Disclaimers are boring. I own everything except the music. I barely finish these stories and certainly not in a timely manner. Review with requests and maybe we can work somethin' out. ;)

This will most likely be the longest story I write as it has much to be written. I won't spend much time explaining past events when they are referenced, so don't spend too much time trying to understand, hm. Just roll with the punches, so to speak. ^.^

Quick intro then to the story, hm.

Characters:
Verek, Daemon, Gabriel, Abell, Kaleb, Cristoph, Arcane, Zain, Rei, Otonashi, Dawn (August), Dusk (Ivan), Shadow (Richard), Jacob, David Rosen, Kasumi, Komoyatsu, Helix, Arra, Tavear.

'Here we are again' , Damon thought as he held the chair defensively between himself and Gabriel with his back to a corner, 'Same as always. Nothing ever changes here. Always a fight for your life...'

Dawn lazily chewed his breakfast sausage while staring blankly at the potatoes and sauerkraut on his old partner's plate.
"Oi Ivan, you gonna eat that?" he spat pieces of sausage onto the sauerkraut on Ivan's plate purposefully.
Iva merely smiled and nodded, mixing the pieces of sausage into the sauerkraut and mashing up his potatoes.
"You never change, do you 'Gust?" he mused out loud.
"Nah, not a bit." Dawn retorted, winking as he shoveled more sausage into his already stuffed mouth.

Deep in the basement, Shadow reclined comfortably in front of a series of television screens, all showing different areas of the house.
He smirked and cracked open his soda, watching a screen of a bedroom where two figures writhed grotesquely upon a four-poster bed.
Loud screams of what one could loosely interpret as pleasure came from the headphones around Shadow's neck.
"Nothing new, but that's how he likes it, eh." he directed towards the screen, sipping his soda.

"Books, books, and more books. Then perfume, then more books, especially if they are old and really stinky!"
Taurus tapped his fingers on the stacks of books Abell was re-binding.
"Is there anything that you do besides this, Bell?" he touched the Librarian's long blond braid lovingly.
Abell took his braid from Taurus's hands.
"Young boys." was all Abell said before beginning to ignore Taurus's very presence on his desk, returning to his work and passing finished books to David so they could be re-shelved.
Taurus's face was contorted in shock and disbelief.
"Wha- WHAT! Master? Y-you can't be serious..." he barely managed to choke out before the shock stole the words from his very throat.
"Same old Taurus." David muttered quietly so no one would hear.

Mid-day. Two people at the bar as usual. 'Did they ever even leave?' Verek wondered silently to himself as he tied the strings on his apron and reached for the whiskey bottle only to find it missing.
" Sor'y, Ver'k. A'ready dr'nk tha' on'." Zain managed to slur out before attaching his face firmly to Jacob's.
"Ugh! Really, man, you've got a room for that shit!" the red-head swept into the room like a storm with Arcane in tow.
"Jealous 'cause we all know what a cold bitch you are, Arra?" Jacob bit back at the red-head.
Arcane placed her hand on Arra's shoulder to stop the woman from attacking the Egyptian.
"Watch the language, kids. Don't want a visit from Uncle, do we." she cooed.
Arra glared at Jacob, "Like Fire and Kerosene, same reaction every time."

Helix laid on his bed, staring at the ceiling fan going 'round, and 'round, and 'round.
The tips of his tattooed wings visible on his bare, muscular ribs.
'I'm handsome, good personality, self-sacrificing, strong... and straight. That seems to be where it all goes wrong.' he chewed the cap of a vodka bottle, letting its contents pour out onto the floor.
"They all said she'd leave... I should have listened. When something doesn't change you're supposed to figure it out." he picked up the bottle of whiskey and downed it in one gulp, throwing the empty bottle to the wall and hearing the glass fall like music.

Rei threw his fans up in the air and prayed in that split second that he would catch them correctly this time.
His feet were aching on the worn tatami mats; his lungs burning under the tightness of the obi he wore, and his scalp feeling as if ten-thousand needles were poking into it from how the wax held his hair in it's design.
He loved the kimono but secretly wished he didn't have to be here, now. Rei remembered all too clearly when he lived with the woman who watched him dance now, sipping tea with his new parents so coolly, as if she were the perfect example of beauty and grace.
Rei's ankles and wrists burned as ghostly reminders of how vile that woman truly was. He kept his eyes away from them all and focused only on his dancing.
Otonashi gave small encouraging smiles, he was very proud of his son's skill, as was his somewhat incompetent partner who was laughing and sharing jokes with the woman with white hair. Sometimes Komoyatsu's faked ignorance got on Otonashi's last nerve, but only because he knew just how fake it was.
"Hey Kasumi-san, rumor is that you use man's blood to paint your lips and that your tongue is more poisonous then a viper's bite, is that true?" Komoyatsu would jest, but Otonashi could almost literally see the gears turning in his head.
'Priest, folklorist, lies. That man is dangerous and possibly a bit evil... must be why I like him so much...' Otonashi blushed faintly, quickly blaming the tea for being too warm when Kasumi questioned his health.

CRACK!
He took that soft chin in his hand, pressed his cold face to that hot one, not yet daring to look into those ocean-like eyes.
"Cristoph, don't stop so soon." his brother cooed into his ear.
Letting go of Kaleb's face, he picked up the steel-tipped whip again and cracked it across his brother's back.
He hated touching that whip, but he loved his brother... loved to love his brother, and this was the only way his brother would let him love.
'Just like old times..' Cristoph bit back the painful memories and cracked the whip several more times.