Monday, December 6, 2010

CHAPTER SIX - NO TRUTH JUST LIES OF STONE

Alexandra, trying to get their attention, “Guys, guys!!”  Cassidy is still busy talking and at first ignores her.  Alexandra takes a deep breath and says, “GUYS!!”  Cassidy and Natalia turn and both say at the same time, “WHAT!!”  Alexandra, pointing in the direction of the safe stones says, “I think we have a problem.”  As Cassidy and Natalia turn to look at where Alexandra is pointing they are joined by Dara, Gitan, Newar and Keira.  As they are looking in that direction, there standing before them is a figure dressed in a cloak.  While this is happening, Dara nudges Natalia and indicates that that was one hell of a shockwave.  Natalia’s hair, which was in a French braid, is now all straight again. 

Cassidy steps forward and asks the stranger who they are and what they are doing there.  As she does so the stranger, putting her hands on each side of the hood of the cloak, lifts the hood up and back revealing herself to be Arlia, the matriarch of the keepers of secrets.  When they see who is in front of them, Cassidy drops to one knee to show respect and all of the others follow.  Cassidy looks up and asks, “How can we serve you?”  Arlia answers, “What you see standing before you is a holographic recording.”  After they all hear this, they stand back up and with great attention they listen as the recording of Arlia explains to them what is held within the safe-stones. 

They are told that within these stones are three parts of the one crystal that was used against Kyah when she was trapped within the sarcophagus and it holds her life essence and her powers.  She explains that if ever these pieces are seized upon by those who still follow Kyah the world would suffer a worse fate than death.  Arlia goes on to tell them, “You must do all that is in your power to prevent this from happening.”  With that the hologram begins to fade and finally disappears.  They are all dumbfounded and stand looking at each other, their mouths wide open and none of them have any idea what to do now.  Natalia is the first one to speak up and suggests that it would probably be a really good idea if they returned the safe stones to New Atlantis where they can be under constant guard.  Cassidy and the others all nod in agreement.  As Cassidy and Natalia walk up to the table to collect the stones in order to give them to Dara so he can teleport them directly to New Atlantis, one of the safe stones suddenly launches itself about a metre into the air above the table and it begins to spin.  Natalia reaches out to grab it but just before she can take hold of it Dara grabs her arm, saying “Stop!” and pulling her arm away from the safe stone just as it teleports.  Cassidy asks, “Why did you do that?”  Dara explains, “If Natalia had taken hold of the stone as it teleported it would have taken half of her arm with it.” 

Natalia looks at Dara with a terrified look on her face after hearing this.  As Natalia gets her composure back Cassidy goes and asks Gitan and Newar if they would re-open the nightclub and apologise to the patrons for any inconvenience.  Gitan says, “Yeah, no problem, besides it won’t take long for the club to fill up again.”  With that Cassidy walks back over to Dara and Natalia. Cassidy and Dara wait for Natalia to retrieve her computer and the other two safe stones and place them in her bag before they return to New Atlantis. 

Dara teleports Cassidy, Natalia and himself directly to New Atlantis.  After arriving Natalia states, “This might take a while Dara would you rather head back to the club?”  Dara, “It’s not a problem, I’ll just stick around until you need me.”  With that he walks off to find something to do.  Both Cassidy and Natalia head off towards TCAL.  When they arrive The Elder is already waiting for them and has been brought up to speed with what has been happening at the nightclub.  As all three of them discuss the best way to protect the last two safe stones Natalia asks The Elder, “Do you have any idea where the third safe stone has gone?”  “No, we tried to track it but lost the signal and since then we have scanned the entire planet several times.  We have already sent out hunters in order to gather as much information on where it may be.” 
Dark Sun by Bruhunville

Right now inside Kyah’s sealed tomb the safe stone appears and hovers just millimetres above the stone sarcophagus that the golden be-jewelled sarcophagus has been placed into.  The safe stone opens up and the pieces fall away and left hovering there is a third of the ornately carved crystal.  As the crystal begins to lower itself down towards the stone sarcophagus the top begins to vibrate violently and then suddenly explodes sending massive chunks of the stone lid slamming into the walls.  The crystal drops straight into position in the sarcophagus.  It begins to glow black and red and makes a “V..V..V..V..V..” noise. 

Kyah, who is lying in the sarcophagus, her eye sockets begin to glow and as this is happening bits and pieces of the rotted flesh on her body begins to repair itself and one of her eyeballs slowly regenerates in the socket.   As the second eye, which is hanging down the side of her face, also begins to regenerate from looking like a shrivelled prune to a perfect eye.  As it is pulled back into the socket with a loud “POPPING” sound.  The eyelids have also begun to grow over the top of the eyes and when that’s nearly complete her heart begins to beat again and she takes her first breath in millennia.

Back at TCAL Natalia asks to speak to The Elder alone.  The Elder and Natalia walk out into the corridor because Cassidy is using the computer console trying to help the others locate the third safe stone which has disappeared.  The elder asks, “Why is it so important that we must speak out here away from Cassidy?”  Natalia goes on to explain with worry in her voice that Cassidy most of all and some of the others have started to figure out that the person Josie was talking about to Cassidy are one and the same person, namely Drake.  The Elder looks over at Cassidy and says, “I will put some plans into action that will divert her attention.”  Just as they finish talking Cassidy walks up to them, “I’m just going to find Dara.” 

Josie has been home for about an hour and has sent several desperate video messages to her father telling him that she needs to talk to him but she has had no reply.  She spends half of the night sitting in front of the computer waiting for her father to get back to her. 

Cassidy finally locates Dara and he is in the middle of a game of skyball.  She calls out to him just as he slams down the winning point.  The Elder appears to Cassidy and Dara and hands Cassidy instructions that she must go to Germany because they have a really good lead on where the safe stone is right now.  He tells Dara to accompany Cassidy on her journey.  Dara states, “We’ll just teleport to Germany and do our assignment and be back in a flash.”  The Elder looks at Dara and Cassidy and tells them that they must take human transport.  Dara disagrees, “What do you mean, I can just teleport us there and back.”  The Elder turns to Dara and angrily says, “This is not up for discussion, you will get there like every other human does.”  The Elder walks back in towards TCAL.  Dara turns to Cassidy and says, “What’s got his nickers in such a knot?”  Cassidy replies, “I’ve got no idea but something must be bothering him pretty badly.”  With that they head off to gather what weapons and uniforms they will need before going to the nearest airport. 

Back in Melbourne, Josie who has spent half the night awake waiting for her father to reply is now in her bed sound asleep.  Meanwhile elsewhere in the city the silence is broken by the screams and cries of someone in pain.

Before getting on the plane Dara rings the nightclub.  “This is the graveyard nightclub, how can I help you?” “This is Dara, I want to speak to Gitan.”  “Sorry, but he’s downstairs at the moment.”  “Could you go and get him for me please?”  Alexandra walks past and enquires, “Who’s on the phone?”  “It’s Dara he wants to talk to Gitan.”  Alexandra says that she will take the call.

Alexandra takes the phone and asks, “What’s taking you so long to get back to the club?”  Dara explains that he and Cassidy have been given a mission by The Elder, that they have to go to Germany because they have a lead on the safe stone.  Cassidy, in the background, tells Dara to ask Alexandra to pass the message on to the other guys.  “Yeah, sure I’ll pass the message on, but when are you coming back?”  Cassidy yells out, “In about two weeks!”  Alexandra says, “Well, I’ll see you a few weeks after that, I’m off to Greece to help test the new living skin on some burn victims and won’t be back until the end of this month.”   Cassidy yells out, “They’re saying the plane is about to leave, we have to go, see you soon.”  “Bye, see you soon too!”  Alexandra then goes and relays Cassidy’s message to the others and then heads downstairs where a chauffeur driven car is waiting to take her to the airport. 

Later on the next day Josie rises from a late sleep and finds that it is already 2.30 in the afternoon on Saturday.  The first thing she does is check her emails and video messages and finds that there is still no reply from her father.  She is thinking to herself, “I can’t do this on my own!”  She then decides to go and spend time at the club after practising some music.  By the time she realises how long she has been practising for it is already 7.30 in the evening so she gets ready and leaves.  

When Josie first gets to the nightclub she sits quietly by herself drinking her orange juice and the occasional lemonade as she watches Gitan and Newar walking through the club and talking to people.  Josie feels like she wants to talk to them about what is happening to her but she has only known her new friends for a short time and doesn’t wish to burden them with her problem. But after being there for several hours Josie decides to drown her sorrows with something a lot stronger so she begins to order alcoholic drinks.  After drinking alcohol for several hours Josie decides to get up and dance but is unsteady on her feet due to the effects of the alcohol since she has never consumed it before.  After doing this for the rest of the night Josie decides to go home but has a slight problem putting one foot in front of the other but manages to make it downstairs and gets a taxi home.  After she arrives home and manages to let herself into her apartment she passes out on her bed still fully clothed. 

Josie wakes up about 6.30 in the afternoon, she has a shower, gets dressed and heads back to the nightclub.  She does the exact same thing as she did the previous night but because she has classes the next day she leaves a little earlier.  The following morning, which is Monday, Josie wakes up an hour and a half late for class.  She is sitting on the side of the bed holding her aching head in her hands due to a really bad hangover.  A few seconds later she has to run to the bathroom and vomits violently.  She cleans herself up, has another shower and after managing to eat just a little dry toast she heads off to class putting her small sunglasses on to stop the glare and thumping in her head from the bright sun.


Luna by Brunuhville

Josie attends her first two classes, feeling like absolute shit but on the way to her third and fourth classes Josie needs to make a sudden detour to the college bathrooms and just manages to make it in time.  While Josie is still in the toilet stall she hears someone come into the bathroom.  She picks herself up off the floor, goes out to the basin, splashes some cold water on her face and then realises that, standing next to her, is Caroline the bitch who has been giving her so much trouble since she has been there.  She notices Caroline using a lot of foundation on her face and her neck.  Josie, looking in the mirror, realises that Caroline is using the make-up to cover up severe bruising on her face and neck and asks her what happened.  The excuse which comes out of Caroline’s mouth is, “I walked into a door!” 


Face Down by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus 

Josie, feeling that this is a lie, pressures Caroline to tell her the truth. Caroline turns around and yells at Josie, “So, it was my boyfriend who beat the shit out of me again!  Why do you have to be so nosey about everything.”  “Oh, it’s just my caring nature, not!  I just thought you might feel better if you were able to talk to someone but if you’re going to be so mean about it then sorry I asked!”  Josie begins to walk off and as she passes Caroline, Caroline says, “Wait, I don’t mean to be such a bitch I’m just afraid if I talk to the wrong person it will get back to my boyfriend David then he would beat me even worse than he has this time.”  Caroline goes on to explain to Josie about her boyfriend and the bad relationship she’s in and after doing so she feels like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders.  Just then they hear a bell ringing to indicate the start of their next class. As they are both leaving to go to class together Caroline says to Josie, “I’m never going to allow my boyfriend David to hit me again.” 

Elsewhere, on the other side of the planet Cassidy and Dara’s plane is just landing at the International airport in Germany.  After they disembark and clear Customs they go to one of the large houses they own.  When they reach the house they are greeted by Laura who asks how their flight was.  “Apart from a little turbulance the flight went by quite quickly.”  Laura then informs Cassidy and Dara that the hunters who they will be working with will be at the house later on tonight.  She said that they were out at the moment following several leads.  Dara decides that he would like to stretch his wings after such a long flight. 

Cassidy on the other hand asks Laura if she can be shown to the Archives because she wishes to do some research on immortals that leave no scent nor can they be sensed.  Dara asks, “Are you talking about Josie?”  “Yes, the more I get to know Josie the stranger things seem to be with her.”  With that Dara takes his full harlequin form and takes to the air.  He enjoys flying around above the estate with no-one around. 

Back at the Chateau Laura is just opening the doors to the Archives.   As Cassidy walks in Laura explains that all the old paper documents have been uploaded on to the diamond circuitry.  Before she leaves Laura asks Cassidy if she needs anything else.  Cassidy replies, “No, I’ll call you if I do.”  Cassidy begins to go through the different documents.  A few hours later Cassidy is sitting back in her seat with her hands clasped behind her head.  She is thinking to herself, “I’ve gone through all this stuff and it hasn’t given me anything!”  Frustrated, she gets up and begins to walk around the different shelves and being really annoyed she kicks one of the shelves containing the archive information.  As she does so something falls off the top of the shelves and as it goes to strike her in the face, out of nowhere Dara catches it with his hand and says, “That’s no way to treat history!” 

As they walk back to the computer Cassidy asks, “How did you enjoy flying around without restraint?” “Great, I didn’t have to worry about being spotted, I didn’t have to worry about taking my human form again quickly!  But how about you, how did you go?”  Cassidy replies, “For the 3 or 4 hours you’ve been gone I haven’t found one inkling of information that even remotely describes anything that could be like Josie!” Dara places the object he caught on the table and after opening it, to his amazement there are hard copy documents in the box.  As he begins to flick through them and quickly read some of them, he begins to notice that he is reading a description of someone like Josie.


Where Are We Going From Here by Blackmore's Night

Cassidy pulls out the second and third hard cover copies and as she opens the second hard copy she notices that pages are missing and so begins to flick through the remainder.  She says, “Hey, look at this most of the pages are missing.”  Dara finishes going through the first hard copy and places it back in the box then he picks up the third one, thinking to himself that it was a little on the light side for a hard copy.  When he opens it up, to his and Cassidy’s amazement there is nothing left inside the cover and there are only minute pieces of pages left where someone has ripped them all out of the book.  Left on some of  those minute pieces of paper are bits and pieces of a reference number.  After going through them all they have the entire reference number. 

Cassidy, sitting at the computer, but with her chair swivelled towards Dara quickly swings herself back in towards the computer and begins to type the reference number in.  After about 15 minutes of trying the computer keeps telling them that nothing exists in the database of the TCAL with this reference number.  They are still looking at the top of the screen when Dara notices a small icon flashing in the right-hand corner of the screen – the icon is the same as the amulets that they wear.  At first they have no idea what it means.  Cassidy takes hold of her amulet, she rubs her hand backwards and forwards across the amulet whilst she is trying to think about this mystery.  Dara looks down, noticing what she is doing and says to her, “What if the icon means to use the amulets we wear?” 

Cassidy lifts the amulet up, looks at it, she quickly puts her hand up behind her neck and unclasps the chain that the amulet is hanging from.  As she does this Dara is pressing a button on the keyboard which causes a piece to rise up out of the table.  Cassidy takes her amulet and slots it in to this piece.  The computer screen goes blank for a few minutes and then comes back on line and asks for voice identification.  Cassidy gives her full name and rank, “This is Cassidy Nevel, rank, master acolyte.”  The computer asks for her identification code and she punches in ‘3176’, “Voice identification and security code accepted.  Please key in the reference number!”  Cassidy keys in ‘HKC/ASM2137’.  The system says, “Searching all archives for relevant information.”

A few moments later the information pertaining to the hard copies appears on the screen.  Most of what is shown they have already gone through with the hard copies.  When they get to what would have been the third hard copy instead of finding nothing it begins to bring up all the missing information and Cassidy and Dara cannot believe what they are now reading.  In front of them on the screen is information about an eighth race of immortals called Kymeras.  As they read through they find that the Kymeras were the first immortals but there were only a few of them and soon they were outnumbered by the other immortal races.  They start reading the abilities and discover that one of the abilities is to not be sensed by others.  Right when they start reading the really important information it is as if someone is starting to lock them out of the system. 

Dara, seeing how difficult it is for Cassidy to keep the information on the screen tries to access it through the second terminal but no matter what the pair do they can’t seem to keep ahead of the person who is locking them out.  Cassidy calls Laura who comes running to find out what is wrong.  Cassidy explains that someone is locking them out of the system and she needs Laura to get on the third terminal and try to distract whoever is locking them out.  After a few minutes this strategy begins to work and it begins to free up the system that Cassidy and Dara are on. 

Back in TCAL in New Atlantis Natalia is the one who has been locking out both Cassidy and Dara but now she is distracted by Laura’s interference.  Realising that this is no more than a distraction technique she begins to shut down the system again.  Natalia realises that she will not have enough time to shut down the system before Cassidy or Dara are able to copy this information which would lead to all sorts of trouble.  She begins to tell the others who are operating the systems as well to turn them all off.  Someone says, “But, if you do that you will leave our people out in the field with no back-up information.”  Natalia yells, “I’m NOT ASKING YOU, I’m TELLING YOU!!”  She walks over and pushes the person out of the way then takes one of her war hammers, opening both the blades, she slams it into the computer console tearing open a massive hole. 

Reaching inside the hole Natalia grabs hold of the central circuit board and rips the whole thing out which causes the system to crash at the very instant that Cassidy tries to copy the files. 

Cassidy and Dara look at the blank screens and ask, “What the hell was that all about, what is it about Josie that someone doesn’t want us to know?”  They hear a sound behind them and when they turn around there are the hunters that were sent to assist them.  Over the next two and a half weeks Cassidy and Dara, with the assistance of the hunters check out almost all the intelligence given to them on where the safe stone may be.  They return late that Wednesday night and as they are relaxing watching an episode of “Mythbusters” in the lounge-room Laura comes into the room and says that there is a phone call from Gitan.  Dara reaches over and says that he will take the call.  The conversation goes on for a few minutes with Gitan asking Dara how things are going with the hunt for the stone and have they had any problems.

Because Dara is so tired he forgets to tell Gitan what happened with the computer locking them out when they began to find certain information about an eighth race of immortals.  Gitan goes on to say, “Oh, by the way, we’ve had some really bad trouble with Josie since you’ve been gone.”  Gitan explains that she got herself into trouble several nights ago when some Methuselah/vampires were just passing through.  He says, “She was wearing a very, very revealing dress which basically said that she was single and on her own.  The vampires were looking at her as though she was an hor douvres.”  Dara says, “What the hell!!”  This quickly grabs Cassidy’s attention and she asks, “What’s going on?”  Dara hands Cassidy the phone and says, “You’d better hear this.” 

After Gitan tells her what he has just told Dara he also informs Cassidy that every night Josie has been at the club she has been so drunk she can’t stand up straight and has had to have help occasionally to walk.  This concerns Cassidy so much that she decides that she and Dara shall return to Melbourne as soon as possible.  She tells Gitan that they have one more piece of information that they need to check out and as soon as they have done this they will return home.  Cassidy says, “Keep an eye on Josie and just make sure she doesn’t get into any more trouble.”  After hanging up the phone Cassidy, thinking out loud, “I can’t believe she’s drinking so much alcohol and getting drunk because she said that she doesn’t drink, that it’s not really good for her vocal cords, for her throat, that it can be very drying.”  Dara asks, “What could have caused her personality to change so much and made her start drinking?”

Get Scared Sarcasm Lyric Video Official

Back in Melbourne it is just turning 10.30 on a Wednesday morning as Josie’s alarm clock goes off.  Josie, hiding under the covers, reaching out with one arm she tries to feel for the snooze button on the alarm clock.  When she finally finds it she gives it a hard whack and rolls over under her doona again.  Before she can even get comfortable the snooze alarm goes off again.  This time she pulls the covers back and reaches out and turns the alarm off.  Laying there with her hands on her head thinking to herself, “I don’t want to get up!” for what seems to be a long time.  Josie finally gets enough energy to get her still very inebriated sorry butt out of bed.  She looks up, sees how bright it is and grabs her small sunglasses and puts them on. 

She is at least happy to know that she has a free day from the college.  Her phone rings, she picks it up and answers, “Helllo!”  On the other end of the phone is Caroline who asks Josie if she would like to join her for a cup of coffee in the city and maybe some shopping.  Josie, feeling really sick from the alcohol she had consumed the night before tries to blow her off by saying, “Errr, I’m too busy.”  Caroline persists saying, “Oh, come on it will be fun.”  Josie eventually gives in and agrees to meet her at 12 noon on the steps of St Paul’s Cathedral. 

As Caroline waits on the steps of St Paul’s Josie is already on the train and on her way.  Whilst sitting on the train Josie is listening to her favourite music on her iPod.  Josie arrives at Flinders Street station and walks across the road to St Paul’s, she spots Caroline sitting on the balustrade with her feet on the steps.  Josie turns her iPod off, takes out her earphones, puts them in her bag and then says hello to Caroline.  Caroline, looking at Josie says, “You look like shit, did you have a really late night!!”  Josie nods and says, “Something like that.”  For the next couple of hours Caroline and Josie have fun doing some shopping.  By 3 o’clock they both decide they need to go and have a coffee. 

As they are walking along to go to a well known coffee shop Josie stops in front of a piercing shop called ‘Off Your Tree’ and Caroline, who had continued walking, stops, comes back to where Josie is standing and asks, “Are you thinking about getting a piercing?”  Josie replies, “I’m not really sure.”  After a few seconds she decides to get a septum piercing and walks into the shop.  A few minutes later she’s looking in the mirror to see how the piercing looks.  The staff member asks, “Are you happy with that, do you like how it looks?”  Josie turns away from the mirror tells the girl who pierced her nose that she is quite happy with it.  As they are leaving the store Caroline asks, “Did that hurt?”  Josie answers, “A little bit, it made my eyes water.”

After a short walk they arrive at the cafĂ© and they both sit down and order.  As they sit there drinking their coffee and chat more they don’t notice the time passing quickly.  By the time they have ordered their third cups of coffee Caroline and Josie have been spotted by Elizabeth and Harriet who were passing by the coffee shop.  Elizabeth nudges Harriet and points out that Caroline is sitting having coffee with Josie.  Harriet says, “Let’s have some fun!”  Walking over to the table Elizabeth says straight out to Caroline, “What are you doing here with this bitch?”  As Josie goes to speak to defend herself Harriet says, “Shut up, we weren’t talking to you.”  Elizabeth repeats, “Well, what are you doing here?”  waiting for an answer from Caroline.  Caroline answers, “Having some coffee and a good conversation with Josie.” 

Harriet says, “I thought you didn’t like her because she was such a bitch?”  Caroline answers, “That’s because I didn’t take the time to get to know her, and she’s not a bitch she’s actually quite a nice person”.  Elizabeth and Harriet continue with the insults for the next 5 minutes.  The manager, seeing how uncomfortable Josie and Caroline are becoming, walks over and politely asks Elizabeth and Harriet to leave.  “What are you going to do if we don’t leave?”  At that moment they hear a voice from the crowd in the cafĂ© say, “If you don’t leave I can always arrest you for making a public disturbance”.  The girls turn towards where the voice came from and see a person sitting there reading a newspaper and the person pulls one corner of the newspaper down to reveal a police officer having his lunch. 

Doing the first smart thing they have ever done in their lives the girls decide to leave the cafĂ©.  Caroline begins to apologise to Josie for the very rude and harsh things that Elizabeth and Harriet have said.  At the same time Caroline, standing up says, “I'm sorry Josie but I have to go as well.  I hope you don't think any less of me because of my friends insults and I hope we can do this again some time?”  Josie, sitting there, thinking to herself, “I was having such a good day, why did it have to turn into such a mess?”  Josie looks at the time and decides to go straight to the club instead of going home first. 

Josie skips the next two days of classes and continues to go to the club during the day as well as the night drinking more heavily than before. 

As she goes home late on a Saturday morning, back in Germany it is just becoming Friday.  Cassidy and Dara, along with Laura, are being briefed on the location of the safe-stone by the leader of the hunters who have been sent to help.  He goes into great detail explaining how many guards there are and where the safe-stone is located within the building.  As he is doing so another hunter approaches him giving him new intelligence, this includes the sudden arrival of Tansin herself.  After hearing this Dara asks, “Will we have sufficient numbers of hunters to back us up if something goes wrong now that Tansin is at the location?”  Laura says, “These were the only hunters that were available.”  Dara turns, looks at the hunters counting each of them, “Ten!  We are in deep shit if everything goes South!”   Cassidy looks at Dara and says, “We’ve performed operations before with less, stop being so paranoid!”  Both Dara and Cassidy are handed uniforms and equipment that the hunters have brought with them.  A few moments later, after they get changed, they head out the door to go to the location. 

As they are doing this the leader of the hunters, being the last to leave, looks at Laura and nods his head at her and in response she nods her head back. 

After a two hour chopper ride they finally arrive at the location.  After they land they head directly to the forward command post and spend a short time looking at all the new intelligence that has been gathered.  Cassidy then walks out of the tent and up to the observation post and she is handed a pair of binoculars.  After looking through the binoculars for a short time she is joined by Dara and the leader of the hunters.  After seeing how many re-inforcements there are at the location she turns around to Dara and says, “I’m so sorry for calling you paranoid.”  Dara asks, “What the hell are you talking about?”  Cassidy hands him the binoculars and after looking through them he says, “It’s better to be a little bit paranoid than to underestimate your enemy.”
Allure of Darkness by Brunuhville

After a couple of minutes the two tactical teams are ready, they are just waiting on Cassidy and Dara.  As Dara and Cassidy walk over to the teams they will be leading they are both handed their M4’s that have also been fitted with suppressors.  They get into two separate vehicles and head towards the target where the safe-stone is being kept.  The leader of the hunters tells them to keep their radio channels open.  It takes the teams about 20 minutes to arrive as close as they can get in the vehicles.  As they begin their advance, on foot, to the entry points one of the lichens spots them and he puts his head back to howl but before he gets the chance to one of the two teams of snipers takes him out, putting a round right through his throat.  As he hits the ground another lichen, who is also positioned on the roof, in seeing this raises the alarm by howling.  The snipers take another shot and also take him out but by this time it is already too late.

The leader of the hunters tells Dara and Cassidy to abort entry.  Cassidy says, “If we don’t go now, we may lose the safe-stone forever.”  With that Dara breaches his entry point.  As he does this he encounters resistance.  One of the hunters behind him gets hit and Dara grabs her to pull her out of the way and at the same time he is firing his M4 one handed.  He kills two outright and wounds the other one and as the hunters from behind move in they see the wounded lichen sit up and attempt to fire his weapon so one of them fires as quickly as possible hitting him in the chest, killing him.

By now Cassidy and her team have breached their entry point and are also taking fire.  There is a vampire up on one of the walkways using a 50 calibre Barrett sniper rifle. Cassidy & her team dive for cover but it’s not really helping as the rounds are coming through the wall around them.  Cassidy uses her hand signals to tell her team to open fire as much as they can.  This distracts the vampire so he begins to fire at just those hunters.

All of a sudden Cassidy disappears and seconds later she appears on the walkway next to the vampire with the 50 calibre.  She grabs hold of the railings and as she does so the railings begin to freeze solid and this travels along the railings towards the 50 calibre weapon causing the barrel to fill with ice.  As the vampire chambers another round one of the hunters stands up giving him a perfect target to shoot.  As he pulls the trigger the 50 calibre explodes in his face.  An instant after the barrel explodes Cassidy reveals herself.  The vampire pulls out a pistol and goes to shoot her but Cassidy puts her hand forward, grabbing the top of the receiver and sliding it forward pulling the weapon apart and she kicks him at the same time.  The two combatants engage each other in hand to hand combat. 

As the vampire swings at Cassidy she manages to block an upper and lower strike, she spins around and elbows the vampire in the chest pushing him backwards towards the edge of the walkway.  The vampire gets in at least three blows, two punches and a kick.  It is the kick that knocks Cassidy off balance and as she stumbles backwards she trips over the remains of the 50 calibre Barrett sniper rifle and lands heavily on her back on the walkway.  At the same time the vampire, who is a North American Indian, pulls out his tomahawk, and as he swings it down towards Cassidy he screams, “DIE!!” 

The hunter who had stood up to give the vampire the perfect target to shoot at sees the tomahawk and knowing that they are not permitted to use an edged weapon, he takes aim and fires knocking the tomahawk out of the vampire’s hand.  The Indian brings out another tomahawk and also begins to swing this towards Cassidy.  The hunter goes to fire his weapon again but all he hears is a click and he realises that the weapon is empty.  As he tries to change to a new clip he realises he doesn’t have enough time. 

By now Cassidy has brought both of her hands together in a clapping motion and as she parts them again she has flames passing between them.  She holds her hands about a foot apart and turns her palms towards the vampire, and at the same time she begins to rotate her hands.  The small amount of flame begins to grow into a massive wall of fire.  The Indian vampire realises he can’t bring his arm to a stop fast enough and both the tomahawk and his arm enter the wall of fire.  Everyone hears him scream loudly as both the tomahawk and his arm up to his elbow is incinerated.  He grabs at his arm and then vanishes in the blink of an eye.

After Cassidy knows that she is reasonably safe she draws the flame back into both of her hands and then she claps her hands together gently and the flame goes out in a puff of smoke.

Meanwhile, Dara and his team of hunters are having just as much trouble making it in towards the centre of the building where they believe the safe-stone is being kept.  After dropping almost all of the oncoming immortal warriors that serve Kyah, Dara watches as another hunter is hit by a round, only this time the hunter loses her life.  Just when he thinks it can’t get any worse, he and the other hunters that are left hear a sound that chills even them to the bone.  As he looks up he hears one of the hunters yell out a word he definitely doesn’t want to hear at that time, “CREAKERS!!”  With that the living dead start coming out of the woodwork like cockroaches.  No matter what they try, including shooting them in the head which normally destroys them, nothing seems to be working. 

As Dara looks around he comes up with an idea, knowing that they cannot kill these things, at least they might be able to slow them down.  Unslinging his M4 and handing it to the hunter behind him and at the same time taking his Glock 9mm out of its holster and asking the hunter for his 45 calibre pistol he gives the command to the hunters to fire on the living dead.  Just after they do this Dara jumps to his feet and begins to run towards the Creakers.  As he gets 90% of the way there two immortals appear in front of him both a lichen and a harlequin in their transformated state.  Dara jumps up in the air and does a sideways somersault and lands behind them in a crouched position and turning himself towards them they now have their backs to him.  He lets off several rounds from the 45 and the 9mm and he watches the rounds hit them in the upper back and the head, killing them both instantly.

As Dara stands up he places the 9mm back into his tactical holster which is strapped to his leg.  He brings his right arm up into a striking position and as he does so his hand and arm changes and he now has the bone blades sticking out of his forearm.  He strikes at a chain which is next to him and slices through it as if it was butter.  This releases a massive steel beam which swings down a bit and then breaks freely away from the pulley system.  The steel slams into the living dead, pushing them along the ground and as this is happening it is ripping the arms and legs and other pieces of anatomy off the creakers and scattering them about the room, then it pins what remains of them to the wall.  No matter how much they struggle to get up the object is too heavy to move.  They continue to wriggle like rats in a trap.  Some of the severed limbs are trying to make their way back to their original owners.

The other hunters join Dara and seeing the limbs moving open fire.  Dara asks, “How’s the hunter who was wounded?”  He is told that she can go no further due to the severity of the wound.  Dara suggests that they withdraw and take the wounded young woman with them.  She says, “No, you have to continue, you may not have a second chance to recover the safe stone.  Now, leave me here and go!”  Dara says that he’ll leave one of the other hunters with her.  She refuses, telling Dara he now only has two hunters to back him up and tells him once again to go.  Dara says, “We’ll be back for you,” and he and the other two hunters leave.

After they are out of sight the young huntress gets to her feet, she walks over to where the creakers are and kicks one of them.  As it looks up she is tearing the bandage off the wound, further back near the door they entered through lays the body of the hunter who was killed.  Suddenly its eyes open up and slowly she gets to her feet, walking over to where the others are and saying at the same time, “I thought he would never leave.”  As the other huntress stands there she concentrates on healing her wound and it begins to heal rapidly.  A few seconds later the dismembered creakers suddenly vanish and the ones who are left pinned against the wall begin to change back into their original forms, hunters.  They pick the steel beam up and push it out of the way as they get to their feet. 

One of the hunters who had just stood up uses his tactical radio to contact the leader of the hunters telling him, “Phase One is complete.”  The leader asks, “Does Dara or Cassidy have any idea of what is going on?”  “No, they have no idea.” “Good, proceed to Phase Two.”

As the hunters obey their orders Cassidy and Dara and their teams have finally met up again after encountering a large amount of resistance from those who serve Kyah.  Cassidy looks around for the rest of Dara’s team and because she can’t see them she asks, “Where are the other members of your team?”  Dara explains that one was seriously wounded and the other one was killed in the line of duty.  After hearing this Cassidy orders one of her hunters to join Dara’s team. 

Finally they arrive at the corridor that leads to the centre of the building where they believe that the safe- stone is being kept.  Two of the hunters are instructed to take point and proceed down the corridor.  They make their way half way down the corridor without resistance then they stop and take up their firing positions in order to cover the rest of the team as they proceed down the corridor as well.  When Cassidy, Dara and the rest of their teams reach the other two who are on point, they have a quick conversation about who will now take point.  Dara suggests that he and Cassidy take point and as they begin to move down the corridor they suddenly realise that something is wrong when they set off a booby-trap that causes blades to come up out of the floor.  The blades have silver, iron and gold set into the middle of the blades which makes it impossible for the hunters who try to follow to rescue Cassidy and Dara.

One of the hunters tells them to stay where they are and they will try and find another way to get to them but suddenly the blades start to speed up as they come up through the floor.  Pushing them further and further towards the centre of the building.  As the hunters break up in order to find other ways to get to them Cassidy and Dara are only a few feet away from the door that leads to the centre of the building.  The blades continue to come up rapidly from out of the floor.  This pushes them both back into the room in the centre of the building. As it does so a massive door begins to close, Dara takes his M4 and shoves it between the door and the door jam trying to keep the door open as long as possible.  The hydraulics that are working the door are too strong and simply crush his M4 into pieces.  Dara turns to Cassidy and says, “I guess we’re not getting out that way!”  He looks past Cassidy and sees the safe-stone sitting on a marble pedestal in the centre of the room. 

Cassidy looks at him as if to ask “What!” but before she can say anything Dara tells her the safe-stone is behind her.  Cassidy turns around and walks towards it with Dara, but Dara is distracted by something. He sees an acolyte’s amulet lying on the floor and as he goes over to pick it up Cassidy is carefully reaching out to pick up the safe-stone.  Dara picks up the amulet but he finds that something is connected to it and as he pulls on it he hears a loud click and he realises that he has just triggered a trap.  Dara spins around and yells, “Cassidy, don’t move!”  But by this time it is already too late, he watches as iron chains shoot out of the floor around the pedestal and wrap around both of Cassidy’s arms pulling her to the ground. 

Dara attempts to go to Cassidy’s assistance but this triggers the second half of the trap catching him in a very small cage made of gold bars with thorns coming out of them.  He tries not to move too much knowing that if he is cut by the gold thorns it could seriously injure him, even kill him.  He looks over to where Cassidy is and sees that she is struggling to get to her feet.  She is trying to use her elemental powers but because of the iron chains that are being used it has bound her so that she can’t use her powers.  She attempts to take her ghost form and fade through the chains and as she does so there’s lightning eminating from the iron chains.  Cassidy leans back and screams in agony as the power surges through her body.

Cassidy hears a voice saying, “Well, that just won’t do since we have also mixed gold into the iron chains.  The more you try the worse the charge will become and the more pain you will feel.”  Cassidy stops trying to fade through the chains and as she and Dara look over to the corner of the room, out from the shadows steps Tansin and several of the immortals that serve her.   As she and the other immortals walk up to Cassidy, Dara says facietiously, “I thought there was a bad smell in the room!”  Cassidy replies, “I guess you were right!”  Cassidy continues on with, “Can’t we ever go on a mission without having you show up?  You’re like one of these modern day stalkers.”  Cassidy looks over at Dara and says sarcastically, “Perhaps we should get a restraining order against her?”  They both begin to laugh.
Made of Stone (Lyrics) by Evanescence

This really pisses Tansin off and as Cassidy turns back to look at her Tansin already has her arm raised with her fist clenched.  As she brings it down and strikes Cassidy to the face she replies, “You’re the only one who is restrained here.”  As she watches Cassidy slam into the floor head first.  Dara screams at Tansin, “Leave her alone you BITCH!!!!”  Tansin looks over at Dara and then looks back down at Cassidy and says, “Both of you thought it was funny judging by your comments.”  Tansin tells the other immortals who are with her to unchain Cassidy from the floor near the pedestal.  As they obey Tansin walks over to where Dara is trapped, she looks down at his sword which is hanging outside of the trap.  As Tansin reaches out to take the sword from Dara’s hip she says, “You’re going to find this so funny that you’ll laugh your heads off.” 

With the sword in her hand she walks back over to where Cassidy is kneeling and who is now facing Dara.  Tansin tells the other immortals to hold her down using the chains so Cassidy’s arms are pulled out to the side and her head is forced down and out in front of her.  Tansin says, “Now watch this!”  She raises the sword above her head, gripping the hilt with both hands she gets ready to strike.  Cassidy turns her head sideways and looks up at Tansin realising she is about to get her head cut off and lose her life for sure this time.  Dara screams, “Don’t you even think about doing that or you will pay with your life!!”  Tansin, “How are you going to stop me, you seem to be all tied up at the moment?”  She puts her hand up and as she begins to close her hand and twist her arm this causes the bars of the cage to rotate and wrap around Dara like rope leaving only enough room for him to move his head. 

Tansin has begun to bring the sword swiftly down towards Cassidy’s neck as Dara struggles to get free.  Whilst he is doing this he cuts himself on the gold thorns but realises after a few seconds, due to his flesh not melting and falling off his bones, that it is not real gold but iron pyrite – fools gold, that the bars are made of.  With this he lets out an almighty roar which stops Tansin dead in her tracks, she turns and looks at Dara and she can see that his eyes have gone bright red and at the same time she can see the eyes splitting into two slits, one horizontal and one vertical. 

Tansin says to herself, “OH SHIT!!! He’s figured it out!!”  With that Dara begins to take his demon form.  He opens his mouth and his human teeth disappear and are replaced with the saw-like teeth the same as the great white shark.  This is why Dara’s clan is called Saw-Tooth.  Dara leans his head to the side and back and as he comes in for the bight on the bars the top part of his jaw slides down exposing the upper teeth more which gives him a much more powerful bight as he takes out the bars. Trying to allay her fears and the fears of the other immortals Tansin, trying to make light of the situation, says, “Looks as if someone hasn’t had enough iron in their diet this week?”

Even though she has tried to allay her fears with a bit of comedy she is terrified as she hears the grinding/groaning of the bars and  watches Dara rip the rest of the cell apart with his bare hands.  Dara steps out from the trap and as he does so he unfolds his wings.  He turns them slightly, raising them up and as he brings them down she can see the heatwave underneath them as Dara propels himself toward her at speed. 

Tansin begins to bring the point of the sword up towards Dara but just as he touches the tip of the sword he does a short-range teleport and this causes confusion between Tansin and the other immortals to the point where those who are holding Cassidy down, let go of her and begin to search the room for Dara. 

Dara teleports and reappears behind Tansin.  As she turns around and swings the blade of the sword at him he catches it with one hand then he turns a little and takes Tansin out using a sweep of his tail.  The other two immortals come to her aid and Dara, using his wings, strikes both of them throwing them across the room.  They land against the far side wall with a loud thud. 

Cassidy holds her arms out towards Dara still wrapped in the iron & gold chains and as he still has hold of the blade he swings the sword striking at the part where the shackles are located smashing them both to pieces.  This allows the chain to slide off Cassidy’s arms and fall to the floor but by now Tansin is back on her feet and comes flying at Dara with an outstretched glowing hand.  Cassidy seeing this quickly places her hand on the floor and creates a cold mist to creep across the floor.  As the mist solidifies it becomes a sheet of ice.  Tansin hits the ice at speed sliding across it hitting the other side which is just plain concrete, this causes her to become air-borne and is thrown to the ground really hard.  At the very moment she hits the ground Dara is standing over her already bringing the hilt, pummel and quills down towards her head.  Tansin brings her arm up in front of her face to protect herself.  The quills strike her arm and a loud cracking sound is heard.  This sound is not her arm breaking but the sound of the mimic devise being destroyed.  As the sound rings out both Cassidy and Dara see what they believe to be Tansin’s face badly distort.  Dara strikes out towards Tansin’s face with his sword.  Tansin raises her arm to shield herself from the attack and at the same time reaches behind her back and pulls from a holster a .44 Desert Eagle handgun.  She begins to fire at Dara but luckily for him the rounds merely bounce off the reticulated armour that covers his chest. Now Tansin pushes Dara’s sword out of the way.  Dara yells out to Cassidy, “NOW, DO IT NOW!!”

Cassidy spins both of  her fighting daggers in her hands, she catches them by the blades and proceeds to throw them both at the same time, striking Tansin in both shoulders, pushing her back and pinning her to the stone wall.  She lets out a scream, Cassidy and Dara find this unusual.  Cassidy walks over to where Dara is standing and she sees him stand back up after picking something up off the floor.  As Dara turns around Cassidy sees that he is holding a .44 Desert Eagle in his hand.  The thought crosses her mind, “Perhaps this is not really Tansin because she would never stoop so low as to use a firearm?”  By now Dara has taken the clip out and taken the top slide off the gun rendering it inoperable.  He drops what remains of the gun on the floor.

Fallen Tears by Brunuhville


As they both walk over to where Tansin is pinned to the wall Dara starts to make his hand begin to glow with a red mist coming off it.  Cassidy does the same but her hand starts to get a frosty mist around her hand as she creates slivers of ice.  They both decide to finish her off as quickly as possible and at the same time they thrust their hands towards her.  Just before they make contact the Master Hunter who commands the others in that area suddenly appears with his back towards them.  He blocks both of their hands and pushes them up and out and away from Tansin.  At the same time Dara and Cassidy exclaim, “WHAT THE FUCK!!”  Both of their hands strike the wall on either side of Tansin.  Dara’s hand causes the wall to rapidly age and turn to dust and on the other side Cassidy has now left large slivers of ice embedded in the wall.  These slivers of ice expand and cause the wall to crack and explode.

The Master Hunter spins himself around and strikes both of them in the chest with extreme force pushing them both back.  Dara is able to stop himself by using the claws on his feet.  Cassidy, as she is being pushed back, flips herself up in the air and lands with a dead stop.  The Master Hunter says, “Stop, this training and evaluation session is over.” 

Dara looks at the Master Hunter and enquires, “What do you mean, training and evaluation session?  We were told that this was an actual mission, nothing was mentioned about evaluating anyone.”   Dara takes two steps towards the Master Hunter, Cassidy puts her hand out and stops Dara, “Calm down!  They must have got the orders wrong.”  With that the Hunter pulls out the orders he was given, hands them to Cassidy to read.  He tells her, “We did not get the orders wrong.”  Cassidy flips through the papers and checks on the orders that were sent.  After a few seconds she hands the orders back to the Master Hunter and apologises.  Cassidy tells Dara that that is exactly what the orders said, that this would be a training and evaluation session.

Dara, hearing this, puts away his sword and immediately re-takes his human form.  As he is doing this Cassidy enquires, “If that is not the real Tansin nailed to the wall then who is it?”  The Master Hunter proceeds to remove the gauntlet from Laura’s arm and as he does so the solid hologram of Tansin that surrounded her disappears.  Both Cassidy and Dara now clearly see who they were fighting against.   

As the Master Hunter calls for a medic he also asks Cassidy and Dara if they can help him remove Cassidy’s daggers and help Laura down from the wall.  They gently sit her down against the wall and as the medic goes to work repairing the injuries to both of her shoulders, on the other side of the world at this very moment the real Tansin is feeding on several humans and several immortals so she can regain the powers that she has used up. 

Malise is getting annoyed that Tansin is taking her time and tells her to hurry up.  This annoys Tansin for she is enjoying her meal.  She suddenly stops feeding and drops what is left of a young girl she was feeding on but she didn’t realise that the girl still had a little life left in her.  The young girl attempts to drag herself along the ground and Tansin walks up to Malise and as she begins to rant and rave she notices that Malise is not paying a single bit of attention to what she is saying.   Tansin suddenly realises why, Malise is standing there licking her lips as she stares intently at the young girl who is dragging herself across the floor.  Tansin leans forward and whispers in Malise’s ear, “Go ahead enjoy yourself,” and with that Malise begins to transform but unlike Dara she has the ability to also take the form of a lichen in the shape of a big cat.  Standing there before Tansin is Malise as a were-panther.

Across Acheron by Adrian Von Ziegler

As Malise charges the young girl she takes her four-legged form and begins to tear into the young girl. After finishing her off Malise then retakes her human form and as she is getting dressed again she uses a cloth to wipe the blood from her face.  Shortly after both Malise and Tansin leave for Melbourne, Australia accompanied by those immortals and humans who serve them. 

Back in Germany, Laura has now fully healed from the wounds she received.  After getting to her feet Laura enquires of Cassidy and Dara if they are still going to evaluate those who participated in the exercise.  Cassidy has a look on her face showing that she is not in the mood to do the evaluation.  Dara seeing the same look on Cassidy’s face says to her, “We’re already here and they have already completed the training session so we might as well go ahead and do the evaluation.  This way we allow those who have passed to be given their new ranks".  Cassidy just nods her head “yes”.   With that the Master Hunter instructs one of his students to go and get the case which holds the new rings that shows what rank they will now hold.

After a few minutes the student brings the case in and hands it to Dara.  Cassidy opens it up and takes several of the new rings from the case as all the students begin to line up.  After handing out the rings to the appropriate students who have passed and as Cassidy places the old rings back in the case and is discussing with Laura and the Master Hunter how well the students have done she suddenly stops talking and turns around and looks toward an area where no-one is standing.  Dara asks her what is wrong.  For a few seconds Cassidy doesn’t answer him then turning around she says, “We have to go back to Melbourne as quickly as possible.” Both Dara and Laura ask why.  Cassidy says, “I can’t explain it, but I’ve just got a very weird feeling something bad is about to happen.”  With that Laura pulls out her phone and dials the local airport and tells the person on the other end of the line to get one of the private jets ready to leave for Melbourne Australia right away.  As she hangs up the Master Hunter asks, “Do you want our assistance?”  Dara looks at the Master Hunter and then at Cassidy with the look on his face which says, ‘Well, do we need their help?’ 

Cassidy says, “No, but thank you for the offer.”  With that both Cassidy and Dara get into Laura’s Hummer and Laura drives them as quickly as possible to the airport.

After reaching the airport one of the many private jets that they own is ready and waiting for them on the tarmac.  Dara is the first to board, as Cassidy is heading up the steps to the lear jet Laura yells out, “Here you’ll need this,” and throws a small metal brief-case to Cassidy.  After catching it Cassidy finishes boarding the plane.  Laura watches as they taxi down the runway and take off.  After about half an hour Cassidy and Dara have settled into the long flight back to Melbourne.

As one of the stewardesses brings Dara a cup of coffee he asks Cassidy what is in the case she is carrying.  Cassidy leans forward and places the case on the table in front of her.  Before she opens it she also removes both of her fighting daggers and places them on the table as well.  She opens the case up and removes several pieces of the SIG ie: Silirgo.  On seeing this Dara turns around and picks his sword up off the mount behind him and as he draws the sword he asks Cassidy if there is enough silver, iron and gold pieces for him to place in the bloodline of his sword.  Since, like Cassidy’s daggers, Dara’s sword is almost out of  the elements that the immortals are allergic to.  For the next 45 minutes they both sit there and place the Silirgo into their weapons.  By the time they have finished the stewardess has brought Dara his coffee and she asks Cassidy if she would like one as well.  Cassidy just replies, “Not at the moment, I’m fine.” 

Cassidy shifts the daggers to one side of the table.  After she does this she activates a small monitor system that is built into the table and she then proceeds to dial some of the music companies that she has helped over the years in order to see if she can get Josie and her friends a music contract.  After a couple of hours of talking to music executives Cassidy decides to try just one more and only after speaking to the executive for a short time Cassidy is told once again that they can’t help her.  Before hanging up she asks the question, “Why is it that no-one is interested in hearing Josie and her friends' music?”  The executive lets it slip that Black Label Records has put a black mark against them, which in the music industry, is to stay away from them because they are nothing but trouble.

Cassidy slams her hands down on the table as she is leaning over the monitor telling the executive that this is unfair and that he, like the rest of them, owes so much to Cassidy for helping them over the years. The executive says, “Look I know I owe you a lot but I can’t help you!” he then hangs up on Cassidy.

Dara asks Cassidy why a record company would put a black mark against someone like Josie and her friends.  Cassidy remembers what Josie told her about what happened with Black Label Records.  She tells the story to Dara.  Dara simply replies. “What a prick!  And they’ve got the nerve to put a black mark against Josie and her friends?  If Drake was here he wouldn’t tolerate this shit!”  Cassidy replies, “I can now understand why Drake has no trust in humans.”  Putting one of her hands out, one of her daggers comes flying into it.  As she slams the dagger into the monitor she says, “God damn them for not keeping their word.” 

Dara has his hands on the sides of his seat pushing himself up and out of the way, “WATCH IT!!”  Unlike Cassidy Dara sees the dagger come through the bottom of the table.  “Watch what??”  Dara points to the underside of the table.  Cassidy, still holding on to the dagger leans down and peers under the table and as she does so she sees 8 inches of the blade sticking out of the bottom of the table.  She quickly stands up and, embarrassed, she looks at Dara and exclaims, “OH, CRAP!!”  Dara starts smiling and laughing and says, “Well, I guess your meditation techniques aren’t working!”  With that Cassidy begins to grin and bursts out laughing as well, “That’s not funny.”

Many hours later they are finally told by the pilot that they have just entered Australian air space and they should be landing in Melbourne shortly.  After the plane has landed and Dara and Cassidy have disembarked and as they get into the chauffer driven car Dara’s phone rings and on the other end of the line is Newar.  He asks Dara if he and Cassidy are returning to Melbourne soon.  Dara answers, “We’re already here, we’ve just landed.”  Newar says, “That’s great, can you come to the nightclub as soon as possible?”  “Why?”  “We have a problem with Josie.”  Dara looks at Cassidy and tells her that there is trouble at the nightclub and that it involves Josie.  Cassidy leans forward and tells the driver to head directly to the nightclub. 
Remember (Vocal Version) by Brunuhville

Meanwhile back at the nightclub Josie is being extremely unpleasant and rude to everyone.  She is still consuming a large amount of alcohol in order to try and bury the problem she has to do with her brain tumour.  A short time later both Cassidy and Dara enter the nightclub and they immediately rush up to the third floor.   As they arrive at the top of the stairs they are met by Gitan.  “What’s the problem with Josie?”  Gitan simply says to them, “Just stand here and watch and you’ll get to see what’s going on.”

As they are standing there they observe Josie dancing with her hands above her head and as she is doing so she bumps into several other people and yells at them, “Watch what you’re doing!” even though Josie knows that it is her fault.  When the people she has bumped into tell her that it is her fault she slaps one of them in the face and then leaves the dance floor.  Gitan simply looks at Cassidy and Dara and sees the shocked looks on their faces.  Dara asks, “How long has this been going on for?”  Newar, who has now come up to them says, “Weeks, and it just seems to be getting worse.”  Gitan tells them that every time they have tried to help Josie, including when she is stumbling drunk, she has told them to piss off and leave her alone because she doesn’t need anyone’s help. 

By now Josie is sitting back at the bar drinking double shots.  As she does so she takes her necklace from her purse and puts it around her neck. 

As Cassidy goes to walk over to talk to Josie and ask her what the problem is she hears Newar tell Dara that every night she does the same thing, she gets really drunk, dances for a while and at about the same time she takes the necklace from her bag and puts it around her neck.  Cassidy, now sitting next to Josie, tries to find out what is causing her so much pain.  Josie simply looks through her as though she is not there.  After downing two more shots Josie tries to get to her feet but stumbles and falls backwards on to her butt.  She lands with a thud knocking the wind out of herself.

Cassidy quickly gets to her feet and goes to help Josie and as she stretches her hand out to help her up from the floor she is shocked when Josie slaps her hand away, saying, “I told the others, now I’m telling you, I don’t need your help!”  Cassidy angrily bites back at Josie, “WHAT’S YOUR BLOODY PROBLEM??  Why are you being such a mean bitch?”  Josie looks up at Cassidy with tears in her eyes.  Cassidy says, “Look, I didn’t mean to be so nasty back to you I just wanted to know what was wrong so I could help you.”  Josie goes on to say, “You can’t help me, there’s nothing you can do unless you can raise the dead and bring my mother back to life or make my father love me more instead of throwing me away like a piece of rubbish.  He cares more about the dig he’s on than he does about me. Even the guy I knew for five years as Adams that I had more than a dark crush on has deserted me as well.”  Josie then lets it slip that she will now have to die alone. 

Cassidy, hearing this says, “What!!”  But before she can ask Josie what she means Josie pulls herself to her feet using the stool and the bar and staggers towards the exit where Gitan, Newar and Dara are still standing. Josie pushes her way past them in order to get to the stairs.  As this happens they all look over to Cassidy who nods her head indicating to the guys that they should make sure that Josie makes it safely downstairs and into a taxi. 

This behaviour goes on for a week.  Also during this week Tansin, Malise and Kristen have been killing immortals searching for the right type of blood that will help free Kyah from her prison.  After they track down the last immortal that they were after and killed her they find once again that it is not the right blood type.  They leave the alley and return to their penthouse suite at the Crown Tower Hotel. 

At the same time just arriving at the Grand Hyatt Hotel is two assassins from the Nizarites clan and as they are alighting from their limo people turn and look at the two stunningly beautiful women.  They are not what you would normally associate with being killers. They walk into the lobby and stopped at the front desk to collect their suite keys.  The receptionist asks in whose name the suite is booked.  The younger of the two women simply replies, “The suite is in the names of Seneca and Cinaed.”  The receptionist hands them the security pass keys to their room.  As they go to walk away the receptionist tells them that some luggage arrived for them earlier and it has been taken to their room.  The women thank her and walk across to the lift. 

After getting off the lift and entering their room Seneca takes her jacket off and places it on one of the seats near the window.  As she is doing this Cinaed begins to unlock and open the cases which had already been sent to their room. In the first case is specialised surveillance equipment and also contained within the same case are the Stryker Tactical Throat Microphones and several receive-only earpieces with high-quality speakers, also in the case are several Secure Text/Voice Tactical Radios. 

As Cinaed begins to assemble the tactical radio equipment Seneca comes over and opens the other three cases and within these are their assassin uniforms which are made of the bio-mesh and specialized sapphire and carbon fibre body armour which they have stolen from the Keepers of Secrets.  Next to the armour are several swords which includes; a 3 Japanese Katana set ranging from 30 to 60 cm in length; a Practical Side Sword; and a Medieval Dagger.  Seneca takes the swords out of the case and lays them on the bed.  Cinaed asks, “Are we going to be training with the swords soon?”  Seneca replies, “Yes, we will be training soon since you have fallen behind with some of your techniques.”

Seneca opens the last two cases which contain several different styles of handguns and a range of throwing knives and stars.   As she gets to the last of the cases she finds that it contains the M4 which has been ordered but not the .338 Lapua instead they have been given the .416 Barrett.  Seneca says to Cinaed, “As per usual the toy shop has screwed up our order again and this is beginning to become annoying.”  Before Cinaed can say anything they hear a knock at their door.  Cinaed stands up and walks the door and asks who is at the door.  When there is no answer Seneca pulls out of the case a 50 calibre Glock throwing that and a clip to Cinaed and saying “Catch!”  Cinaed catches the gun and the clip, inserts the clip and chambers the first round.  Seneca pulls the 357 magnum from the case as well she covers Cinaed as she opens the door and steps out into the hallway, but there is no-one there.  As Cinaed turns around to re-enter the room, she sees a small brown envelope stuck to the door, she pulls it off the door and walks back into the room and hands it to Seneca. 

Cinaed asks, “Is that the information on our target?”  Seneca answers, “Yes, but we will look at the information about the target after we have trained.”  Shortly after this they both go to the hotels private gym.

Back at the Crown Hotel Tansin is pissing and moaning as per usual about how long it is taking to find the immortals with the right bloodline.  Malise says, “Can I make a suggestion?  Instead of randomly attacking immortals why don’t we just stake out the Graveyard Nightclub and wait for the perfect opportunity to attack someone like my brother and his friends since we know that they are descended from the bloodlines we are looking for.” 
Vampire Tales by Brunuhville

Get Scared (Lyrics) by Sarcasm


Meanwhile, Cinaed and Seneca are well into the training session.  There is a fly buzzing around Cinaed’s face which causes a distraction and she is not paying attention to what Seneca is doing and gets cut.  Seneca says, “Keep your mind centred on what you’re doing.”  “This bloody fly keeps buzzing around my face and distracting me.”  “Well deal with it!”  Cinaed sees the fly in front of her and using the swords in both of her hands she slashes one to the left and one to the right and with those swift moves she severs the wings from the fly.  Seneca decides to finish the job that her young student started, so taking her side sword she does a downwards slicing motion and then brings the blade of the sword out sideways.  As they both watch the body of the fly fall to the floor Cinaed looks back at Seneca’s blade and sitting on the very edge of the blade is the fly’s head.  In amazement she says, “How did you do that!!”  “You’ve done well with your training but as you can see there is still much for you to learn.”                                                          ........To Be Continued.........