knew he was coming for a retreat. These people were too strong for her father. Anger rose into her chest at her uselessness.

Enrie got to her feet rather slowly as she decided the best way to approach the continuing conflict. Mostly because her attention was caught by the swarm of remaining spawn around the figure of the lesser vampire. What on Valore were they doing, trying to protect such a minor piece in the struggle?

She had no time to find out. Nox himself seemed to be protecting the injured female, after forcing Zieg to retreat for the moment. The tall woman swung around her gun then. The saber quivered with the point in the ceiling, where it would be easily retrieved as she brought the heavy firearm around to aim at Noemi. She took a split second to smirk before pulling the trigger though, wanting Nox to know she was going after something he seemed to value more than himself.

Skewered he might have been, but immobilised he wasn't. With a grunt of pain, Jamie jerked himself to the side, dragging the hovering blade with him. His movement was slowed enough that the gunshot took out a chunk of his ear in a spray of dark blood, leaving his hearing shot (literally), but it'd be mere moments before it ...

... it was already back? Something was flooding into the young vampire's body - something chilling, yet intoxicating. Nox's shared power was like a tidal wave, and suddenly what had been a desperate situation no longer seemed quite so hopeless.

He darted to the side, away from the continuing onslaught of Eloi's blades, his hand darting out to grab the hilt of the one embedded in his chest. Without so much as flinching, he tore the weapon free and used it to parry an incoming strike, only to drive forwards once more, lashing out with a vicious horizontal sweep of the sword for the head of the closest opponent. There was force enough behind the blow that the sword's attempts at tugging away were barely noticeable, enough to cleave through flesh and bone alike.

Across the room, Eloi's face contorted into a scowl. The whelp's spike of strength left his animantic tugs at the sword that he now carried all-but useless, and he continued to weave and parry through the storm of steel with even the few glancing blows that he scored regenerating within seconds.

Still, he was keeping the cretin on the defensive. That in itself was valuable, limiting the opportunities their foe had to strike, forcing him to take chances on risky attacks. Hopefully Irenee and Edouard would keep capitalising on it.

The force behind Jamie's blows was making that difficult though. Each clang of steel was throwing Edouard and Irinee off balance as they weathered the resounding strikes. The pair were lithe and fast, and Irinee in particular moved with a feline grace that could twist and contort with impressive speed and flexibility, but neither were physically capable of matching Jamie strength for strength. One particularly powerful blow sent Irinee into a roll to the floor as she tumbled and regained her footing in a crouch. Their foe's momentary surge of power had caught them off guard, and though they were holding their own, the fight had shifted to more neutral footing as they feigned and weaved, trying to coax Jamie into making a mistake that would leave himself vulnerable to their counter strikes.

Nox turned to shout a signal for his brood, a signal to retreat. With his regeneration hampered by whatever cowardly poison these assassin's were using, Nox knew it wouldn't be long before he either had to run, or unleash. Today was not the day to unlock the cage inside him. There were not the foes who deserved such an honor. The Caer Lord's mouth opened, but the words died on his lips.

The gleam of a barrel. The metalic -klank- of a hammer being drawn back. Nox turned his back to the battle before him and took a slight jump to the side, barely catching the massive explosive round in time. He felt the metal shrapnel and hot lead burn his left shoulder and back. He felt his arm almost completely fall away from his body, only his meager, disabled regeneration keeping it attached. He'd almost crumple, if it weren't for his sheer endurance. Everyone linked to him would hear a single, psychicly channeled word and their patriarch gave a scream of defiance and pain:

Basement.
 
as written by Knosis, Emperor_Jester, Krysis, Script, glmstr and Tiko

Shrapnel buried itself into the fledgling's flesh, and she let out a howl of pain and anger. Her hearing was shot being so close to the blast that even if her hearing had been normal it would have been painful. She had to find some way to get out of this alive.

And more importantly, she had to get Nox out as well. No one but her was going to make sure that man paid the price for what he had done to her. Hatred resounded in her chest for these creatures. Who were they to dare try to take her father's life! They would pay, she would see to it herself in time.

The destination resounded in her head and she understood. Nox couldn't stay around any longer to deal with them. Something was wrong. Something was very very wrong. She started to try to hop her way towards Nox himself, dagger still in hand.

Nox's command read loud and clear in Aurelie's head, accompanied with an incredible surge of power. The adrenaline from being in such mortal danger paired with the energy from her injured suitor elevated her body to become several times faster and stronger than before. She couldn't risk moving through the kitchen where the Wraiths were not long before, so she took the direct route to the basement: down. She jammed her fist through the wooden floor and began tearing out a few floorboards, before jumping into her makeshift hole and stomping her way through the ceiling of the basement. She found herself in one of the basement's corners, and most of the spawn went down into the person-sized hole with her, while a few stayed back to put the floorboards back into place. While it wasn't a brilliant work of disguise, there was a miniscule chance that the pursuers were in such a hurry that they'd glance over that spot in the floor and not notice.

There was quite the obvious entrance to a tunnel of sorts, and with that she ran into the tunnel as she was told to do.

Enrie took her time reloading, keeping an eye on the pawns in the game. It still took a mere second, after twin centuries of practice and the reflexes of the undead. There was no telling if that was a howl of defeat or defiance, and she had already learned not to underestimate this Caeruleum scion. In the few seconds while she hadn't been paying attention, the lesser female had vanished, which was a shame. She probably would have been excellent bait, since it seemed that this Nox fellow valued his associates enough to risk his own hide.

The heavy gun made a distinctive sound as she closed the breach once more and aimed it at the direly wounded Nox. Her finger tensed on the trigger, but then the whirling dance of metal and flesh that was centered around the lesser male vampire flashed between her and her target. While Eloi's skill was extraordinary, it was better not to tempt fate and stay too close, where they couldn't see each other. So rather than risking an explosive round getting riochetted off Hell knows where, Enrie backtracked a few steps to another doorway, looking for an alternate route around to rejoin the fight.

As the Caer howled, Eloi saw an opportunity. The animancer turned his attention from Jamie, and (with the exception of the sword still in Jamie's grasp), his blades swivelled as one to point themselves at Nox. Like a swarm, they descended upon him - seven swords scything through the air from multiple angles in an attempt to turn their powerful foe into a walking pincushion.

This had the knock-on effect of freeing Jamie up somewhat from the pressure of the swords' onslaught. Thankfully for Irenee and Edouard, however, he sought not to press that advantage by going on the aggressive. Instead, he made an attempt to dart away and disengage, moving to Nox's aid.

The pair were quick on Jamie's heels, but Edouard threw a glance Enrie's direction as if seeking direction. With Enrie's withdrawal to the doorway, and Zieg's momentary disappearance, pursuing Nox without the whole of their group in unison was a suicidal prospect.
 
as written by Emperor_Jester, Script, Knosis, Krysis, and Tiko

A voice would scream in Noemi's mind, the voice of her sire. 'Get out, girl. Do not worry for me, just get to the kitchen.' Nox's words were calm, just incredibly loud, on the verge of impatient. While it was slow going, the scraps of sinew, flesh, and bone that somehow managed to keep the arm attached had already begun to regrow and heal. But there was a fire under his skin, in his blood. The Caer was dumping a somewhat large portion of his latent powers into the wound, forcing the regeneration. Still, it was mostly a useless stump at this point.

And then the blades came. The poison didn't seem to just slow his healing, it seemed to slow his cognitive thinking, his reactions. Somehow, these creatures were pushing him into a metaphorical corner. The swarm of swords was paltry at best, but dodge all of them right now would be impossible. So Nox chose another route. One that would cause him far more pain, but practically eliminate a threat entirely.

Each of those swords, Nox would leap into, his good arm raised to cover his face and long dead heart as best they could. This would not be the first or the last time so many blades pierced him. Three in the chest, one through the cheek, four through his good arm and shoulder. Eloi might have time to save a sword or two from what happened next if he was quick enough with his magic, but the blades pinning the Caer Patriarch's arm and jaw would suddenly rend and snap, turning into shattered shards of fragmented metal. An explosive amount of power poured into his fangs, into his less-crippled limb, breaking the weapons against his body like an ancient soldier would break arrows from a shield.

Despite the venom, the three or so remaining swords piercing his chest, the almost complete loss of a still recovering limb, and the fact that he was playing on the defensive, it still looked like Nox hadn't even broken a sweat, as the icy lord took a sweet second to slick his hair away from his face and smile. 'Jamie...get my daughter away from here. Understood?'

A single nod was Jamie's answer, and he turned his attention rearward, towards escape.

Noemi gritted her teeth and turned her direction towards the kitchen as instructed, hopping along as fast as she could. If only she knew how to heal herself.

Zieg emerged from the shadows near Edouard, his flesh nearly fully knitted back together, and was still healing as he pulled from the shadows. He bared his teeth in frustration as he began to shadow step again towards his target, wanting to come in on his rear.

Well, hell. Enrie knew what she would be up to for the next couple of days, unless Eloi had enough spares that he wouldn't need her to be forging new weapons for him. The female grimaced behind her mirrored mask at the thought, though she really did enjoy the work and the Caer's methods demanded an answer. An answer she would be delighted to work on until she figured it out.

A visual check on the Wraiths was all she had time for, making sure all of them were still standing, not direly wounded, and still armed, more or less. Zieg had been seen, and she had to take it on faith that he was hearing the strategy.

"They are on the retreat, but our archangel will rain fire down on their asses." She announced as she caught up with the others, with plaster dust still decorating the back of her dark hood and down one shoulder. She was also moving a little oddly, like something wasn't working quite right in her middle. "We pursue, but with caution. A cornered beast is always more dangerous, and this one is also wounded. Be wary of booby traps, trip wires and the smell of sulfur-- Wait, I do smell sulfur."

Noemi wouldn't get far before Jamie reached her, having only stopped to thrust Eloi's sword as far into the floor as he could. He slowed only enough to give her time to recognise him, before he rather unceremoniously scooped her from the ground and lifted her. "Sorry," he murmured as he broke into a run again, "no time for dignity."

Far swifter now than Noemi's pace, Jamie darted through the house in a blur, reaching the stairway down in short order. It wouldn't be long before the both of them had made good their escape - for the time being.

Above ground, Eloi cursed profusely with the shattering of his blades. An animantic tug brought the remaining three swords, and the one that Jamie had discarded, back to him.

Sid watched from outside, taking out the spawn as they showed their ugly heads above their hiding places. There wasn't much for her to do now except wait and take out any who had tried to escape through means of the entrances. She listened into the earwig at the chaos and her eyes narrowed as she heard that the enemy was on the retreat, readying herself to take aim and fire again.

Then Enrie's mention of sulfer. If Sid's heart hadn't stopped an age ago, it would of surely stopped then at the realization of what was about to take place. She heard Zieg curse within the earwig and then..

The top floor, more specifically where Noemi's room had been, plumed in blaze, the explosion leveling a few rooms of the top floor. Even from where Sid laid, she felt the ground quaking, her eyes widening as she watched the burning pieces fly through the air. "If any of you are dead, I'm coming to kill you." Sid growled in the mouth piece after a few minutes, worry evident in her voice.

Normally such an explosion wouldn't have moved Nox off of his feet, but given his current condition, he couldn't help but stumble a single half step forward, his eyes filled with a sudden resurgance of rage, hate, and bloodlust. His ancestral home! The home of his brothers, his sisters, his Father!

And it was being consumed by flames, by destructive, hideous fire. Something bubbled up into the Caer's throat. Those in the room, in the manor, in the basement, even those in the catacombs would hear it. A horrible, anguished roar, deafeningly loud, defiant, and riddled with despair. Then, Nox did something that would've forever shamed him in Nito's deceased eyes. He turned.

He ran. Fast.

As Nox fled the vicinity a portion of the ceiling gave out overhead and rained down upon the Wraiths below. Much of it was harmless debris but a particularly large support beam that came crashing down through the ceiling bought Nox and his kin much needed time.

Irenee's nimble movements dove her clear of the collapse, but Edouard disappeared in a cloud of smoke and smoldering wood splinters.

The way was still clear to Nox, but Irenee hesitated in her pursuit. She and Edouard were best paired together and if she caught up with Nox alone she wouldn't last long. The Wraith's greatest strength was in their numbers and their years of coordinating with one another.

She turned and began to grab and fling hunks of debris free of where she had last seen Edouard, but a moment later a thick mist began to seep clear of the collapsed ceiling to reform at her side. His clothes were a tattered mess and streaks of blood and soot covered his skin.

"I'm fine, after them," he told her urgently.

With Edouard on her heels, Irenee was after their quarry like a gunshot but the explosion had cost the pair valuable seconds.
 
as written by Knosis, Krysis, and Script

Zieg had faired poorly in the collpase of the roof, but it would heal soon enough. He shadow stepped from underneath the rubble and began to pursuit after Nox with Irenee and Edouard.

However, as they pursued after the Caer lord, the ground would begin to quake heavily and Zieg would watch as Nox disappeared behind a thick wall of rubble, blocking the path of the Wraiths from following further. Zieg had skidded to a halt and knelt. In rare form, anger flared in his eyes as he thought of his options. The man himself could follow Nox easily, but it would leave him alone as the collapsed tunnel would slow the rest of the Wraiths considerably.

He snarled furiously.

Enrie's heart would have stopped if it had a beat when there was an explosion in the upper floor. A glance at the supporting walls in the house confirmed her initial thought, that the building wouldn't be able to take much more of such abuse. Having to stuggle out from under burning rubble was something that would inconvenience most of them, and Nox would be long gone before they could regroup, vanished among the other rats in the catacombs.

"Abort. To the first fall back posistion. Do not pursue. Do not pursue.", she spoke clearly and without emotion, depending on their communication devices to do what shouting could not. The tall woman shrugged off a bit of plaster that fell on her, but seemed more annoyed than upset as she headed for the back of the house, though she would wait to be sure everyone got out.

"Peace, my friend. We're no deader than usual. No need for you to come down from your nest to express your displeasure." Enrie finally answered Sid, when she was sure there was such an answer to give.

With a disgusted grunt, Eloi recalled his remaining blades to their sheathes and moved to the exit. They would be able to followed the escaped Caer lord in short order, thanks to the tracker on one of his minions. But the delay would cost them some of their momentum.

Still, it was better than running blindly into the Caer's underground tunnels. There was no telling what he had lurking down there in wait for them.
 
As written by Tiko

"I tagged at least one of them," Edouard answered. "If we move quickly, we can head them off from above and ambush them when they resurface."

"Heh, it's looking like it's revving up to be a fun night," Irenee said with a grin as they began to fall back from the manor.

Also re-emerging from the house were the shadowy forms of the wolves that had accompanied Edouard. Their fur was filled with soot and ash, but they appeared largely unharmed.

Edouard himself had fished out the tracking device from his coat that was currently locking on to the beacon embedded in Jamie's flesh. The red light that blipped on the GPS map was already tracking his movements.

"Time to move?" he asked as he tossed it to Enrie.

The night was young yet, and already one of Nox's had fallen.
 
As written by Krysis

Enrie caught the device easily and frowned at the display. "Yes, but we stay on the surface until they go to ground. Those foul things have probably been hiding in the catacombs since the Caeruleum started making them, and there is no telling what they have built or wrecked down there. Until we can scout it out, it would be foolhardy to chase them about underground."

Then she looked up at the burning, and slowly collapsing mansion. "I never thought he would destroy this place. Even during the 'skirmishes', this place was left fairly intact."

She passed the tracking device to Eloi, since of the group, he was the one that least needed his hands for combat. "Remember, friends. Calm, rational decisions. No getting caught up in the heat of the moment, no matter how they taunt us."

The tall female headed for the van then, since the wolves would likely need a ride even if some of the Wraiths preferred to travel on their own.
 
As written by Script

The entire confrontation had taken no longer than ten minutes. As the van pulled away, and the fire spread, the sound of sirens was audible closing in on the manor. From their vantage point, Ariane and Ethan watched as the ancient structure burned.

"...a black van, heading north by the looks of it. Its occupants should be considered extremely dangerous. Do not intercept it without heavy backup." Ethan held his radio up to his face as he watched the vehicle depart. "And get some fire trucks out here, something exploded and the entire manor's starting to catch."

"I'm going down there," Ariane stated, rising to her feet. "Backup's about to arrive, and we want to be there to meet them."


It wouldn't be long before police and paladin alike were pulling up outside the burning manor, and the site became a hive of activity.

Unfortunately for them, there was likely scarce little to find beyond that which Ariane and Ethan had already seen. Once more, they were left a step behind their foes.
 
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