Welcome to Deepdweller's Gulch!

[Madame Tamassa]

*Overcome with worry, Tamassa studied Conrad closely, trying to search his eyes for an answer to his sudden attack of agonising pain that appeared to be over before it had truly begun. Although she had tried to assure him that he could tell her anything, she realised as she studied his handsome face that he had no intention of answering her question. His eyes bespoke longing, and as his hand tightened on hers, his skin was feverish, aflame. Conrad suddenly pulled Tamassa's hand behind him, tight against his back, bringing her close. His other hand circled Tamassa's waist and pressed her body tight against his. His grip was powerful, his body burned with the heat of his passion.

"What I need," Conrad whispered, "is you." He kissed her then, his eager mouth hungry for the taste of hers. His kiss was fire, threatening to set the night ablaze. His hands were greed, demanding more with each touch and Tamassa felt her body respond instantly. It took a mere second for her concern to fade away as she melted into the kiss, her lips were soft and hot against his as her body seemed to burst into flame at his touch. Determined to show him what he had been missing, Tamassa searched his mouth with a hot, persistent tongue as her body pressed up against his. Time seemed to stop, the world around them disappeared and she knew nothing but his mouth and his hands as her entire body seemed to tremble in ecstasy. The tremble in her legs soon betrayed the fact that the ground was literally rumbling right beneath them, but still she was lost in the kiss. A high pitched, eerie scream seemed to fill the air around them before there was a loud, resounding crack and another gaping chasm opened up beside them, threatening to claim the wagon and the horses into its dark depths. Despite not needing oxygen to breathe, Tamassa was panting when finally they broke apart. Her eyes were locked on his as she kissed him again, this time more softly and with a lingering nibble on his bottom lip before she pulled away and stepped back from him.

~So, did the earth move for you or was it just me?~ she quipped, stepping sideways while still holding onto Conrad to glance down into the huge hole that had opened up beside them. A low hissing sound could be heard, as if deep down below there was a writhing mass of angry snakes. The horses whinnied, ears flicking as they pawed the dusty earth with their hooves. The other usual nocturnal sounds faded into silence as the warm night around them seemed to hold its breath, waiting to see what would happen next. Her dark eyes flashed as she looked back to Conrad, nimble fingers reaching up to wipe her red lipstick off his lips.
~What the fuck is going on around here?!~ she asked, although she doubted he would have an answer. *

[Blood and Roses]

"Tamassa..."

The name echoed around Conrad, bouncing and returning over and over, filling the shadowless fog with a chorus of his own voice. The beast wrapped around him, coil upon coil of endless black, scaly muscle; no head could he see, nor tail, just great ebony tendrils that writhed and slid through the mist. The great coils pinned his arms to his sides, holding him up to hang, helpless, as the beast writhed.

Suspended in the fog before Conrad was an opening, through which he watched himself embrace Tamassa and force his kiss upon her, a kiss she eagerly returned.

"No!" he shouted, but no sound came from his open mouth. Conrad raged and strained against the coils that encircled him, but they only circled around him tighter. "Don't you touch her!" He screamed silently, but again, he could not bring his Voice to bear.

Deep, malicious laughter echoed through the fog, and the coils the bound Conrad shook with mirth. As he watched, Tamassa stepped back, then returned the kiss with one of her own.

A voice blasted through the emptiness:

She is ours now.

Conrad howled in mute rage, which only prompted another round of laughter.

Such entertainment this one will bring us. Such delights shall we take from her flesh.

As Conrad vainly fought his captor, it whispered in his ears in Tamassa's voice:

And you, exorcist, will watch us play. You will hear her screams. You will taste her death.

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As the ground pitched and rolled beneath Conrad and Tamassa, James and Silas applauded and cheered. Though the ghostly brothers were undisturbed by the heaving earth, they stood in awe as the sheriff and the madame carried on, heedless.

Finally, James spoke up. "Hot damn, Alister! Since when do your lips make the ground quake!?"

"Seriously!" Silas shook his head, incredulous. "I mean, quit showing off!"

"That wasn't Alister, you blockheads!" Samuel scowled from where he stood on the driver's seat of the wagon.

"Then what was it, brain boy?" Silas teased, making Samuel's scowl deepen.

"An earth shaker," rumbled Walter.

The Conrad brothers fell silent as the quake subsided. After a minute, James ventured, "You don't think--"

"Hey, guys?" The tone of Steven's small voice carried over his brother's query. He was standing beside the fissure that had just opened during the quake, gazing intently into its open mouth. "Who is that?" He pointed into the fissure.

"Wadda ya mean, who?" Samuel hopped down from the wagon and joined Steven by the fissure. "Ain't nobody in that old--" as Samuel gazed into the crack, his statement hung in the air, unfinished. His eyes were wide as he looked to Walter.

"Trouble?"the eldest Conrad asked. Samuel nodded, eyes round as saucers. "Damnation," Walter cursed. "Alister, ya better have a look at what the boys found."

When the sheriff made no response, Walter swore, and shouted, "Alister Conrad!"

"He can't hear you." Virgil's voice held a trace of dread.

"Of course he can hear us," Silas laughed.

"Yeah, Virge," James said, though he sounded less sure than Silas. "Alister always hears us. Since he was a babe!"

"I know he does," Virgil said, But that ain't Alister."

Six pairs of spectral eyes locked onto the sheriff. After a moment, Walter growled, "I'll keep an eye on Alister... Or whoever that is. The rest of you get back to town, raise a warning."

"How we gonna do that?"asked Silas.

"There's five of ya! Find a way, stupid!" Walter thundered.

The others were gone in a heartbeat, speeding back to Deepdweller's Gulch.

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The sheriff licked his lips where Tamassa's fingers had touched, and smiled a predatory smile as his arms tightened around Tamassa. He ignored her questions as his lips found her neck and explored their way down. When his mouth found the smooth flesh where neck joins shoulder, he sank his teeth in, hard. Tamassa gasped, grasping a fist full of Conrad's hair and digging nails into his shoulder.

Conrad released her, his hot breath pouring over her shoulder and chest. His mouth, hidden just beneath her chin, opened wide to reveal teeth that began transforming into long, sharp points, a maw full of razor-sharp fangs.Before he could so much as prick the skin of her throat, he stopped abruptly and turned his head. The fangs had vanished, and he sniffed the air like a hound on a scent.

Abruptly, Conrad pulled away. Tamassa opened her mouth to protest, but Conrad held two fingers to her lips and touched his ear, a sign to listen. Her eyes narrowed as her own sharp hearing perked up. They listened together to the utter silence.

"This is stupid," Tamassa uttered as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't hear anything at all!"

Conrad nodded, "Exactly."

Tamassa's eyes went wide. No insects buzzed or chirped, not a single night bird called. Absent was the sound of dust blowing in the wind, and the cry of the coyote. "Danger," she whispered.

Sheriff and Madame sprinted for the wagon. The horse stood stiff, eyes rolling wildly. It neighed loudly as they approached and stamped its hooves in the hard packed red dirt. Its thoughts were obvious: Let's get out of here!

"Shit!" Tamassa snarled. The wagon leaned crazily to one side. "Looks like this wheel busted during the quake." Several spokes on the wheel had snapped and the rim had collapsed.

"No time for a fix," Conrad said as his boot knife sliced through the horse's leather harness. The harness came free, and Conrad hauled himself onto the horse's bare back as the wagon dropped and fell over. He wheeled the beast around, then kicked it into a gallop.

Fingers knotted in the horse's mane, Conrad shifted over and leaned off one side of its back. The sheriff stretched out one hand, held low. As the horse thundered past, Tamassa grasped Conrad's forearm and leapt expertly onto the beast's back, just behind him. She wrapped her arms tight around his middle, face against his taut shoulder. Conrad kicked the horse until it sprinted, with no guide but moonlight and memory, on the road back to Deepdweller's Gulch.

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Conrad seethed, hanging suspended in the demon's constricting coils. The beast was agitated, perhaps angry, Conrad was certain by the thrashing of its ebon-scaled body. It had fallen silent, ending its verbal assault against him when it caught scent on the wind. Conrad had smelled it, too -- sulfer and grave rot, the same gagging odor that had permeated the town the night of the earthquake. The same night that this beast had broken its cage.

"You bastard," Conrad spat through clenched teeth. "I know what's coming. It's another like you, isn't it?"

The thrashing coils slowed, moving languidly through the shadowless fog. After an eternity of silence, it finally answered him.

No. Not like me.

"But it is a demon, right?" Conrad demanded.

Another long pause.

Its nature defies description. Your infantile psyche cannot comprehend its fullness. It would shatter your mind if you tried.

Conrad laughed then, a hoarse, bitter rasp. "Did you forget where I found you?" His voice held a maniacal edge. "I've looked upon the face of God, in all her terrible glory."

You have never beheld an entity such as this. You cannot understand it.

A shiver ran through the length of the black scaled body, until the vibration afflicted each coil, each scale, a rippling wave of demon flesh. He could feel the beast's apprehension, sensing its uncertainty.

Conrad's eyes narrowed. "You're afraid."

The beast did not answer, only wound itself tighter about him. He gasped in agony, the muscular coils crushing him until his bones ground against one another.

"Let me out," Conrad wheezed. "Let me out, we can fight it together."

The beast's laughter drowned out all sound, all thought, and finally, his consciousness.

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When the Conrad brothers reached town, the street was mostly deserted. They hesitated only a moment, then flew off in separate directions.


Steven and Samuel burst into the chemist shop. The silver bell above the door sang out as they entered, drawing a look of consternation from Samuel.

"Miss Caelyn!" Steven called out. "Miss Caelyn, please!" Steven had stayed calm so far, but panic was creeping into his voice.

"We know you hear us!" Samuel shouted.

"Please!" Steven begged. "Alister is in trouble!"

"The whole town is in danger! Please, come out!"



Virgil and James found Clover Stardust seated on the veranda. They stood to either side of her, Virgil expectant, James skeptical.

"I thought you said she could see us," James groaned.

"She can," Virgil asserted. "She just doesn't know how, yet." He waved his hand in front of her face. "C'mon," he muttered, willing her to see him.

James rolled his eyes. "We don't have time for this, Virge," he said, glancing up the street nervously.

"Dummy up, knucklehead!" Virgil snapped at his brother, then turned back to Clover. "Come on, girl, look at me!" His characteristic deadpan was gone, replaced by urgency. "Look at me!" he shouted. "Open your damn eyes, and see me!" Frustrated, he thrust a finger at Clover's forehead. "See me here!"

He was startled when his finger struck Clover between the eyes.


Silas floated about, unsure how to help. He watched from above, as the boys entered the chemist shop, while Virgil tried desperately to get Clover's attention. He saw Patilla, stalking angrily through the night. He observed the strange woman leaning in the shadows outside the saloon, half hidden by her fan. How could he help? What could he do for any of them? He looked out down the road, but he saw no sign of Alister.

What he saw filled him with dread. "Brothers!" he shouted, waving frantically. "Hurry! They're coming!"


"Oh god," Steven whimpered. "They're almost here."

[Plot Puppets]

The rider and his mount charged down the mountainside, its impossible height defying perception. They rushed toward the ground, fast approaching, but in a strange paradox, they hurtled toward the sky. Up and down ceased to have meaning in their impossible fall and climb.

As they hurled along, he watched as a second portal opened before him beside the first. The body of a young man flew by, floating limp and lifeless in an impossibly slow fall into the darkened sky above. It took note of the two small holes through which he had been exsanguinated -- there were vampires in the town above.

The rider drew a pistol from his belt and fired it into the air above his head. Green flame licked out from the barrel, and a burst of emerald light erupted in the sky. Its light summoned minions from beyond the Shroud to join him in his charge. All manner of creatures joined in the mad rush: spiders of impossible size; serpents with wings, forked tails, a hundred legs, or a combination of the three; bats with children's bodies and devils' faces; beasts that resembled dogs or cats the size of ponies with too many legs and jaws large enough to swallow a man's head; floating brains with eyes and spines and nerves that floated about it in clouds of slimy viscera. And there was more, creatures that defied description, that did not make sense when looked upon. They creatures were as many and as varied as there were nightmares to behold, streaming toward the openings between worlds like water flowing to the sea.

They hurtled toward the sky, smashing and shattering and splattering as they reached the openings in a continuous wave of putrid ruination, building and pushing and howling until all at once--

The rider broke through the surface astride his white horse, blasting from the chasm like a cannonball fired into the sky. Like a comet he trailed his minions in their multitude, each one screeching or howling or screaming in triumph as it tore into the physical world in the wake of their master. They filled the air; the covered the earth; a rolling, slithering, skittering, soaring wave of nightmares, pouring from the two great holes in the earth just west of the coal mine.

With a wave of his hand, he sent the tide of horrors thrashing along the dark road, where the two riders were quickly overwhelmed, flowing unstoppably to the town of Deepdweller's Gulch.

[Madame Tamassa]

*Caelyn had long grown bored after the Sheriff and Madame had disappeared into the night and after playing with Steven for a while, she had bid him goodnight and had returned to her home behind the shop. Time had paused when she had stepped through the curtains into the shop, and now as she returned, she heard the microwave ding to remind her the popcorn was ready. Sighing before stifling a yawn behind one hand, Caelyn collected her popcorn before climbing into bed. She still wore nothing but her black robe, but at this point in time she was too tired to care. Settling herself under the covers, she picked up her remote and turned the T.V on, booting up her DVD player and grabbing her popcorn. Just as the first strains of the opening credits began, Caelyn was just putting her first piece of popcorn into her mouth when she heard the silver bell ring in the store.

~You have got to be fucking kidding me!~ she snarled, throwing the covers off and sending popcorn kernels flying everywhere. ~What part of CLOSED is so hard to understand??!~ Growling deeply in her throat, the witch stalked back through her small cottage, yanking back the beaded curtain before stepping through. As she approached however, she slowed her advance, listening as she realised she could hear something in the shop.
"Miss Caelyn!" Steven called out. "Miss Caelyn, please!" Steven had stayed calm so far, but panic was creeping into his voice.

"We know you hear us!" Samuel shouted.

"Please!" Steven begged. "Alister is in trouble!"

"The whole town is in danger! Please, come out!"
She appeared through the curtains, looking upon the two boys who were balls of nervous energy.
~Alright, calm down boys and tell me what’s happened..~ her tone was softer as she realised the boys were scared. ~What do you mean Alister is in trouble? He seemed more than capable of handling himself when I saw him a few hours ago…~

Making her way through the store, Caelyn was soon at the door, pulling it open as she glanced back over her shoulder. ~As for the whole town being in danger? Tell me something I don’t know..~ Her words dried in her throat as she crossed the threshold and stood out on the porch, Steven and Samuel on either side of her. Caelyn’s eyes widened as she took in the full view of Deepdweller’s Gulch that only she could see.
The town was plunged into darkness, save for a red glow that was courtesy of the large blood moon that now hung directly overhead. Huge chasms had opened up all around the town and as she watched a large fissure snaked its way down the middle of the street. Giant winged beasts soared high above, taking turns to swoop down upon the unsuspecting town to snap their powerful jaws around the heads of various patrons, blood splattering out across the night. Monsters and demons of all shapes and sizes roamed the street, maniacal laughter pierced the air as the ground rumbled, causing some buildings to shed their shingles. As the townspeople slowly began to register the carnage around them, screams filled the air.

~Shiiiiit…~ Caelyn whistled between her teeth. ~So, its begun…~


The stars above appeared to dance as Tamassa glanced up at the night sky, her body pressed up against Conrad’s back as they raced back to town. She could feel the horse’s muscles tense and relax as he ran, her own muscles were tight as her arms were wrapped around Conrad’s strong frame. With her ear against his back, she could hear his heart beating in his chest, but as she listened a frown creased her forehead. As someone who often took great delight in listening to people’s heartbeats slow down as she drained them of their life, Tamassa knew what a healthy heart should sound like. Conrad’s sounded anything like a healthy heart, and as she listened closely, gooseflesh broke all over her. Something was…. wrong. She didn’t know what, or even how she knew… but something was definitely wrong.

As they rode in silence, Tamassa thought back to the passionate exchange they had just shared moments ago. Although she had been surprised when he had pulled her close, Tamassa had wanted that kiss so badly that she hadn’t wanted to stop and ask questions. Now that she thought about it though, she realised with a sickening sense of dread that the kiss had been completely out of character for Conrad. He had kissed her with an almost hungry intensity that had at first electrified her but now terrified her as she became more and more certain that it wasn’t Conrad that she had kissed. Shaking her dark head in confusion, she clung on tightly as the horse jumped expertly over another large chasm that had opened up just outside town. Harried thoughts raced through her mind as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She had always sensed that there was something different about the Sheriff, something that he went at great lengths to hide. He had broached the subject many times with her, and once almost seemed like he was about to say what clearly needed to be said, but each time they were interrupted and he had had to leave to attend to important “Sheriff business”. Still, although she was only just getting to know him, Tamassa knew deep down that the man who had grabbed her and had kissed her so roughly back at the mine, was a very different man than the one she knew.

As they rode into town, Tamassa noticed more cracks in the ground as the townsfolk were slowly making their way outside, eager to find out what was going on. Finally the horse slowed down to a walk and Tamassa took her cue to slide off, her boots landing on the road in a puff of dust. Careful not to betray her doubts to Conrad, Tamassa offered him a quick wave should he care to look her way, before making her way over to the Saloon. As she grew closer, Tamassa noticed a pretty woman with blonde hair lounging off to the side, fanning herself with a fan as she watched the townspeople spill out into the main street. Tamassa knew everyone in town, and as realisation dawned on her that this woman was new, she plastered a huge smile on her face as she approached the blonde.

~Evening..~ she drawled, dark eyes roaming over the woman, sizing her up instantly. Yes, she would do. ~You here about the job?~ she asked, nodding her head towards the saloon. She had sent word out that she needed new whores, though she hadn’t expected to have such a quick response. ~Well, let’s hope your game is better than your timing…~ she stumbled sideways as another loud crack resounded through the town just as the ground shook beneath their feet.

~Quick… come with me!~ Tamassa led the woman up to the porch, casting a curious glance at Clover as she passed. ~You seen Patti?~ she asked, before moving on without waiting for an answer. Glancing back over her shoulder at the blonde, Tamassa led her inside.

~I give free room and board for services rendered, so you can have the room upstairs at the end of the hall. Something tells me we aint going to be busy tonight, so make yourself and home and get acquainted with the place.~ Another rumble caused glasses to go flying off the shelves as Freddy tried in vain to catch them. Pictures rattled and fell off the walls, shattered glass flying in all directions.
~What the fuck is going on?!~ Freddy shouted over the din. Tamassa could only shrug as she approached the bar and grabbed another bottle of whiskey.
~Beats the hell out of me..~ she shrugged, raising the bottle to her lips.

Outside, Caelyn watched as the Sheriff and Tamassa returned to town. Violet eyes glanced quickly at Tamassa who was talking to a blonde woman before she turned her gaze upon Conrad once more. Caelyn instantly saw the demon that had taken full reigns of Conrad’s body. She had sensed it earlier, its darkness made it impossible to hide from her and now as she watched him ride his horse into the main street, Caeyln wondered where the real Sheriff’s soul was. Hoping he wasn’t being tortured too much, she turned on her heel and disappeared back into her shop. A few minutes of searching in the large cabinet at the back of her shop and Caelyn had what she needed. She held up the small purple vial to show the boys.

~Your brother is possessed by a very strong demon. He has been for some time now, far as I can tell. Usually, he can control it and keep it at bay, but for some reason tonight it has broken free and is now in complete control of our poor Sheriff. This stuff could help… it won’t banish the demon but it will weaken it enough so that Alister can take control again.. if he is strong enough. I just need to get close enough to make sure the demon breathes it in…~

Soon, she was back on the porch, the two youngest Conrad brothers in co as she looked for the Sheriff. *

[diandramoon]

Dressed

There was a tipping cry that reminded her of her former gang members when they’d decided to get a little riled up. Her crystalline gaze shifted from staring at the street to the eerie rider that went tearing down the far streets of the town. It would be a matter of time before he was charging up near her. The ground shook. The depths of Hell were trying to open up, and let the demons forth through spews of gaseous fog. Perhaps, perhaps not. Likely another earthquake. She was no stranger to them, but to have them so close, and so damaging had been rare in her centuries. She felt a tell-tale tingle move over her skin, hackles trying to rise as she fought against the blood red moon.

Before she decided to let the beast rise, or cage it back as tightly as she could there was a woman speaking to her. Her words were muffled as Annabelle shoved the wolf back into the depths of her soul. She hadn’t really decided to be a whore, but as her arm was taken, and she was dragged into the brothel, and told of the accommodations, she figured it worked out just fine.

“Madame, je vous assure que ma capacité de divertir les hommes est bien meilleure que le moment de mon arrivée." She closed the parasol, and grinned. "An’ ze addition of my ozer skills may come een quite ‘andy." She chuckled. Hopefully, her things in the wagon would survive whatever chaos was ensuing outside. "I ‘ave a fair ‘and at cards," she chuckled. "Probably no’ a good idea to retrieve my t’ings from ze wagon righ’ now."

The building began to shake. Pictures fell, glass shattered. Anna felt a growl building in her chest. The tingling on her skin returned. "Ze bowels of ‘ell are trying to climb into ze mortal realm, I would t’ink. Or anozer eart’quake. I was on ze road when ze las’ one struck." She looked towards the stairs. "I t'ink I will stay on groun' level until ze tremors cease."

Her new employer made for the whiskey. She followed. "Madame, eef you are going to drink during eart’quakes, zen might I suggest making use of ze shaking to mix your drinks ?" She began to pour a few things, and quickly grabbed the glass when another tremor shook the world. "Tada!"

Translation: "Madam, I assure you that my ability to keep men entertained is quite better than the timing of my arrival."

[Clover Stardust]

Clover watched Patti stalk off into the distance until she was had vanished into the darkness. She sighed again, sadly. Alone, always alone, maybe it was her penance for having the gift of ‘Sight’ if you could call it a gift. It hadn’t been much help lately.
The Magic had left her system, as she’d only take a drop of the stuff, for a second she considered taking another hit, maybe she’d have another dream that could help Patti or Sheriff Conrad? She’d seen the brothers for a second early, rallying towards Allister. Clovers eyebrow gave an involuntary twitch. She lifted her head, noticing the silence for the first time all night. Not even the wind was blowing anymore, she felt a chill crawl across her back. Something was disturbing the dust and sand in front of her. Almost like footprints, Clover straightened up. Her hands moving slowly towards the butts of her revolvers. She felt something move towards her face again, she dodged the invisible force, but at that moment something touched her right at the centre of her forehead.

‘See me here!’

Clovers head snapped back in pain, she grabbed hold of her skull and screamed as the world exploded in colour, the words vibrated painfully in her head, in her mind and ears. It was so loud even her teeth were chattering. Louder than any freight train or explosion of dynamite. Clover opened her eyes once the sensation had faded, a ghostly blue face was looking at now in desperation. It was a familiar voice, so close to her, her heart gave a strange flutter, she reached out a hand it against Virgil’s face. It didn’t exactly feel like skin but it was close enough.

She pulled her hand away gently, and managed to take a quick look away from Virgil, everything seemed strange. It was a pitch-black night, but everything seemed to be illuminated in red. She couldn’t tell if the glow was actually real or not. It felt like another dream. She pinched herself to test, it hurt.

‘Virgil? What are you hollering at? I ain’t dreamin’… and I ain’t taking any more witches brew, how am I eyeballin’ you?’ Clover asked, ignoring his urgency as best she could. She stood up, putting her hand on Virgil’s ‘Shoulder’ as support. Virgil wasn’t alone she realised. A man was standing next to him, a different hue altogether. She sized up the big man. Clover had seen him before, in one of her dreams out the corner of her eye. He was always with Sheriff Conrad, always laughing. He looked more like Conrad then Virgil did. She’d never seen him this close before, there was something too familiar to his face and gait and it wasn’t from her dreams.

‘Uncle James?’ Clover whispered with a sickening realisation. She recognising the man from her childhood. He wasn’t really her uncle. He was a friend of her parents. Every so often, he’d visit the farmhouse, arriving and leaving like a hurricane. The last time she saw him was her Pa’s funeral, matter of fact, it was the last time she’d seen her Ma. ‘Am I dyin’? Are you here to ferry me to the afterlife?’ Clover asked, it was at this point that the quakes started and all hell broke loose.

~

She watched the woman moving through the darkness. She was no empath, but she could feel the woman anger, it ignited her body like a flame, it was intoxicating. She wondered if Patti had truly embraced the darkness, she was built for it now, it was the only thing moving through her veins.

‘Pattillia!’ she called through the darkness, in a singsong voice, a hollow sound, like the wind through the gap in a wall. It was impossible to pinpoint where the sound was coming from, even for a Vampire, it was almost liquid. ‘Why bless my soul. You do make a fine Vampire, now don’t you precious?’ a familiar voice said, a strange mix of a once English accent now dirtied by spending too much time with Cowboys.

‘I wonder how long it will take for Tamassa to turn you out, like the rest of her broken whores. It’ll happen, you know. She lures you in, promises you a place, safety, next thing you know you’re just one of her girls… Just another of the Wests lost souls’.

The quakes started. The earth rumbled and broke apart, the sand moved like a wave, creating mismatched fissures of various heights. A woman stepped from the closet fissure.

‘I couldn’t help but notice, you didn’t organise a search party Pattillia… But then, you’ve always struggled with emotion, haven’t you Patti? You know the first thing I thought when I met you. That girls touched in the head… slow. You don’t care about me, you never did, and now you’re doing the same to that poor girl. What’s her name? Clover? Pretty…’

Finally, from the inky darkness, Sparrow Leinad appeared. She looked different. Her stance, her body, even her heavy evening makeup.

‘You wouldn’t know the meaning of the friendship, would you Patti? You know, your father hated you. He knew what you were when you were just a girl, never picked out a frilly dress. Never played with them dollies…’.

She was dressed elegantly. Tall, thin and sleek. Her breasts pushed together by a black lace corset. She wore a long red skirt on the bottom, trimmed in gold. As she walked, black deadly sharp hooves could be seen. The slit down the side of her skirt revealed deer-like bottom half of her body. Around her neck was a strange piece of jewellery, it looked like one solid piece, wrapped around her throat impossible tight and moving its way down her shoulders, collar-like and gold with a brilliant patterns and hundreds of Diamonds, adoring the gold. Atop her head was a matching tiara, her long black thick hair, sat in tumbles atop her head, kept in place by her tiara and two twin impossibly thin silver dirks. Her ears were long and pointed and two twin gazelle-like black horns protruding from her forehead, winding backwards across her scalp and ending in dagger sharp points.

‘Let me take the pain away, before Tamassa destroys you, like all of us’ Sparrow hissed. Her body melted away in flash, replacing the Faun, was a Mountain Lion. It roared as it launched itself towards Pattillia trying to pin her down claws at her shoulders. The Mountain Lion intended to open its jaws, and take a bite out of Patti’s throat.

[Pattilia Longfellow]

Stewing with impotent anger was exactly what Patti was doing. The flames of her emotion whirled inside her, just like her thoughts going in circles, repeating everything said to her, everything she said, the fury she felt, the guilt and pain wracking through her, forcing her to hug herself as she came to a stop near a dark building. She wanted to curl up in a ball and cry, she wanted to throw fists into the earth and scream, but more than anything, she just wanted to leave this damn town already. Why did she have to wait for a damned stagecoach from New York? And then there was the matter of whether or not Tamassa would let her leave. Would the saloon madame even care about Patti's ambitions, or would she just...

She looked up at the sound of a familiar voice calling her name. Still clutching herself by the arms, she whirled around in different directions, looking for the source that so eloquently put her thoughts into words. This was a dream, right? Brow creased with worry and eyebrows knitted together, she started to object, but the earth beneath her feet had other plans, toppling her over to her hands and knees.

Patti gaped at the vision of Sparrow, a woman she trusted, confided in... who was now mocking her, disparaging her with everything she knew. "I thought you'd died like the others!" she tried to cry out into the wind and roar of the town being engulfed in chaos, but it was useless. Blood tears spilled from her eyes as Patti looked up at the twisted creature Sparrow had become, the woman she called a friend still ridiculing her. Patti screamed in fear and rage, hoisting herself to one knee and gripping her pistol.

"Why did you come back from Hell just to taunt me? What's become of you?" Her right hand slowly raised the gun shakily at the approaching woman... faun... thing. "Where's mah friend?!"

• ‘Let me take the pain away, before Tamassa destroys you, like all of us’ Sparrow hissed.

Patti threw her left shoulder to the ground just as her gun went off with a deafening crack. She wasn't sure she'd struck the beast that her friend had melted into, but she had no time to think about it as she continued into a sideways roll. Slow, was she? "I'll show you touched in tha'head!"

Her right shoulder was oozing cold blood from where the mountain lion's claws had struck, but she could still raise that pistol again when she came out of the roll into a crouch. The bowie knife flashed through the air, poised now in her left hand, pointed down and held against the grip of her gun to stabilize her aim. The only throat to be torn out tonight would be the cursed woman's, Pattilia would see to that.

BLAM!

[Clover Stardust]

The first bullet hit the big cat in the shoulder. Sparrow delighted in the feeling of Patti’s flesh tear between her claws. Patti was fast for a new Vampire, and strong. As she rolled away, the big cat yellow eyes followed the Vampire cautiously, her shoulders low to the ground. It made an unsettling sound, like a mix between a lion's roar and laughter.

‘I was in that rubble for two days before ‘they’ found me. I was calling you until my lungs were full of blood’ Sparrow said, her form shifted again and she was a Faun. She plucked the two twin dirks from her hair, it tumbled down her back and around her shoulders, full and thick waves and curls. She spun the Dirks expertly in her hands.

‘The Tower send its regards’.

She snarled, it was at this point that she took a bullet to the head. Her neck snapped back and dark blood trickled from the wound. She stumbled backwards, taking two unsteady steps. It wasn’t long before she was already straightening up to her full height, smiling sadistically. Her yellow eyes matched the Jewellery around her neck and head.
She licked the blood as it dripped over her lips. She lashed out with the dirks, throwing all her body weight at Patti’ trying to pin Pattillia to the ground with the silver blades. She made a strange guttural sound with the back of her throat as if she was choking on the golden brace around her throat.

[Blood and Roses]

Conrad and Tamassa rode hard, with Hell on their heels. He glanced over his shoulder, a feral grimace frozen on his normally handsome face. He let out a sound that was more animal than human, equal parts rage and joy. The fastest of the demon horde was just behind, wasp-like beasts on insectile wings, large as dogs, with massive barbed stingers that dripped green ichor. Beneath them, bulky reptilian monstrosities with great jaws full of jagged teeth raced on two legs, long scythe-like appendages trailing behind them making a metallic hum as they sliced the air.

Conrad lashed the horse with a shout, "Hyah!" then took the reins in one hand and drew his revolver with the other. Legs tight around the horse's ribs, he turned and aimed the weapon over Tamassa's shoulder. The revolver barked, and a winged beast crashed to the ground in a tumble of spindly limbs and torn wings. The jawsome reptiles immediately leaped upon it, massive teeth rending and tearing while scythe arms sliced the carcass to pieces. The revolver fired again, once, twice, a third time, each shot dropping another monstrosity into the dirt, and the waiting teeth of its companions. The forerunners of the demon horde descended into a feeding frenzy, snarling and screaming as they fell upon one another. Nodding in satisfaction, Conrad turned and holstered his gun, eyes fastened hard upon the fast-approaching town of Deepdweller's Gulch.

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Conrad watched the town grow larger through the window in the shadowless fog. The beast was distracted; it moved languidly, coils slowly churning, and it no longer thrashed him about in his borderless prison. While the demon was focused without, it ceased to torment his body and mind. Each minute that ticked by, the beast's grip loosened incrementally, and his bones slid closer to their proper alignment. Conrad hung limp, relaxed. He had stopped his futile struggling, conserving his strength, until it slacked its grip on him enough to break free. What he would do then... well, Conrad hadn't figured that part out yet. He was hoping that once he was free, he would simply fall through the mist and back into consciousness. The first step was breaking free from the monster's clutches.

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Virgil started as Clover reached out, her hand brushing his spectral face. The sensation was odd, a tickle against flesh that hadn't felt any sensation in many years. A grin split his typically stoic features. "I'll be damned," he whispered. "You did it, girl. Good for you." He looked at Clover approvingly.

The girl glanced over, eyes locking onto James, who suddenly looked stricken. "Uncle James?" Clover whispered.

"Chloe?" James choked out, his eyes wide. He shook his head in disbelief. Could this woman really be the same stick-thin waif he remembered? He'd rode away from Devlin's grave more than 20 years ago, and never laid eyes on her since. Memories came back to him, assaulting him in a wave of grief and heartache that he had forgotten with his death. "Chloe, is that you?"

"Am I dyin’? Are you here to ferry me to the afterlife?" Clover looked bewildered, but those eyes were the same. Same color as her mother's had been. Same eyes, same face. James couldn't believe he'd forgotten.

"Chloe, I... no, Rosebud, I ain't here to take ya. I-- that is, we, me and Virge, we're--"

"We're trying to save your ass," Virgil interrupted. "You, and this town. Look." He pointed into the dark night, where the mounted form of Alister Conrad was driving hard toward town. Behind him, heat lightning crawled across the horizon, backlighting the plague of demons that would soon descend upon Deepdweller's Gulch.

"The sheriff sent us ahead to warn the town," James finally managed to spit out. "We need to protect the people, Rosebud." His turned to face her fully, face looming above Clover's. "We need you."

"Spread the word," Virgil said, staring at the approaching horde. "Round up the citizens and get them to the Saloon. It'll be easy to fortify, and the Madame has a stockpile of weapons stashed. Y'all can defend the place." His voice was grim. "It's our only chance."

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Samuel and Steven trailed behind Caelyn, watching silently as she searched her cupboards. Steven clutched the glowing orb, his Star Ball, a gift from the witch, in his little hands. His lip trembled, and Samuel lay a reassuring hand on his shoulder. Tense minutes passed.

Finally, Caelyn returned with a vial of purple liquid. She knelt down before the brothers and held it up for them to examine. "Your brother is possessed by a very strong demon. He has been for some time now, far as I can tell." Steven nodded, and Samuel frowned.

"Yeah, that's right," the dour Samuel said. "There's some kind of spell that was keeping it inside him." His frown deepened. "At least, I thought there was."

"Usually," the witch continued, "he can control it and keep it at bay, but for some reason tonight it has broken free and is now in complete control of our poor Sheriff. This stuff could help…" Caelyn gestured with the vial. "It won’t banish the demon, but it will weaken it enough so that Alister can take control again.. if he is strong enough. I just need to get close enough to make sure the demon breathes it in."

"But how can we help?" Samuel demanded. "He can't even see us!" He shook his head in frustration.

Steven blinked, spectral tears welling in ghostly eyes. His hands tightened around the Star Ball, rolling it between his palms. There had to be something, some way to help. He stared out the window as Conrad and Tamassa thundered into town, the sheriff firing his pistol into the air repeatedly as he reined the horse. It reared, front hooves flailing the air. Steven gave the Star Ball a small toss in the air, catching it as Tamassa dismounted, his eyes locked onto the creature that was not his brother. He had to help. Alister needed him. Another toss. Then his eyes lit up as he caught it again.

"Okay," Steven said, voice determined. The Star Ball began to glow brighter, casting out its tiny rays of light in all directions. The pinpricks of light danced across his small form. "Let's go save Alister."

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Conrad guided the horse through the slowly-filling street. People were emerging from their homes and stores, bleary-eyed and disheveled, still in bedclothes. Some few carried weapons with them. "What's the trouble, Sheriff?" asked Bob, rubbing one eye with his fist.

"It is stampede?" queried Adolfo the baker, a floury mallet clutched in his thick fist.

"Is there danger?"

Conrad took no more notice of the citizens than to steer his mount through them. Outside the Sheriff's Office, Conrad hopped off the horse and gave it a hard slap on its flank to send it running. He strode purposefully up the steps and into the darkened office, deaf to the questions of the citizens around him. When he emerged from the office, he had a Winchester strapped across his back and was finishing buckling a cavalry saber to his waist.

"You all get the hell outta here," Conrad shouted. Get somewhere, hide yourselves, or you'll all be dead."

"What the hell is going on, Sheriff?" Bob stepped forward, red eyes searchin.

"A plague's coming," seethed Conrad. "A plague of demons. And I don't want y'all in the way when it gets here."

[Madame Tamassa]

(Heads up... this is very graphic.. *grimace* sorry... it just wrote itself)

*Tamassa rolled her eyes to the shuddering ceiling as the new arrival started speaking French. ~Not another frog..~ she muttered, before turning her dark gaze onto the woman, straining to hear her over the din of crashing glass and falling wood.
~Oi!~ she yelled, as the woman warned her to use the shaking of the building to shake her drinks before taking her glass off her just as it went to slide away. ~I’ll have that!~ she scolded, taking the glass back and draining it quickly.

~As you can see, its not the best time to set up shop but I’m desperate for a new girl and you are here so…~ she shrugged as the doors flew open and old man Jasper stumbled across the threshold, blood dripping from a wound on his forehead.
~Its all goin to hell out there!~ he howled, holding onto his head. Apparently unaware of the bloodlust he had just caused for Tamassa, Jasper stumbled over to an upturned table and started to upright the furniture. ~All the buildin’s are fallin down! This place is gonna be the only one left standin!~

Tamassa turned away from the new arrivals, her eyes glowing a feral red as her fangs elongated at the coppery smell of blood that was now filling all of her senses. Waving her hand behind her in the general direction of the French woman, Tamassa growled

~Make yourself useful and go patch him up would you? There’s a small nurse’s kit under the bar.. bandages and whatnot..~ Turning on her heel, she made her way quickly up the stairs. Pausing at the top, she stared out through the large window and looked down upon the main street of Deepdwellers Gulch as she tried to get the bloodlust under control.


People were running around the chaotic street, screaming as shingles slid off roof’s aiming for people’s heads as they crashed onto the road below. Some buildings seemed to have sagged in the middle as supporting beams splintered and fell apart, trapping some people inside while others tried to run for their lives.

Inside the General Store, Cat Wilson slept on. Her drunken stupor was so far induced, that although she registered the shaking room in her dreams, she still slept. Her dreams were torturous as usual, but tonight there was something unusual happening that would have scared her, had she known. Something was with her, in her room and in her dreams. It was watching her, ecstatically rubbing its skeletal hands together as it fed off her misery and self-loathing. Her wretched soul was a delicacy as the demon inhaled, consuming her fear and licking its dark lips with its forked tongue as it sat on the edge of her bed. Raking a long, bony finger down her thigh as she slept, the demon laughed softly in the darkness.

~Thisssss one… thissss one.~ it cackled. ~Sssshe will do. Sssshe is the one.~

The demon climbed ontop of the sleeping woman, its sharp claws piercing her skin as it ripped her skirt up and over her hips. Her undergarments were quickly discarded before it penetrated her, raping her body and soul as it rode her body with a sickening slow pace. In her dreams, Cat felt the pain as it entered her, helpless to resist as darkness coursed through her veins. She struggled to wake, but the demon held her down, both in the physical world and in her dreams. A loud crash could be heard as mason jars holding preserves slid from the shelves in the General Store as the bed began to shudder so violently it woke the sleeping woman with a jolt. Sitting upright, she looked down at her half naked body, the sight of the small pricks of blood on her thighs and abdomen the only sight that anything had transpired in her sleep. Her thighs ached as she pushed her skirt back down and climbed shakily out of the bed, blood trickling from her lady parts. All around her, the room was in disarray as the ground trembled beneath her. A tall, skinny shadow clung to one corner but as she turned to look, it faded away. Trembling, she reached down for a shawl and wrapped it tightly around her shoulders as the room lurched, sending her falling to her knees. Climbing unsteadily to her feet, Cat made her way slowly through her small cottage and out into the store, her eyes widening in dismay to see all the damaged stock.

Reaching the front of the store, she looked out through the large frosted window to see utter chaos and carnage. Across from her, the Blacksmith was screaming as he tried to put out a fire that had started when one of his oil lamps had fallen and landed upon some old rags. Usually, Cat would have been the first to run to his aid. Instead, she stood there watching with hard green eyes as she felt a cold hand on her shoulder.
~Let them burn..~ she said, the words sounding foreign on her tongue. ~Let the whole damn town burn and we will dance on their graves. ~ The cold hand stroked across her blouse, nimble bony fingers expertly undoing her buttons so that the hand could slip inside. Finding her breast, the fingers began to tweak her nipple, causing a moan of ecstasy to escape her lips. Cat leant up against the dark force pressing up against her back, while inside her mind was trying to scream at her that this wasn’t right. She heard the word FIGHT in the back of her skull before that icy coldness crept up from her breast to her forehead, making all thoughts disappear. Cold hands grabbed her hips and she felt herself bending over as her skirt was raked up over her hips once more. The demon licked her earlobe as he entered her from behind, forcing his dark hardness deep inside her. As he fucked her harder and faster, he laughed as his head leant forward to whisper in her ear.

~Watch them burn… we will have their souls. I will make jewels for you out of their teeth and you will be the belle of the ball.. my beautiful dark queen..~
Cat moaned as the darkness consumed her entire being, a lone tear slipping down one cheek as she watched her beloved town descend into madness.

The blacksmith howled in dismay as the flames leapt higher over his head, quickly consuming his shop. Women and children screamed as they ran past, while some men tried to throw buckets of water at the towering inferno which was now starting to eat away at the Haberdashery store beside the former Blacksmith’s. Deep fissures cracked and widened in the earth as the townsfolk yelled ~Everyone! Get to the Saloon!~
Caelyn watched it all unfold from the front stoop of the Chemist, Stephen and Samuel by her side. Once she realised that the Saloon was still relatively intact, she mouthed a quick incantation of protection for the building and the residents inside. Once everyone made their way there, they should be safe, if only just from the Earthquakes. Only she could see the demons that walked the streets, taking delight in the chaos they had caused. A few people fell as they ran, swiftly collected by demons and dragged into the shadows never to be seen again. The veil between the worlds was starting to fray and Caelyn knew it would be only a matter of time before the townsfolk would see the demon horde for what they truly were. For now though, all they knew was the trembling earth and the destruction of their town descending into ruined rubble.



Caelyn’s eyes searched for Conrad in the madness. ~We need to find our Sherif!~ she called out to the boys over the din. ~I need him to breathe this in for it to work, but I doubt he will let me get close enough. ~She twirled the vial around in her fingers as she thought, her eyes drifting to the glowing balls in Stephens hands.
~He’s your brother..~ she said slowly. ~ Got any ideas?~*

[Blood and Roses]

Despite the violent trembling of the earth, Conrad stood impassively watching as the townsfolk scattered, rooted like an old oak tree and unmoved by the quaking. With deliberate slowness, he drew the saber from its scabbard and held it aloft. "Redemption..." he hissed, invoking the blade's name to summon its power.

"Ah, God, no..." whispered Walter with a sad shake of his head. "Not the sword."

Moonlight twinkled along the razor-like edge, a single gleam running from the hand guard down its length and catching at the tip. The gleam swelled and grew, pulsing in time with the beating of his heart, shining brighter with each pulse until it shown like a star. The light rippled outward in waves, and as the waves spread they illuminated that which was unseen. The light clung to grasping talons and gaping jaws, outstretched wings and spiny carapaces, barbed feet and bladed horns. The street was awash in the light of Redemption, and what it revealed was horror.

The demons were everywhere, on every surface, every rooftop, every wall and window and filling the street like a crowded farmer's market. They moved about with an almost festive air, as they seemed to laugh and shout and call to one another in their own terrible way. A cluster of winged primate-like creatures with dangling eye stalks perched on a rooftop, chattering as they casually pulled the skin from a dog in fist-sized chunks and stuffed them into their mouths. One impossibly thin beast, tall as a tree, walked by on stilt-like legs and casually reached down to twisted the head off of a fleeing woman and squeezed its juices into the monster's gaping, upturned mouth. Another, a squat, gelatinous translucent monstrosity with barbed tentacles rolled over a young man that had fallen as he ran for the Saloon. The man was sucked up into the creature's see-through body, where he could be watched as he slowly asphyxiated in the thick, viscous mound.

Conrad surveyed the crowd, eyes hard, and expertly spun the sword in a blazing arc. Redemption gave one final, powerful pulse, then the gleam caught on its tip scattered in a spray of brilliant darts. As if on cue, the crowd of demons froze in place, all eyes turning to lock onto the enchanted blade, and the black-clad man who wielded it.

A vile, malicious grin split Conrad's face, and from the depths of his eyes shown an unwholesome light. "Morte damnatus est," he growled, then launched himself into the horde.

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Steven watched silently as Conrad leaped into the fray. He reached out and grasped the hem of Caelyn's sleeve, eyes fixed on the horrid tableau. Behind them, Samuel let out a small whimper. Steven rolled his eyes, then turned and kicked his brother in the shin.

"Stop that!" scolded the smallest of the Conrad brothers. "Find some guts, Sam! Alister needs us now, so find some guts!" Samuel looked startled, then scowled at his little brother.

The pretty witch lady looked down at Steven with a thoughtful expression on her face. "He's your brother," she said slowly. "Got any ideas?"

"Yeah," Steven nodded. "I think so. Follow my lead, and stay out of sight." He stood up as tall as he could, looking up into Caelyn's face. His face was as brave as an 8-year-old's could be. "And be safe, okay? Alister would be real sad if you got hurt. I seen the way he looked at you." Then, with a shy smile, "I'd be real sad, too."

Steven looked back to Conrad. His brother was a whirlwind of shining steel and fiery tongues, sword spinning and slashing limbs and necks, revolver blasting orange spikes into demonic faces and bellies. Demons fell and dissolved into cinders and ash as quickly as they approached, but there were just so many. Too many. Alister fought like a demon, but he couldn't take them all. He soon fell back, leaping atop a wagon as the enemies pressed in from all sides.

Steven darted out into the street, slipping unseen through the crowd. He walked confidently through the demonic horde, passing through the monsters as easily as he would through a door or a mortal. Demons and spirits exist on different planes, Virgil had told him once. It hadn't made much sense then, but he understood now. They couldn't see him, couldn't stop him. He was as much a ghost to them as to the inhabitants of Deepdweller's Gulch.

The Star Ball blazed brighter as Steven approached, needle-thin lights lancing out into the darkness, passing through the assembled demons like shadows. He stood before the wagon, staring up at Alister. The most awful, disgusting, exultant look was frozen on his brother's face like a skeleton's smile, lips peeled back impossibly far from teeth that were too long and sharp to be human. A deep rage began to boil inside Steven, an anger that rose to fill his gorge. He seethed with each swing of Alister's cursed blade, each shot from his enchanted revolver. His ghostly muscles tensed, and Steven gripped the Star Ball with shaking hands.

Finally, that anger exploded out at the beast that possessed Alister Conrad's body. "Get out of my brother, you bastard!" Steven howled, and with all the might his little body could muster, he hurled the Star Ball into his brother's face. It sped forward like a cannonball, smashing into his cheek and sending the sheriff reeling. The ball bounced back, and Steven instinctively held out his hand, which the Star Ball obligingly dropped itself into with a slap. Conrad glanced about wildly, searching for the source of the attack. Steven shrieked and hurled the ball again, and it stuck his brother on the forehead before returning to his outstretched hand.

Conrad screamed in rage and sliced another demon in two, then turned and blasted another demon clear through. Then, with a supernatural display of strength, Conrad leaped from the back of the wagon onto the roof of the Sheriff's office, where he battled back several flying beasts before turning to scan the crowd of demons below. He fired another shot into the horde, then his eyes fell upon the Star Ball.

"Look!" Steven shouted, waving the ball back and forth. "Look here, Hell-spawn!" and he hurled the ball once more. Conrad deflected the ball with his sword, furiously searching for the source of the attacks, revolver tracking the Star Ball as it came to rest in Steven's invisible hand. The smallest Conrad ducked behind the wagon, with the ball raised above his head. He knew that if his brother's aim was true, the blessed fire it spat would obliterate him utterly.

"Now!" Steven screamed, eyes clenched tight in fear even as he held the ball aloft for to hold Conrad's attention. "Do it now, please!" he begged, voice strained in terror. "Save my brother!"

[Pattilia Longfellow]

Pattilia's breathing ticked up a notch when Sparrow straightened back after taking a direct shot to the head. Patti was no Annie Oakley, could just barely hit the tin cans at forty yards when her daddy taught her to shoot, so that hole in Sparrow's head was probably the only lucky shot she was going to get in this fight -- and damn if it didn't have the desired effect whatsoever.

Both hands came up to block the dirks with the gun and knife, just barely keeping the faun's blades away from her throat as the pair toppled into the dirt. Patti grunted with the force of the impact, her shoulder burning with pain she wasn't aware she could still feel. Sadly, her right arm couldn't hold under the pressure of Sparrow's attack, so Patti tried to roll the woman to that side, inadvertently putting a silver dirk right to her neck.

"AAUUUUNNNNGH!" Patti screamed as the silver burned her flesh, dizzying bright spots blooming across her vision. She pulled her foot up, trying to wedge it between herself and Sparrow's stomach, hoping to push the changed woman off. Her attention only came to that gold collar when Patti thought about using her teeth to tear Sparrow's throat out, but even that was just a glimmer of thought. Struggling against the faun, she twisted and pushed as hard as she could to throw her off before those silver dirks got any more licks.

"You think I wasn' strugglin' myself?" Patti snarled, "Think I gaht turned fer a laugh? Th'Sparrow I know would nevah be so short-sighted an' stupid!" The flipped the knife in her hand, aiming for Sparrow's chest now. It was the only vulnerable part that didn't seem armored by that strange collar. It was then the holy light of Redemption revealed the horde of demons parading through the streets. Pattilia's eyes went wide, finally realizing that Hell had been unleashed on the poor town, and Sparrow wasn't the only one thirsting for her cold, dead blood.

[Clover Stardust]

Before Clover knew what was happening. The world was ablaze with creatures that crawled and slithered and flew from the broken earth.

‘Oh my lord in heaven’.

Clover whispered as her hands danced towards her revolvers, she could hear the two pistols hum in anticipation. The charms that were attached to the butts of the pistols chimed all on their own, a collection of tiny precious stones, metallic stars and crucifixes.

‘Demons?’ Clover asked James and Virgil, her mouth and eyes wide in alarm and fear. The creatures were little more than shadows against the dull red moon. Tamassa and Sheriff Conrad arrived on horseback. Tamassa rushed past her in a blur, the force of her movement almost pushed Clover back, she asked about Patti as she moved.

She threw her tantrum and stalked off into the night!’

Clover called back to her through the Saloon. ‘Should I go after her or will she try and eat me?’

Clover asked. Looking back at her uncle James and Virgil. She didn’t have time to process or thing on the new information. Uncle James… He was speaking a name she hadn’t heard since her childhood. She tried to think back to the time she asked her Ma who Uncle James was, where he went when he left, but she couldn’t remember her Mother’s response. Something about him being a ‘free man’, whatever the hell that meant.

It looked like the ground had stopped trembling, but there were still gaping cracks everywhere. Clover tried to keep an eye on a single demon, but they moved too fast and were too hard to track. Conrad unsheathed his sword and suddenly the world was ablaze again. She could see the Demons, in this world and the other.

‘Wake up ya’ll! Get into the Saloon!’

Clover screamed into the night sky, once she realised people were starting to wake up, still in their bed clothes. The demon were starting to tear them apart too, Clovers gritted her teeth as her body gave a shutter and she forced her lunch to stay where it sat in her stomach.

Amazingly, the Saloon remained upright. Even as the rest of the Gulch fell apart around them. The floorboards of the deck groaned in protest but held fast.

‘You aint taking me demon’

She spat, pulling out her revolvers, she felt them quake in her hands, purring almost organismic as she fired the first shot. The revolvers had once belonged to her daddy, but he never carried a firearm, Uncle James had though, she wondering for a second if they were her daddy’s or Uncle James’.

She noticed the two youngest Conrad brothers up to something with Caelyn. A demon had just tore a woman apart and was moving towards the brothers, she wasn’t sure how it worked, if she was seeing the Demons because of Conrad or her sight. Without worrying too much if the spectors could he hurt by Demons, she fired at the creatures head, or what she assumed was the things head. It was all tentacles. And Clover NEVER missed.

She tried to ignore the fear and panic that was building up. It was chaos all around her, she was picking up the panic and emotions from those around her, but if she shut down the sight, she would lose track of the Conrad brothers and maybe the Demons. She forced herself to focus on one problem at a time.

‘Caelyn!’ She called out as she jumped nimbly over a chasm. She knew the woman could take care of herself but she stood in front of her protectively.

‘This aint the best time, but I’m awful sorry for the things I said. You ain’t a witch, or you are a witch, but not one of them ugly ol’ things for the fairytales. I was just all messed up in the head with the dreams –‘.

She fired several times, the revolvers in her hand heating up. She’d never seen this side of Alister, he moved like a beast. The Sword almost glowed in the darkness and he moved with a supernatural speed and strength. Clover watched him carefully, shooting anything that came too close. She tried to keep track of the Sheriff as he leapt onto the roof of the Sheriffs office. She reminded herself it wasn’t enough to just watch him, she had to ‘see’ him. She felt the distinctive pulse of the sight and she flexed the new muscle. There was a shadow behind Conrad, following him, never leaving his side, almost attached.

‘What is that!?’

She asked Virgil, taking a deep breath. She lifted her revolver towards the Sheriff and following him expertly, her hand moving in perfect unison with his movements. She fired. Not aiming for the Sheriff, but the thing that moved beside him, she wasn’t sure if it was even physically present, but she had to do something.

Her head snapped towards the General store, she felt dizzy and hand to hold herself up, a wave of terror and helplessness washed over her.

‘What now?’

She said to herself.

~ Elsewhere ~

Sparrow almost squealed with delight as her blade found Pattillia’s throat, but the Vampire managed to get her legs in under Sparrow and the woman was flying backwards through the air. She melted away replaced by a Crow who flew to safety, swooping towards the ground, she shifted again until she was a woman. She landed gracefully on her hooves.

‘Me, me, me, is that all you care about?’ Sparrow hissed through perfect red lips. ‘I wonder if I can bring your daddy back from the dead. I never tried. Sure I could… all skeletal and rotting’.

Sparrow said, and she laughed mercilessly, the sound ringing into the air without a trace of mirth. Patti flung the dirk at Sparrow, she didn’t expect it, but managed to dodge the attack, it struck the golden collar, instead of her chest. The woman stumbled, looking down in surprise. It manage to hit perfectly between two precious stones. The joint where the collar opened and closed was suddenly exposed. The Dirk fell harmless to the ground and the collar cracked open. Sparrow’s skin could be seen between the collar. Long thin winding white scars made brilliant but strange patterns around her throat, where the collar had rested.

Something left Sparrows eyes. She looked groggily at Pattillia, quizzically as if she was seeing her for the first time.

‘Patti?’

She said in a familiar voice, gone was the seductive, sing-song tone. She fell forwards onto her ‘knees’. She clawed feebly around her face and head.

‘Get it off my head, get it off my head, get it off my head’.

She repeated, as her eyes welled with bloody tears, leaving a red trail down her pale skin. She pulled at the tiara that sat atop her head desperately, but her hands were almost useless, she had no strength left. As her head drooped forward on her neck. Her hair tumbled down, exposing that not only was the Tiara sitting atop the woman’s head, but its fastening clips were penetrating her skull.

‘Pull it out!’

Sparrow pleaded.

[diandramoon]

Jan 19, 2017 17:47:28 GMT -5 diandramoon said:

Dressed

A frog?! For that insult alone, Annabelle was tempted to try her luck with the demons she could hear tearing their way through the town. Still, she had not lived this long because of her inability to control her impulses, and she did have an idea of self-preservation. Perhaps the woman was much more charming when she was not having to deal with monsters, and blood?

Time would tell.

The Madam wanted her to play nurse?! The scent of violence, blood, desperation, and the brimstone of the noxious gases that were releasing into the air with whatever demons were wreaking havoc clung to him. It made her tightly controlled hackles rise. “Oui, Madam, eef you insist.” She pulled the man’s arm across her shoulders, fighting back the growl that wanted to tear from her throat. “Come, Monsieur, we mus’ get zat gash seen to, no?” She helped him sit down on a stool, and pulled the kit from its hiding place.

She took some liquor, and poured a small bit onto some cloth to dab at the wound, checking for debris. “I am sorry, Monsieur, but zis weel ‘urt.” She tilted his head back, and poured some of the liquid onto the wound to make sure it was clean of germs, and particles. The poor man howled, but Anna held him firm. “Do no’ be such a baby. I know I do no’ ‘ave ze gentlest of ‘ands in ‘ealing, but you can res’ assure my maman made sure zat I could stitch a pretty line.”

She threaded the silk line into the eye of the needle, and dipped it into more liquor to make sure it was disinfected. “Now, ‘old still. I ‘ave enough to contend wit’ because of ze shaking eart’, but we do no’ want such a ‘andsome man to bleed to deat’, non?” She smiled, and carefully began to set about the work, poking into flesh when there was a momentary stillness between the cataclysmic vibrations beneath their feet.

More people began to pour in, filling the room with the stench of body odors, and the terrible smells that came with terror. “Madam, you do no’ ‘ave enough supplies for everyone.” She walked away from the freshly stitched man. “Eez zere an apothecary, or chemist shop still standing?” If it wasn’t they would have to wait until the shaking ended, and salvage what they could. “I can take clean bedsheets to dress wounds een ze meantime?”

[Madame Tamassa]

*Despite the occasional scream of terror from the latest, hapless victim, an uneasy silence had descended upon the main street of Deepdweller’s Gulch. Women ran past, their children clutched tightly to their chests or dragged behind with a mother’s iron grip. Although their faces were etched in fear, even the youngest of the children seemed to know that they needed to stay quiet to stay alive. Only the sound of Conrad’s revolvers blasting into the night pierced the silent night. Tall, relentless flames leapt to the sky, illuminating the town with a sickly orange glow as a few men tried valiantly to save the few remaining shops with a seemingly endless supply of wooden buckets filled from the nearby trough. Cat Wilson watched them from the window of the General Store, the intense cold sensation she had felt earlier thankfully over. Tightening her shawl around her shoulders, she shook her golden head in an attempt at shaking off the bad dream that still clung to her senses. She struggled to remember the specifics, but the thought of Tomas lingered at the back of her mind and she sighed as she ached to feel his arms around her once more. Convinced she had dreamt of him, she closed her eyes briefly trying to recapture any fragment of her dream that would make her feel close to him again. But although she had the sense of an almost penetrating feeling of intensity, there was no memory of Tomas and she opened her eyes reluctantly. The orange glow outside called to her, and she gathered her skirts, making her way quickly to the front door. Pulling it shut behind her, Cat ran out into the chaotic street, desperate to help.



Caelyn watched the madness unfold as she stepped down from the stoop of the Chemist. The more time she spent with Steven and Samuel, the more substance the spirits took so that now, she could actually make out their forms and features. She offered Steven a hopeful smile as she asked if he had any ideas.

"Yeah," Steven nodded. "I think so. Follow my lead, and stay out of sight." He stood up as tall as he could, looking up into Caelyn's face. His face was as brave as an 8-year-old's could be. "And be safe, okay? Alister would be real sad if you got hurt. I seen the way he looked at you." Then, with a shy smile, "I'd be real sad, too."

Caelyn blinked, slightly taken aback as Steven spoke about how Alister had looked at her. She had felt a spark pass between the two of them when they had first met but she was surpised to hear that the young brother had noticed as well. Returning his smile when he told her that he too would be sad if anything happened to her, she nodded as she stepped forward with Samuel holding on to the back of her robe. ~Likewise..~ she murmured. ~So you stay safe too..~

Steven looked back to Conrad. His brother was a whirlwind of shining steel and fiery tongues, sword spinning and slashing limbs and necks, revolver blasting orange spikes into demonic faces and bellies. Demons fell and dissolved into cinders and ash as quickly as they approached, but there were just so many. Too many. Alister fought like a demon, but he couldn't take them all. He soon fell back, leaping atop a wagon as the enemies pressed in from all sides.

Steven darted out into the street, slipping unseen through the crowd. He walked confidently through the demonic horde, passing through the monsters as easily as he would through a door or a mortal. Caelyn tried to stick to him as closely as she could. Although she could see through the different planes, she was limited in her mortal form and had to fight off the demons and spirits that seemed attracted to her magical essence more than usual. Her eyes met a tall dark demon, his glowing red eyes widening in shock as he felt her power radiating off her. Too late, he realised his mistake and turned to flee but was resorted to a pile of dust that blew away in the wind as Caelyn’s lips moved in a steady stream of Latin.

The Star Ball blazed brighter as Steven approached his brother, needle-thin lights lancing out into the darkness, passing through the assembled demons like shadows. He stood before the wagon, staring up at Alister. His ghostly muscles tensed, and Steven gripped the Star Ball with shaking hands.

Finally, that anger exploded out at the beast that possessed Alister Conrad's body. "Get out of my brother, you bastard!" Steven howled, and with all the might his little body could muster, he hurled the Star Ball into his brother's face. It sped forward like a cannonball, smashing into his cheek and sending the sheriff reeling. The ball bounced back, and Steven instinctively held out his hand, which the Star Ball obligingly dropped itself into with a slap. Conrad glanced about wildly, searching for the source of the attack. Steven shrieked and hurled the ball again, and it stuck his brother on the forehead before returning to his outstretched hand.

Conrad screamed in rage and sliced another demon in two, then turned and blasted another demon clear through. Then, with a supernatural display of strength, Conrad leaped from the back of the wagon onto the roof of the Sheriff's office, where he battled back several flying beasts before turning to scan the crowd of demons below. He fired another shot into the horde, then his eyes fell upon the Star Ball.

"Look!" Steven shouted, waving the ball back and forth. "Look here, Hell-spawn!" and he hurled the ball once more. Conrad deflected the ball with his sword, furiously searching for the source of the attacks, revolver tracking the Star Ball as it came to rest in Steven's invisible hand. The smallest Conrad ducked behind the wagon, with the ball raised above his head. He knew that if his brother's aim was true, the blessed fire it spat would obliterate him utterly.

"Now!" Steven screamed, eyes clenched tight in fear even as he held the ball aloft for to hold Conrad's attention. "Do it now, please!" he begged, voice strained in terror. "Save my brother!"

Caelyn nodded and stepped forward, throwing the vial expertly at Conrad’s feet where it exploded against the ground, sending up a light pink spray of gas that Alister would be unable to ignore. The vapours travelled up to his nostrils and Caelyn held her breath as she prayed that he would inhale the gas.



From her viewpoint upstairs in the Saloon, Madame Tamassa watched the scene unfold beneath her. The French woman was calling up to her from the first floor and she sighed as she turned to address her. Although more and more people were filing into the Saloon, Tamassa was grateful to smell that the previous bloody wound that had prompted her bloodlust had now been patched up. Descending the staircase, she looked around at the injured and wary citizens, her eyes scanning them for injuries even as she walked over to the new woman.
~There’s a Chemist across the street… but I doubt they will have anything to help right now… lets just get everyone in here first. Then we can set about patching them up. … as long as… ~ she lowered her voice, grimacing and turning away as a woman with a gaping wound on her cheek caused the bloodlust to grab ahold of her again. ~If anyone comes in bleeding… I need you to take care of it immediately..~ Her glowing amber eyes met the woman as the veins in her cheeks burned dark black. ~I can’t have them see me like this…~ she grabbed a scarf off a passing woman and wrapped it around her dark head so that only her eyes were visible. ~Use any bed sheets you need…. Just.. take care of it, hmm?~ With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared quickly back up the stairs. *