Open All Hours

[Craig Jamerson]

((It's been five days, so we are allowed by the rules to pass Samael, correct?))

Craig looked back hesitantly at the diner after the skittle woman spoke, considering the wisdom of staying here. It would take at least twenty minutes for any cab to make it out here by his calculations. Twenty minutes is a long time and anything can happen in twenty minutes. Those men did not make Craig comfortable in the slightest. Craig returned his eyes to the figure walking away from him. The female, on the other hand, seemed to him a much better option and perhaps he could get a ride from her if he offered her some money. "Hey!" he hollered after the short girl. "I'll pay you three hundred dollars to take me to Reno!"

He took a step towards her after his announcement just when three vehicles exploded violently, throwing Craig and rocking the very air at the once-still diner. The air became poisonous with the smell of burning fuel and flakes of ash and miscellaneous shrapnel flitted to the ground. He turned a groggy head in the direction he'd been looking before to see the aftermath of the explosion. Car alarms were going off madly and they slowed Craig's ability to snap out of it because of the added sense of urgency they seemed to give the scene.

He threw a foot under him and scrambled to his feet, wondering just what the hell was going on and looked back at the diner to see the reactions of the people inside of the small eatery. Maybe somehow it would make this all more real. It had the opposite effect, to Craig's surprise. His head seemed sluggish as he turned his attention back to the cars and a young person with black hair and strikingly blue eyes that had appeared of no consequence to Craig before now stood with a remote control that implicated him in the broiling explosion. Craig was shocked that something like this would or could happen here. The man was less concerned and made such apparent when he simply asked, "Going somewhere?"

Craig's eyes widened and his reality snapped back into place. There were definitely people after him for some reason, though why, Craig couldn't imagine.

"Well, for one there are those who would be unhappy with the way you are changing and fiddling with nature itself. They would see it as an abomination and want it to stop at all costs and would not care if a single, nay a dozen humans died in the process," said the guest in his home.[/i]

The scene of his first questionable encounter played through his mind, coming to thought like a satisfactory answer that reveals to one what they did wrong just before they were terminated. Craig eyed the man before him. He was attractive, young, but very, very off. There was a glint of heightened insanity in his facade that Craig was barely able to detect. Or at least he thought so. Maybe it's bloodlust and he's working with the kid inside, Craig reconsidered doubtfully.

The gears began turning more smoothly now and Craig arrived yet again at that same conclusion. He had to stay alive. His best shot was getting out of here. How to accomplish that was the elusive component to the formula.

The man listened to him and then said, "They could even destroy your entire research facility. Sounds to me like you might need some help protecting it. Because you see, these....things won't be normal humans in the sense you think of them. There are other things out there. Things that are much more powerful than humans, and don't necessarily like your species all that much."[/i]

Craig remembered his work place. His research. The formulas he was planning to develop may be at risk. Yes, he would leave here and make sure everything was all right. His mind settled, he turned his attention to the present and decided that, for now, best to try and minimally piss anyone off. He smiled weakly at the man and offered a small, "Oh, you know. Gotta get to work." Lame. His smile dropped from his face as he realized how stupid an excuse it was, even though it was true. No one would believe that from him, probably. Besides, he probably shouldn't have brought the subject up in the first place. Maybe that was why they were there. Bringing it up could only make the situation worse. He studied the male for a reaction, ready to bolt.

[Rae-Star Berii]

America was trying to kill her. Rae had moved on in her thinking that America was not her friend, she had surpassed the idea that it was because she was British and she was beginning to give thought to the fact that America and it’s over friendly people was just a rouse, mostly this thought projected out of the fact that she was trying to leave and now people seemed to want her dead. This journey; a journey which was supposed to be of self-discovery after everyone she loved died on her, was turning into something of a bloody nightmare.

So far today she had embarrassed herself; felt threatened by the overwhelming presence of testosterone and had nearly had her bloody head blown off her bloody shoulders. Today, Rae decided as she lay in the dust of the car park, was not a good or productive day. It was certainly not a day to do any further travelling. Perhaps the god, or whoever was in charge ‘up there’, was trying to send her a message? Well Rae would have preferred it to come in an envelope with a stamp, not wrapped in C4.

This guy was trouble, she was right about that. But it was too late now to get out of this; Rae was officially a key player in whatever was going on. She just needed to decide whose side she was on. At present it seemed like a whole load of people wanted to kill the victim of her childish drawing and at present it seemed like he was on his own against all of this.

Maybe it was her fault. Maybe she had jinxed them. After all, had she not voiced that the world was dangerous moments before the cars around her had exploded? An evil thought struck her. Maybe this was all one horrible coincidence? Maybe this was chaos theory at its most malevolent? Maybe today was a combination of bad luck and bad decisions…? Hadn’t her companion (and she used the term very loosely as she hadn’t yet decided she was on his side) already proved this by selecting the eggs from the menu which in turn had given him food poisoning? Her biggest mistake right now; well Rae figured, it was her attempted to not cause a conflict. It was clear a conflict was destined to settled on her, maybe if she had met the argument face on in the diner then things would not have spiralled so very much out of control.

She lay on the ground; face down having been blown back by the blast. Her eyes stung from the smoke rising all around her, her nose burnt from the smell of the fuel tanks as they filtered into the air. Rae lay still, her mind going over all the checks she felt she should be doing.

Her mother had been a doctor; Rae was brought up with common medical sense. She knew the difference between pain killers, she knew how to give insulin, and she knew how to check for someone’s vital signs and what to do if there was nothing present. She had learnt all this from watching her mother, from sitting with her sometimes when her mother was talking about work, but also because her mother had shown her. It was one of those ‘you never knew when it could be useful skills’.

Under her breath she thanks her lucky stars for being mostly unscathed as she twitched her fingers, wiggled her toes and opened her eyes to the dust and smoke in the air. Rae wet her lips slowly, her ears were ringing and she was a little disorientated. There was blood on her tongue as it retracted from her lips, and slowly she reached up with her fingers to feel a long cut on her cheek. Perhaps it had happened when she had fallen? She wasn’t sure…it had all happened so fast…yet she felt she was living in slow motion.

Slowly Rae pulled herself to her knees, her backpack felt heavy against her and she realised all too slowly at her ribs and sides were probably very badly bruised from her fall. Her hands were shaking, and she fought to get control on herself. Logic told her that an explosion of this magnitude could have killed her and probably, if she had been just a few steps closer, if she hadn’t paused to give warning or halted to receive his suggestion of three hundred bucks, then she would most likely have been severely injured- or worse.

Momentarily, Rae scrabbled to her feet; wandering in a somewhat dazed manner back towards the steel shell of the diner. Inside there, despite the bad food, would be the safest place for the next few moments. Police would arrive, fire crews- there would be emergency services everywhere within the next few minutes. Knowing that taught her two things; firstly, if her vomit expelled friend were being hunted here then the attack on him would have to come before the emergency services arrived and the danger to him in the next few minutes would be at its very highest. Secondly, if this was all one big miss-mash of chaos and coincidence then this was not the end of the disasters today. If fate was intervening here, it would not stop until its prize was conceived.

Ears still ringing she looked up to see two men now, one was familiar and she could see on his lips the expression of surprise and fear. Had he drawn the same conclusions as she had? She could not hear what he had to say, but it was clear by his reaction to his own words that he had lost his level-headed ability to make excuses. The second of the two; well he gave Rae shivers. She remembered seeing such expressions of glee at the damaged caused. An image flashed into her photographic mind; her mother, burning, screaming, dying- and stood over her was a daemon. That creature, on the night of her mother’s death carried the same expression of glee as the stranger who stood before her now. He, all conclusions drawn, was not human.

She staggered to her companions’ side, once again playing into his guise and occupying the character of Maria. In that moment, she pressed her hand into his; Rae made a snap decision of where her loyalties led. They had to get out of here; this no-longer became about her running away. If there were sub-naturals involved in the events of today, then wasn’t it her duty to help the more innocent? Wouldn’t that have been what her father wanted? Wasn’t that the reason she had been given ‘The Case File’ in the first place; prepare her to fight against the shadows and darkness?

“Stop talking.” She told him, perhaps a little sharply. Her dark eyes, pools of melted chocolate came up to study his face and for a moment she returned that pleaded look he had once given her. She needed him to understand it wasn’t her that was out to cause him harm; she needed him to trust his instinct that she was the better of the evils surrounding him. “We should go back inside.” She told him, and now managed to get the shy gentleness back into her voice that was natural to her. Though, Rae was aware, her slender frame was still shaking from the shock of all this.

Inside.

It would be safer. There were lots of people in the diner. When the Emergency Services showed up that mass bundle of people would be their camouflage and they could escape then. Rae, if she knew nothing else, knew how to hide in plain sight.

[/size]

When the young woman stood and left, Samael hardly batted an eye. She was of little significance, just one less person with the potential to find themselves between Sam's blade and his target.

Sam observed the man who was his target, pretending to pick over the pie, but never actually taking a bite. Craig looked nervous, almost like a deer just realizing that its caught in the headlights of an onrushing semi.

The man across the table from where Sam and Craig sat was apparently no friend of Craig's. A minute ago, it seemed, he had actually been threatening him.

Samael gave this new character a quick once over from beneath his hoodie, noting the confident way he carried himself, the amused smile on his face, and most of all, the way he stared after Sam's target and the girl referred to as 'Maria'.

Gears turned within Samael's head as he lifted his fork up to the light and stared at the piece of pie speared with it. There was little to do but to follow the man, seeing as Sam had already revealed himself and would only scare the target further if he were to show up once more.

Dropping the fork and bite of pie speared upon, Sam stood and excused himself from the table sounding as bored as he possibly could while maintaining his jaded teenager look "This place is sooo lame. Laters."

Walking casually to the door, Samael stopped mid-step when all of the cars outside exploded, briefly lighting the night with orange, swirling flames. He frowned to consider this new turn of events, but continued to walk outside, stopping a few feet from the door to take in the sights, narrowing his eyes at what he saw.

A man stood to the side of the diner door, attempting an innocent look even though he was clearly holding the detonator for the explosions in his hand.

Studying him closer, pale skin contrasted with black hair and two eyes gleamed unnaturally, as if blue flame. He had a haughty air around him, the sort of thing one expected around spoiled royalty or the very rich. Sam suspected he was a daemon, for Samael had encountered few other monsters who managed to so easily lift their noses up at the world.

Samael made a mental note about the daemon and moved on. His target was picking himself up off the ground, likely having been thrown by the sheer force of the blast.

A question popped up. How exactly was he to transport the target? It wasnt as if Sam could simply walk off, Craig slung over one shoulder. He would have to make due with his bike, one of the only vehicles apparently unscathed by the explosions.

He looked ahead, briefly, curious as to how skittles girl had fared. With how she had cooperated with Craig so far, Sam was worried she may prove an obstacle. One that would need removing.

The girl, 'Maria', appeared relatively unharmed. Physically, at least. She walked over to Craig and told him to stop talking and recommended they go back inside. Not the best of decisions. Samael would have to act. Fast, if he wanted to take Craig and leave before whatever authority investigated exploding cars showed up.

Sam walked up to Craig and placed a hand on his should, twisting his face into one that was two parts amazment and one part boredom. "That was awesome. Just like a movie." He commented, maintaining his facade as a teenager "Hey, Oldo, you alright?" Sam asked, attempting to have his voice show a little concern.

((I apologize for my lateness, everyone))

[Victoria Belmis]

After the supposed couple left the diner, Victoria found herself with no way of entertainment. Not until a burst of orange light after a loud boom filled the dinner coming from outside. An explosion. Victoria stood in her seat as she saw heads turning frenetically followed by a moment of silent and surprise. The male that had approached the vomiting man earlier had stopped on his tracks, but started walking as the flames seemed to be reduced to some small scattered car parts.

Deciding it was her time to leave as well, Victoria got up of her seat, seeing that everyone would be too baffled to bother and demand her to pay for her drink. She followed the human, passing through the door right after him. Her attention was suddenly lured by a familiar energy, her head turned away from the humans to a figure leaned against the building. A male with ebony hair and flamboyant blue eyes. A daemon. He was calm, almost delighted by this show. It wasn't hard to tell he was the one to blame for all this mess. A smirk formed on her lips. The many reasons that could lead to his little prank crossed her mind, he could of even done it for the sake of entertainment.

The happy couple was on the floor, apparently unharmed, nothing but a small scratch on the girl's face. The girl indicated that they should head inside. Smart. Victoria liked her. Unlike the man she seemed to have a plan, even if it was as simple as to go inside and wait until someone could rescue them. The male seemed only able to pronounce a lame excuse, obviously still shocked by what happened.

The human that left the diner at the same as her was now again speaking to the man on the floor. He did have a purpose. He wanted something. Victoria wasn't planning to interfere, the humans had done nothing to aggravate her, nor she had anything to do with it.

“ Why?” Victoria spoke, suddenly, without glancing directly at the daemon, with a small grin in her lips. She was clearly referring to big show that he pulled off. Her eyes turned to him for a matter of seconds, glowing with curiosity.

[Craig Jamerson]

Someone please skip the next person. It's long and tyrant up to post, right? This is taking too long considering that rae and I had posted like five times in one day and now we can't post once in five days.

[Solemn Creed]

((having trouble logging into Tyr so bear with me, please. ha bear. gangsta bear))


Tyr yawned and looked at the male with an expression of wry amusement. The poor human looked so terrified that Tyr expected him to mess his pants any second. While this notion amused him further and even brought out a small chuckle that quickly got out of hand and turned into a full fledged belly clutching laughter, he was not looking forward to the smell and would be very irritated by such a thing. After mastering himself, Tyr stood up straight again and wiped away tears of amusement. He nearly started at the sight of a dark haired boy standing next to the man and giving him a steadying hand.

There was nothing threatening about the boy, but it was something about the way he held himself that worried Tyr.. or maybe it was the complete silence he had walked over to them without Tyr noticing, something he should have even when caught in the throes of such wild laughter. He looked the boy over once and dismissed him just as easily. No threat there.

At the female's suggestion, Tyr tapped his chin. "A wise proposal, miss.." allowing his sentence to drop off in a way that indicated he wished to know her name. Tyr could not help but find her strange hair both slightly distracting and annoying but this did not stop his curiosity. Her brown eyes gleamed with a keen intelligence yet seemed already world weary for one so apparently young.

Reminds me of myself, Tyr mused to himself. His growing up had been rather unusual and certainly not ordinary for a child in the sixth Age of Sol. Tyr chuckled at that thought. His father could be so narcissistic sometimes. Traditionally, daemons recognized ages according to the current archfiend who ruled at the time. And this, the 75th age was known as the Age of Sol, the current archfiend who ruled and had been ruling for so long that the age had been broken up into six parts which spanned an entire millennium each, the latest being referred to as the sixth. Sol had insisted on reinstating the archaic tradition that had long ago been abandoned as daemons had adapted to how humans measured their years. Tyr had been raised in a way much similar to how his father had been. Weaned off of milk and on to blood mere weeks after birth was the start of it, he recalled fondly.

Tyr shook his head to clear himself of such nostalgic thoughts. Pasting a pleasant smile on his face, he gestured towards the diner door, looking at the humans. "Shall we?"

[Rae-Star Berii]

There was a whirl of sirens in the distance and Rae looked towards the rose, through the smouldering blaze and the babble from the Diner, she was finding it difficult to concentrate. Should they wait? The blue flashing lights suggested that the arrival of the emergency services was imminent- she was a witness to a crime. She would be asked questions such as ‘what are you doing in America, Miss?’ and ‘Did you see who started this?’ Would they, in their naive way, believe that she was here visiting family and was returning home? Would they see her as the foreigner and suggest that it was an act of terrorist warfare? But running away from the authorities was not something that anyone should do.

Her eyes came to the man; he was back. For some reason this was a hot sport of activity. Rae, before she really realised why, stepped in front of her companion and looked the others straight in the eye. “It’s time for us to be going.” She said, solidly, in her British accent.

Maybe it was. Maybe it wasn’t. Staying would be safer, she knew that, her brain knew that, logic told her that going back into the diner and answering questions would be safer for her. But for her caricature victim staying might be the last thing he should do. Would it be smart for him to put himself back in the diner? It was a one entrance and one exit building, if the daemon that had blew up the cars in the lot decided to blow up the diner- well they were screwed. Like rats in a laboratory they would be set on fire and watched as they run around screaming.

For that reason, irrational or rational, it would be better for them to hit the open road. To run. But where? And what if their little entourage of whack-jobs decided to follow? She turned into Craig, her hand momentarily going to his chest. “Right, Tony?” She murmured. “We should go.” Her eyes came up to his; this was part of their act again, and it was his turn to play along with the cute-couple thing he had started.

Maria and Tony…but there was nothing musical about this adventure.

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig looked over at the girl who was looking at him like that again. She wanted him to play along. Tony was hardly his favorite name and definitely not one he would've chosen for himself. Did he look like a Tony? He nodded his head semi-slowly, but firmly. "Yes, we're going to be awfully late, Maria-dear." His eyes flashed back at the man-child that had gotten such a high from blowing things up before looking over at the uncomfortable character that had stolen Craig's pie earlier. He wanted so bad to cause some tension between the two if they were working together and if they weren't, all the easier to try and get them each to get distracted by the other. "You came here on a bike, didn't you?" Craig asked knowingly. "You'd better check your vehicle before you leave, kid. This guy set a block of C4 on it. Looks like you've got someone after you, too." He turned promptly, hoping his warning would cause frustration and dispute between the two until they got it sorted out. If they didn't kill each other outright.

Regardless, Craig should have his opportunity now to get the hell out of here. He turned his head to his side to look at the girl with him now; "Maria". "It looked like you were walking towards one of those cars. Did yours blow or can we get the hell out of here? Cause I don't have one any more." He thought back briefly to Canada where he'd met Adelaide. Such an interesting world he seemed to live in. He let the female take the lead, following her moves closely to appear as much in unison as possible, hoping no one followed them into the darkness.

[Rae-Star Berii]

To look at the pair of them did they look like a couple? He had dark hair, dark eyes and a moon like face. His dress sense was appealing, but she imagined him sat in a soft easy chair with a game console controller in his hand. Not that she'd saw that as a bad thing, but in comparison to her artistic splash of hair, her tiny slender frame and back pack- well they looked like a very odd couple. She failed to believe 'their numbers add up' or that anyone really believed the charade. It might be the only real chance they had of getting out of here. The act had to be convincing.

In light of that she kept his hand in hers. It felt warm against her finger less glove, was he nervous? Could she blame him? Rae was losing her anxious feel. There was a way out presenting itself. If she got herself out then that was all that mattered, if 'Tony' made it free and easy too then it would be a bonus!

Her eyes went to the group, dark and swirling with curiosity before she smiled politely and without need of another word she drew 'Tony' with her, towards the road and away from the smoking cars. Rae had to force herself not to look back over her should, she had to force herself to maintain the calm coolness of confidence.

Only when her feet trundled from the gravel of the lot to the concrete of the road did she release his hand and admit two important things; the first came with a small, shy nod. "My names Rae, not Marie." She told him, in her subtle british accent. Now they were a little away from the immediate danger she reverted back to the well mannered, gentle girl who had victimised someone by drawing on a napkin.

The second thing she admitted was caused to wait as several blue flashing lights whizzed passed and into the parking lot of the diner. For a moment Rae was distracted as they fluttered and raved like disco lights and she smiled; that was a good sign, the guy with the knife stowed in his belt (she could tell by the way his left leg was a little more stiff when he walked that he was armed). "I don't have a car-" she told him, looking both ways before crossing the road and heading down the dust bank the other side "-but we need to get as far away from here as we can- I was heading to the train station..."

[/size]

[Tyrant Creed]

Tyr rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he listened to the sound of sirens on their way. He was in a killing mood, and that sound was really pissing him off. But cops had guns, right? Oh well, Tyr thought. Ive made up my mind.

He began to turn aside, planning on stepping behind the diner and flying off, when he saw the man, 'Tony', look at him. There was something in that look that made Tyr's blood heat up. He could feel the pounding in his head, the building pressure. Tyr needed to let it out, or it threatened to consume him. Just then, he felt himself given some slight, and the blood of his ancestors claimed him. A legendary rage that remained in few bloodlines came over him. Tyr's pale skin flushed with color, becoming blood red in tone, his head of black hair bristled and stood up as if spiked, he dropped into a crouch, issuing a low growl before leaping at the man, taloned hands outstretched for rending and fanged mouth open in a snarl. In mere moments, Tyr had gone from a bemused looking man of pale skin and dark hair to a blood skinned, spike haired monster of talon and teeth.

What Tyr saw was only a veil of red, his more feral side fighting on instinct alone. He moved with a speed and strength Tyr himself had only known in times of desperation or true rage such as this (crusade is active, just so ya know). It was not his intent to harm the male, only maybe scare him from some archaic instinct to prove himself dominant. Of course, being the son of a being born thousands of years ago, his instincts were much closer to the surface, without millennial to breed it from his blood.

[Craig Jamerson]

The girl, Rae, was explaining that she was headed to a train station right when Craig got pummeled from behind. Whatever it was hit him hard and he felt himself lifted from his feet and landing on his face with whatever it was that had hit him still on top of him. Craig had been afraid of something like this and tried to move his left arm to his waist but found it pinned under his body. With his right hand, Craig tried to push himself over to see what had assaulted him in such a cowardly fashion. Whoever it was, the slimy thing deserved to die for certain. Craig could feel a headache rushing on from the impact of his head and the asphalt. The world seemed oddly clearer and Craig decided it best to put his hand into the pouch at his waist and prepare his defense before it was too late and moved his arm to do so as he looked at the face of his attacker.

[Rae-Star Berii]

That had been a mistake, worrying more about the man with the butchers knife at his hip that the bat-crazy demon. Come to think of it, on the plains logic the demon was the most volatile of characters in this story so far. Rae had at least an inclination that the other testosterone buddies were human, they were like her in some way and probably had their horde of unruling skills too. But the demon was the wild card, of course she should've expected it to do something! The 'what' she could be forgiven for not knowing but how could she expect it to be so easily persuaded against its chaos cause- particularly when Tony insisted on commenting. Didn't she tell him to keep quiet? Did she pro-offer that single piece of advice in the most obvious way?

Rae had a good reason for coming across the road and down into the slope, and as her mind computed the unfolding attack that reason came back to her- in fact it came up alongside her with his damned tail wagging. Eli was a stray dog she had found a friend in, he was a little smaller than a farming-collie and he was mud coloured with matters and flecks of black and white. He was young, inexperienced and had been starving when Rae had first given him some of her run-away rations. Like Rae, the dog had a lot to learn about the wild, back alley-ways of the world.

Rae sighed but automatically her hand came to the top of his head, fingers stroking in the animals fur as a memory swamped her. The curse of her photographic memory entitled her to a blow-by-blow account of her little brothers death- ripped to shredded chicken-like pieces by a daemon. Rae swayed slightly under the weigh of swirling grief and pain.

As she regained herself it became clear she could not this happen to 'Tony'. She had no intention of killing the creature, she held no illusions that she even could, but she also had zero intention of dying, or her companion being confronted with death. Either way to act would be foolish; but ignoring the situation as it rose around her would be something she could not live with.

And so, to the whirl of the siren echoes from the Diner across the road, she spoke. "Stop" Her voice cool, steady, but until she worked out how to do this it was the only action she could afford- speech. If she were to arm herself this whole situation would escalate out of control. But a verbal command? Was she trying to inflict order onto chaos now? Rae was starting to wonder if there were stupid pills in her pancakes as Eli growled and barked aggressively at her side, echoing the words from her lips. "Enough! We've done nothing to you, daemon."

In calling him a daemon she hoped to shock him for his assault. It might give him moment to pause; after all these creatures survived by living under the main business of the human world, they were creatures of the peripheral life. Rae also hoped she seemed confident, like she knew what she was doing. "You have no business here" she told him, voice steady, strong- and once again, Eli snarled; ever her defender.

[/size]

[Tyrant Creed]

When the male, 'Tony' looked back up at him, Tyr smirked in his face and held him down, using all force necessary. He threw his head back and began making a choking sound as he summoned up a huge glob of mucous to his throat. He smirked down at Craig one last time before spitting it out on his face. Leaping back from the male, Tyr gave a great laugh at the sight of the squad cars.

"To hell with anonymity!" he shouted, maniacal glee showing on his face. He lifted his arms up into the air, and as he did so, so too were the cars lifted up and brought to hover above him. He ignored the terrified looks on the faces of those within the emergency and rescue vehicles and smirked smugly at the female who attempted to order him about. "I suggest," he began brightly "You watch, listen, and learn. Then, if you feel you must, you may further attempt to command me and I will grant your death wish." Turning his attention back to the vehicles suspended above him, sirens blaring and lights flashing still, accompanied by the occasional flash as an officer attempted to shoot him and being hit by their own ricochet. The effort of holding them so, suspended above by his will alone, seemed effortless to all who failed to notice the proper signs of fatigue upon him. A single drop of sweat trailed down the side of his neck as he exhaled and spoke simply "Crunch." With that one word, he began to bring his hands together, causing the vehicles to push against each other, slowly compacting into a metal sphere with a diameter not much wider than the length of Tyr's torso.

Tyr gritted his teeth from the effort and willed the ball to crash through the diner, breaking through walls and raising a chorus of howls from within. Something exploded, sending a great plume of smoke up through the shattered windows of the building. "Whew, now where were we? Oh yeah, you were getting on my nerves." Tyr said as he turned back to the girl 'Maria', sparing one disdainful glance down at 'Tony' as he reached up to flick the drop of sweat away, panting softly from his exertion.

[Craig Jamerson]

Craig saw the face of one deranged, it was definite now. The man above him now had tackled him forcefully and was now holding him down with a demented grin. Craig was definitely right in having placed his hand on what may have been his one protection. As the male threw his head back to clear his throat harshly, Craig quickly removed a syringe from his pocket, flipped off the lid and sank it deep into the man's leg, injecting him with a five ounce dose of a Dragon's blood. The man spat on Craig's face. Anger swelled and Craig was delighted when the man jumped back, thinking he'd spooked the man. Until he heard the guy mock the oncoming squad cars. Craig smirked. The man was a lunatic and was going to get what he deserved as soon as the police grabbed him. With explosions, helicopters were bound to be coming along with them and there were probably plenty of police cars to surround the man.

Craig scrambled to his feet and ran to get over by Rae. She'd been his only ally in this situation and had just spoken up for him. He wasn't going to just abandon her in a situation like that. Besides, there is always greater safety when grouped in larger numbers. Craig had just began looking back at the scene and taking in the fact that the man seemed to be holding them in the air when they, with the firing police inside of them, crushed into compact balls and launched into the diner like meteorites.

Craig's heart drop and his eyes bolted open as the diner erupted in screams as people were shredded and a large portion of the establishment exploded. "Let's get out of here now." Craig whispered just above the din to Rae just as the one she had called a Daemon turned his attention to them. Craig's mind raced. This situation was worse than the one he had found himself in recently visiting Canada.

A glimmer of hope reached Craig's eyes as the man brushed his neck, breathing more heavily than he should have been. Perhaps they had a chance. If only Craig could buy them more time, maybe they could live and get away. He closed his eyes for what seemed an eternity, recalling all the close scrapes he'd had in life. Certainly none were quite as dire as this, but perhaps there was a clue in there somewhere. There had to be something this being wanted. Nothing was truly chaotic in it's rampage or it might destroy half a city (or a diner) and leave witnesses, deciding they were boring and going after some other pursuit. This creature wanted something.

Craig opened his eyes and scooted slightly closer to the female and grabbed her hand in what was hopefully a reassuring gesture. He was too preoccupied watching this male to look at her, but he gave a slight nod in case she looked over at him for encouragement. With luck, they would still be alive in a minute or two when helicopters would be bound to start appearing.

[Rae-Star Berii]

Her request that the bat-shit-crazy daemon stops his display of chaos and power had not gone down well, not in the slightest, no sir, there had to have been stupid pills in her pancakes. Who was Rae to think she could stop the creature from attacking her companion by simply asking it? And why had the daemon misconstrued her request as permission to loss its fucking trolley? This, this was not, in any way, shape or form a good thing and as Rae watched the abolishment of several perfectly good metal structures she found that a sick, twisted feeling was rising in her chest, choking out the calm and logical teenage girl.

Daemons, Rae was learning very quickly, were maniacs. Not only did she hate what they did to her family but she was beginning to feel the frustrated annoyance that one feels when confronted with a petulant child. She felt annoyed that he thought it was okay to be frivolous with human life, she felt infuriated that he thought it was acceptable for him to dismiss things as worthless and she felt exasperated that he took such glee in the destruction he was inducing.

It was a theatrical show; she’d give him that, as he lifted the cars into the air and crushed them into a ball of warped steel. Had this not been a moment of such fright, Rae would be reminded of the X-men films and the absolute cliché of his actions. He didn’t even have the audacity to be original!

There was a crackling scream, a horrific crunch and then a dreary end to the screech of the sirens. For a moment there was silence…for a moment there was nothing but the sound of his panting. Why do something so needless particularly if it’s only ends was to wear himself down? It was illogical… Her eyes went to the diner and Rae swallowed, she somehow felt this was her fault. There was no point in her feeling guilty, it would cause her pain and provide her with nothing new. She watched him with the same blazing eyes as he watched her, only there was no globule of sweat running down her skin. Rae was cool, calm again as she forced herself to glare at him. She would imprint his face into her mind.

She had felt Craig’s hand take hers again as he had scrambled to join her and Rae had not refused the grasp of his hand. She locked her fingers in his and gave his palm a squeeze most gently. “Lets.” She agreed with him as he murmured in her ear, and the feel of his breath on the back of her neck made her shiver a little. She wanted to comment further, she wanted to say “I’m glad you’re done with your showing off.” Or “Thank you for the demonstration of your power and a reminder of how worthless you think the human race is.” But she did not say either; she kept her thoughts to herself.

So how now were they to get out of here? They had tried walking away and the daemon had followed them, like a toddler being ignored by its care-giver he had followed and caused a scene to grab their attention. They’re trying to leave, trying to defend their selves last time had ended in several people dying.

Rae was sure, now he was weakened, that she could probably take him on; her skills were good, she was strong, agile and she had been beaten up enough times to know how to endure such things. But Rae was not looking for a fight; she was looking to fly this horrible position. Eli, who was currently pressed between Rae’s legs, seemed to agree with this. His whole body was shaking and she was sure the young dog could smell the chaos in the air; after all, didn’t dogs have sixth senses about these things?

She didn’t have a getaway mobile, that was the problem here and the train station would be a twenty minute walk, let alone assuming the train was on time? Her eyes glanced up at the mortal beside her. It wouldn’t be as simple as walking away…attacking him was a no, no. So, she went for the obvious open; “So this has been fun-“She told the daemon, gently. “But we’re going now. Thanks for the awesome demonstration and the death and all that, but –“ She was cut off by the whirl and roar of the helicopter as it filled the sky.

“Freeze!” Came the voice over the siren and the rotary blades, a light preying down on them. “No one move-“ From where she was, Rae could see the machine gun pointed towards them. This was not going to end well, apparently the three of them were being bundled in as one entity.

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