When the rain turns red (Finished)

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel had somehow managed to stay asleep throughout the whole thing. Her body having to wait until the pain in her chest went away. Her dreams were frantic, they didn't make it easy for her to be tied up. Thrashing every once in a while, but none the less the other was successful in her endeavor. Ciel slept through the whole thing. She'd never really felt her fear, there was nothing she was afraid of, so this sensation had been completely new and obviously not one she wanted to go through again.

The girl dreamt the entire time. She watched as her father was murdered by her brother even outside the dream it caused a pained noise to escape her red lips. She woke up with a start she looked at the other woman and growled, "I know what it does..." She'd used it before, Ciel didn't like the idea of it being used on her. She hadn't even allowed herself to be groggy, instead she was at full attention. Her eyes stay on the other woman, there was a slight sense of anger, though it was harshly dampened, almost unable to be felt, but what came off of her was cold. Almost apathetic. She'd already decided she wasn't going to tell the other woman anything, so what did this deamon have planned.

[Rennia Trayvold]

The daemoness made note of the woman's reaction while she was out, wondering if she could perhaps use it later if need be. Until then she kept at her work until she had the girl where she wanted. Then it was merely a matter of waiting until she woke up.

When she did, the woman found Ciel's reaction entirely amusing, though like before she didn't show a hint of it. She was defiant still, despite being tied up, and she claimed to know the use of the particular type of drug Rennia had in that syringe. That made her even more curious, but even if she was aware of it, Rennia decided to elaborate further anyway.

"You see, funny thing. I'm sure you don't need me to tell you by now, but you are indeed a shapeshifter. How much do you even know about what you are? Well, in case you're not aware, Shapeshifters are quasi-magical beings. Your ability to change your shape is innately magical. However, it also relies on a physical component within your body. Without this component you'll find you're very much unable to make use of that ability. So what does that have to do with an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor? Well simple. One of the many uses of these inhibitors? Well, they're nerve agents. They work on the nervous system. That means they have a wide variety of effects. This one in particular breaks down the bonds between your central nervous system. Specific bonds mind you. It doesn't effect your breathing, though your heart it might. Then again it might not. But in a nutshell this drug is very good at disrupting muscular and other organ related functions. It also has the effect of terminally disrupting the receptors the chemical process involved in shapeshifting. If you need me to spell that out for you, it means you'll no longer be able to shift."

Rennia waited a few moments for that to sink in before she continued on. "Most of it's effects are temporary, though temporary is debatable. Some lose motor functions for weeks... months, some cases years. During that time they have to have someone waiting on them twenty four seven. They can barely eat. Can't stand up, can't move their arms. Usually have their heads hanging off to the side because their neck muscles don't work either. Can't go to the bathroom without help.... It really is a fun life, I tell you. Of course medical assistance may decrease that time, though gods only know how long it will last. One thing that won't be restored with time however, is your ability to shift. No... That's a permanent loss. And one thing I've discovered about shifters is that... losing their ability to do what they do? They say it's the worst thing they could ever imagine."

Rennia chuckled softly and moved back slightly until she could lean against the wall, waiting to see what the woman would have to say to that.

((clarification to those who are curious. I am by no means saying it will actually do as she says. Bluffing is all very much part of her game.))

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Most thought that being a sociopath was only down sides, but it didn't have to be all bad, she was extremely logical. Ciel was one such case. A near genius what she lacked in common sense and emotions she more than made up for in logic. She looked up at the woman, "I really did burn the damn thing." She sat back uncomfortably in the chair, she didn't like the thought of not being able to shift, not because it would mean that her work was through but more because there was that haunting thought of losing who she was, never being able to be herself again. This upset the girl the only true emotion she'd shown since Rennia made her appearance.

Ciel looked up at Rennia through eyes as cold as pluto. She let out a sigh that couldn't really be described as anger or frustration but like she was trying to force herself to feel angry or frustrated neither of which she was capable at this moment. "So what exactly do you want, if as I've told you I burned the damned thing. Is there something specific from it you needed to know?" In the meanwhile she was using what she could to carefully slip a knife from the back of the chair, it wasn't Rennia's fault that she missed the blade, but like with most weapons in Ciel's room unless you knew where it was, it was nigh impossible to find.

[Rennia Trayvold]

Rennia leaned against the wall idly as she watched the woman and waited out her reply. Fear wasn't the only instrument she was using with her tactic. She had felt that, if she was incapable of feeling fear, she would still at least adhere to logic. She gave the first, faintest hint of a smirk as her assumption proved correct, at least to some degree.

She gave a faint sigh before shaking her head. "Just talk. Go over the entire thing from the beginning. Jog my memory, including when you pitched it into the fire, and the back way you took to get to your home." Rennia alluded that she knew at least a little bit more about what the woman had done, but left it intentionally vague so as not to lead the woman on or to cause her to shy away from anything specific. Now that she knew she was dealing with a similarly logic based mind, she would need to resort to deception to get what she want. Pain and fear created honesty, Logic was another animal all together. When one stopped caring what happened to their own self and others, it required one to simply steal the truth when they weren't looking.

As for Ciel, she would probably find it extremely difficult to move her hands in any manner at all, given the way Rennia had completely encased those arms in rope, preventing much in the way of movement in any direction. However, if she was determined enough, she might possibly manage to somehow get her hands on a blade within reach of her chair, but even if she managed to cut her hands free, navigating to the rest of her bound arms would also prove to be extremely difficult. Rennia was obviously very experienced in dealing with escape artists.

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel clicked her tongue, she'd gotten bored with hiding the truth, and she knew that her brother recorded everything that happened in the house. She lays her head back against the back of the chair, "Alright. So you want information, I want to be able to move. So why don't we make a deal darling, you already know whatever it was that you used worked... let me out of this, you can search me for weapons." She said with a playful, flirtatious wink. She wiggled a little bit to get more comfortable she had the need to run her fingers through her hair, to tap her fingers on her thigh.

She watched the other gaging her reaction, "In return I will tell you what you want to know, and after the sun goes down I'll even take you to where I chucked the relic." She says closing her eyes after a moment. She needed to move her hands or she swore she was going to go insane. This woman would have made her angry, but instead the deamon served to intrigue her. She puts on a smile, her eyes turning to a warmer bahama blue. She had no signs of lying anywhere in her, in fact her body was completely at ease. "Oh and you have to take that thing out of my arm.... without injecting it." She was very sure to add that last part.

[Rennia Trayvold]

The daemoness gave a laugh as she listened to the woman. She had to admit that the woman had metaphorical balls. On occasion Rennia ran into a few that were so bold to suggest such a thing, but this was definitely one of the better ones she'd heard in a while. After only a few moments of laughing, she managed to reign it in as she shook her head slowly.

"You're quite forward, I'll give you that. However, do you really think I'm going to untie you? Funny thing about that trick is that your body builds up a temporary resistance to it every time it happens. It's a natural reaction called adrenaline. Normal people don't frighten as much a second time around once they've already had the initial scare. It's a body's defense mechanism. So, yes it might have worked once, but I doubt it would be as effective a second time. So I really do have to question why you think I would let you go?"

"As for this?" She held up the syringe, still embedded within the IV line that led down into one of Ciel's veins. "Again, why would I remove this. You said yourself you want to be able to move. So cooperate with me and you'll keep that ability. What would I gain from using it on you after you've revealed what I need to know? I'd be perfectly happy to knock you out, untie you, and leave you here with very little evidence as to my intrusion, or at least little enough that whatever you do find... won't really matter. So... the question comes down to... Do you have a compelling enough reason for me to let you go beyond 'if you won't I won't talk' in which case... Fine... We can play that game. I push this plunger in, and you become a vegetable. In which case you stop being a threat as you won't even be able to talk, let alone do anything with the physical item, which I assure you I will find the remains of. By then, anything you'd be able to say would have long since lost it's relevance. Assuming there is a 'by then'. I do hope you don't mind letting others take care of you for a few years. I suppose if whoever finds you is nice enough, they'll just end your life. Me? I'm not that nice."

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel sighs finally catching the knife that was hidden in the back of the chair she very carefully set it up to be able to cut the rope from her hands. The girl opened her eyes and looked at Rennia, "You are so mean." She pouted. She clicked her tongue a few times. If successful even after cutting the rope from her hands she would keep them behind her. She looked up at the woman, "Alright here's what happened, I went into the office, opened his safe with the code 7563215066, too easy by the way, the guards were all knocked out with a mixture of Belladonna and a plant that I grow here in the house, well they are probably dead if they didn't make it to the hospital, too much coffee I'd say." She looked up at the ceiling. "So anyway got there, entered the code, grabbed the damned scroll and walked out, no one noticed me, after all everyone knows that Amber is a good girl, perfect daughter, no one thought anything odd about her going in to her father's office. Anyway I took to the backways, the ancient streets. Eventually taking the ones that run underneath Athen's. I got to the temple of Thanatos, came up from underneath it, sat for a while read the scroll, I wanted to know what I stole." She laughed at that thought.

Her arms hurt from keeping them still the way she was, "So anyway, after reading the scroll I chucked it into the fireplace that they have there, the big one, everyone thought it was an offering of course. Why wouldn't a young priestess give her writings to the gods?" She sits her head forward, she didn't want to give Rennia any reason to press the plunger but she also didn't want to stay in the same position, "Then I took the front streets here, looking like Ciel D'Morte. I got into here and became... I don't remember my name. I'm pretty sure I don't even look like who I am... so forgive me for that part."

[Rennia Trayvold]

Rennia kept her fingers on that syringe as she listened to the woman talk. If she was aware of the woman struggling for the knife behind her back, she made no mention of it. After a serious effort on Ciel's part, she might manage to undo the lower bindings of that rope, though it still very much left her with a limited range of motions giving the knots on her upper arms, which would be a pain to reach with her knife, would constrain her arm's motions. She might be able to cut the ropes going around her frame, though that would be an instant tip off to the daemoness, who would be able to see the ropes loosening from where she sat.

When Ciel finished her tail, Rennia gave a soft sigh. "I figured you'd say that... though I had hoped it was just worst case scenario thinking. I was sent out to destroy the object myself... But you see, it wasn't the item they cared about, so much as what was on it. Thus destroying it would have ensured the safety of it's contents. The fact that you read it? Well that just complicates things. It very much makes you a threat to my mission because you now possess the very thing I was sent to destroy. So that leaves me with a very problematic situation. You see, I can't particularly hold you to any form of agreement. Once I lose my position of control here, there would be nothing contractually binding you to silence. There would be nothing stopping you from spreading this information on to another individual. Do you see my problem here? I now have to figure out what to do with you. How do I ensure the silence of someone clearly not motivated by greed or other emotion? Cold logic would dictate that as long as I remain a threat to whatever interests you, I can maintain your silence, but once that's gone..."

She shakes her head and sighs. "You would have to go and complicate things."

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel sighed she didn't know what to do. Her mind darted to all possibilities. "How about we make a deal Ms. Deamon." She says with a coy smile. This next part had to be worded perfectly. It had to be honest. She could not lie with what she was about to do. "I swear my allegiance to you." She said the words escaped before she had time to perfect them. She sighed and shook her head sure she was going to die.

Ciel licked her lips trying to word it better. "You will have my loyalty, I will work for you, stay true to you, I only ask that when my teacher calls I am allowed to heed his call." She said looking up at the woman with those brilliant bahama blue eyes. Her fingers play with themselves behind her back, she bit deep into her lip, the only thing that worried her about this agreement was that she may grow to enjoy it.

[Rennia Trayvold]

The daemoness's eyebrows shot up, not that they could be seen under that hood. She clearly was not expecting that particular line in the least. Her mouth opened as if to say something before she closed it again. It opened for a second time, but like the first time she would close it again after. Finally on the third attempt she simply went with the obvious. "I can't say I expected that... "

The daemoness chuckled at length and tilted her head. "Here I am, a simple push of my thumb and your motor control is gone. I tell you that I can't let you go so easily.. and you swear allegiance to me." She pauses for a moment. "Nope. In no world does that make sense. However!" She raises her left hand and holds up a single finger. "I'm not one to turn down such a generous offer. Though I do have to wonder if you know what it is you're swearing yourself to. Life service is a very long time for you, and I assure you that I will not expire of old age any time soon."

The daemoness simply shrugged after a moment. "Ah well. I accept your offer." With that the daemoness pulled the syringe out of the line and stepped slowly around the woman, just out of arms length until she was behind her. Then she'd use that blade still in her hands to sever the remaining pieces of rope that secured the woman to her chair. If Rennia noticed that she had managed to partially cut the ropes, she made no mention of it. Afterward, she'd leave the woman to pull the IV out of her arm.

Rennia however was not entirely trusting of the woman quite yet....

The most believable lies, were the ones mixed with reality. When the line between what was real and what was illusion was blurred, truly anything could be possible. Rennia was somewhat skilled in walking this line, and so she intended to see just what Ciel would do with her new freedom. Rennia's deep crimson eyes focused on Ciel from her position behind the other woman. They seemed to bore through her as reality would begin to shift. The change was so subtle that it likely would go entirely unnoticed. Nothing at all changed. Everything was where it was... with one exception.

In reality, Rennia slowly leaned back against the surface nearest to her, keeping her gaze on Ciel. However, she would project an imaginary world where that fiendling would circle around in front of Ciel, stopping just out of reach of her. That illusion would then pull her arms back under her cloak, settling the blade back into it's secret hiding place. Then the woman would slowly lower her hood, revealing her features. Blueish-grey skin and blood red hair came into sight, marking her further as one so far distant from humanity. Despite the unusual colors, one might not perceive it as inherently ugly or off. In fact, if one didn't know better, they would say her face was almost out of a portrait, displaying characteristics many might find attractive to some extent.

Once her hood was lowered, the daemoness would stand there, waiting to see what Ciel would do.

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel listened to the woman's laughter, it makes her smile. Ciel had always been good at throwing people off guard it had always worked for her. She waited until she was set free before standing up to stretch. If Ciel noticed the difference it didn't show. She stayed silent watching the projection, smiling. The woman was beautiful in a way that she could never be, a being Ciel was sure she couldn't duplicate and that made the woman perfect in the girl's eyes.

Ciel walked up to the projection and drops down to one knee bowing her head, she was quiet waiting to see what Rennia does before stating, "I Ciel Valencia D'Morte, also known as Demetria pledge my allegiance to the woman before me." She said before going perfectly still. Even her breath could barely be seen. Ciel would not move until either the projection accepted or she was forced too. Though standing like this hurt her bad knee she'd never let that show.

[Rennia Trayvold]

The illusion folded it's arms across it's chest as it looked down at Ciel. The expression on her face would have been akin to curiosity if anything. The woman before her was a complete enigma. Who jumped up and swore fealty to someone like that? There were of course a few counterpoints Rennia couldn't just dismiss. The woman was tied up, with very little in the way of options, and Rennia was basically holding her entire life in her fingers. Had she depressed the plunger, it might have gotten ugly. So she went with the first thing that came to her mind. So she was swearing service to the daemon. It could have been worse...

The illusion nodded as Ciel finished. "Your oath is accepted. You will be in my service until one of us dies or I care to release you. I wouldn't hold my breath though if I were you. Also... Don't expect life to be easy." With that the illusion's tail would come around from behind her. Unlike the real her, this one was not clutching the blade she still had within her grip. It was empty and the spaded tail reached out towards the woman's chin and attempted to lift it. It wasn't a simple act of coaxing her to lift her chin up. She would keep pulling, obviously intending for the girl to rise to her feet.

Whether or not she did, those eyes would begin to look the woman over. Those eyes wandered from head to toe, seeming to take in every detail. Of course, being who she was, Rennia's gaze did linger a couple times....

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

For just a moment, just a split second Ciel felt a pain in her chest. Her mind went to Thanatos, her teacher, another man who'd threatened to kill her. She'd have laughed at the thought of being where she was, in service to her brother, Thanatos, and now this deamon. Ciel stood as she was told, she stayed still allowing herself to be surveyed by Rennia. She stayed quiet lost in her thoughts.

Thanatos had found her here in Greece, so had Rennia, maybe she should stop coming to Greece, it never seemed to work out well for her. Then again... her eyes looked Rennia up and down. Maybe this time it had. Maybe this time it would satiate a different one of Ciel's needs. A look of confusion crossed her face at the same time that thought did. Where had it come from? She thought to herself before shrugging. "I will do everything I can for you Mistress." She said before thinking, in what order did her loyalties lie. If Deimos asked her to kill Thanatos and Rennia, would she? If Thanatos or Rennia asked her would she follow through? She had no answer at this moment, everything in her head was fuzzy and she felt like she was going to be sick from the amount of thoughts rushing through her head, though on the outside she looked cool calm and collected.

[Rennia Trayvold]

The illusion chuckled once more, letting her head tilt back for a moment before she brought it back down to look at Ciel. "Mistress? Well that's definitely an interesting title, but do be careful...." The woman trailed off as she leaned in. If Ciel didn't pull back, Rennia would lean forward until her lips were by the other woman's ear as she whispered into it. "The last person to call me mistress found themselves with a collar around their neck." Her words came out slow and deliberate, clearly not talking about ordinary servitude. She held herself there for a moment, letting her breath pour over the woman's neck before she leaned back up.

Afterward she'd step forward until she was practically standing on top of the other woman. From there she gazed down on the shorter woman for a moment in silence before she began to make her way around the woman, continuing that examination of the other being. It seemed as if she was intent upon taking in every little detail about her, not that it would matter, being as the other woman was indeed a shifter. As she started to make her way around Ciel, she spoke once again. "So tell me... Ciel, was it? Besides being a tease, changing your looks and stealing information, what are your skills? What can you do?"

As the woman passed behind Ciel, her tail would start to drag along behind her, first sliding down over the other woman's arm, but as she made her way further that tip would wander downward, shamelessly running itself over Ciel's backside as Rennia came out in front of her again. Those crimson eyes that were empty before, now seemed to be filled with emotion. Unlike Ciel, Rennia could display a full range of motion. She merely had a large capacity to simply not give a damn, which made her dangerously difficult to predict. The emotion that now played into those eyes could best be defined... as mirth. After all, Rennia did love to entertain herself.

[Ciel Valencia D'Morte]

Ciel watched the woman closely and tilted her head as she spoke. What was so bad about wearing a collar? She shrugged and watched the woman even more. Ciel was a quiet thing with not very much in the way of her opinions. She stood quietly shivering a little bit. She could feel Rennia's gaze linger on her. She didn't mind, in fact Ciel was almost proud of the body she made herself. The main part being that it worked and did what she needed it too. That was what really mattered to her. Ciel could think of worst things then being the 'servant' of a deamon. Though she wondered, did deamon's have real emotions? If they did would that complicate their relationship? She hoped not, her relationship with Thanatos was confusing as it was. What with him being able to make her feel some small bits of emotion. 'Crap.' came to mind. She was over-thinking... again.