Ok, like I promised before, I'm rewriting the entire series. Angel's tears
will replace Purgatory and hopefully be a lil' less confusing than
Purgatory. This story is a lead up to Shadow Knight. Note-This is a
rewrite, so I'm keeping the stuff I think is good, throwing out the stuff I
think is bad and adding stuff as well. Hope u enjoy. Thankies for bearing
with me.
Jakathi
Fates
Some debts can never be repaid
1 From the Harvester's Journal
Mexico City, 300 years ago:
Soralis carefully lowered the Nephilim down on the small cave's floor, her face a mask of grief and pain. The seer had disappeared over four weeks ago from the monastery that had sheltered him. She had followed the trail to Mexico City and the Spanish Governor's personal, spell-warded dungeons. After a vicious battle with the guards, she and Erik escaped, closely followed by the Spaniards.
"Erik, please don't die," she whispered as she knelt beside him. She could feel the Spaniards closing in on their hiding place.
He smiled up at her as he stroked back a stray lock of hair that fell across her face. "Don't little cat, it's time," he said softly as she gathered power around her, power that would heal him.
"No it's not," she replied vehemently.
He let his hand fall back and she gently took it in her own. He sighed. It was only fifty years since she had risen to the twelfth circle of the Shadowlord hierarchy. When she had attained that rank, she also had become by default, the virtual ruler over every true garou and shape-shifter on the planet.
As the Shadowlord holding Earth, she was also the protector of humanity and defended the planet against all outside threats. She had already proven her competence in every role she had taken, thus far. He hoped that she would be able to handle the role she was about to receive.
"I'm sorry Soralis, this is what god wants," he said, his eyes shifting, taking on a silvery, inhuman luminescence.
"No," she whispered. "NO!"
"Not even you can stop fate," he whispered and laughed. His laughter turned into a racking cough that shook his bruised and torn body. "We'll meet again," he promised as he reached up and tugged her down. He kissed her and the luminescence faded from his eyes. Soralis sobbed as he died in her arms.
***
SloanVille Present Time:
Soralis sighed as she hunched over her coffee. Winter had hit hard in this part of the country and it was bitterly cold outside. She glanced outside and scowled. Snow. Christ, why did I have to come here? But she had no choice in the matter. None at all.
A trail of bodies; mangled, mutilated and burned past all identification had led her from Los Angeles to here. And the killer was after more than mere pleasure from the pain of others. She winced as pain hit her, immobilizing her.
Far below her, behind a podium was a man, a man dressed in robes. Shaolin? She asked herself. Oh hell, it's the Dahli Llama! She realized as he jerked backwards, falling to the ground. Something drew her gaze to the catwalks in front of her. A creature clothed in black lowered a metallic tube from his mouth and grinned at her before fading back into the darkness.
Soralis cursed softly as the vision faded and she focused on her newspaper. Dahli Llama to speak today in City Forum
***
Cain waved his hand over the still waters of the fishpond, revealing the wavering image of a woman with white hair and strange gold eyes. He could feel the power pulsing beneath her skin, despite the layers of darkness she shielded herself with. He felt a wave of pity for this woman; she was in a great deal of pain, pain she hid from the rest of the world. She vanished into the blinding white of the falling snow. Within the falling snow, a crescent moon appeared, surrounded by a nimbus of softly glowing light.
"Hmm, A Shadowlord? Interesting." The vision flickered, shifting into a symbol for Maat, with an owl and crow hovering on both sides of the scale.
"The Isisethren? How?" he asked as the water of the fishpond shivered, revealing the image of two dragons, intertwined. Overhead, lightning cracked in the storm clouds and soft thunder boomed around him. Cain's eyes widened and he lowered his eyes in reverence.
***
Soralis crouched in the darkness of the catwalks overlooking the auditorium's stage. She was dressed in dark jeans, turtleneck and boots and she was swathed in a black duster that concealed the sword strapped to her back. She gazed down at the crowd of police and Shaolin, before scanning the catwalks around her. Nothing. Something drew her back down again and she smiled as she recognized a familiar face. "Well, well, well Kermit. Still favoring sunglasses after all these years?" she laughed softly to herself.
***
Brazil, fifteen years ago:
"Hurry, they're right behind us!" Jack O'Neil shouted as Soralis and Griffin ducked behind some pillars in the old monastery. Terrorists armed with explosives and automatics converged upon the trio.
"Tell me something I don't know." She muttered as she checked the magazine from the gun.
"How many do you have left?" she asked Griffin, who was hiding behind a pillar to her right.
"Not enough!"
"These guys aren't known for their polite manners kid," he shouted. "If you got any leftovers, use them!"
Soralis scowled and gazed at the stone roof. It was barely supported by rotting, wooden beams. "Get outta here! I'm gonna blow it!" she shouted as she closed her eyes, summoning the power that lay deep within her mind.
The two men leveled a barrage of gunfire at the on-coming terrorists and threw themselves out into the open air. Behind them, the building exploded, taking most of the terrorists with it.
"You think she made it out?" Jack O'Neil asked Griffin as they ran into the jungle.
"No one could have survived that blast." Kermit replied breathlessly.
***
She sighed and winced as she looked past him at the man he was talking to. He was older, dressed casually. The man seemed disturbed by something and kept glancing towards the catwalks as if sensing her presence. She shrank back into the darkness and drew it around her, letting it cloak her completely.
She could feel his mind probing the darkness as if searching for something. Gifted. Great. Just what I don't need. She thought as she shielded herself against his mental probes.
The police began directing the civilians to seats and the auditorium quieted as the Dahli Llama entered the room, surrounded by his own personal bevy of high-ranking priests. She kept a careful eye on the shadows around her, knowing that if she could entered unnoticed by the police, something else could too.
The Dahli Llama stepped up to the podium and began talking. She was only half-listening to him, when she heard soft movement behind her. Soralis whirled, slamming whatever, whoever it was behind her into the wall. From her clenched fist, two adamintium claws popped out with a wet, metallic sounding hiss and pinned the individual between them. A third popped out and gently pricked the person's throat.
As her eyes cleared, she saw that it was the older man Kermit had been talking to. He wasn't trying to fight her and she scowled as she withdrew the third claw so he could breath more easily.
"Who are you?" she hissed.
"Cain. I'm not the enemy," he replied softly, reasonably as he showed her the brands on his arms.
"Saa. Shaolin," she murmured. Her head jerked up as she heard frightened screams.
"DAMNIT!" she shouted.
"It's happening!" she screamed as she saw the assassin on another catwalk. She jerked her hand free from the wall and turned towards the assassin.
"NO! I'll take care of him!" Cain told her. "Get to the Dahli Llama, you can save him!" he said as he jumped to the other catwalk, landing neatly and disappeared into the darkness, going after the shadow assassin.
Soralis breathed deeply, bracing herself for the pain and raised her hand towards the opposite catwalk. A metallic chain shot out from her hand and wrapped itself around the railing. She jumped, the chain trailing after her, slowing her descent. She landed and the chain retracted into her hand.
She paid no notice to the quickly healing wound on her hand and knelt before the fallen Shaolin. She cursed as she fumbled for the pouch attached to her belt, not noticing the police converging on her and the Dahli Llama.
"Freeze lady!" a young man shouted as he pointed his gun at her. His companions followed suit.
She held out her hands in supplication. "Do you want him to live?" she asked seriously. "I can save him if you'll let me. If you don't, he will die."
The young man looked at her searchingly. She could feel a clumsy attempt at a probe that she easily deflected and he sighed as he holstered his weapon. His eyes were slightly unfocused and she knew that he was seeing something that his fellows could not. She smiled as she let the some of the darkness she shielded herself fall away. He blinked and paled. "Put up your weapons," he ordered.
"Peter!" one of the female officers shouted in shock.
"Do it!" he commanded. They reluctantly obeyed.
"Can you really help him?" he asked as they both knelt before the Dahli Llama.
"Yes, it's Lanotherin poison." She murmured as she examined the priest.
"What's that?" he asked as she took out a small vial filled with a greenish looking fluid from her pouch.
"Antidote. If I don't give this to him, his insides will turn to liquid," she replied.
Peter winced. "How do you happen to have the antidote?" he asked as she carefully dripped some of the foul-looking fluid into the Llama's mouth.
"I found someone who knew how to make the counter and beat the crap out of him until he told me." She said off-handedly as she capped the flask and returned it to the pouch.
She grinned at his shocked expression. "He deserved it. Trust me." She said as the Llama began to stir.
His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Who?" he asked weakly.
"Shhh. Don't talk," she said. "The antidote takes time to work." She told him softly.
He smiled and closed his eyes.
Cain came up and knelt beside her. "Is he?"
"He'll recover." She looked at him. "The assassin?"
"Dead," he replied. "He committed suicide."
"Ahh." She said as they moved out of the para-medics way.
"Miss?" Peter asked quietly. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to give your statement."
She grinned. "I figured as much." she said and ran her fingers through silver-white hair. "Lead the way."
They walked out of the auditorium.
Jakathi
Fates
Some debts can never be repaid
1 From the Harvester's Journal
Mexico City, 300 years ago:
Soralis carefully lowered the Nephilim down on the small cave's floor, her face a mask of grief and pain. The seer had disappeared over four weeks ago from the monastery that had sheltered him. She had followed the trail to Mexico City and the Spanish Governor's personal, spell-warded dungeons. After a vicious battle with the guards, she and Erik escaped, closely followed by the Spaniards.
"Erik, please don't die," she whispered as she knelt beside him. She could feel the Spaniards closing in on their hiding place.
He smiled up at her as he stroked back a stray lock of hair that fell across her face. "Don't little cat, it's time," he said softly as she gathered power around her, power that would heal him.
"No it's not," she replied vehemently.
He let his hand fall back and she gently took it in her own. He sighed. It was only fifty years since she had risen to the twelfth circle of the Shadowlord hierarchy. When she had attained that rank, she also had become by default, the virtual ruler over every true garou and shape-shifter on the planet.
As the Shadowlord holding Earth, she was also the protector of humanity and defended the planet against all outside threats. She had already proven her competence in every role she had taken, thus far. He hoped that she would be able to handle the role she was about to receive.
"I'm sorry Soralis, this is what god wants," he said, his eyes shifting, taking on a silvery, inhuman luminescence.
"No," she whispered. "NO!"
"Not even you can stop fate," he whispered and laughed. His laughter turned into a racking cough that shook his bruised and torn body. "We'll meet again," he promised as he reached up and tugged her down. He kissed her and the luminescence faded from his eyes. Soralis sobbed as he died in her arms.
***
SloanVille Present Time:
Soralis sighed as she hunched over her coffee. Winter had hit hard in this part of the country and it was bitterly cold outside. She glanced outside and scowled. Snow. Christ, why did I have to come here? But she had no choice in the matter. None at all.
A trail of bodies; mangled, mutilated and burned past all identification had led her from Los Angeles to here. And the killer was after more than mere pleasure from the pain of others. She winced as pain hit her, immobilizing her.
Far below her, behind a podium was a man, a man dressed in robes. Shaolin? She asked herself. Oh hell, it's the Dahli Llama! She realized as he jerked backwards, falling to the ground. Something drew her gaze to the catwalks in front of her. A creature clothed in black lowered a metallic tube from his mouth and grinned at her before fading back into the darkness.
Soralis cursed softly as the vision faded and she focused on her newspaper. Dahli Llama to speak today in City Forum
***
Cain waved his hand over the still waters of the fishpond, revealing the wavering image of a woman with white hair and strange gold eyes. He could feel the power pulsing beneath her skin, despite the layers of darkness she shielded herself with. He felt a wave of pity for this woman; she was in a great deal of pain, pain she hid from the rest of the world. She vanished into the blinding white of the falling snow. Within the falling snow, a crescent moon appeared, surrounded by a nimbus of softly glowing light.
"Hmm, A Shadowlord? Interesting." The vision flickered, shifting into a symbol for Maat, with an owl and crow hovering on both sides of the scale.
"The Isisethren? How?" he asked as the water of the fishpond shivered, revealing the image of two dragons, intertwined. Overhead, lightning cracked in the storm clouds and soft thunder boomed around him. Cain's eyes widened and he lowered his eyes in reverence.
***
Soralis crouched in the darkness of the catwalks overlooking the auditorium's stage. She was dressed in dark jeans, turtleneck and boots and she was swathed in a black duster that concealed the sword strapped to her back. She gazed down at the crowd of police and Shaolin, before scanning the catwalks around her. Nothing. Something drew her back down again and she smiled as she recognized a familiar face. "Well, well, well Kermit. Still favoring sunglasses after all these years?" she laughed softly to herself.
***
Brazil, fifteen years ago:
"Hurry, they're right behind us!" Jack O'Neil shouted as Soralis and Griffin ducked behind some pillars in the old monastery. Terrorists armed with explosives and automatics converged upon the trio.
"Tell me something I don't know." She muttered as she checked the magazine from the gun.
"How many do you have left?" she asked Griffin, who was hiding behind a pillar to her right.
"Not enough!"
"These guys aren't known for their polite manners kid," he shouted. "If you got any leftovers, use them!"
Soralis scowled and gazed at the stone roof. It was barely supported by rotting, wooden beams. "Get outta here! I'm gonna blow it!" she shouted as she closed her eyes, summoning the power that lay deep within her mind.
The two men leveled a barrage of gunfire at the on-coming terrorists and threw themselves out into the open air. Behind them, the building exploded, taking most of the terrorists with it.
"You think she made it out?" Jack O'Neil asked Griffin as they ran into the jungle.
"No one could have survived that blast." Kermit replied breathlessly.
***
She sighed and winced as she looked past him at the man he was talking to. He was older, dressed casually. The man seemed disturbed by something and kept glancing towards the catwalks as if sensing her presence. She shrank back into the darkness and drew it around her, letting it cloak her completely.
She could feel his mind probing the darkness as if searching for something. Gifted. Great. Just what I don't need. She thought as she shielded herself against his mental probes.
The police began directing the civilians to seats and the auditorium quieted as the Dahli Llama entered the room, surrounded by his own personal bevy of high-ranking priests. She kept a careful eye on the shadows around her, knowing that if she could entered unnoticed by the police, something else could too.
The Dahli Llama stepped up to the podium and began talking. She was only half-listening to him, when she heard soft movement behind her. Soralis whirled, slamming whatever, whoever it was behind her into the wall. From her clenched fist, two adamintium claws popped out with a wet, metallic sounding hiss and pinned the individual between them. A third popped out and gently pricked the person's throat.
As her eyes cleared, she saw that it was the older man Kermit had been talking to. He wasn't trying to fight her and she scowled as she withdrew the third claw so he could breath more easily.
"Who are you?" she hissed.
"Cain. I'm not the enemy," he replied softly, reasonably as he showed her the brands on his arms.
"Saa. Shaolin," she murmured. Her head jerked up as she heard frightened screams.
"DAMNIT!" she shouted.
"It's happening!" she screamed as she saw the assassin on another catwalk. She jerked her hand free from the wall and turned towards the assassin.
"NO! I'll take care of him!" Cain told her. "Get to the Dahli Llama, you can save him!" he said as he jumped to the other catwalk, landing neatly and disappeared into the darkness, going after the shadow assassin.
Soralis breathed deeply, bracing herself for the pain and raised her hand towards the opposite catwalk. A metallic chain shot out from her hand and wrapped itself around the railing. She jumped, the chain trailing after her, slowing her descent. She landed and the chain retracted into her hand.
She paid no notice to the quickly healing wound on her hand and knelt before the fallen Shaolin. She cursed as she fumbled for the pouch attached to her belt, not noticing the police converging on her and the Dahli Llama.
"Freeze lady!" a young man shouted as he pointed his gun at her. His companions followed suit.
She held out her hands in supplication. "Do you want him to live?" she asked seriously. "I can save him if you'll let me. If you don't, he will die."
The young man looked at her searchingly. She could feel a clumsy attempt at a probe that she easily deflected and he sighed as he holstered his weapon. His eyes were slightly unfocused and she knew that he was seeing something that his fellows could not. She smiled as she let the some of the darkness she shielded herself fall away. He blinked and paled. "Put up your weapons," he ordered.
"Peter!" one of the female officers shouted in shock.
"Do it!" he commanded. They reluctantly obeyed.
"Can you really help him?" he asked as they both knelt before the Dahli Llama.
"Yes, it's Lanotherin poison." She murmured as she examined the priest.
"What's that?" he asked as she took out a small vial filled with a greenish looking fluid from her pouch.
"Antidote. If I don't give this to him, his insides will turn to liquid," she replied.
Peter winced. "How do you happen to have the antidote?" he asked as she carefully dripped some of the foul-looking fluid into the Llama's mouth.
"I found someone who knew how to make the counter and beat the crap out of him until he told me." She said off-handedly as she capped the flask and returned it to the pouch.
She grinned at his shocked expression. "He deserved it. Trust me." She said as the Llama began to stir.
His eyes opened and he looked at her. "Who?" he asked weakly.
"Shhh. Don't talk," she said. "The antidote takes time to work." She told him softly.
He smiled and closed his eyes.
Cain came up and knelt beside her. "Is he?"
"He'll recover." She looked at him. "The assassin?"
"Dead," he replied. "He committed suicide."
"Ahh." She said as they moved out of the para-medics way.
"Miss?" Peter asked quietly. "I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to give your statement."
She grinned. "I figured as much." she said and ran her fingers through silver-white hair. "Lead the way."
They walked out of the auditorium.