Siege suddenly felt odd and then a force took over his body and he stiffly walked out of the shop and started heading for a house four blocks away. Two blocks from the house he blacked out.

Once he regained consciousness He was in the alley beside Mensten, his hands still around the neck of a small child.

“No. nonononono. It can’t be.”Siege dropped the body and backed away from it pressing himself as best he could against the wall behind him. “NO!! HOW COULD YOU!! AHHHHH!!!!!” He bellowed at the sky. IT was true what they said about the cursed whip anyone whipped with it would be controlled by the one who whipped them. His father had done this to him.

Seige walked over to the body and rolled it over to see of the boy was still alive. He wasn’t, and Seige broke down and started crying at what his father had done to him.

"Seige?" Gin had been in the middle of conversation with him when he simply walked out. She opened the door almost as soon as it closed and poked her head out. "Seige?" She looked back at Sade and shrugged. "Do you think I should... check on him or something?" Something felt very wrong within her, and she wasn't sure what it was.

"I wouldn't worry about it," he said with a shrug.

Gin could hardly sit still and ended up pacing the shop. After she couldn't stand it anymore, she was heading toward the door.

"I'll keep your coffee warm," Sade called to her. For some reason, he felt compelled to scratch the thing's back and did so awkwardly since he wasn't sure why he wanted to.

"Thanks," she said quickly and stepped outside. No sooner had she done so than she heard his cry. When she heard the shout... she had guessed it was either Seige or someone who had discovered him, so she turned into the alley. When she saw him, she was taken aback. She had not expected to find him crying. She stood frozen in the alleyway, unsure of what to do.

Her eyes slowly traveled from Seige to a figure on the ground. "A-a boy?" She stuttered and felt her stomach twist. He didn't look alive.

"What was that?" Sade was suddenly behind her, and she nearly screamed in surprise. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," she said softly. Forcing herself to take a few steps forward, she gently called out Seige's name.

“Stay back please. Remember, the curse? Well my father can control me now that he’s found the whip again. He made me kill the boy.”Seige cried, grabbing the body and holding as he stood.

“The most disgusting thing a Cinsaid can do is kill a child. Children are supposed to be precious to us, and forhim to-” Seige, who had stopped crying and his face had gone blank, made a growling noise, shocked at the nerve of his father. “He needs to die. I’m going back soon and I’m going to kill my father.” His mind was made up and nothing would change his mind. He walked down the alley towards them gently holding the boy’s body.

"Oh Seige..." Gin rose a hand as if to stop him, but he was an eight foot Cinsaid that had just killed a boy... so the movement looked rather meek. "You... you can't do that alone. Can you? You shouldn't..." Her words came out choppy and strained.

Sade placed a hand on her shoulder and said in a low voice in her ear, "I don't think you should get involved."

"Seige, let us help you," she took a step towards him in order to block his way out of the alley.

"Us?" Sade repeated hollowly.

Seige stopped a few feet from them, the boys limp arms swaying sickeningly, and stared at Gin, “No, I can’t do it, not while the whip exists, and I shouldn’t even try, but even if I don’t succeed in killing him then at least the rest of the Cinsaids will kill him, and my sister will be Queen. She’s a little young but she’ll still be a great Queen. She'll even outlaw hunting humans I'll bet.”

Seige thought for a minute. “I need to get a hold of the two people I got banished for saving. One of them knows how to destroy the whip.” ‘One of them isn’t even human but he was still human enough for my father to get mad at me for saving.’

"I need you to move. Now." Seige told Gin forcefully.” I’m going to bury this boy at the nearest cemetery I can find.”

“Seige,” Gin began to protest, but a hand clamped down on her shoulder and jerked her out of his way. “Hey,” she growled, prying the fingers loose and turning her head to glare at Sade.

“I don’t think you should get involved,” he said softly, firmly.

She looked between her two friends desperately; her green eyes were wide and full of worry. “But…” After a short moment of distress, her shoulders fell. “Will you come back?” It came out more forceful than she had meant for it to, and it was definitely less of a question.

Seige had started to tell her that he would come back after he buried the boy when a blood curdling scream came out of a house four blocks away.

”Great, I had hoped to avoid this, but at least now I can find out where to bury the boy.”Seige mumbled to himself as he slowly walked past Gin toward the house.

When he was half way there a woman came out of the house, cried”Help!! Someone took my baby!”

Once she spotted him she ran to him, screamed” What have you done to him!” and wrenched the body away from him.

“I’m sorry.” Was all he said, wondering why she didn’t seem afraid of him and why she looked familiar. He studied her face as she sank to the ground. She had perfectly straight, white teeth, eyes so black they looked pupiless, a softly tanned skin, and long black hair that had a redish tint when the light touched it. Realizing her child was dead; she looked at him with a look of pure grief and opened her mouth to speak.

Unable to believe what his mind was telling him he blurted one word cutting the woman off.

“Mom?”

The scream made Gin’s skin crawl. She wrenched away from Sade to follow Seige, though at a safe distance. The coffee house owner looked around him and then grudgingly followed her. “I really think we should go back inside my café and leave this alone,” his whispered to her.

“No way,” she hissed back and grabbed his hand, dragging him alone so that he had no choice in the matter.

The woman surprised her because she didn’t back away from Seige or scream or question his appearance. She wondered how he planned to explain the dead child and how he was going to explain himself and… then, one word broke through her frantic thoughts.

“Mom?” Sade questioned it for her. They looked between each other with wide eyes.

“No way…”

Seige sank down to her level and grabbed her face with both hands, angling her face up so he could see properly. “Mom? I thought you were dead?” Siege wanted to hug her but was afraid that if he did she would disappear.”Velige? It’s me, Seige. Father told us the humans killed you.”

Once Velige recognized her son, she launched herself at him hitting him and scratching him and doing anything she could to cause him the pain she felt, sobbing. “You animal!! How could you?! How could you kill a child?!”

Seige just let her wear herself out before hugging her and saying “I didn’t do, he made me. He found Pijn and used it on me and now he can control me. Ziekte made me do it.”
“But why Todlich?”

“I don’t know but come on we need to bury him, before it’s too late for his soul.” Seige picked the boy up and waited for his mother to follow his lead.

Gin hesitated. Sade gripped her hand tightly; his knees locked as if he would not let her move. “I don’t like this,” he said again and again but finally let her lead, following the Cinsaid, his mother, and the dead boy. They remained several meters behind, though, not wanting to disturb the sad procession.

She looked back at Sade once and mouthed the words “thank you”. He only nodded, his lips creased in a frown. He wasn’t happy about all this, but at least he hadn’t dragged her back to the coffee shop.

Seige turned around, his eyes swimming again, to look for Gin and Sade, once he spotted them he told them” We’re going to bury Todlich and then come back, if you want to come with us, my mother would like your company more than mine as she prefers human company to Cinsaids. If you don’t want to come then we’ll see you in a few hours, maybe longer.”

Then added for Sade's sake, remembering his reaction to seeing him for the first time "She's practically human, I don't think she has a Cinsaid form anymore."

He turned back around and started walking. Alone or with three other people, either way, he was going to bury the boy, he didn’t care who was with him.

“I’m sorry I hurt you.” Velige told him, looking at the deep gouges from her nails and the bruises starting to blossom across his chest.

“Mmm. You didn’t mean it.” Was his reply.

Gin wasn’t sure if she should try to say anything to Seige’s mother. The usual “I’m sorry for your loss” seemed so dry and not very heartfelt. Saying “I’m so sorry your son killed a kid” was out, too. For obvious reasons. Hopefully just being there would be enough. Although, she was mainly there to keep an eye on Seige. As they walked, her hand slipped away from Sade’s. Thankful to be free of her crushing grip, he massaged his hand but kept close.

Velige, wanting to be near humans dropped back from Seige and walked just close enough to them for company, but far enough to give them their space.

“I left Zeikte because I was tired of fighting with him about how barbarically he treated people.” She laughed, talking to no one in particular. ”I wanted to escape but still be able to watch what he was doing, so I had my teeth changed, and my skin bleached, so I could live like a human. But I forgot about him, and married another man. I forgot to watch for him.” She couldn’t believe how stupid she had been to think that he wouldn’t find her again.

Siege had been so intent on trying to hear what his mother was saying that he almost walked past the sign for the cemetery he had found earlier. The sign read Repos, Ingress, and Purnix Cemetery “We’re here.”He announced, turning around to face his mother, Gin and Sade.

“I… I’m so sorry,” was all Gin could say after Velige finished speaking.

As they reached the cemetery, Sade drew back a little. “I don’t think this is such a good idea.” Gin immediately turned to glare at him. He shrugged. “I don’t think you can just bury someone here. Don’t they keep records? So you need permiss…”

She slapped his stomach and he shut up. “Not a good time,” she said through her teeth.

“I’m not planning to bury him in the cemetery, but behind it. He’ll be near the forest but still in the city.”Seige turned back around and walked into the cemetery, carefully picking his way through tombstones and crypts.

Passing one that caught his attention, he paused to stare. It was a ten foot tall white marble statue of a man holding a walking stick in one hand and a soccer ball sized spider made of black onyx in the other, with a granite crow perched on his shoulder. Jonathan Cronlix was all the statue said.

Committing the name on the statue to memory he walked on, reaching the six foot tall wodden fence at the back of the cemetery he climbed over it, gently set Todlich down, and helped his mother over the fence.

Figuring Sade wouldn’t want his help he ignored the man and asked Gin “Do you need help getting over?”

Gin grabbed hold of Sade’s hand once again as they walked through the cemetery. She didn’t like the idea of dead people being below their feet. Besides, there were too many shadows and too many things to hide behind.

“Yes,” she said simply to Seige with a nod.

Grumbling, Sade shrugged. “I guess I’ll just wait here.”

Seige ignoring his mother, who had begun to sob loudly, began to dig a hole with his feet, all eight of them. Once he had a properly sized hole, he put Todlich in the bottom, whispering “I’m sorry.” He then stood and looked around.

“Does anyone have anything to say?” He asked looking at Velige.

Seige walked to the forest his head ducked in shame as he looked for a rock that would work for a grave marker.

Velige walked over to the edge of the grave and looked down into it, her face a stiff mask of grief and shock tears running down face off her nose to land in the grave. She knelt there and looked at the boy for a few minutes, when she tried to speak all that came out was a choked gurgle. She stood, turning away from the hole in the ground, choking back tears.

Seige returned and replaced the dirt to the grave and pressed the rock he had found down into the dirt.

Crossing the fence again, he helped his sobbing mother back over the fence, and then put his hand out for Gin.

Gin remained silent during the burial with her eyes cast downward. Even as she took Seige’s hand to go back over the fence, she didn’t say a word. A mixture of remorse and confusion filled her over the boy she hadn’t even known.


Sade’s Adventure

A breeze pricked the back of Sade’s neck and wove its way into his dark hair. “I need a haircut,” he growled to himself, more to fill the silence as he ran a hand through his hair. He turned. It felt safer to have his back to the fence. The waxing moon, just a quarter of its full glory, produced just enough light for him to see the outlines of the gravestones and the faint shadows of names carved into them. Short, stubby crypts rose here and there between the markers, some of which were nearly falling apart from having been there for so long.

He thought of the dead, rotting beneath the earth. The thought did little to dissuade the goose bumps growing on his skin. “Creepy bastards,” he muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets. His fingers brushed the edge of a packet of cigarettes. “Ah-ha… that’s what I need.” He pulled it out and slid one between his fingers with a practiced single movement. As he lit it, the flame gleaming in his dark umber eyes, he saw movement between a taller vault and a series of tightly lined grave markers. With a grunt, he sucked on the cigarette and then exhaled, a line of bluish smoke rising into the night around his face. He held it at his side as he walked slowly, curiously towards the movement. The end glowed dully, its sickening smoke curling up as leisurely as he walked.

“Hey,” he said, peeking around the wall of the mausoleum casually.

A man, hunched over an open grave paused and looked up. “Whoa!” He leapt back a step and brandished a shovel. “Back off! I was here first!”

“What the hell?” Sade asked calmly before taking another drag on the cigarette. Playing it cool, Sade, playing it cool.

“I was here first, I said.” He stepped forward with the shovel and drew back as if to swing it, but its weight made him clumsy.

“Man, you are on stupid ass punk.” He shook his head and advanced, the cigarette now perched in the corner of his lips. The man threw the shovel aside and raised a golden spatula with a crazed grin. “Okay, that’s just not threatening.” He held up his hands mockingly and then, without further notice, slugged the guy in the face.

With an oof, the man fell back, his nose bleeding. “Please don’t kill me!” He pleaded.

Sade raised a brow, but then decided to go along with it. “Don’t worry,” he cracked his knuckles, “I’ll do worse.”

“Please!” The man shrank back further. “I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” He asked. The man nodded. “Fine. Give me the spatula and get the hell out of here.”

“Fine!” And he did.

Seige had just gotten Gin over the fence when a large grey blur that screamed “Seige!! Ol’ buddy!!” hit him knocking him to the ground.

When Seige got himself righted again he looked up to see a six foot tall man with blonde hair and eyes such a bright green it made your eyes want to bleed just looking at them. “Zink? What are you doing here?”

“Um… I’m in a graveyard…with a shovel.” He lifted it up even with his shoulder and pointed at it.”What do you think I’m doing?” he jeered.

Gin flinched as soon as she landed. If it hadn’t been for the mention of Seige’s name, she might have thought they were being attacked. Seeing Seige get knocked to the ground gave her second thoughts. Confused, she watched the two silently for a moment.

“Grave robbing?” Her eyes widened. “You’re robbing graves?” She burst forward and grabbed hold of the shovel handle. “You can’t do that!”

“Uh. Yes I can!! If I don’t get caught!!” bobbing his head like an angry teenager as he spoke, he peeled her hand off the handle, accidentally knocking her down. “Oh. Sorry.” He said dryly.

“Anyway, it’s my Great Uncle’s grave, and he was a horrible person, so it’s ok.”

“You’re a jerk!” She gasped, rising to her feet and slapping him across the face in a fluid movement. Her cheeks were red and burning with anger. “I don’t care what dead person you’re robbing… it’s—it’s NOT OKAY! And if you ever knock me over again, I’ll murder you… you… you ass!”

“She means it.” Sade said as he appeared beside Zink, tossing his cigarette to the ground as he did. A memory came to mind at Gin’s words.


Another Sade Adventure

Gin sniffed the air and turned to Sade, her eyes glistening and demonic. “Are you smoking again?” She said it so coldly, he actually lowered the cigarette from his mouth.

“Yes?” He placed it back between his lips and took a long drag, exhaling the smoke slowly.

She burst up from where she sat and stormed to him. “Damn it Sade! It’s going to kill you!” She ripped the cigarette from his mouth and tore it in half. “If you ever smoke again in front of me… I’ll kill you!” She threw it in his face and turned on her heel to walk away.

He smoothly pulled another cigarette out from his pocket and flicked the switch on his lighter. “Never said anything about behind you…”

Seige watched Gin and Zink and chuckled quietly. Letting a soft “Hey.” Leave his lips when Gin slapped Zink.

“Whoa. It’s the only thing I know how to do.” He told her, suddenly mad, he advanced on her, jabbing her in the chest, “It’s not like it’s your uncle is it? You don’t know what he was like!!” It wasn’t really his uncle but one of Zink’s decedents, a particularly nasty one, who was buried with a crystal that he needed.

Seige not liking where the conversation was going picked Zink up and set him on his back. “Sit down, shut up, and don’t move. She’s my friend and you’re not allowed to hurt her.” He told Zink angrily, jabbing a finger at him.

He turned around, looking for Velige. He found her still standing where he left her, he picked her up and set her in front of Zink, turned around and told Zink. “Don’t let her fall off or I’ll rip your head off.”

Zink looked Seige in the eyes and said”You can try.”

“OK.”Seige turned back around, looked at the two and jokingly said “Anyone want a ride?”

Gin was simmering and glaring at Zink as if she wanted to raise all hell to bring him down. She hardly comprehended the friend comment.

“Calm down,” Sade said in a low voice against her ear as he put his hand on her shoulder. He looked up at Seige and laughed at his joking offer.

She sniffed at the air a little and turned on him. “You were smoking!” She slapped him.

He rubbed his cheek. “Friendly tonight, aren’t we?”

Seige watched them both. “GIN!! Please stop slapping people!!” He yelled, his voice booming like thunder.

“Really!! You need to stop slapping people or you’re going in time out with the rest of the people on my back!”He continued loudly, stooping down to her level.

“Yeah!! You stinking snot!!” Zink yelled childishly.

Seige twisted around to face Zink. “I told you to not say anything.” He warned.

“Oops, sorry.”

Turning to face them, he told Gin. “Anyway, I’m serious."