Jason felt Lixi dragging him through the building but didn't fullly register what was happening until a few minutes after when Lixi was bandaging his arm. Pain shot up his arm and he stared, first in shock at the large cut on the inside of his wrist, and than to Lixi's face, "A little communication would be helpful about now." He heard a metal door slam, and turned his face to the noise, he didn't see anything, nor heard anything else so he as a little wary about what was happening. The silence felt heavy in the air as he turned back to Lixi, "Do you know what it is?"

{I think I might keep Sophia in the dark for a bit. Mind if I control Arminos for a bit?}

"What, that noise?" She looked at Jason with a mild confusion. "Because I'm pretty sure I know what communication is. As for the noise, I'll check on it as soon as we get you patched up here. You're bleeding pretty badly. I won't have you dying on me. Sophia would kill me." She finished tying off the makeshift bandages and stood up. Her whole body was still aching from the jar against the door. One of the slabs of plywood gave way without much resistance. The outside of it was warped and molded from the window beyond being cracked. The wood must have rotted out enough to give way. She brushed some of the dirt off the remainder of the glass pane and glanced across the street. The door to the storage unit hung open, the make shift rope hanging in half off the nob. "The doors open at the storage place. Maybe they came out, maybe someone went in, or maybe it just blew open in this storm. I can go check it out if you want me to."

Jason followed Lixi to the window and looked out, "Maube you should go check on them. You'll get there faster than I would and I can look after myself if something comes up."he smiled, "I may be a computer nerd but I can still fight. I live with Sophia after all." he shrugged and began to push Lixitowards the exit to the staircase.

{grrrrrrr shortness. I might wait for lixi to get downstairs before Sophia an arminos talk.}

((kk, sounds good. I'll have her do that when I get back from breakfast for sure. off to set that up now, if you end up having them talk first no worries)) ((back now 40 minutes later))

Lixi nodded at Jason and headed out the door, then stopped long enough to turn around and shove her butterfly knife toward him. "Here, just hang onto this until I get back. It's silver with some inscriptions that give it a little extra kick against most non human things." Without waiting for him to object she took off and headed for the stairs. She usually wasn't quite this jumpy, but her earlier assumption that something was massively close to happening hadn't subsided. Somethings going down. Whatever it is, it's big, and its close. Best be quick about this. Half way across the street she glance up at the sky and noticed the faint red hue to the lightening. The clouds themselves seemed to be turning a blackened shade of red, though it was hard to tell in the dimming night sky. It had been storming since she took her little diving flight into the river last night, and had yet to let up. "That demon was right. Isn't it just my luck to finally find some decent people right after kicking all this shit off." She hadn't realized it, but she'd spoken the words out loud. No sooner had they left her mouth then she noticed Arminos standing in the open doorway of the building with a look of grave concern on his face. "Not that I'm saying I'm happy to see you, but I certainly hope it was you that opened that door."

((I'mma throw one of my characters at y'all and see what happens. You don't have to talk to him right away.))

Martin cursed quietly under his breath, quite unfond of this part of his job. Stealing, fine. Whatever. He was good at that. Being the Boss's errand-boy? No problem. That was easy with his talents. He could do that all day and it would be an easy commission. But what he hated the most...

"'Martin, go hide the body,'" he mumbled in a mocking tone. Like that was easy. "'Just take it out to the boonies, dig a hole, and leave it there.'" And of course his answer had to be "yes, boss," or he'd be the unfortunate shmuck in the body bag. "Figures," he grumbled, sticking the blade of the shovel into the soft earth next to the abandoned storage unit hub. See, Jordan ("Boss-lady") wasn't particularly particular on where it was he was supposed to hide Lyle's dirty work ("and man, are we talking DIRTY. Ain't it worth a little bit of your time to clean the blood off? We got wet-naps." To which Lyle replied with a snide "that's YOUR job, errand-boy,") so he packed an overnight bag, zipped up the body, and headed out to this place. He'd been here before to hide stuff for a few days when it was convenient to go missing, hid out here when Adja was in one of her 'moods.' No one ever came here for more than an hour. And if they found this guy's bones... well... what was left of this guy's bones, it would be years later and the whole fiasco forgotten.

And by the time the police even catch wind of the newest missing person, you'll be long gone. A ghost; hiding in plain sight, said a voice in his head. The voice had always been with him, kind of a guide for him. He didn't want to call it his conscience because that implies a certain morality to it. This voice, a feminine voice he'd noticed, was more of an empowering influence on him. It told him that he was great, he was awesome, he was right. He had so much power, he just needed a time to use it. And he always listened to the voice because... well... who wouldn't listen to a voice of confidence when you were perceived as the bottom rung in and organization like this?

He smiled and started humming a song in a minor key, but cheerful tune. Something to drown out the sound of his shovel digging into the ground.

"Lessee," he said to himself, or perhaps the voice, "this guy is... short... what? Five-foot... three inches? I mean it has to be..." Six feet deep, "Yeah, six feet deep... but it doesn't have to be all that wide. I mean... that thing..." Rigormortis. "Yeah. That. That doesn't set in until... "Twelve hours after death. "and its only been three. I could just fold the sucker in half and save myself a couple hours of work."

He waited for an answer, but didn't get one. She did that sometimes; disappearing. It usually happened when she thought he was wasting his time on trivial things. He got the distinct feeling that she liked to think bigger, but then he felt crazy for personifying a non-entity in his head. He shrugged.

He leaned on the shovel to take a break. He had to lean further than was comfortable on account of his unusual height, which had made him look like a vulture on his most acceptable-looking days. In fact, just about everything about Martin Mayhir gave off the essence of a buzzard; from the hooked nose, to the hunched back, the slicked back hair, and a tendency to dress like a beatnik. He stomped out his cigarette with a comically-sized boot and looked thoughtfully at the sky. He thought it odd that the sky seemed a little reddish tonight. He pondered its significance for a moment, but was deterred when he saw the silver Volkwagen parked in the empty lot.

He knew that there was no one in that lot when he came in. There couldn't have been a car there. He hadn't driven. He had other means of travel. The others couldn't know where he was... so that was immediately ruled out. Someone ELSE must be squatting tonight. No, that wasn't right. The car was too nice for a squatter. Maybe someone else had found his stash? Oh hell no. That was HIS. No... once again, the car was too nice. Maybe some college kids getting their kicks?

Whoever it was, they were compromising his assignment.

He kicked the body into the hole, thinking that this would have to suffice for the time being. He could come back later and give the midget a proper disposal. He dropped the shovel and stuffed his hands in his pockets, running his fingers along his knives in preparation.

He slinked along the side of the building, hoping to catch a glimpse of them trying to break in... If they see me, this was HIM thinking now, I'll just pretend I'm from out of town and lost... people fall for that hillbilly tourist crap all the time. He waited for a response from the Voice, but she was busy thinking of bigger things.

A few meters to the corner, and...

"tak-BOOM!" He heard the noise and threw caution into the wind. The door to the building was not only open, but almost off the massive hinges that held it on. "What in the hell?" The Voice chuckled, as if he'd said the punch line to something very funny.

Hands firmly wrapped around the handles of his knives, and much against his better judgement, he entered the building. If anything was going to get him busted, it was whatever was in there. And it was better to have two bodies in the ground than 20 years in prison.

(And with that... I finally get some sleep tonight. See you folks later. xD)

{wow nice intro Hyena!! sorry if my post is short this morning. my brain is a little dead from lack of sleep}

Sophia sat, still in the same chair she had been. She couldn't move, even with all the banging outside she could not pull herself to stand, or even look in the direction. Finally standing she crossed the room, as if in a daze and walked through the whole building and even outside in the direction of the banging. Sophia, subconciously and without realising it, wanted nothing more than to get into a good fight at that point. She didn't want to admit it but Arminos was right about her, now that she really looked closer it all fit together and since her stolen kiss by him she had been having more visions about before her Falling.
Still not paying attention to where she was going she didn't register the loud banging of doors and the exclamations of the man outside the door, two blades held tightly in his hands. Bumping into him she snapped out and took a step back, eyeing the blades warily, "Sorry dude." She looked past him to the bashed in door and raised an eyebrow, "Please tell me you didn't do that!"

(Why, thank you! -small bow-)

Martin spun around, immediately ready to go on the attack. In general, this was not something he was particularly good at. He had a tendency to overshoot and have bad aim, which is why he stuck with knives. Unfortunately, he was the only one who did that. Although, it was fortunate in this situation because he could have very easily shot this person in the face.

This girl in the face. Aw man...had to make it hard. He had a soft spot, you see, for girls. Not a girl, laughed the Voice. He wasn't sure what the Voice meant by that. Nonetheless, he retracted the switchblades and stuffed them in his pockets, hoping she hadn't seen them, though he was fair certain that she had and it was too late. I'd better come up with an explanation quick, he thought. Instead, he fished in his pocket for his lighter and a cigarette.

She'd asked him a question. Of course... what was the answer?

Ah, yes. The door. He held his cigarette in his lips. "That?" He indicated the door with a nod of his head. He lit the cigarette, and in the warm glow of the fire smirked. "What if I did?" He flipped the lighter shut, shoved it back in his pocket, and inhaled.

Sophia srugged, still a little on edge from the blades, "Nothing, I just wanted to know if it was you or not." She raised an eyebrow, looking at the man she didn't think he ould have caused that much damage to the door, by himself at least. "Are there more of you?" She hoped not, that would probably mean another fight and she didn't really want that, no matter how much her brain told her she did. Watching the cigerette light up as he inhaled she couldn't help but gesture towards it, "May I have one? I haven't had one in ages." And it was true, Jason didn't like smoking so she tried to quite, but sadly that was one habit she couldn't shake off.

He fished around in his pockets for his pack, loosing one in one swift movement. He handed it to her between his fore and middle finger. And with the other hand, brought back his lighter and flicked it open. An onlooker would have seen it all as one smooth choreographed motion in 3/4 time. ONE, two three, ONE two three.

"More of who? Oh, me? Pff... naw." He let a trail of smoke stream out of his mouth. "I could be lyin' though... I could be a liar." He grinned a toothy grin. "But... naw. I didn't break that door open. Not my style. Not my style at all." Because I don't NEED to break in to get where I'm not supposed to go.

"You don't seem the type to be in these parts this late," he mentioned. Why did you say that? Now she's going to ask why you're here. And you had better come up with something quick because I'm not helping you on this one. "You a runaway or somethin'?"

Tactful.

Sophia smiled, taking the cigeretter and breathing in deeply, "No I'm not." She raisedan eyebrow, "How old do I look? Sure young but not young enough to have to run away." She laughed, "And wha type would be wondering around in these parts?" It was a welcome change to how she was acting before, now that the shock of what Arminos had said was out of her mind. "What are you doing here?"

Martin shrugged. "Beats the hell out of me." Haha, good one.

...what?

"I'd say... lookin' at yeh... 20... somethin'? Like... I dunno. 21-ish? Round thereabouts." He'd never been good at guessing ages. Some days he would look in the mirror and think: This shmoe looks friggin' 40, despite only being 26. He attributed this to paranoia and smoking. "You could be a runaway from the university. People do that, right? Or," and he leaned in, "an abusive boyfriend. Lotsa nasty boys out there, takin' advantage of pretty things like you."

You ought to be aware of just how much this isn't helping your case, Martin.

Can it.

"What am I doing here?" Oh, I can't wait to hear this. He thought up something quick. What was believeable? This, of course, was subjective. As a fan of comic books and science fiction movies, Martin had a very skewed idea of what was "believable."

"I am out here... in the middle of the night, in the rain... uh... with mud all over me because... I was..." and he said the next part without really thinking much of it at the time, "digging for treasure."

"Close. I'm 22." She smiled and took another drag, "Treasure? Yeah right." She rolled her eyes, "How dumb do you think I am? I can smell Demon on you." She tilted her head to the side, And death......?! "What were you really doing?" She squinted slightly and took another drag, there was no way she was going to fall for his bogus story.

((Sorry guys. Things have been chaos today. I'm reading all this on my phone, so if I'm wrong I'm sorry. I think sophia went out the same broken door lixi was talking to arminos in so I'm just gonna play off that and jump back in with you guys once I'm on a real computer when this calms down.))

No sooner had lixi confronted Arminos than he shushed her and pulled her just inside the door of the building and pushed her into a dark corner. shhh. Just watch for a moment Lixi. She's waking up. Let her have the interaction she's seeking. I'm curious to see how it will end up.

Sure enough, Sophia soon walked past them and out the door with a blank look on her face. Lixi almost called out to her as she walked directly up to a man with two knives who had been aproaching, but arminos laid a cautioning hand on her shoulder, urging her to stay calm. "What are you doing Arminos? You could get her killed!"

"Lixi... you know that wouldn't happen. Now please, you're the one who brough this down on them. Stop blaming me for your recklesnace!" He barked back. "Now silence yourself and watch." He pointed back toward the two, who were to lixi's surprise, just talking.[COLOR="Silver"]

Oh-ho... she smiled. He knew what that meant. Meant she was lying. Oh yes, girls smiled when they lied... if they were any good at it. I bet she's 17 and tells people she's 22 so she can drink. Yeah. That sounded right. The Voice said nothing about it, but a lingering skepticism took over his mind.

Demon? The hell is she talking about? Could have sworn I'd showered this morning. He sniffed, trying to see if he could smell what she smelled. All he could smell was mud, and the earthy musk of abandoned building. Ah, the aroma. "Well, to tell you the truth, I was hiding the body of a three-hours-dead midget with a combover and a bad credit score." He exhaled smoke, flicked the ashes from the end of his cigarette onto the damp ground. He didn't know why he was telling her the truth. He kept his hand near one of his switchblades in case she should try something funny like call the police. He didn't think she would; she was a pretty odd girl so far. If she was smart as well as odd, she wouldn't snitch. But he stuffed his hand into his pocket just the same.

"So tell me, chica. What does a 'demon' smell like?" He was aware of the patronizing tone. He didn't care. It was ridiculous anyhow.

Sophia raised an eyebrow, "A midget?" She scoffed, "Must've been some credit rating." Looking around she raised an eyebrow and smiled soflty, she could see a single foot from around the corner which looked just like Lixi's and could hear murmuring from the foot's body. Deciding not to draw attention to it she moved a little closer to the male, sniffing slightly, "I can smell it, maybe you didn't realise the midget you killed was of Demon origins." She smiled withhis question on the scent, "Almost sickly sweet, like old dying roses." She smiled depsite the obvious patronizing tone from the male, "How rude of you! You havent told me your name yet."

She seemed unsurprised, which in itself, was a bit of a surprise. He expected her to, at least, give him a judgemental look about it. That was the way his sister looked at him when she knew they'd been out on an assignment. But then, she was a goody-two-shoes and a hypocrite. Oh yeah... she could run an illegal business, but Heaven forbid he get caught up in that stuff.

But that was neither here nor there. "There's that word again. You keep sayin' it: Demon. Are you on something?"

The Voice had, for now, subsided; taking this time to assess the situation more adeptly than her corporeal counterpart. Now was not the time to be present, not with one of these creatures on the prowl. She suspected more in the area, though she didn't have the extrasensory perception that this one had. Not as strong, anyhow. This was simply logic. For now, the best thing was to stay quiet.

"Oh, and... uh... I didn't kill 'im. That is not my handiwork." He gestured with his head towards the body. Did I just see him move? No, that was impossible. He needed a second opinion, but the Voice didn't say anything. "My name is Martin," he said, extending a dirty, gloved hand.

She waved away his explanation about him not killing away with a wave of her hand as she butted the cigerette ou under her boot, "Whether you killed him or not doesn't matter to me." She raised an eyebrow, "Drugs? No I think not buddy. You have no idea what you've gotten yourself into my friend."
Martin..... Common name. Nodding slightly she held out a hand, "Sophia." She followed Marint's gaze towards the body and wathced a foot twitch slightly. Smiling a bit she looked to Martin, "Didn't I tell you? I suggest you back away a bit."

{grr I'm like dying! these posts are shit house!!!!}

"No one tells me what to do," he said, but backed away just the same. Above everything, Martin was mostly just a coward. Of course it was a lie. People always told him what to do and he did it. He just liked to live under the grand illusion that he chose to do it out of loyalty. And truth be told, he never knew what it was he got into until he was knee deep in mud, putting some midget in a hole. He usually just went with it. If he let all the weird shit get to him, he'd stop living. And at least he had company most of the time... when the Voice didn't decide to be so regrettably absent.

"Sophia... Sophia," he tried the name out. "You ain't related to a Fred, is you?" Doubtful, but even a city this size was full of... unfortunate connections.

... and then he heard a moan escape the midget. He hoped it was just gas escaping... he hoped to God it was just gas...

{LOL it wasnt gas}

Sophia tilted her head, "Fred? No I don't think so." She looked back over to the midget, still twitching and now moaning. Pulling a small dagger out from her jacket. Facing the midget she took a few steps closer and kicked the foot closest to her, flinching a little at the rotting smell of it's now cold and dead flesh. She heard another moan and the eyes snap open. Shaking her head she took a few staps back and with an eyeroll turned to Martin, "This really isn't my week! Can you fight?"

"Fight? Fight what?" He fixed his eyes on the midget. "Ooooh, no. This ain't Night of the Living Dead." He took a step back, which for a normal person would have been two, and very strongly contemplated high-tailing it out of there. But something stopped him.

You're going to have to face these things sooner or later, said the Voice, coming out of her contemplation. Martin felt like there was a weight in his feet that wouldn't let him move backwards; only forwards... Fine. But if I get turned into a zombie, you'd better be there to make sure I don't eat my sister's brains. I promise you, you will not be turned into a zombie. I better not. You won't.

"Okay... fighting," he said, having finally made a decision. "Fighting I can do." He whipped both his switchblades out of his pockets and held one in each hand. "Get away from it. Don't let it bite you!" He took a few steps forward, thinking that maybe if it recognized him, it would get away from Sophia.

"Heeeere zombie, zombie, zombie... lookit! Nice juicy brain right here." There was a mental facepalm as the Voice watched what her host body was doing.

The midget slowly moved out of the hole, shaking off the dirt and getting a feel for which way its limbs bent. There was a loud crackling sound as the bones fell back into place. Its shoulder had dislocated as per Lyle's usual method, and hung limp as the weakened demon stood. It swung like a pendulum as it walked towards him, only cementing Martin's theory that it was a zombie.

Sophia put a hand on her hip and tilted her head to the side, disgust planted squarly on her face, "Ew I hate Zombies!" She twirled the dagger around in her hand and waited to see if the Zombie would turn its attention to her, "Maybe he wants to eat your brain cause you dumped him in a ditch?" She couldn't help but laugh which resulted in a zombiefied glare from the zombie. Freezing she held the dagger up reeady but it ignored her and continued to Martin, "Wow! He really hates you dude! Do you need help?"

"Uh... " This was one of those moment where he REALLY wished he'd planned it out first. He heckled the "zombie" closer to him, giving Sophia more room to attack, so that if the half-assed plan that he DID have didn't work, there was room to improvise. But he needed it to come within range.

It was moving so slow. Martin was impatient. I don't have time for this, said the Voice, and temporarily took control of Martin's feet. He got a running start, swept an unnaturally long leg out, and hit the midget square in the ribcage, which cracked unpleasantly. It dropped to the ground and groaned, tried to scramble back up to standing, but Martin jumped and pinned him.

"I'll hold him down," he called to Sophia. "You cut his head off!"

Sophia smiled hugly, "With pleasure!" Her eyes gleamed as she knelt at the Zombie's head, driving the dagger straight through it's decaying flesh and cutting it clean off. The smell was unbearable but it was worth the smell to kill the thing. Standing up she brished mud off her knees and wiped her dagger clean of the clotting blood on the zombie's shirt, "Well that was fun." Sarcasm saturating her voice.

Martin made a face of utter disgust. Nothing like the smell of rotting flesh to ruin someone's night. This was not something he was expecting to happen. He was expecting to just bury the shmuck, hide out for a few days to make sure no one knew about it, and get back home. That was the plan.

Zombies... or... was it demons? She'd said something about demons. The gravity of the situation had become more evident tonight. And then he recalled that the sky had that unearthly red tinge to it.

He twitched and turned away from the headless corpse. "Alright, Sophia. You've got my attention. What's this business with demons you keep talkin' about? Tell me what I just got myself into." He tried very hard not to throw up.

Lixi watched in awe as the events played out before her. She watched as the dead man rose from the dirt, and as the others quickly dispatched him. Look what you've done Lixi. Look what you've started. Arminos whispered into her mind. A few moments after the thing lie still once again, she heard the new man, who seemed to be another human, ask Sophia for answers Lixi was sure she shouldn't be trying to answer yet, at least not until they knew the business of this new person. She stepped out of the building taking long strides toward the two. Something about the sky, about what she'd just witnessed, filled her with a sense of her old self. So much so that when Arminos tried to take hold of her arm to stop her from interfering in whatever if was that he was trying to watch, she simply backhanded him hard enough to knock him off balance.

"You will NOT lay a single hand on me again Arminos!" She turned back toward him, straightening up her posture to look him square in the eyes. "I've ceased to be amused by your little games. You found your precious Iliana again. Now after seeing what we just watched can you possibly tell me that is still the most pressing matter at hand?" She shouted more or less in his face before turning back and marching past Sophia and the new male. She knelt to examine what was left of the small human. The head lay still twitching, it's mouth gaping open and closed as though it were trying to make noise but lacked the air to do so. It's glossed over eyes staring out in vicious indifference. "And hell shall overflow, and the scourge of the dead shall come to walk amongst the living, alive once more, but still not living." She muttered before standing back up.

She jabbed at the head with the toe of her boot, and it instantly opened it's mouth as though trying to bite her even now in it's immobile state. Lixi lifted her knee high, and brought the heel of her boot down hard onto the head, splattering it's contents in a wide circle around it.

"Destroy the head. Always destroy the head."