A massive stoneworks multi-terrain palace within the grey realm. Parts of the castle exist below ground, parts above, and two towers actually float high in the sky. Many vampires live here, a whole clan's worth, the head of which is a male named Ian Connely. He is a rare example of a turned vampire creating his own clan.

---

Grey Realm
Connely Keep Archive I

---

Two days later, Felara is back again...quiet this time, energy cloaked and visage disguised, but she does need a way in. Heh. That elemental did dent that wall, huh? Where it had fallen, not attacked...but, eh.

A few sentries are out, along with a repair crew still working on the damaged areas. No one seems to see her at first. A white-haired woman looks in her general direction, but quickly turns and vanishes into the keep. It could just as well have been coincidence.

Felara narrows her eyes. She didn't miss the white-haired woman. Oh well...hopefully it won't matter on her ruse is in place completely. She checks through the papers one last time...detail after detail about a certain vampire in this clan and his family. The clan vampire himself has been absent for about seven months...her sources say he may have been killed, but that's almost impossible to verify. He does, however, have some close cousins from a fairly distant clan--marrige--three of whom he'd grown up with. She doesn't think they've ever travelled hereabouts...and so now she's going to "be" one, travelled far to visit her dear cousin.

Looks things over one time, and then checks an expensive set of illusion tricks...energy signature tinge, sight, smell, the works. Then she simply approaches the front door of the keep, eyes down.

Ian Connely meets her there, drawn by the silent ringing of motion sensors -runes scripted into the ground, sounding off when approached by a living signature- and the call of some of the crew.

"State your business."

Felara looks up, though keeping her stance and expression quite that of a visitor approaching a clan leader who's ranked much, much higher than her, anyway. "I came to visit my cousin, Azan Henly, and bring him news." She bows her head politely. Doesn't show her eyes more than she has to. She has a hard time making them appropriately emotive, and can't move them beyond their stoniness for long.

Ian regards her coolly, calmly. "He has been missing for some time now. I'm sorry to break the news to you, master...?" He halts, waiting for a name. He is suspicious, but no more than usual.

"Miss...and Denae Alvera." Felara manages to look concerned for a moment. "May I ask where he went? I...really do need to talk to him. It's not often I come so far just to carry a message, considering current threats." To vampires of average power or lower, in the form of a glut of hunters. Nothing Ian wouldn't know.

Ian regards her a bit longer, wondering, but no more suspicious. "He left no forwarding location. The last I heard of him was that he had gotten as far as Shenk, and that was months ago."

"I see." 'Denae' closes her eyes a moment, and then sits down. She's quiet for a few moments, digesting this unexpected news, before looking back up at the clan leader. "I guess It's back on the road for me, then. With your permission, Lord Connely...would it be okay to rest here a few days, and buy more supplies?"

"Normally I would acquiesce. However, this keep is currently quarantined." He shrugs a bit. "Some sort of toxin infected our cattle. It will be days before I can let anyone inside those doors."

God damnit. The hesitation is okay to character, though, and Felara recognizes it as such. She finally nods hesitantly with a tired sigh. "Right. So, Lord Connely..." she looks up, eyes profoundly tired. Tired Felara can do. Tired, she actually feels, herself. "Where is the next nearest location for beds and supplies, that wouldn't be hostile to my clan?" She glances longingly past him, but then back up to the elder vampire. It's all she can do.

Ian's lip twitches. "Shenk. Two days that way." He points. "My people will bring you supplies, and you may borrow a tent." He's worried about Minna, and about being a bastard in equal parts.

Felara smiles just a little, and nods from where she sits. "I have a tent...but thank you. Supplies would be most welcome."

"Certainly. Keep back from the keep, though, if you don't want to risk infection." He turns then and heads for the door, sighing a bit to himself. It's for the best, and he knows it.

Felara nods. "Thank you, Lord Connely. The kindness is most appreciated." Time to play by ear, then...damn. She'd expected this to be the easy part. Oh well. Maybe it can still be salvaged. Maybe not. In any case...she just sits, and waits, and distractedly watches the builders.

Some time passes before anyone comes out. The man Ian had sent ends up getting sidetracked, and instead the white-haired woman exits the gates, carrying several boxes of important things for a vampire. Clean blood, sun-mist (like spray on suntan lotion), fresh clothing, that sort of thing. She smiles at Felara.

"Here you are," as she holds out the box. Nether energy resounds about this woman, this Amilei.

Sociability...yay. Felara's strong suit, after all. Still...the nether energy is interesting. She's only encountered it once outside of her own workings, or summons. She does, however, manage to stand up and smile, accepting the box most gratefully. "Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, Miss...?"

"Amilei," she answers. "You are only to deal with me. Speak to no one else, approach no one else." Amilei regards her, her bearing even more methodical than Ian's.

Felara nods. The security is really quite stunning...she wonders if the clan leader suspects something. She wouldn't put it past him...this clan normally keeps to itself, but it's strong. And it's strong because it has such a strong leader. "Okay...Amilei. Please thank Lord Connely for me. This really is extremely helpful." She winces lightly, and shifts the package to one arm.

The strange vampiress bows her head just a little bit. "As you wish. Pardon the hostilities, child. Things are difficult inside." Her eyes twinkle. "Where are you from, darkling?"

"Lady Tsiara's keep, in the south near Ferio." Felara nods. "It's...warmer." A sheepish smile later--she pulls her cloak a little closer around her. The hood falls down automatically...hiding her eyes. Yay.

"I wouldn't know," Amilei answers honestly. "I am not from this area at all. I've only come to aid a friend during his times of trouble."

"That is certainly very kind of you." Felara nods. "Ehm...would you like to sit down? Not much of a parlor, but...it suffices." The same sheepish smile as before runs across her lips. The parlor, of course, involves a few flat, reasonably dry stones shoved around a small fire. The tent hasn't been pitched yet.

"If you like." The vampiress steps that way, her clothes and hair flowing with the sort of overdramatic grace so characteristic to older vampires. "You've come to find a cousin who is no longer here, then?"

Felara nods as she sets herself, still favoring that arm a bit though she seems to be trying to hide the favoritism. "Yes...Azan Henly. We spent some time together as children."

"Had it been long since he was seen?" Amilei sits, primly, crossing her legs and leaning back a bit. "Perhaps word still whispers on the wind of his location?"

"Maybe." Felara nods a bit. "I actually haven't seen him in a good many years. This is his keep, but Lord Connely said that he hasn't been heard from in months...apparently his last correspondance was from Shenk, so I'll go there next. Though...I may take an extra day outside these walls first, to take some rest with much less chance of attack."

"That will not do, miss. You cannot stay." Amilei narrows her eyes. "You will be infected."

'Denae' blinks. "I...see. All right. Is it at least safe enough to stay overnight, at this distance...? I really do need to stop for at least that long...." In the last ten minutes, she'd sliced very deeply into one of her own arms, artificially, alchemically progressed an infection through it, and can feel the beginnings of the desired fever. She'll let it progress normally from here.

"Of course." Amilei doesn't blink. "You worry me, darkling. I apologize that it makes me hostile, but something about you sets off a distaste in my throat. You are not, by any chance, hiding anything important are you?"

"Well..." the faux vampire scritches the back of her head nervously. "Um...can you sense energy at all?"

"Of course." Amilei's expression grows serious, hiding her lie quite well. Something is amiss, though it could be anything. Paranoia kicks at the back of her thoughts, but she supresses it.

"That could be it." Felara's head turns down, two normal hands held towards the fire. "I...kind of dabble in summoning a little bit, and specialize in lesser dark creatures. Some flat evil. One, not surprisingly, turned on me, and I kind of have traces of nether material infecting parts of my body." She's proud of that bit of improvisation, actually.

Amilei seems to accept this, and nods. "Here," she smiles at last, reaching into her robes to hand out a yellowish blood-serum. "You are ill already. Take this, along with my apologies for suspecting you."

'Denae' smiles, and nods, taking the serum with her good arm. Well. Plan C just went out the window. Time to think. "Heh...you can tell, huh? Thanks."

"Of course I can. You are putting out a great deal of heat. I would say that you already have a fever." 

"Oh?" The back of her uninjured hand--also her temporary shifted nether hand, so it really has no sense of touch--goes to Felara's own forehead. "Oh. Right. I guess it's a good lesson in treating injuries right when they're sustained instead of bandaging and going, huh?" she observes sheepishly.

Amilei smiles, but blinks. "Injury? You mean to say you have an infection?" Which is odd, given vampires' natural resistance to all but the most unusual of illnesses.  Not unheard of, but unusual. "May I see it?"

"Sure." Felara nods. "It was a hunter...I think the blade was laced with something infectious. But...it's not that bad really...." She's familiar with vampire physiologies. Doesn't know everything...but certainly did her homework before trying to be one. This is a potentially fatal infection, but not unreasonably transmittable. She shifts a bit to preserve her modesty when she takes off part of her shirt from under the cloak and sets to untying some bandages, finally revealing a deep and, sure enough, angrily crimson against her pale, vampiric skin.

"It should be tended, if it was a hunter weapon, by a healer." Amilei glances to the doors. "Drink the serum. You should be fine by in the morning, but if not, I will see to it that a healer sees you." And again, her suspicion fades.

Felara nods. "Thanks...I'll do that. Hopefully that plus fire warmth will be all I need." Smiles a bit, nods. Examines the serum. "All of it?"

"Every drop," Amilei nods. "It is potent. You may feel a bit worse at first, but I promise, it will cure your infection just fine."

Felara nods. Her mind races for any mention of vampiric medicines being harmful to humans. Not that she remembers...oh well. Hopefully not. "Well. Bottoms up." She smiles at Amilei a little, and drinks. Oh. Lord, that's awful. she coughs and sputters. "Ugh...potent, yes." Cough. Eew. Nasty.

"Yes, well, it works. Bovines inherently resist our specific diseases, and their plasma is not the most delicious nectar in existence."

Cow blood.

Home. Booze. Please?

Felara wrinkles her nose. "Seconded. But...so long as it works. Thanks."

"Certainly." Amilei rises, dusting herself off a bit. "Will you need anything else today?"

Felara shakes her head, and stands up as well. "No...you've already been extremely kind, thank you. I hope everything works out all right for your friend."

The vampiress grins a bit at that. "Oh, it will. He is strong, and beautiful, if a bit dim in ways. Evil can never touch such a being."

Felara smiles. Give me five minutes with him. "I'm sure not. I wish you the best anyway."

Amilei winks. And then, out of nowhere, her nether energies surge and spread. Lights blink about her, and in a moment she is gone, having vanished back into the nether realm.

Felara blinks. Growls under her breath once she's sure she's alone. Great. She needs to figure out the nature of this scry this woman is using to watch her friend across the border between ether and nether, and what that may mean to her little operation here. Oh, well, she...shit. Felara's stomach heaves, and she barely avoids vomiting. And, won't for long. A few seconds later, she's just standing there, leaning on her knees, and coughs a few times. Okay. The cow serum sucks. Officially.

It's all the spy can do to tear up the remaining documentation on the keeps and her masquerade lest it be found, makes sure it's all burned, vomits her guts out off to the side--though sweeping what little evidence there is of human food in her system that she hasn't flushed into the fire, and collapses into her blankets, not bothering to set up the tent, just far enough from the fire to reduce the chances of the serum working fully.

---

Not long afterward, Minna awakens in a cold sweat, eyes wide. Her breath slows only gradually, and only after her eyes finish darting around her room, only to find everything in place in the still only partially-adorned, mostly simple space.

Still, she feels like a child. She can't bring herself to so much as set foot on the floor lest something reach out from under the bed and grab her...and she can't figure out why.

The albino finally closes her eyes. Forces herself to do so, actually, considering the fact that she doesn't want to let anything out of her sight for even a moment. Stop it. You're being a silly child.

A silly child who really does have things that are out to get her. Who's in a keep full of creatures where, as civilized as they may be...even most of the children could kill her.

She sits there for quite a long time in bed, just looking around...glancing up to the overcast, daylit sky. She's already used to sleeping in the day. It's not like it had been a switch.

Minna finally lets out a slow breath. Time to be a grown up and put your feet on the ground. Imbecile. Do it. She just wishes that she knew why she feels so uncomfortable. Considering all that's happened in the last week and a half...she can't be sure her feelings aren't somehow grounded.

So, it comes as quite a relief when nothing reaches out and grabs her ankles, after all.

Once her prosthetic is on, she gathers up her cane--she has a habit of carrying it when she's tired and more prone to missing steps--and treads across the lush carpet, out the door, and just one suite over. She hesitates...and finally raps very lightly on the door. "Kaies? Are you awake?" Her voice is soft. If he doesn't answer, she'll go back to bed. Or...somewhere.

"Not unless you have steak," Kaies's voice comes back a moment later, just before his door creaks open. He stands there, dressed in vampire-garb and looking very much the part right now. "Minna. What brings you to grace my door?"

She smiles at him briefly...then her eyes travel down. She's really...not sure. He's her protector, right? It's where she's just thought to go...but nothing is threatening. "I...can't sleep. May I stay with you awhile?"

Kaies smiles. "Of course. Just let me hide my adult films and gimp suit." He opens the door wide for her and steps aside, revealing a relatively bare room... with all of the furniture pushed against the walls.

Minna's lips twitch towards a smile again. "Of course." She still feels silly...but tremendously relieved at the same moment. She isn't surprised by the furniture as she steps in, just because she's seen it before. "Thanks...I'm sorry. I'm not even sure why I'm bothering you. I just...I'll be quiet." She nods. She still feels better.

Kaies closes his door with a soft click. "You aren't bothering me. I was just thinking about that white-haired woman that keeps showing up, claiming I have summoned her. I am starting to think that I have a trans-dimensional stalker." He smiles, hoping that his jest will calm her down.

It does, a bit...Minna smirks a little as she settles herself on the floor against a wall. She really is tired, and is comfortable with Kaies enough by this point to dispense with at least some formalities. "Mm...well, I think she likes you...very much. Very much." She nods a bit. She's only seen the white-haired woman twice...and she's quite positive, just from the look in her eyes, that that vampire loves Kaies. In a sad way. But still loves him.

"She gives me the shivers." Kaies grins and sits opposite from her, reaching out to pull something from his pocket. A deck of cards. "Beautiful, for sure, but very, very scary. Do you play, Minna?"

"Mm...play what?"

Kaies holds up the deck. "Cards, of course."

Minna's eyes sparkle. I meant, the game. I can play gin and a little poker, jacks or better...and war and fifty-two pick-up." She laughs softly. She really does feel a lot better.

Kaies grins. "I knew that." He deals a hand of poker to each of them, letting the warmth of his smile shine for her. He is taking to the role of protector like a duck takes to water, really, and the feeling of it is tremendous.

Minna is happy to play , and does...until she starts to get very tired, and begins to doze. Part of her wants to start someting. Ask why he so willingly stays and takes care of her, when they'd really only just met. But part of her just wants to cnjoy it, and doesn't feel like asking. She finally yawns. "I...should go back to bed. There are a few things I want to get done in the observatory, that only appear in the early evening." She yawns, and smiles. "Thanks, Kaies. I know I'm being silly, but...I really do appreciate it." She's still not sure what had upset her. Still isn't absolutely comfortable. But she certainly feels a lot better now.

The medium nods as he gathers his cards. "Nothing is silly about it. You came to me, and that justifies my presence here." He grins. "If you wish, you can use my bed. I sleep on the floor now." The bed in question is against the wall, but quite usable.

That sounds...incredibly inviting. She'd be so much more comfortable, and glances to it. "Are you sure that would be okay?

"So long as you don't spend the night leering at me. Because I am so pretty, you see."

Minna laughs softly, and climbs carefully to her feet, leaning on her cane. "Well...if you're sure. I think I'd feel safer."

Kaies nods slowly, expression growing serious. "Whatever is mine, is yours," he informs her. "That is what feels right to say."

The magnitude of the moment isn't lost on Minna. "Thank you, Kaies. I...really do appreciate that. And...your looking out for me." She hugs him.

He reciprocates, quite sure that this is the way things should be. Perhaps this is what frightens him most about the entire situation. Should he fail to protect her... would his life be worth its living? He pushes it aside. "Sleep, Minna. I will be right here."

Minna just smiles, nods, and heads off that way, settling under the blankets in her modest bedclothes and dozing off before too long, finally feeling secure enough to sleep.

Kaies sits cross-legged as he has been drawn to do lately, and watches her for a bit before he allows himself to pass into slumber. The role fits so well... he would have this no other way.

---

Felara's night is significantly less pleasant. She's not eating, of course, to any great extent, lest she give away her race. The serum is really making a mess of her, too...eventually, it starts to work and the infection begins to ebb. When she becomes aware of this through much discomfort, she growls irritatedly under her breath and begins artificially strengthening the infection again. She also tweaks it a little to explain the anomoly, a kind of slight mutantation on it.

Of course, then she starts feeling worse again. Her fever returns in strength. She's quite dizzy, and just sets to preparing her camp and packing up to leave, just as she'd been directed to do. She's careful to always stay in sight of sentries, when possible...not just to keep an eye on them.

She bides her strength for awhile, holds on stubbornly. Then, on the way back from filling her flasks in the stream, in the sunset's late twilight...she finally decides to stop fighting her own, very real illness and collapses, water spilling across the ground.

Time passes, and no one comes out to help Felara. Ian's orders, though the whispered word suggests that the white-haired vampiress had something to do with it.

Eventually, Amilei reappears at the gate. She makes her way to Felara's position, tracking her by scent like a talented blood hound.

"Not having a very nice day, I see," she observes, kneeling down. She smiles a little, reaches down to touch Felara. "A free meal, and then I might help you." Her smile broadens, displaying glistening fangs that glitter with strange, opalescent colors. The mark of a noble of the highest order, her fangs were torn out long ago by her very own father Korliss and replaced via a complex surgery. The material that comprises much of Felara's arm was 'planted' along with seeds of diamond in the sockets, and 'grown' via the sorcery of a life elemental. Their sharpness and endurance both exceed natural limits.

Thus prepared, Amilei sniffs again, wondering why it is that Denae smells so different. Her eyes widen, though, when she realizes the nature of that scent. Without further ado she leans down to bite, her specialized vampire glands pumping the singular venom carrying vampirism itself this time. The extra substance ought to heal a vampire of natural illness.

Shit. Shiiit shit shit. This was not expected. Felara's coniving mind races even as Amilei's fangs sink cleanly into her throat. The only ways to preserve the deception here are extreme. But for what? It's hit a very solid wall. She's not getting any closer as it goes. On the other hand...what's the worst that can happen? She doesn't like being human anyway. Either she routs out humanity or vampirism. It may set back her research. But not by much. This may buy her the extra time she needs to complete this operation. It was limited by the need to eat before.

Think fast. A sick feeling from the very core of her being is being dragged to the fangs at every moment.

Her identity can't be revealed, above all else. It can be proven that she's a spy...but it can't be suspected that she's Istra's infamously heartless telekinetic.

All her musing takes place over about a two-second period.

Felara takes a deep, slow breath, and closes her eyes as a wave of nausea sweeps over her...nothing controlled, this time. She can't move. She can't breathe. She can hardly think. Can't for seconds at a time.

Come on. She can do this. Damnit.

She finally opens her eyes just a little. Forces a smile even as sweat trickles down her brow. "Thanks. That's... a bit better, already." Stop it. Stop it. It's working, it's enough, see?

Amilei pulls back, and wipes Felara's brow with her sleeve.

"You must have been sicker than you let on," she acknowledges, "your blood has an iron taste. You should be able to walk soon. We will find you someone to feed upon." She gazes at the pinprick holes in Felara's neck, shuddering a bit from the euphoria of a feeding. Strange darkling, this one.

Felara shrugs...smiles a little. "I try. And...thank you. Feel as much better as I do?" Heh. Probbly not.

Amilei smiles her fangy smile, a smile laced with an uncontestable hint of knowledge hidden within. "Better, for sure. Can you stand?"

"I think so." Hope so. God, she hopes so. Felara manages a smile. "Help me up?"

"Of course." Amilei extends her hand, the smile fading a little bit.

Felara's does as well...not eentirely, but what remains is purely the work of a con artist. Everything depends on the next few seconds. She makes sure to not put her full weight on Amilei's hand..but does lean on it. Getting to her feet in these moments is the single most difficult thing she's ever attempted, and takes every ounce of strength that she has. She has to do it. Everything rides on it.

She sucks in her breath, half-growls...and climbs to her feet. Then smiles. "Thanks again." Pain. Pain. Nausea. Shit. Don't puke on the vampiress.

Amilei steadies her as best she can. "Do not worry. Just feel better..." Into her cloak she reaches again, withdrawing another tube. "Here. I promise, this is food, and tastes fabulous." She holds out the ensorcelled blood to Felara with a sparkle in her eye.

Felara nods, still wearing that forced smile. "Right. Thank you." She accepts the vial, and smiles. "I...should probably get back to packing." She glances back to her camp. "Not a lot, but...at this rate, it will take awhile." Her smile takes a somewhat teasing light.

"You should rest. Drink up, and rest. I will see to it that you can stay in the guard tower for a day." Amilei tilts her head, spilling alabasater locks across her shoulders. "Kaies will summon a genuine healer for you in a moment."

"I...really do appreciate it. If it's okay with Lord Connely, of course." Felara nods. She leans back against a tree, trying to look steadier than she is, and then seems to want to distract herself from that. "Kaies...is that the friend you mentioned? The tall dark and beautiful one and all that?"

"Quite. Beautiful beyond all description." Amilei nods, smiling a wistful smile. "An idiot, though. Some things do not change."

Felara smirks as she tries to recover. She feels much, much worse than she's letting on, of course...she's not sure how much longer she can stay conscious. For real, this time.

She won't show that weakness show until the moment she has no choice, if she can help it. The trembling is the hardest part to hide. Stance and a strategically placed cloak try. "Heh. Reuinions are...nice. Worth travelling for." She nods. "And he can't be too dumb if he's a summoner...or so I like to think. But I'm biased." She laughs softly, though it's obviously somewhat forced. That doesn't strike her as too dangerous...the dangerous thing is remembering her web of lies through duress.

"Quite." The vampiress tilts her head. "My my. It is time for me to go, now. Can you make it alright to your tent? You still look weak."

"I think so." Next time. She's making progress...and not at the top of her game at the moment, anyway. "I think...I'll rest awhile longer. If you're sure it's okay with everyone." Bed. Collapse. Try her best to die. That kind of thing.

"I am certain." Amilei winks, just as she begins to vanish back to the nether world.

Felara smiles, and nods. As soon as she's sure that Amilei is gone, the expression drops to nothing. She has never felt worse. And she has been in some horrid conditions. She just collapses into "bed," hands groping blindly for a moment before finding her bag. Her eyes open just a slit, take several seconds to focus enough to determine the colour. Green vial. Drops it, searches more. Pink. This one she uncorks with her teeth as soon as she can get ahold of the shaking thing.

"I," she murmurs as she climbs to her knees, grabbing a shortsword and holding over the fire as she pours the poison over the edge, "am an idiot and a masochist."

That said, her trembling fingers unwrap the bandages on her arm and poison designed to cause slow, sickly harm to a vampire slices through the injury. Will give a healer something to find. The sword is thrown on the fire, the vial re-hidden, and the injury only partially re-tied before she passes out.

---

"... but I have a wife at home. I cannot change that. Alright. We can talk about it later. Yes, I will. Farewell."

Kaies closes his door, and sighs softly once it is shut. Careful not to awaken Minna if he can help it, he sits down to go about summoning a healer of some sort. Today just doesn't seem to want to end.

"Mm..." After half a minute or so, Minna's eyes do flutter open the littlest bit. She's many things, but "unobservant" and "unaware" aren't among them. She's quiet for a few moments. "Are you okay?" she inquires softly.

"Right as the rain," is the pleasant if not quite true answer. Kaies turns his eyes upon her for a moment before looking back to his summoning. "Did you sleep well?"

She nods. "Yes. Thank you." She smiles softly, and yawns. She doesn't want to disturb whatever he's doing, and hesitates to say more. She can thank him in more detail later.

Kaies quickly realizes that a summoning is far more complex when performed willingly. He lets the new sorcery roil about the floor in a small space, waiting for something to happen.

"Do you need something in particular?" he asks as she waits, "a change of clothes, food, anything?"

She shakes her head. She's still pretty tired, but trying to wake up. "No...thank you, though." She smiles, and nods. "May I ask what you're doing?"

"Summoning," he nods, feeling no particular compulsion towards lying about it. "I am hoping for a healer. With my luck it will be another stalker."

Minna tilts her head, eyes concerned. "Is someone hurt?" She sits up.

"Apparently there is an ill traveller outside the walls. A vampire, sick enough that her behavior is erratic." He smiles at her, his very best. "But I do not buy it, though I couldn't say why. It just feels wrong to me."

Minna's expression fades. She's understandably becoming a hair paranoid. "Erratic? How?" She sits up. She does, however, force herself to remember that this may very well be just an injured person, one who needs help and not judgement.

"Amilei tells me that Ian has been spreading a story about an illness inside the keep, to anyone who tries to enter. Turns them away with it. Amilei tells me that this vampire came down with an illness shortly after learning this." Kaies taps the floor. "It strikes me as odd that a person could contract a false illness, but it was blamed on vampire hunters. But that is why I am summoning a healer."

Minna blinks. "That is...very suspicious, yes. But maybe it's just coincidence? It wasn't contracted then? After all, most things need an incubation period. Even a liar must know that."

"I know it sounds rude, but I have no interest in a stranger." He looks up at her, eyes shining a little bit. "Until you become a full goddess, I can take no chances. It could be coincidence, but even if it was, it would change nothing."

Minna nods a bit. "Well...you are the one summoning a healer." She smiles a bit, and nods, feeling more comfortable after clarifying such to herself. Although she manages to be uncomfortable at the mention of being a 'goddess' as ever. She just rubs her leg--something Kaies has seen before and shouldn't get the wrong impression on--to get the circulation back in her thigh after inadvertantly sleeping with her prosthetic, loosening the artificial limb a bit as well--as she waits.

The medium doesn't think anything of it. Well, almost anything.

"Everything is alright, right? Not too sore from a hard bed?"

"Oh, not at all." Minna smiles, sheepishly, and nods a bit. "Ehm...thank you for letting me stay with you...I'm not sure what got into me last night. I was just...overwhelmingly uncomfortable." Flat scared, but she neglects that. "I don't know if I had an unruly dream that I don't remember or what...but, thank you."

"Of course. I haven't had an exotic young woman in my bed since long before I was married, you know." He chuckles. Kintune would have put a golf club upside his head by now. 

A soft crackle of static signifies the completion of the summoning. From out of a blue mist a palm-sized creature manifests, a shiny blue body attached to dozens of wavering tentacles.

"Holy hell," he laughs, "Minna, healer. Healer, Minna."

Minna blinks, eyes quite intrigued and a little wide at this strange creature. Then she realizes that she's being rude. "Ehm...it's a pleasure to meet you." She smiles.

The little thing smiles a creepy sort of at her and meeps.

Kaies sighs. "Oh, blast it all. I summoned one that doesn't speak English."

Minna smiles a bit. "Well...she is a healer, and I'd have to imagine that showing her to the ill vampire will say much more than words could, anyway." She nods, and grudgingly begins tightening her faux leg again. The stump has a fair amount of circulation back, anyway...not quite a comfortable amount, but quite enough.

The medium glances at her out of the corner of his eye. "I hope that you aren't planning to go with me?"

The healer wiggles his tendrils excitedly. "Kaies Metsaf! Limina!" Glances first at Kaies, then at Minna.

"Well...I was quite curious to see how your healer friend works. Since apparently I'm supposed to become a healer at some point..." Minna looks back to the odd, mysterious healer, and tilts her head. "'Limina'...?"

"Limina!" The healer circles Minna a few times, and then glances at Kaies. "Kaies. Limina. FIene owne iene ah lii!"

Kaies just smiles. "Maybe you look like someone she knows."

The healer frowns. "Mach lest do shest! Shest!" And it waggles something at him.

He closes his eyes. "He."

Minna looks between them for a moment. "You understand this, Kaies, don't you?"

Kaies shakes his head. "No. He just showed me his package."

Minna blinks, and tries not to laugh. "Well...um. At least there's much friendliness in the air?" A little snerk escapes her lips.

"I think he can understand what we're saying." Kaies opens his eyes. "Perhaps he is mute."

The healer nods vigorously.

"All right then. Come with me outside, and we will see about an ill person." He glances at Minna. "What will you do?"

"Well, if it's all right...I'd like to follow." She nods, picking up her cane. She'd be lying if she claimed no fear...but she's totally, inexplicably drawn to watching what the healer does. She smiles a bit at the creature.

Kaies sighs a bit. There'll be no stopping her.

"Just be on your guard," he warns sternly. "If I say run, please, retreat inside the keep." With that he heads out, rubbing his fingertips gently and motioning for the healer to follow.

Minn smiles, bows her head obligingly. "I'll keep that in mind." She smiles, nods, and follows. She's uneasy, sure, but...curious, in other ways.

Kaies leads the way, with the healer at his heels, to the front gate. A bit of vampire-diplomacy later he reaches the guard tower (ooc: where Felara presumably has a room now) indicated by miss Amilei earlier. He rubs his fingers, alternating back and forth nervously. 

"Hello?" He pecks on the door. "Denae?"

By this time, partway through being Turned, Felara is in extremely bad shape. The poison she'd hastily introduced into her own system had been better-considered than might have been expected. Had it been allowed three to five days to take effect, the slow-acting stuff would have mostly very similar symptoms to what she's feeling from Amilei's...aid. And it's in her system to be found.

Still, in another day or two the poison would have caused an infectious illness. The turning won't. Hopefully their healers will keep it from going so far...since she hadn't been thinking clearly enough to plan for that.

As it is, she doesn't respond to the first knock. The second sinks in...a few moments later, she manages a weak "yes...?"

"Ah," Kaies grins, still rubbing his fingertips. "Right room." He pushes open the door and steps inside, looking over everything. "This must be the right place," he notes, "you look awful. I am Kaies, this is Minna, and a friend. We're here to heal you."

Felara opens her eyes weakly. They travel briefly over the healer, then to Kaies. They linger a few moments, and then linger longer on Minna. The infused girl came, herself...? Connely can't possibly know about this.

She's too weak to try anything. But that's okay. At least she'll have a chance to observe. Her eyes fall shut even as she tries, futilely for now, to clear her thoughts.

The healer descends on Felara, checks her. "Aska a chi-chi." The tendrils stretch out, settling upon Felara.

Kaies, who is still rubbing his hands and grumbling a little bit, stops in mid-rub. "She's turning." He looks at Minna. "I think I understood what he said!" He was about to say something else. The worried feeling in his gut quite suddenly intensifies, as does a surreal pain in the tips of his fingers. He holds them down, away from Minna's eyes. "I wonder," he speaks, concealing the strange stinging, with a practiced tone, "if that is something else from my previous existence...?"

Ohhh, damnit. That is not good to have known. Cover on the verge of being blown. Felara's mind tries to race...but she really isn't in the shape to figure it out as quickly as usual. Blasted over-competent healers.

"Maybe...what do you mean, 'turning'? Didn't your white-haired friend say it was a poison-infection thing?" Minna blinks.

The healer begins to speak rapidly, and Kaies distractedly translates. His hands are really starting to hurt.

"He says that she is becoming a vampire." He tilts his head. "I thought you were a vampire already, Denae."

"I am...was born that way..." Denae mutters, teeth gritted against pain. "I don't know what your friend is talking about...was travelling here, attacked by hunters...arm..." damnit. She's having trouble stringing together even the simple parts of the charade.

"It doesn't really matter now. If you please." 

The healer descends again and hums, laying a cloud of soft blue mist over Felara's body. Expelling from vents beneath its carapace, the mist teems with healing particles that attach to the soon-to-be vampiress and begin their work.

Felara's mind slowly begins to clear as she begins to regain at least some control of her body. Things begin to quell. Her eyes just stay closed. She focusses on the 'helpless' look...which, even for her, isn't hard at the moment.

Minna doens't know what's going on, exactly...still, she definitely feels bad for Felara. Whoever or whatever she is...the poor thing is definitely hurting.

Kaies watches this with something not far removed from apathy. His entire focus is on the tips of his fingers, which throb now as if something is trying to come through the surface. A glance at them informs Kaies that the skin has broken at each tip, but still he remains silent, trying to return his focus to the goings on.

The healer continues on, humming a little louder now.

Minna's attention travels to Kaies. Her eyes widen a little at the blood trickling down each fingertip, and steps towards him. "Kaies, are you okay?"

"Just fine," he lies. Black points are now visible through the splits in his flesh, pushing outwards bit by bit. To Felara, the material ought to be instantly recognizable.

Felara narrows her eyes at that, watching until she shudders and involuntarily closes her eyes again.

"Liar," Minna accuses gently. She blinks slowly. On pure instinct, she reaches out and takes his hand gently. Her fingertips glow faintly, only half startling her.

Kaies gazes at her hand, curious about the glow even more than the ebon claws which sprout from his own fingers. He looks at Minna, and again at their hands. "I don't understand," he admits.

The pain fades. The nether claws continue to grow, but the skin heals in perfect time with it.

Minna's quiet a few moments, and then glances up to Kaies. "I don't, either."

Throughout this, the healer completes his work, and the blue mist dissipates. He lights on Minna's shoulder, not saying anything, just watching.

Kaies gazes at the claws, pondering. "Did you ever have a very strange day?" He grins, hoping to detract from the seriousness of the moment.

"Me?" Minna manages a faint smile. "Never." She glances back down to the claws...the light from her fingers fades as they finish growing.

Felara stays very, very quiet through this, listening and feeling through all of this and trying to recover, herself. She may have to vacate very quickly if things keep going south...but maybe not. She is a very sick vampiress with a plausible story, after all....

The medium glances at her, but right back to Minna. "Let's... get you back inside. Breakfast, then thought." He smiles that indomitable smile of his.

Minna glances over to Felara, expression fading a bit, eyes full of empathy. "Is...she going to be okay?"

The healer speaks again.

"He says that she will be as good as she ever was." Kaies tilts his head. "And that we should leave her to rest."

Minna pauses at that, but nods a little. "Okay. So...breakfast? Please feel better, miss..." she does smile at Felara, and nods a bit.

Felara manages a smile. "Don't worry your pretty head, Miss. I'll be okay...just take care of your friend's hands, huh?" And she closes her eyes again, showing a good deal of pain.

Minna's eyes cloud a bit at the vampiress's cringe. "I will." She manages a small smile at Felara. "I'll come to visit you later, okay?"

"That's very sweet of you...definitely appreciate the thought. Thank you." The words are taking all of Felara's admittedly returning strength. She does manage a smile as Minna turns towards the door.

Kaies maintains his amicability until they are out, and the door is shut.

"Minna, I would sleep much easier if you wouldn't go back to visit her. Not yet."

Minna looks up to him. "Why not? She certainly doesn't have any friends around here who would do it...and I do have you to look out for me, right?" She smiles.

"Well, yes, but..." How to phrase this? "I am not ready to protect you from real threats, yet."

Minna's quiet at this for a few moments. Really, she's being silly. Of course Kaies can't be expected to take on any supernatural threat she walks right into. He's adapting to all this scarily quickly...but she has to remember that he's just another university researcher pulled into this just as recently as she was. She finally nods. "Well...I think you're capable of a lot more than you think you are. But you're right...I'll follow your lead." She smiles a bit, though she does glance back to Felara's room as they walk away.

Kaies doesn't even look back. He has a funny feeling, of course, but that could just as well be associated with the strange claws that just popped out of of his hands, as with Felara. The healer follows quietly, singing an out of tune song.

"So... how would you like to spend today?" he inquires, steering her towards a less awkward subject.

"i'd planned on just doing some work in the observatory." minna tilts her head. "Was there something that you were interested in doing?'

"Not especially. Though I thought I might ask some questions." He holds up his new claws. "I was hoping to find Hal."

"I think she's still sleeping...somewhere." Minna glances down to her cane...and the flowers scribbled all over it in pink paint. "Besides, I'm not done cleaning my cane yet today." She snickers. "At least she didn't write anything bizarre today."

"And my door is still standing." Kaies walks on, not really knowing where they are going, but going nonetheless.

The truth is, they're being stalked. As soon as Minna's next to something soft, Hal pounces straight at her shoulders. "Hiyeeee!"

Kaies reacts with admirable speed, turning and all but diving to intercept the pink furry missile. He has the presence of mind to hold in his knew claws, but not quite enough to aim for something soft himself.

"Meep!" Hal ends up caught. She twitches her whiskers. "Kaies gets quick!"

He blinks. He had not been expecting to catch anything more than air, really.

"Um... gotcha?"

The kitty grins, pecks his nose, and pats his head. "Gooood boy. Now either put me down or pet me before I bite off your nose." She purrs. "Hi!"

"Actually," he laughs, carefully setting her down, "I would normally pet, but I have an issue I thought I might ask about." He holds up his claws for her to see. "Those just sort of happened today. Is this related to your 'reminding me' thing?"

"Hmmm..." Hal tilts her head, jumps up to drag his hand down a bit while she stands up straight and examines them, sniffing the claws. "Ooo...nether material. Fancy. This stuff's pretty much indestructible, you know." she pokes it.

"Hal darling," Kaies pats her head with the other hand. "Where did it come from?" She's really too cute to be short with. A fluffy puff of personality demands attention.

Hal wiggles her nose happily. "Hmm...I'm not sure." She lets go of his hand, takes one impressive jump onto his shoulders, and leans over to give Minna a hug. "Well, a clearly unnatural trait like this isn't something that would normally pass from life to life. Well, do they feel familiar on any level? Does it seem totally and completely strange to have them there, or do you feel like you know how to use them?"

Kaies glances at Minna. "I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I also found it strange that I could understand what this healer," he points to the boredly floating thing, "said, though I've never heard the language before."

Hal blinks, still hanging neatly between Minna's neck and Kaies's shoulder, and looks down at the floating healer, and grins. "Hi!"

"Hello," the healer calmly answers.

Kaies's cheek twitches.

"Hee." Hal looks back over to Kaies amusedly as Minna takes over on holding her. She's a ridiculous little goddess, she really is. She just loves being held...and being the center of attention. "Well, just kinda be aware in the next few days...see how easily the claws come. How well you adjust to them. That'll tell us stuff. And, in any case...someone's helping you. I don't think anyone we've met yet." She nods. "Ooo...right there." She tilts her head and purrs when Minna pets a good spot.

Kaies snickers softly. "I react the same way, Hal. And thank you, I will keep watch. But I will also need to figure out some way to blunt these, else petting you will be impossible."

"Nether material doesn't work that way," the pink kitty notes, finally jumping out of Minna's arms. She knows she's heavy for the slightly-built human to just hold for too long. "It's not like a sword or an arrow. It's too strong to just sharpen and blunt at will. The best that you can do and still keep their full use is to shield it somehow. Either magically, or with more nether material." She grins a bright, fangy grin. "'Cause it would cut through most anything else!"

He wonders at this. "Where would I find more of this stuff, though?" Glances at Hal. "It isn't as if there's a five and dime on the corner that sells it."

"Nope! It takes a five and nickel. Mouse!" Hal pounces the wall...just barely misses this time, and faceplants. "Ow." She wrinkles her nose, and rubs it, sniffling.

Kaies can't help but kneel down and pat Hal some, assuring her that it's okay. "Poor Hal. Any damage?"

"Hmph. Evil wall. Pick me up?" Hal holds her nose until a pretty cloud distracts her. "Hmm...right. Nether material. Well, the stuff is...not exactly 'nether.' It's really the stuff that ties the nether and ether planes together. Kinda like...glorified celestial caulk."

"Any other time," he laughs, giving her a careful pat. "Thanks for the help, Hal. We were just coming from helping a sick traveller... want to scare up some breakfast?"

"Yay! Got milk? I think I want some...meep!" She blinks at Felara's sudden appearance.

Felara still isn't steady on her feet, and emphasizes that even further, leaning on a wall to make herself look as unthreatening as possible. She blinks once, at Hal. "Oh...I'm sorry, Miss. I didn't mean to interrupt you."

Kaies jerks up to his feet, eyes snapping to normal openness. 

"What are you doing up," he demands, "you should be resting!"

Denae directs her eyes down, looking far more submissive than Felara ever would. "I felt a little better...the best I have in a few days." She smiles a little at the healer. "And...I was thirsty. So I wanted to try getting it myself."

His eyes narrow just a little. "You can find some donors in the courtyard," he informs her, his voice catching a little when the healer quite suddenly vanishes. "This day just gets stranger and stranger...."

Denae nods. "Miss Amilei actually gave me some blood earlier, but I was separated from my things. I think they're downstairs. And, I don't think I thanked you properly. You did summon the healer, right?" She tilts her head.

"Yes," Kaies is quick to answer, "please, thank me by resting. I will see to your things, just as soon as I have the chance." Amilei again. Creepy girl, that one.

Denae smiles, and nods. "Thank you. I do appreciate it." Actually, Felara does...she really wants to be laying down. She's only up and about because she had heard such a tremendous opportunity." She turns that way, still leaning on the wall. Pauses. "Oh...and, if you want to know a little about finding and manipulating nether material.." she looks back at Kaies. "I'm not great at it. But I have done some work in the field. I can certainly help and explain some things, if you'd like...it's really the least I could do."

The medium tilts his head. That's awfully convenient... but his suspicion has run dry. Sometimes good things must happen, right?

"That would be fantastic, thank you," he nods, turns slightly away. "Minna, are you ready to go?"

"I think so." Minna smiles at Denae beifly, and then turns to go when Kaies does.

Felara has done all she can for now. So she nods, and heads slowly off to bed. She really does feel slightly better. She feels awful, but...hopefully putting on a very strong "way too healthy to have just turned, see?" face may salvage her ruse. Especially since, as far as she knows, only the summoner and the girl heard the healer's claim of her only just becoming a vampire. And the girl, at least, she's quite sure she can dissuade.

So. The girl is a gimp--typical for an infused human, actually, to be disfigured or disabled somehow--and the summoner is a reincarnation. He doesn't seem to have a full grasp of things yet, but it getting it unnaturally quickly. They're being helped by someone she doesn't know. They have a full goddess trying to take care of them. And she still feels like shit.

All noted.

"She's creeeepy. But, a lot of vampires are." Hal wrinkles her nose. "Especially at that age. They try to be creepy 'cause they know they can."

"I suppose it goes with the territory. Not everyone can be a ray of sunshine, Hal." Kaies grins at her. "Hey," he blinks, "what became of the healer?"

"Why, you dismissed the summon so he didn't have to burn his energy or take ill effect from the ether plane, of course." Hal tilts her head. Then turns over completely on her head, just 'cause she'd been headed there anyway, ears squished against the ground at bizarre angles.

"Now..." he laughs. "That is creepy."

Hal grins broadly. She thinks he's talking about her.

Minna smiles. "You know more than you know, Kaies. You are stronger than you give you credit for."

The medium chuckles. Actually, he was talking about Hal, but this counts too.

" I honestly do not remember actively dismissing the summon, though. Perhaps I simply ran out of time on it..."

"Maybe you did it without realizing it? I mean, if you can summon things without really being aware, I'd have to imagine you can dismiss them that way, too."

Hal's singing softly to herself, walking along on her hands.

Kaies sort of ignores Hal. Right now the only two things on his mind are getting Minna to her observatory, and finding something to eat.

Minna stops at the edge of a fountain. Blinks. There are a pair of strange gloves, mostly plain but well-tailored, sitting on the edge of it...they're quite large. And the fingertips hold whispers of the same nether energy in Kaies's claws.

Kaies is more or less oblivious to their presence. He doesn't especially care for the fountain as more than a passing curiosity.

"Something interesting?" he inquires of her gamely, peeking over her shoulder.

Minna really should learn to be more cautious...for all that she's quiet and unimposing, and while she's not afraid to admit fear, not much will intimidate her into inaction. As it is, she picks up one of the gloves in a pale, delicate hand that contrasts quite sharply. Mostly on size, seeing as she could probably fit both her hands into one. The fingers are also unusually long, about an inch more than you'd expect. "Yes." She half-turns to hold one of the gloves up to him.

"I doubt you could fit them," Kaies tilts his head, "and they probably belong to someone anyway. Plus they are not your color." 

Kaies is many things, but 'a bearer of a keen sense of observation' is not always one of them.

Minna smiles a little. "No. But..." she glances to his big hands. I think they fit you." Another observation strikes as she speaks. "And over the claws."

Kaies's head tilts the other way. "Strange," he notes. "Perhaps they belong to someone taller than me." Blinks. "But there is no one here taller than me, that I know of. All right, Minna, Kaies is officially paranoid now."

The albino smiles an "it's okay, I know exactly how you feel" smile, and pats his arm. "Well...someone's obviously watching you. But...maybe they're trying to help? Or maybe they don't even fit?"

He holds out his right hand, sighs. "Ah well. Into the abyss, eh? Would you do the honors, please?"

Minna hesitates. When he says this, is the first time she's really aware that it may be dangerous. She nods, though, smiles reassuringly, and slips it onto his hand as best she can.

A little snug, but not restrictive in the least. Claws meet the end exactly, ending in little nether-material sheaths. A perfect fit in every way.

Kaies flexes his fingers, pursing his lips a certain way. "It feels like it has always been there." A glance to Minna, washed in uncertainty, solidifies into reassurance. "Thank you, Minna. It feels incredible!"

"Well, I didn't do it." Minna grins, and picks up the other to hold it up to him. "But, you're welcome." She smiles that close-eyed little smile of hers. "I wonder where they came from, though?"

"I've given up trying to figure this place out," Kaies laughs, taking the glove and putting it on much more easily now that his right hand is not lethal. "I am certainly grateful, though."

Minna smiles, and is about to say something, when she blinks when a low rumble begins to shake the stones they're standing on. Different than the first time, though. It's not single hit...more like an earthquake. The goddess blinks. "Oh, for Pete's sake. Again?"

Felara blinks as well, opening her eyes from where she's lying. What the hell...?

Kaies shifts his weight a bit. "I wonder if this is a common thing," he muses aloud. "Remind me to ask, dear."

Felara is hurrying unhappily into her boots, trying to figure out what's going on. Whether it will be useful...or whether she actually has to defend the keep and so the girl.

It's the hunters again...this time, with their proverbial big brother. Whoever's casting this time is very quickly weaving a rune to keep the keep's shields from being activated.

"Everyone to the lower levels," Ian's voice calls from somewhere down the hall. "We are being attacked again. This time, no quarter." And like that, he is gone to rouse his troops.

Kaies's teeth grind a bit. "Determined lot. Hal, will you come with us to safety?"

"Well, boy howdy duh. Move it a bit, yup!" She nudges Minna in a direction with her head, and then takes off at a scamper, waiting at intervals.

Minna smiles a bit at the goddess, though a hair serious.

At the same time, a silent, intangible figure moves through the walls of the keep, just barely visible, and trying to pass deeper, through storage areas even, into the lower levels of the keep.

Kaies follows the women, eyes open but somehow feeling vastly unprepared for this mess.

Ian's vampires report the drain upon the shield spell in short order. Scouts are sent into the underworks and surrounding areas to find whatever might be causing the problem, but it could well take hours to locate a single sorcerer in that honeycomb.

The intangible spy has Felara's hackles raised...she senses something wrong. And considering what she would have done strategically--well, what she would have done were she an idealistic dolt with a massive inferiority complex--she heads for the lower levels as well...to where Minna and Kaies are headed.

The drain on the shields is actually being caused by a spell circle surrounding the whole keep. It had been drawn elsewhere and is being projected from somewhere, so the sentries had no chance to catch its being drawn. A low, distant hissing announces the fact that the summoners are back before anything actually comes into sight.

Kaies leads them to a wide, open room with very little cover, so that any intruders can easily be seen. He's worried, of course, but feels better about the situation than he might. 

"If you see anything out of the ordinary, call," he warns both of them, "even if I am standing right here."

Minna smiles a bit, nods, and sits down quietly. "We'll be careful.

Hal is uncomfortable. This is obvious by lack of quips. "This isn't quite right this isn't quite right what's wrong but this ain't right...." she paces around, finally chasing her tail just to get her mind off stuff.

Minna's just...bored, really. Restless. She's tired of being shepherded, and wants to be up seeing what's going on. But she's behaving. After awhile, though, she gets up. "Kaies...I need some privacy for a moment." She needs to wander off and find a corner to pee in, and tries to imply this.

Kaies understands well enough, both their impatience and Minna's implication. "I apologize, I do. Just be quick about, Minna." The air of request is certainly not present in his voice, right now.

"I will. Don't worry." She smiles a bit, nods, and wanders off. This is all too strange. The strangest part is that it almost feels normal. It doesn't exactly smell fresh down here, and a little dampness indicates that it's washed through well enough, so she only feels a little awkward finding a dark corner and just getting it over with.

As she's redressed and heading back to Kaies, she sighs. She just wishes that all this would be over with. And she just...weren't here, somehow. One way or the other.

At this moment, a figure ghosts up from the ground behind her. A hand clamps shut over her mouth even as a strong arm grabs her shoulders. Minna's eyes snap open, but a weak "mmmff!" is all that she can manage, struggling wildly.

Kaies is, of course, oblivious to this. He's still waiting where she left him, uncomfortably so. It feels wrong, of course, but... what else is new?

Felara, by now, is running. She streaks right past Kaies, evading with a neat turn of the feet. "You do realize that your charge is in deep shit move it!"

The newly-made medium growls in the back of his throat as Felara passes. So there is more to her than he saw, and Minna is already in trouble. He takes off after her at a sprint, calling a warning to Hal as he goes.

Felara's first hit is potentially lethal. She doesn't care enough to find out who the assailant is. The shortsword ghosts straight through the person, though...though he somehow keeps ahold of Minna, and tries to drag her backward through a wall.

The gloves come off as Kaies runs, aiming a slash of his new claws at the spectral figure. He doesn't know if it will work any better than Felara's attempt, but he hasn't the time for a summoning. Hot points of hatred are surging in his mind, blotting out all reason.

It doesn't, of course...Felara's already muttering something beneath her breath. Several summoned spirits of her own rise from the ground...dark thing, evil to the core, enough to make Minna's hair stand on end and stop struggling for a moment. It's enough time for the man to jerk her partway through the wall, though, since she's in the same ephemeral state as she is, a smack backwards with her cane nails him in the head, earning a curse and a few more moments.

Felara raises a hand even as a the man cuffs Minna in return, pointing. "Destroy him." And the chaotic spirits swirl into stark, focussed purpose.

Kaies watches this in awe that remains tempered by hatred. He is so intent on the curiosity of the situation that he doesn't even notice the energy of the area rising, just the sight before his eyes.

A sharp scream announces the moment the first spirit reaches the man, despite an attempt to ward it off...he flings Minna aside in surrender, and turns to run. Not before several long strips of flesh are torn from his flesh, to a scream and a sickly rip each time. Minna stumbles towards Kaies as soon as she's shoved that way, eyes wide with terror fixed back on the truly horrendous scenes unfolding behind her.

"Take the girl. Run. There are others coming. I'll finish this." Felara's expression is her chilling own, no longer Denae's. Her eyes are focussed only on the offender.

Kaies doesn't have to be told twice. He pulls on the gloves and reaches for Minna, with every intention of physically persuading her to retreat. Though Denae's actions here concern him, he puts his best face forward. It seems to him that, somehow, he has seen much worse.

Minna catches her arm and tries to steady herself, still staring back. It isn't until she's dragged along a few steps that she shakes her head and starts to follow along, this lope showing her limp more clearly than her normal step.

The screams from behind them only reach a peak, before dying off suddenly. The ground rumbles again...a stone in the hall before them falls. The rest of the ceiling is buckling.

"Forgive me, Minna," Kaies growls. He yanks her forward and and scoops her close to himself, putting his huge form between her and most of the falling rocks. He runs with all the strength he has for the way out, not bothering to look back.

Minna catches her breath, eyes glued behind her, then ahead. "Kaies...!" Another figure steps into the hall before them.

"Move or be flattened!" Kaies calls out, warning friend or foe away. In his haste, and through the debris, it is too difficult to see which is which. He rushes through, with no intention of even slowing.

The creature, a huge, ridiculously muscular ct-creature, demonic in every way, snarls, and charges him in return, collision-bound.

Were it not for the crumbling structure Kaies would have fled, like an intelligent person. As stands, stupidity is his only available avenue. His claws leading the way, he does his best to shield Minna from whatever might come and picks up the pace.

The cat demon charges Kaies in return, snarling. It's a straightforward creature, and understands straightforward force. It twists in such a way that the nether claws slice into its arm, but only glancingly, letting its own massive paw lunge at the medium, palm-first as though to drag him into itself.

The shifting of its motion does not go unnoticed, and by the time his claws slive into flesh Kaies is already turning to put himself between the paw and Minna. He sidesteps to dodge, but his grace is not tremendous and it is likely that he will fail this maneuver.

Minna's eyes are as wide as wide can be, but she does manages to back off and get to the side just enough to get out of Kaies's way.

The demon's paws clamp shut around Kaies's shoulders, squeezes as though to break even as it drags him closer, eyes burning. "Kaies..."

Something unpleasant nags at the back of Kaies's mind, but with adrenaline so prevalent in his bloodstream Kaies has little mind to pay it. Now that Minna is out of the way he begins to struggle in earnest against the painful grip, kicking, snarling, and flailing.

The demon growls. Doesn't go for a killing blow, but certainly isn't being gentle...or letting go. "Kaies...remember."

"...remember...?" His struggling slows as Kaies's attention diverts cleanly in a thousand directions. Images flash into his mind, regressing back as if viewing the slideshow of someone's life in reverse. Age returning to immortality. Constant battles in a place with violet grass. An inn. A long-eared cat woman. A mask. A woman, murdered, and her daughter, unforgiving.

Everything burns. Kaies shoves all the harder against the unyielding power of his captor, but even harder against the memories that are not his own. His voice is lost in a half-scream, half-roar.

The demon snarls, and is actually forced back. It loses its grip. A claw slices through skin, but not deeply, as it slips aside. Fangs bare, though they seem to grin at the same time, as the cat crouches, and pounces.

The beast is just too fast. Cats... always cats! 

Kaies is pinned cleanly beneath the frame of the monstrous feline, knocking his head upon the ground below.

"Minna, go," he calls to the goddess to-be, "go!"

Minna starts to, but hesitates...a sprinting Denae grabs her arm and drags her along with a vampire's strength. "You heard the oaf: move it! He'll be fine!" Felara grabs Minna under the arm at an opportune moment and then both go flying over the heads of the brawlers, landing uneasily on the demon's back, to a snarl. The albino's eyes are turned back to Kaies as she runs along, but Denae jerks her ahead again.

Usamiuroth growls low in his throat, still grinning that vicious grin as his head turns completely back to Kaies. "You're still a weakling. I was always your strength. You are a morsel."

"And you are still an idiot. I was always your brain."  Pinned as he is, Kaies really has only one option in this situation... to use his feet. Eyes never leaving the demon's, his left foot jerks squarely up to strike the male weak-point.

The demon's eyes bug at this. No cat ever immersed suddenly in a vat of cold water has ever had bigger pupils than this as it almost literally tips over, trying to shriek with pained rage as one paw's claws flop down towards the medium...though it comes out more meep-ish.

Kaies eeps a bit himself. Rolling away from the claws proves only partially successful, and though he gets to his feet, he still has some slashes to even out the bargain. "Idiot," he repeats, and takes off after Denae.

The grumbling, snuffling mass of fur is furious, no question, but down for at least a few seconds more.

For now, Felara's mind is racing. This may be the chance she needed. Maybe not. If not, both Kaies and the girl can vouch for her only trying to help...she closes her eyes. There's a rumble, and the ceiling behind them begins to collapse, blocking the way behind them.

Minna's eyes snap up to Felara. "You...did that. Why? Kaies is still back there!"

Felara narrows her eyes just slightly. Now how the hell did she...? The thought is hushed by the feel of the girl's energies shifting, and she forces her face to relax even as the rest of her curses. It's starting. She may not have months to work this like she wants...taking this opportunity it is, then! "What? Did you get hit in the head or something? Keep moving, or the ceiling will fall on top of us, too, don't you feel the whole place shaking? We've got to get above ground!"

Minna's only silent for a few seconds before jerking her arm away, stumbling to a stop. "No. You can't lie. I know you did that, now undo it! Move those stones!"

"Child, you're out of your mind! Okay, I did collapse the tunnel...there's more than one way out, Kaies can find another! I owe him my life for that healer, damnit, I wouldn't just leave him to die! But that demon is still back there with him, and I had to cut it off from you. He wants you to get to safety, and damned if I won't do that for him!" She grabs Minna's arm again.

"I don't want to leave him!"

"Come on!" Minna is no match for Felara's strength--or even a fraction of it--and she's dragged along over her protests.

Kaies stands before the pile of debris with a scowl set upon his face.

"The problem with being agnostic is that I have no god to blame for this," he says to himself. As gentlyi as he can he rolls his shoulders, ignoring the pain to get himself stretched out. He lets his fingers relax, claws held out. Whenever the fight comes, he will be more than ready.

The demon approaches quietly on all fours, ready for blood now. There is a growl, but it's nearly subsonic...everything is eerily quiet.

Kaies lowers his stance a little bit. Whatever this demon wants with him, he will be glad to provide it once the Demon has pried it out of him.

"You will need me," Usamiuroth snarls quietly. It's different than before. Malicious, for sure...but not immediately threatening. "You are nothing on your own. Can do nothing on your own. Can't protect yourself on your own...much less anyone else. I will see you then." The demon lies down on its haunches, and lays his head down, never taking those burning eyes from Kaies. And then he fades from sight, leaving a faint smell like rotten eggs in the air.

A strange mask remains in the lonely center of the floor. That and the occasional rumble of whatever is going on outside are the only things that punctuate the silent emptiness.

Kaies stares at it. He knows what it is, and the memory turns his stomach. Still he lifts it, gazing into its ugly beauty. 

"I'm stronger than I was before," he quietly observes, "you cannot control me again." Stuffs the mask in a pocket, and heads off to find another route.

"Where are we going?" Minna's hackles are raised by now, and she's actively trying to stop...though Denae's strength keeps them both moving along at a fair clip.

"Most of these keeps have tunnels in their lower levels that branch out fairly far. If that area's been infiltrated, we need to get somewhere that hasn't been."

Minna jerks back, quite hard enough and suddenly enough for Felara to miss a step and jerk to a stop. "I don't believe you."

Felara starts to backhand the albino, face blindly furious...barely catches her own hand in time, fangs bared. "Come anyway if you value your life," she hisses finally.

The astronomer is stunned at that for several seconds, until she finally narrows her own eyes. "No." She tries to turn back towards the center of the keep. Felara's death grip on her wrist jerks her back around.

"You have no choice. Repaying your friend for his help you know."

Felara thinks she knows the layout down here...at least decently. They've been scrounging up maps of all of the Keeps, their towers, and their undergrounds for years...and she'd done a lot of studying before coming out here. If her memory serves, they're sprinting towards a surface-hidden exit from the tunnels that's an emergency escape. Hopefully they cn get there without her murdering her target.

Kaies picks up the physical trail pretty quickly, and follows, but it difficult to contend with the head start the women have on him. Desperation sets in along with the realization that his suspicions of Denae may have been accurate. He pushes himself as hard as he can, rounding corners without paying any attention to what might be on the other end.

The exit is fairly obvious. A gate with a long wooden bar set up to prevent entrance from the outside stands, with some supply barrels set up on either side. Dark, dank, and almost entirely empty.

Except for the white-clad vampiress standing before it, waiting for them.

Damnit. One of the most powerful vampires associated with this keep...and its greatest wildcard. She's never been able to get a clear report on who she is or her association with the keep or how strong she is. "All hell is following us, last I checked...stand aside or run beside us!" And Felara tries to run right by.

Amilei hops back, puts herself squarely in front of the gate.

"Hell is in front of you," she quietly insists.

Felara narrows her eyes as she grudingly slides to a stop, allowing a badly winded Minna to do the same. There's more than one way to take the statement. She takes the high road. "Whatever is out there can't be worse than the cat demon at our heels. Move!"

"I am not afraid of demons. Where is Kaies?" Amilei's fangs show just a bit, not enough to be threatening. "I lost sight of him from my vantage point. That is why I am here."

"We were separated. They were attacked in the tunnels by some phaseshifting creature and then a cat demon. Kaies told me to take the girl and run. Part of the tunnels collapsed behind us and separated us."

"Is he coming?" If one did not know better, one might think Amilei was intentionally stalling.

"Probably." Denae tries again to step past Amilei. Her patience is wearing thin.

Again, the vampiress puts herself in the way.

"Minna, what do you think? Shall we wait?" Her eyes are locked on Denae, now.

"Yes." It springs ridiculously quickly from Minna's lips, though it's cut off by a severely tightened grip on her wrist.

Felara's had enough. She won't get a better chance to get the junior-grade goddess out, she's positive of that. The movement that armed her was incredibly subtle. The long dagger flashing at Amilei's throat is not. She throws Minna forward at the same time, in such a position that if she misses the vampire...the human may die.

Amilei had been watching closely, but Felara's speed easily is a match for a vampire's. What would Kaies want her to do...? Protect the charge, above all else. And it isn't as if he remembers Amilei, anyway.

It is with those things in mind that Amilei throws up her hands to block the blade. Her wrists are exposed, but she doesn't particularly care. She can hear his feet pounding down the hall. He will be here, she will have done her part.

Felara hears him, too. Time to end this. A waved hand is meant to throw Amilei back into a wall at truly breakneck force...even as she forcibly retrieves Minna from the ground and jerks off her prosthetic leg with inhuman force that's now in small part natural. Minna screams when her fibula is snapped in the process, though Felara quite easily keeps her in hand.

Having anticipated the knife, Amilei only scarcely manages to slow herself. Not enough to keep from being knocked stupid, but enough to prevent any serious damage.

"Minna!" Kaies's voice hails from behind them. "Wait!"

Minna is in far too much pain to be very coherent for a moment...but then she gathers her wits, mostly. "Kaies..!"

Felara's done with all this. It's an old trick, but a useful one...a smokescreen is thrown to the ground, and quickly fills the air. She wastes no words with Minna, and grabs the thoroughly helpless human totally off the ground, sprinting towards the fray and strengthening the shields she uses to alter her own energy patterns.

Minna chokes back a sobbing cry, mostly of pain. "Let...go!" A burst of strange light explodes from her body in a small, uncontrolled radius. Felara is pitched aside for just a second, stunned at the unexpected attack. She shakes off her bedazzlement and the blow, grabs Minna as a true snarl breaks from her lips, and forcibly seizes control of one of the dark elemental summons already on the scene...predictably, a large, dragon-like serpent. She leaps atop the creature, grabs Minna again...and both streak away from teh keep's jurisdiction.

Nothing he could have done. Kaies just kneels and helps Amilei to her feet, conscious of the little bit of blood that pinks her hair. Not much, really, but enough.

"So now what?" The question is honest, bereft of sarcasm. "Minna is gone heaven knows where, taken by an anonymous flying enemy whose left no trail whatsoever."

Amilei shrugs a bit. "We were outclassed from the start. I am sorry, Kaies. I let her get away."

The medium pats her shoulder gently, shaking his head.

"It does not matter, now. Come. We'll get you patched up. Then we can figure this out." He leads her more or less forcibly back into the keep for medical attention. Perhaps he'll ask Ian. More than likely, though, there is nothing that can be done.

Hal finally comes scampering up, a little cut here and there but okay. "Hey hey where's Minna I don't smell her?" She's freaking out. What fur she has is poofed, and the end of her tufted tail looks like a pom pom.

"Gone," is the hopeless answer from Kaies. "Gone."

Amilei looks at him, as forlorn as she can appear with such ghostly eyes, but remains silent.

Hal's ears droop at that. After a few seconds, though, her tail starts waving agitatedly. "So? She was gone once before and you and no idea where to go to find her then either, if you recall. Andja did." She pokes Kaies with a clawed finger, though it won't penetrate his clothes. "Come on, you did it once." She nods.

"Amilei is hurt," he says coolly, "let's get her taken care of." He's avoiding the subject. Of course he is avoiding the subject.

Hal glances over to her. Nods a bit. "Okay. Right. Healers good." And she scampers on ahead, looking for help. Looking for Ian, really, he's the best about knowing when to take her seriously despite her overwhelming silliness.

Kaies more or less carries Amilei, who could walk if she wanted. She just doesn't wanted. Her arms loops around his neck, and he just sort of smiles resignedly. He knows, now, who she is and why she is so interested in his well being. That, among other things, only serves to make things more difficult.

---

"There you are," Ian greets them when they show up, "I was worried. Where is Minna?"

"Working on that. Just as soon as Amilei gets healed," Hal sniffles. She knows that the seconds count here...but there's really nothing she can do, she could get killed if she went outside about now.

Ian glances at her, clinging to Kaies as she is. "It is not a major wound." He holds out his wrist. "Amilei... that name bothers me, for some reason. Ah well..."

The white-haired vampiress looks away from Ian. She knows why it bothers him, but electing that information would not help their cause right now.

At last she breaks down and bites his wrist.

"It will take a moment," Ian reports. "Hal, what happened?"

The little goddess's tail is still swishing agitatedly, ears set at lopsided angles. "I wasn't right there for a lot of it. Minna stepped off to pee. And then that Denae girl came running past us, and said Minna was in trouble. And there was something attacking Minna, and then Denae summoned some really wicked little somethings that tore the guy apart all messy-like. And Kaies and Minna Ran and then there was this big cat demon there and it attacked Kaies and Denae grabbed Minna so they could run away and they did and I wanted to help Kaies but this weird little snakey scrying summon went by and I needed to bite it before it told the people outside something bad...and yeah. I missed the rest." Her ears are still drooping. She's quite the dejected kitty.

Ian pulls his wrist away from Amilei, who takes about two seconds to fall asleep after such a feeding.

"We can find her," he assures them, "no one can hide from us forever, Hal. So cheer up. Kaies... stop looking so glum. There will be a next time."

"Yeah..." Hal wrinkles her nose. Bounces just for effect and to try to cheer Kaies up. "Are you finished squishing those asshole poopyheads outside yet?"

"Just about." Ian looks to a window, blocked of course. "There were plenty of them, but once they revealed their location..." he sighs a bit. "That they were only a distraction is now crystal clear."

"Aww..." Hal rubs her head up against Ian's knee, purring reassuringly. "Yeah. Butcha still squished them."

He reaches down and pats her head, scratches gently just as one would do a real cat.

"Quite. Hal, please, see that this moping idiot gets back to his room. I will have a heading for you in a few hours."

She un-tilts her head from the scratching. "Okay! And then we'll get our pale buddy..." glances at Amilei... "extra pale buddy back, and then Kaies can cheer up." She headbutts Kaies in that direction. "Now...off! And..." she bares her fangs suddenly, growling at something he's holding and backing off several steps. "Hey. Where'd you get the mask?"

"An old acquaintance left it," Kaies answers guardedly. "The cat demon you saw. The mask used to be mine."

Hal blinks. Tilts her head...but is still regarding the thing as though it may bite her, in a very defensive cat's position. "But you don't smell like demon in any way?"

"I'm not." He looks down the hall. "I am going to my room, now." He smiles a little, defeated smile at Hal and goes that way, still carrying Amilei.

"Ohhh...now I'm so confused." This isn't spoken that loudly. Hal sniffs, plops down on her haunches, and just watches him go. She'll check up in a couple of minutes to make sure he got there, but...gosh darn it to pie, she needs to think.