it gets back into character focus at the hr

Moebius stared at me as I stood gasping and whimpering against the door. "This place is evil!" I shrieked.

"She who consorts with unnatural creatures does not recognize what evil is," Moebius said as he bent back to his task.

"Speak for yourself, squid worshipper," I spat as I dropped the salvaged parts on the floor. "May this place fall into the sea." In hindsight, I saw that I overreacted. If Magnus wasn't an illusion, I doubt I would've gotten away unscathed.

"It is almost complete," Moebius declared. "Have you found a way to power the spell?"

"Don't worry about it," I replied. "By the way, let Malek stay the way he was before you fucked up his life."

"I could put everyone at that stage," Moebius said thoughtfully. "It certainly would take less energy."

I could see that if I let Moebius do that, everyone would be mortal. Though that would be an interesting adventure, I decided that I missed having them as vampires. "You will return everyone else to the way they were before you came here."

Moebius frowned as he adjusted the mechanism. "I want protection from them."

I rolled my eyes. "You're in no position."

Moebius stared at me critically. I flexed the sinous lines of force I had placed in his mind, reminding Moebius of his situation.

I was too close to this problem. Even for Moebius, it was hard not to be soft. "You said that exhile is preferable to death."

"Very well," Moebius said, sensing that a deal had been struck. "It is ready."

Since coming to Nosgoth, I had learned that my Author status granted me godlike powers, but they were limited in that my avatar form would be weakened by their use. Simply changing everyone's form to suit my wishes would have been too much of a strain, but I knew I could handle the amount of energy neccesary to help Moebius reverse what he had done.

I tightened my binds within his mind, but I didn't spare any energy in scaring him further. What he had seen as tenticles before now resolved into cords, but it was a reminder that I would see if he tried any deceit.

Though Moebius had insisted that his lost guardianship had left him with only knowledge, he still was a skilled socerer. I felt that he was manipulating the controls on his machine with force of will as well as with his hands. The strain was great, but I could feel that it was working.

When the spell was complete, I used the last of my gathered energy to open a seam in reality. I grabbed Moebius by the robes and dragged him through. We fell through the nothingness behind reality, and I kicked the timestreamer away from me. I knew where he would land. I appeared in my own home, hitting the stone floor with a solid smack.

I groggily blinked to see Kain and Vorador standing over me. They did not look happy. However, they recognized the signs that I had overtaxed myself and so carried me into the kitchen. Vorador sat next to me in the breakfast nook and held me upright. Even vampires had standards of what was gross, and so he used a handkerchief to staunch my nosebleed instead of lapping the blood off my face.

I closed my eyes against the migrane and listened to Kain banging around in the cupboards. He knew that I needed a restoritive. "Where is Moebius?" he asked.

"Gone," I muttered. Unless Kain directly asked, I wasn't going to tell him that I had allowed Moebius to escape.

Vorador took the cloth away from my face. I knew that he would insist that I wash it later, but I knew a trick for removing my own bloodstains. I opened my eyes to see Kain set a mug of steaming coco in front of me. I sipped at it, but the blood in my sinuses gave it a metallic quality, and the words 'Kain's special AB positive mix' would not leave my thoughts.

"Where is he?" Kain repeated, wanting a more complete answer.

"A rift, Authorspace," I muttered. I was exaggerating my weariness slightly in hopes that Kain would stop pressing me.

I had explained to him before about a non-real realm where Authors could collaborate and experiment with ideas, a place where our powers were unbound by the limits of the avatar, though even there I couldn't have simply willed everything to return to normal. I saw Kain's eyes widen slightly before he settled into a calm smirk. Perhaps he thought that I would track down the timesteamer once I recovered my strength.

"It would be hell for him," I added. I wasn't sure if any had been published, but I figured that most authors would have at least started a list of painful tortures for Moebius, and there he would probably experience the most creative of them and then be ressurected to sample some more.

"Why is Malek here?" Vorador asked.

"Um, don't kill him?" I hadn't been the only one lying on the floor.

"He's alive," Vorador admitted grudgingly.

"Moebius brought him, but I want to keep him," I said. "The other humans don't want to be near me."

Vorador frowned. "Surely there is someone else that can ease your lonliness."

I didn't like Vorador's tone. "I'll let you know if he's a lousy at conversation."

Kain growled for my attention, his expression steely and sour. "We have greater concerns." His slow words held a crushing importance. "That foul magic showed every year that we regained. Janos saw what Raziel was."

"Scheese," I cringed. I could not even imagine the devestation Janos must have felt when he realized... his messiah was his murderer. I could not think clearly, but one question out of many floated to my lips. "Where are they?"

"Raziel is not reachable, he disappeared," Kain said. He looked to Vorador for Janos' whereabouts.

"He would not have left if he didn't wish to be alone," Vorador said. "What is so terrible?"

I shook my head, unwilling to deal with the horror of the situation. For Kain, the disgust was deeper, more personal. Seeing that it was harder for Kain, I gave the barest of explanations. "Raziel was Sarafan, and Janos recognized his face."

Vorador angrily turned to Kain. I cut off his angry accusation by laying my hand on his shirt and asking, "Where is Janos?"

"We will discuss this later," Vorador promised as he teleported away.

"I'll find Raziel," I said. "Put Malek someplace safe, I don't want him hurt or running lose until he understands the situation."

"I remember everything that happened when we were children," Kain explained, confusion edging his tone. "We played together."

"I'll leave you to work it out," I said as I rose from the table.

"Clean yourself up first," Kain said. "Even we find such a mess disturbing."

I was still wondering what Kain was talking about when I caught my reflection in the bathroom mirror. I had forgotten about the bloody nose, and it was now congealing down to my chin. There was even a trickle of blood leading from one eye. As I washed my face, I thought about how it was disturbing, but probably not in the way that Kain had meant.