^Hehe. ^^; Thankies. I'm glad you liked it. LOL Clowns. I know where my fear of clowns comes from...it comes from Stephen King and John Wayne Gacy. :S *wonders where Zerina gots hers from* Nice exerpts, though. ^^
I stopped, leaning heavily against the wall. Pain shot through my side. I pressed a hand to the gash in my shirt and scowled at the dark scarlet that stained my hand. Sh*t. I made myself relax, but I couldn’t stop feeling a prickle of worry. Aradia was probably worse off than me, and I wasn’t going to let what happened to Mitchell happen to her. Being a half-breed didn’t make her invulnerable, just as being mostly demonic didn’t make me all-powerful.
Holding back a stream of obscenities, I pushed off against the bricks and pulled Onyx from his holster. The gun felt oddly heavy in my hand, but I couldn’t stop. My prey was getting away.
The faint patter of footsteps reached my ears; too quick to be Aradia’s and too heavy to be anything but Abraxas’s. Unless he’d summoned something.
I forced myself to not think about that.
But I was tired and still bleeding heavily and it was difficult not to think that this mission was going to end badly. I’m alright. We’re alright...just get up off your ass and move. I grit my teeth and stumbled along. Jade was on the floor nearby; I picked her up and holstered her with a growl. Stupid pain. Stupid demonic prince. Stupid weak little me. Another growl escaped my lips. I was going to tear the bastard to shreds.
The man seated at the narrow table didn’t look as one would imagine a longsuffering mentally disturbed murderer did. He was handsome, with a pleasant and somewhat boyish face. His wild golden mane had begun to retract along his temples and forehead, and the delicate wrinkles around his mouth and brow had come with age. A shade of light stubble along his jaw line showed that he hadn’t shaved in a couple of days. He had aged peculiarly well for a forty year old.
The security camera, located in the top corner of the nondescript, claustrophobic square room, depicted the patient clothed in jeans and a T-shirt. Another middle-aged man, dressed more business-like in tailored trousers, button-up collar shirt, and a plain tie, appeared on the greyscale screen. There was a clipboard in his hand, which he placed on the glossy black surface of the table before sinking into the chair across from his patient.
He licked his lips and readjusted his spectacles over the bridge of his hawk-like nose. He took out a ballpoint pen from his shirt pocket, and his fingers accidentally grazed his silver name tag with Dr. Franz Engleton engraved into it with bold black letters. He leaned his elbow on the table, and with withered brown eyes he studied the man before him.
Joshua Johnston.
There were purple smudges beneath his eyes. He was fidgeting with a lose thread on his chair’s blue upholstery, wrapped up in his own quiet thoughts.
“Having trouble sleeping again, I see,” Franz remarked.
Josh lifted cool, grey eyes to look back at him objectively. There was a flicker of irritation, but as soon as it had come, it was replaced by a warm, smoky silver. Josh was the only person he had ever met who could genuinely smile with his eyes alone.
“G’morning, doc. What’s on the agenda for today?”
Josh didn’t have the face of a killer – he didn’t possess that detached expression in his gaze, and his voice held a surprisingly innocent note in its smoothness. He was, in fact, a very pleasant person to be around. He didn’t lack social skills, and behaved with civilized etiquette – in essence, he was still the same young man the folk of Blue Bessie Hill had once adored.
“Let’s discuss the episode you had last night, shall we? It’s the third one this week,” Franz said, unclipping the papers in front of him.
“I didn’t have an episode,” Josh said.
“No? You were quite distraught...nurse Anderson had to administer a sedative to you at four o’clock this morning. According to my notes.” Franz said, skimming across the words and graphs with trained eyes. He rearranged the papers, secured them back on the clipboard, and stole a glance at his patient.
Josh shrugged indifferently. Franz folded his hands together on top of the table and tilted his head to the side. Their eyes locked.
“Okay. So I had an ‘episode’,” he said the word mockingly.
“Tell me.” Franz said with perfunctory frankness.
“What is there to tell?” Josh said. “It’s the same old boring story.”
“Did you hear voices in your nightmare?” Franz pressed lightly.
“Do we have to go through this every time?” Josh asked, and let out a long sigh of defeat at the undeterred expression of his doctor. “Yeah, I heard the voices again.”
“Any you recognized?”
“Maybe. It was kinda hard to tell, what with them hissing in my ears, and some crazy screaming at me.”
“Who was screaming at you?” Franz asked, finally tearing his gaze away to scribble down his notes.
“Don’t know. I didn’t move to try and see who it was, but it was definitely a woman, and she sounded seriously ****ed off,” Josh said solemnly. He was fidgeting with the thread once more.
“You were paralysed again?” Franz asked, pausing with pen in hand. “Sounds very much like another hypnogogic dream, Joshua. In general they are caused by severe stress fa...”
“I wasn’t paralysed. I closed my eyes because I didn’t want to see... whatever the hell it was that wanted to attack me.” Josh cut in.
“Did you recognize the woman’s voice?” Franz looked up expectantly.
Josh stubbornly avoided his gaze. “No. And before you say it – it wasn’t that woman I killed.”
“Marissa Visser.” Franz said flatly.
Josh’s gaze was sharp and clear when they snapped up to face him dead on. “Her name makes no difference to me.”
“Perhaps this is your subconscious...your guilt about...” Franz started tentatively.
Josh shook his head vigorously. “No, no.”
“You still believe you feel no remorse for what you’ve done?” Franz asked.
The question wasn’t posed as a professional would have presented it. Sentiments were invading his work ethic again – Franz wanted desperately to believe that Josh was better than this, as did everybody else in town who had known Josh all his life.
“I have no regrets about killing that couple,” Josh said carefully.
“None at all, Joshua?” Franz furrowed a dark bushy brown. “You don’t regret being kept in solitude for the rest of your life, locked away from your family? You don’t regret letting your daughters grow up without their father?”
Josh went still at his words. A vein in his neck pulsed hard. “No. None at all.”
Franz took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “Dreams of being attacked are often associated with feelings of being out of control.”
“But I am in control.” Josh mumbled.
“Do you remember what the voices were saying this time?” Franz asked, once again touching pen to paper.
“Listen.” Josh said slowly. He hesitated, and his face looked twenty years younger when gingerly composed terror swathed across his features. He looked like a frightened and confused kid – the way he looked when he’d been hauled into the police station eleven years ago. His voice was haunted, troubled. “That’s all they ever say. Listen, listen, listen.”
“Alright.” Franz said with a curt nod.
“But I am listening. I heard them the first damn thousand times!”
“Alright,” Franz said again, this time in a firmer tone. “What is it they want you to listen to, Josh?”
“The dreams they send me.”
“The nightmares about the end of the world, you mean?”
“Not nightmares. They’re precognitive dreams,” Josh said.
“Right, so you’ve said before. You believe these dreams are predictions, do you?”
“Half and half,” Josh said and slouched back in his chair. He flashed an unnervingly amused smile. “They’re about real events that have yet to take place. Catastrophe after catastrophe, with details so vivid, I sometimes feel like I’ve been warped into the future and I’m witnessing it all first hand.”
“And how can you be so sure they’re about real events?”
Josh snorted incredulously. “Only an ignorant idiot would disregard them as anything else.”
“Why haven’t you done what I suggested to you before, Josh? Why don’t you try and draw these dreams, and show them to me? Maybe it will convince me that you are right, as you claim to be, and that we are all...”
“...in a deep load of ****?” Josh interrupted.
Franz made a gesture of acceptance with his hand. “As you put it.”
“Why should I be bothered about convincing you that I do have all my pigs in the sty, doc?” Josh said with a cocky smirk, leaning forward with mischief in his gaze. “When there are far more pressing matters that demand my attention?”
“Like the end of the world.” Franz said flatly.
“I’m a writer, not an artist,” Josh said, his smile fading along with his mocking attitude.
“It is your writing that contributed to where you are now. I will not allow you to fall back into your own fictional creations, Joshua. You have to face up to reality, and the reality of what you’ve done.” Franz said.
“If you deprive any fiery writer from their passion, the compulsion to give life to their words will be enough to drive any of them mad. My work had no role to play in that killing,” Josh snapped, and jerked a thumb at his own chest. “I did what I had to.”
“Have you considered drawing? Maybe painting, if pencils aren’t your thing?” Franz responded calmly.
“No. I suck at drawing, damn it!” Josh said heatedly. “B’sides, all I can remember from the dreams are a couple of minor details.”
“Like the number nine?”
“Yeah. Nine.”
“Why nine? Do you think it might be because that’s the age your children were when you were brought here?”
“No,” Josh said with quiet conviction. “Nine is a symbol of things coming to completion. Like a circle. Complete, and perfect, and infinite.”
“Relating to the end of the world again?”
“The end of our world, yeah.” Josh said.
His one leg had unconsciously begun to bounce up and down beneath the table. His hands clenched and unclenched consistently in his lap. Franz knew these were warning signs – Josh would withdraw into himself, clamp shut if Franz pressed him to continue their session. It could be weeks before Josh would crawl back out of his shell, far enough for them to carry an easy conversation.
“Alright, Josh. It’s a sunny day out. I think the fresh air will do you good, don’t you?”
Josh’s legs stilled, and his fists relaxed. “Sure. Why not? I might as well savour it while I’ve still got the freedom to.”
“DABA!! OPEN THIS DOOR RIGHT NOW OR I’LL BLAST IT DOWN!!”
Gabrielle winced. Even from behind the solid door, the angry voice was extremely loud. I wonder who it could possibly be? Definitely not Clark….
Daba sighed and got to her feet. “I suppose now is your chance to meet someone from Nichole’s past. Ila Long, to be specific. Twenty one years old, with five years of pent up rage ready to be let loose at your friend the moment Ila sees her.”
Gabrielle gulped. “Lovely…I guess you had better let her in…”
Daba nodded and walked into the kitchen. Gabrielle heard the door creak open, and the angry click of high heels walking across a tile floor. Well, I guess I won’t learn much by sitting on this couch. If she’s really trying to hurt Clark, I’d better at least see what she looks like. She gathered her courage and stood up, casting a longing glance at the couch before venturing into the kitchen.
When she entered the room, she was immediately greeted by the sight of an angry woman sitting at the table and glowering at Daba. She was tall, although not as tall as Clark, with long purple hair and blazing blue eyes. She must have noticed Gabrielle as well, because at that moment she directed her blue eyes towards Gabrielle.
“Who in the Realms is this, Daba?” She asked curtly. “You never told me you had company.”
“I was getting around to it, dear. You were too busy screaming for me to properly tell you anyway.” Daba said warmly. “Now, shall I fix you a cup of tea? I know of a few herbs that are sure to calm the nerves and ease the heart.”
“Don’t EVEN start that crap with me, Daba. You know who I’m here for.” Ila looked at Gabrielle again. “And what about her? Does she know that heartless, treacherous coward?”
“I…uh…I….” Gabrielle’s tongue felt like it was made of mush as she desperately searched for something to say that wouldn’t reveal her friendship with Clark. Ila didn’t seem to be impressed.
“I don’t have time for this.” She snarled, getting to her feet. “That worthless scum is within the gates, and I’m wasting my time sitting here and being offered tea.”
“Ila, wait!” Daba got up in an attempt to halt the woman, but by the time the words were out of her mouth, Ila was gone, with the kitchen door slamming behind her. Daba sighed, the strain of the situation showing on her face.
“This…this isn’t good, is it?” Gabrielle asked.
Daba shook her head. “Ila is angry enough to do serious damage to Nichole if she finds her. Worse still, she refuses to listen to reason.” The old woman sighed. “I didn’t foresee this much trouble...”
Gabrielle swallowed. “I have to warn her.” She said, sounding much braver than she felt.
Daba’s eyes widened. “That is not advisable. Ila will undoubtedly start a fight, and with two Gifted women, yes two,” She said when Gabrielle’s eyebrows shot up, “The whole town will be in danger. In addition, if Ila catches you warning Nichole you’ll reveal that you’re friends, or at least that you know her. Your life will be in grave danger.”
“I don’t care.” Gabrielle said. “I owe Clark my life; if I don’t warn her about Ila no one else will!”
She walked out of the door without giving Daba a chance to respond.
Dante to my OC after she stabbed herself."What the hell did you do, fall into it?"
Frustrated, Sparrow jiggled the handle again, this time with more force. "Reaver, open this d*mn door!"
"Leave me alone, Sparrow," Reaver called from the other side of the door, sounding harried and distracted. "I'm rather indisposed at the moment."
"You've been locked in your room for the past week. How the great bloody hell are you 'indisposed'?!"
"Yes, well, I'm afraid I've simply misplaced my mind and I can't seem to find it."
Deciding his fellow Hero had had enough of a guilt trip for one day, Sparrow looked away from her and met Garth's eyes. The mage nodded once in understanding. Right. Time to get serious.
Sparrow tossed him the magical bag that always hung at his waist. "Right. Garth, collect the clippings. Hannah, you help him. Reaver? You're coming with me." As he began dragging the afformentioned Hero of Skill towards the bathroom door, he added, "Chip, you sit and stay."
The terrier sat, tail twitching against the rumpled bedspread in restrained excitement.
"And why, Sparrow love, am I going to allow you to drag me off?" Reaver all but growled, curious despite himself.
"Because we are going to the pub, and you smell funny," Sparrow replied succinctly.
"I suppose you intend to ravish me in the bathtub, then?"
"That, my dear pirate king, is for me to know and you to find out."
Reaver promptly stopped fighting him.
"You think this is funny?"
"I have a finely cultivated sense of humour. I wouldn't expect you to get the punch line."
~...~
"What is the best advice your mother ever gave you?"
Sam's eyebrow twitched. "Rather be safe than sorry. That's why I married an asshole. He'd never cheat on me because nobody wants an asshole, and he'd never divorce me because he knows I'm the only one who would ever put up with him."
She sent a discreet look at Ian beside her. He was slumped and stretched out awkwardly on the couch beside her, leaning against the arm-pad and rubbing his temple. He crossed his legs lazily and sighed loudly.
"And the same question to you, Ian."
"Be whatever and who ever you want to be. The world is going to try tear you down either way so there's no point in trying to placate it."
"So you chose to be an asshole?" Sam demanded in disgust.
"Don't get upset because my mum's advice is more sound than yours, honey."
Fear Itself, chapter 15.“Are you sure it’s wise to see Sofie?” a water-like voice said suddenly.
Jenny jumped, gasping in surprise. As she tried to calm her heart, she wondered how long Julian had been lurking behind her.
“Why wouldn’t it be? Marcus inquired, puzzled. “We go way back, Sofie and me.”
Julian’s expression was sardonic at best. “The last time you asked Sofie for a favor, you ended up chained naked to a cage with a dog collar around your neck for six months.”
“Too much information,” Jenny muttered meekly, trying to banish the mental image.
Marcus, on the other hand, smiled contentedly. “What a wonderful six months those were, too.”
lol ohmigosh post it post it post it lol!Fear Itself, chapter 15.
lol ohmigosh post it post it post it lol!
Yeeeaaaahhhh :shifty:“If it’s any consolation, she did recommend him.”
I paused with the bottle pressed against my lips, and sent her a sidelong glare. “Hmm.”
“She said he was very good-“
“I’m sorry, how is this supposed to be consoling again, Hazel?”
Z flew them toward an abandoned town: a small jumble of frozen, rusting building carcasses that looked as though some enormous hand had just dumped them down beside the sea without any care as to why they were there. B has him here…? Why didn’t that sit right with him?
“Set us down at the edge of town,” Watari instructed. Z didn’t speak, instead choosing to nod once before circling the town to find the best place to touch down. As Z flicked switches off upon landing, headsets were passed out and there was a final check of supplies for those who were actually going out to find L.
J and S hopped out of the helicopter, snow crunching loudly under their feet. The wind was nearly nonexistent and snow was falling softly, barely hindering visibility. Z followed them, stopping only to check her boots and the knife hidden within.
“Be careful, Quillish,” Roger murmured as Watari carefully made his way out.
Watari inclined his head slightly. “The same to you, my friend.”
What could potentially have been a touching good bye was ruined as S crowed, “Hey, Zuney, you’re all grown up now; how’s that work, eh? You’re…actually kinda hot….”
Z slowly raised her head and straightened up, staring at S with a look that would have blasted him to pieces had there been any power behind it. “It’s Zanir, you ignoramus motherf—”
“That’s enough, children,” Watari told them, placing a restraining hand on the young woman’s shoulder as he slung his rifle over his shoulder. Behind him, J was smiling for the first time this voyage and Roger was trying to remember why he’d accepted Q’s insistence that he should go along with the group.
- Mitis ForestAnd this is my story of the white knight, Claire the goat, and how falling off a bridge was possibly the best thing that's ever happened to Nero.
- Mission 666"It's like me always playing the 'Dante's immortal' card. People facepalm when I join a discussion because they know what I'm going to say, and they can't tell me I'm wrong either because I'm not."
"I'm not immortal," Dante said.
"Yea you are! Don't start with me!"
"I have a theory," Mikael said.
"What?" Joe asked.
"Dante is really Gintoki."
"Alright.... how would you come to that conclusion?"
"Gintoki likes sweet beans."
"And that relates to Dante how, exactly?"
"Beans make you fart."
"So Gintoki farts a lot?"
"Logically, yes."
"....you're saying Dante stinks, then?"
"No, I'm saying, I've figured out why the hell his coat is always randomly bellowing like a fudging gale force wind out behind him."