Utah, Cave of The Eater of Souls.
Shay and Lillith were still getting used to dealing with the powerful creature. Sĕigo had been there for many many years and was used to the affects The Eater of Souls had on its surroundings. Not to mention its appearance. It had the head of Heloderma suspectum, the Gila monster, and a short and squat body. Standing on all four legs with a short tail, completely covered in rocky protuberances. It looked like a life size dinosaur, and was larger than a station wagon. The appearance wasn't the biggest issue, and neither was the dark and somewhat damp cave or the random skeletal bodies it was full of. It was the feeling of being in its presence, even for Shay who spent decades with some really powerful evil, it was unnerving. The feelings of hate and malice poured off and it made the air thick with unrest. It wasn't too hard on Shay, even if he couldn't go out at all during the day. He was getting used to the sensation, and even welcomed it honestly. As long as he knew the malice wasn't targeted at himself, he didn't have much to worry about. Besides, the power was almost intoxicating. Lillith on the other hand, wasn't used to any of it. She was more or less good or at least neutral, sure she fed on people's attention but that was it. She had *never* instructed anyone to offer up a virgin as sacrifice, and the Mayans who did... Well, she had blessed the village as best as possible then left and stayed gone. Looking back on things, that had been a rather blood soaked culture anyway…. She was only here to get revenge on Tobias. She really had fallen in love with him. That was *incredibly* rare for an Enchantress, but he had been so... Honest and noble, and he was just such a good man. Too bad he was equally so very broken, but she knew she could help that. In time, surely he would have healed and they had all the time in the world for that. Then he started seeing his dead girlfriend in his dreams, and he just changed. He became withdrawn and haunted again. He tried to hide it but she could feel the sorrow roll off of him, it was almost unbearable to feel when he dreamt of her. She fed off of admiration and love, but she could feel every emotion. From what the Baba Yaga had told her it would seem that she was still alive but still. Didn't Lillith deserve happiness too? No, Tobias AND that bitch would pay, whatever the cost.
Sĕigo had finally returned. He had gone to the nearest city and got some things they would need. He acquired a vehicle, an older Lincoln town car but the motor was strong and the AC blew cold. The trunk was large enough for Shay to ride in during the daylight hours and not be too cramped. They would drive to Florida and start there. The Lich had some powerful magic and would be able to track Tobias as soon as they had something personal from him. The plan was relatively simple: capture Tobias or Angiola and draw out the elders. Once they had everyone that stopped The Dark Pope, they would let The Eater of Souls do its thing. It would devour them. Mind, body *and* spirit. They had a long drive to Florida, and a lot of work ahead of them but they were ready to get started.
Tobias. Lakeland FL.
I was sitting in my recliner, waking up in the transit room in my home back in Florida. Mouse hopped off my lap and started to paw at the door. Thankfully the home had been paid for and it seemed the church was still taking care of the power bills. The majority of my bills went to the church and the accounting department took care of it with access to one of my accounts. Since I traveled a lot for work and never really knew where I would be or when I would get back at any given time, the arrangements made sense. I walked out of the transit room and into the master bedroom across the hall. I had spent longer amounts of time away on various missions but I had an oddly nostalgic feeling about returning home. It felt like such an overdue homecoming. I was thankful to be home at last… I powered up my cell and let it boot up. Walking around the house while the phone did its thing I noticed someone had been here. Things had been straightened up, the house had been cleaned up and there were clean sheets on the bed. There was also no dust on my TV stand, or anywhere else. It looked like The Order had sent cleaners to my house, just to be safe? I guess you really don't want some of the stuff I had in here just laying around. I walked into the living room and checked the front and sliding glass doors, both were still locked so that was good news. I paused briefly in the living room and stared up at the painting Angiola had given me. As I stared up at the painting, my phone beeped in my hand saying I had new voicemails, Emails and text messages. I called my voicemail on speaker and sat down on the couch laying my phone down on the coffee table in front of it. Mouse came running up with a stuffed catnip Mouse in his teeth and jumped into my lap. It seemed he was happy to be home again as well. “You have 20 new voice messages. You do not have room in the mailbox for more. First voice message.” The same robotic voice droned on. “Tobias, it's me. I don't know where to begin. They told me what happened and I am SO sorry. I'm okay, Reginald was able to bring me back... I'm a full member now. We can... We can be together now. Okay. I miss you... Please... Calling you was the first thing I did, I love you. Call me soon okay? Bye.” It was definitely Angiola. The message was dated from a few days after the battle. My heart was absolutely pounding. I knew better than to get my hopes up when I was talking with the Baba Yaga, but now? I couldn't believe it, She was ALIVE!!! I sat there, trembling, just staring at the phone. “Tobias, Is that you?” I heard a familiar voice ask timidly from behind me.
Mouse Here: We just got home a bit ago. I think Tobias is going to be ok. Whatever that thing in the woods told him, it seemed to get him going again. I'm glad to be back! I enjoyed the woods, and catching rabbits and squirrels, but this is home. There's an oddly familiar scent in the air. Someone cleaned up and refilled the cat food hoppers. Meow mix isn't as good as fresh meat but, I don't have to chase it down! Plus, catnip! Hopefully things will get better.
Angiola. The Order compound. Rome.
Angiola had been burning the candle at both ends for some time now but she was still amazed by the sensation that came with being a full member. It had taken a good bit of time to get used to and she still wasn't completely comfortable. Not to mention she was clinically dead for over 24 hours. Reginald had done the rites, and implanted the cross but nothing happened. She had been loaded into a body bag and taken back to The Order compound to be laid to rest. When she woke up in the morgue… things had taken some adjustment. Her strength was off the charts and she had broken a few things on accident recently. Keyboards didn't last long at all at first. Her fingers would just punch right through them, as she typed line after line of code. Now she would only go through one a week or so... Then there was the healing. It sounded cruel but she had been shot, stabbed and burnt all within the first week of what she felt was her new life. The Order had put her through the normal gauntlet of training, the first time she was shot she froze up completely. In an absolute panic she had grasped her stomach and laid on the floor. Reginald had walked over calmly and asked her why she was laying on the ground and not completing the tasks of the training course. “I've been shot!” She had screamed up at him. “Show me” had been his calm response. His bland and calming proper English accent was infuriating her at first. She was almost shocked at how cold he had seemed. Slowly she moved her hand away from her stomach and lifted her bloody shirt. There was nothing there. To her absolute amazement a small pink pucker mark faded away completely as she watched and the pain was just… Fading quickly. It took some getting used to but she was starting to understand why they all viewed wounds that would cripple or kill anyone else so flippantly. After that training had gone a lot smoother. She was still exhausted, between training and aid work. Then there was her side project. She had written facial recognition programs for Tobias and had been running live footage through the program from Lakeland, and anywhere else he had worked for more than a month in the last 200 years. It was eating up a ton of processing power but she still hadn't gotten any hits. It was like he had just vanished from the modern world. She was dreaming of him too. She hadn't told Reginald about it because she didn't think it was anything more than simply missing him but... On the incredibly rare chance it was more than a dream, she knew he wasn't in Florida. He was in an old RV and somewhere it snowed a lot. He didn't look good at all, and was sleeping far too often. Exhausted, she ran a cross referenced search of anywhere he had ever worked and current snowfall. It was a gamble and would take hours but she had all the time in the world now. She **would** find him again... Some day. She sat down on the same couch in her studio, the one that her and Tobias had fallen asleep on all those months ago. As she fondly remembered how they had fallen in love, she fell asleep.
She woke up in a fog, in a slightly familiar room she couldn't quite place. It wasn't her studio, but she had been here before... Tobias! She was in his house in Florida! She ran out of the transit room and searched through the entire house, heart pounding out of her chest. He must be back! She had NEVER traveled alone before and The Order hadn't gotten to that part of her training yet. Why else would she be here? After a fruitless search found nothing but a dirty and empty home she sat down on his bed. It was a mess, but she could still smell him on the sheets. She hugged his pillows tightly and fell back asleep. A few hours later she woke up feeling determined. She cleaned things up around the house and put fresh sheets on his bed. He would be back, probably soon if she had just popped up here and he wouldn't want his house to be a mess when he got home. She had been cleaning in one of his t-shirts, while the outfit she had arrived in was in the washing machine. It’s not like she had planned on coming here, and she only had the one outfit she had finally fallen asleep in the night before. She put everything into the dryer and took a long hot shower, then wearing only a towel, went into the garage to get everything out of the dryer. As she pulled her head out of the dryer she heard a familiar voice in the other room. It was her own voice? Suddenly she realised it was the voicemail she had left Tobias when she first woke up from the coronation. She walked out of the garage and called into the living room, “Tobias, Is that you?”
Tobias. Lakeland Fl
I stood up from the couch, I couldn't believe my eyes. I was in shock. Angiola was standing there in the hallway in one of my towels. Sheepishly she said “I was in the garage when I heard the voicemail.” Motioning towards the open door over her shoulder with a slightly puzzled look. I couldn't understand why she was here, but in all honesty it didn't matter at all. Angiola seemed shocked too. We both stood there staring at each other, neither of us moved. Slowly, after what seemed like an eternity, I lifted one hand and took a few steps towards her. She walked a step to me with each of mine towards her. Finally my hand caressed her cheek, She was real. This isn't another hallucination, wait a moment... “My monkeys…” I asked her as my mind wandered back to the challenge from the mission. Angiola burst into laughter “I'm not a doppelganger, My monkeys say uncle.”
My heart stopped for a moment, then we embraced and kissed. It was frantic yet passionate, draining all of the anger, the pain and loss from both of us. Her towel hit the tile floor halfway to the bedroom, as we caromed off the walls down the hallway. Framed pictures shattered as they hit the tile from us bouncing off the walls towards the bedroom. She literally tore my shirt off of me on the way, still not used to the supernatural strength. She then reached down and snapped my leather belt not bothering with the buckle. I picked her up, her legs wrapping around my waist and we fell into the bed as her nails dug into my back. The love was maddening, chaotic and needed. We had both been waiting for entirely too long and dealing with the fear that this moment would never happen, then relief in finding it was still a possibility, and finally at long last it was time.
We talked and held each other tightly until the sunrise. She had caught me up on everything I missed with The Order, and I had told her what I had been up to. It was odd because as it turned out a lot of what we both dreamed about actually was actually happening, taking turns watching over each other in real time. I did tell her about my meetings with both the Baba Yaga and the Enchantress. She wasn't too thrilled about the Enchantress, but in my defense, I had watched her DIE so hopefully she wouldn't be too mad. Much later that morning, and a quick trip to the Publix down the street, I was in the kitchen frying up some eggs and bacon. Mouse was playing on the dining room table at the end of the galley kitchen. He was rolling around on his back as Angiola had a catnip filled stuffed fish attached to a plastic pole with yarn string. “He was actually a really good hunter while we were in Russia, little guy caught us dinner most nights.” I said with a smile as I flipped the bacon in the pan. I was so happy I could hardly stand it. It was crazy to think this could be my life now. From the depths of sorrow to unimaginable bliss in such a short time, it was like emotional whiplash! I just stood there staring at her as she played with Mouse, huge smile on my face. It all seemed so normal, so natural. Angiola paused and looked up at me, “What?” she asked me puzzled. “I'm just happy... I lost you, I literally watched as you died, and a large chunk of me died too. Now you're here, and I'm making breakfast like it's all just so normal. It's hard to wrap my brain around it, and I've been through some truly bizarre things.” I told her with a huge smile as I plated the eggs and bacon. I walked over and tossed Mouse onto the couch. Then went back and grabbed the plates sitting down to eat. Mouse, never one to ignore a meal, hopped on to the table and stole a chunk of egg off my plate before running off. “Hey! Thief!” I yelled playfully as I shook my fist at the cat. “I guess he got used to sharing dinner with me when we were gone. Then again, he caught most of it so sharing only made scene.” I said across the table before taking a bite of the bacon. “So why Russia, I looked through all your missions and I don't think you ever worked there before.” Angiola asked me. “I hadn't, but I worked with Gypsy's before. This was back in 17 something? I don't remember what that area was called at the time, but there were some problems going on next to the Black Sea. I was traveling with the Roma, a huge caravan, hundreds maybe thousands of people. I fell in love with it and I always figured if they were still around when I retired I would join and live out the rest of my days like that. I don't know, something about the nomadic lifestyle just spoke to me. More and more so as technology and cities grew. Everything became so complex as we disconnected more and more from the people around us. I felt the same thing working with the Native tribes when I first started working in America. The nomadic lifestyle, and the views on “ownership”... I don't know, it just makes more sense to me than the craziness all around us now. Anyway, the wanderlust has never left my heart. That's why I call my Jeep Gypsy.” I finished with a chuckle. Mouse jumped into Angiola's lap and pawed at her fork, trying to steal another bite of egg. It seemed he was pretty happy too, even if I would have to limit his table scraps. “So you met the Baba Yaga and she told you I was alive, then you came home to see if it was true. What are your plans to see if that vamp is alive or not?” I chewed my bacon and thought about that problem. “The facial recognition software program you wrote, how hard would it be to use it all over the United States? We have the videos from the interrogation. Oh, you should watch that one too, that guy is *insane*! I have a feeling he's in the U.S. and will likely be traveling.” As wonderful as things had been over the last few hours finding her here, it was time to get back to The Order and check in. After cleaning up from breakfast and taking another shower to clean up from, other stuff… I made sure Mouse had everything he would need like food, water and fresh litter before we left for The Order compound.