As Godric appeared, he spoke words potent enough to shake me of whatever power the blood of Lillith had over me. With my mouth dripping in the life of the empty human that laid beneath me, I felt compelled to stop what I was doing and look up. Soon, I saw for myself that the fucked up concoction I'd drank tonight with the Authority's chancellors had forced me into a hazy stupor, allowing absolutely no control over my own actions, and pulled me into a deep pool of unfathomable hallucinations. I was undeniably horrified, for the naked woman who had risen from the stage before us as if it were a lake, no longer existed to my visual knowledge. Nora's view on things seemed very different as she look at thin air in confidence that a being of sorts stood before her.

My attention then turned back to Godric for further guidance, but as quickly as he'd came, the glowing figure of my late maker had vanished. Filled with a new sense of pride in knowing what must be done, I wiped my chin with the back of my hand and relinquished myself from atop the blonde lady of whose blood I'd mindlessly been feeding on. Feeling strong and full of new purpose, I moved toward Nora who continued staring senselessly up at the nonexistent Lillith. I grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet, snarling in apparent protest of her behavior. With furrowed brows, she looked at me; an angry expression drawn out on her mouth. Making a feeble and failed attempt to jerk away from me, she struggled against my stronger sense of control, trying to pull back.

"No! No! Let go of me! Lillith commands us to drink!" she shouted, trying to pull out of my grasp.

I was far too strong for her to resist and she knew it. I brought her to face me, hoping she would snap out of the madness the blood we'd so ignorantly drank caused us to have, but she was stubborn and begun jerking away from me yet again.

"Lillith is of our imagination, Nora!" I roared straight into her face, trusting she would see, as I had, the error in her thinking. But when she remained unshakable in her belief, spitting the word 'blasphemy' at me, I grasped her arm tightly and calmly dragged her across the room in search of Bill.

Shortly thereafter, I found him sitting comfortably at the bar draining a woman in her early thirties who overly smelled of strong liquor and department store perfume. He ignored my presence, but when I preceded to take away his meal, he growled viciously at me as if instigating a fight. I rolled my eyes nonchalantly, grabbing the back of his neck in domination and shoved them both out the door and into the busy streets of New Orleans.

Much to my amazement, the bright lights and crowded pavement came as a relief to my heightened senses. I sucked in a chest full of air hoping to distract myself from the weight of the heavy task before me. Dragging Nora and Bill off to the side and down a dark alley, I shoved them both against a brick wall and held them there. They seethed at me with fangs drawn out like a snake and still clearly under the blood's spell, but once my hands had left their chests, I slapped them bitch-style back into the present reality.

Bill wavered for a moment, holding the side of his cheek with mouth open like it actually had hurt him, and Nora just stared at me, rapidly blinking her deceitful little eyes.

"Do you feel better now or shall we try this again?" I said callously, a hint of sarcasm in my stern voice.

Nora carefully shook her head with pursed lips. I then looked at Bill, raising a brow as I awaiting his answer. His expression was meaningless at first, but it quickly turned into a frown once he was fully restored to a conscientious state of wellbeing.

I nodded once in satisfaction that they were once again capable of acceptable thinking. "Let's blow this fucking town."

I motioned toward the open ended street, and without a second more to lose, we shot out into the night like a rocket's red glare.