Sarah opened her eyes and before her was the very dreary town of Ramsa, only it didn't quite look right. Her memories of the place were not adding up to what she saw before her now. They were no people here, not anymore. She couldn't feel a single aura of life anywhere, no bugs, no animals, nothing. Eserven walked very quietly a few steps ahead of her. He was scanning the area and when his face hit her she saw a shattered look on his face. He spoke with a very soft voice, " This land is dead Sarah. Come, we wont find her here...not anymore. Grab my arm, quickly. I think that woman is behind us. She'll be trying to track us." Eserven quietly thought to himself, "Tracking you Sarah." Sarah was still held in her memories. She felt that something here was not quite right. Something was telling her that this was the place. This is where she would find some answers, though she couldn't quite explain how she knew that. She told Eserven, " No... let's look around. I got a weird feeling." Eserven's eyes shot up at Sarah. He narrowed his eyes and began searching the area in earnest. He spoke to himself, " Already? She is progressing much quicker then expected. Sarah...please stop, or else I'll have to... Gods forbid she figures it out. I have to concentrate harder, bind her powers more firmly." At that moment Sarah felt a sharp shock in her arms that felt to her like static electricity. She brushed it off and continued walking. It didn't occur to her that vampires don't feel static electricity. It's too weak for them to feel. Sarah looked back and saw Eserven on his knees panting. She ran back over to him and said, " What is it? What's wrong?" He shot back up and put on his regular face, but it wasn't fooling Sarah. He said, " Nothing's wrong...just go where you think you need to go." Eserven had a very exhausted look on his face as soon as Sarah turned her back to him. Sarah quietly said, " Hmm... I don't feel anything anymore...I just don't know...let's move on to where you said we should go check. By the way, who or what are we looking for exactly?" At that question Eserven genuinely cocked his most mischievous smile and said, "I think you already know." She thought about that for a second and said, " Why would you think I know? I just want to find..." She stopped herself there. For a second she was about to say...his name. In all the chaos she had almost forgotten. She had almost forgotten what he did; though in actuality she had no right to be angry with him, but still...she was. Eserven, with a cocky innocence in his voice, says, "Is there someone you want to find right now? I can take you almost anywhere, find most people...if they aren't hiding that is..." He asked the question but Sarah got a feeling he already knew the name that almost escaped her lips just seconds before. She didn't want to say it, she didn't want to think it, but his face...she could not get the image out of her mind; The image of him and that girl. Eserevn threw her a look of understanding and decided to change the subject for her benefit. He didn't want to push her in that direction, not just yet anyway. He said, " We are looking for a very very, and I mean very, old witch. She used to live her before...well, she had been living here for quite sometime you see. She never trusted the vampires and she posted herself her wary of Siete and his kind. She wanted to keep on eye on them, and of course being who she was they couldn't even sense she was here all along, watching them. Not even Siete knew her whereabouts. By the way Siete is..." Sarah cut him off quickly and said, " I know who he is. The demon that created...my kind, vampires." She said the words with such deep sadness that the already depressing Ramsa became that much more depressing. Well if she was here to keep them out of trouble then how did this whole thing with the witches and war start?" Eserven's eyes became downcast and his whole demeanor seemed to darken along with the fading November sunlight. He spoke with a dark gloom in his tired voice, " That's what I wanted to ask her. She should have been the first to get involved if something on this scale was about to erupt. That's what worries me. Her and the others...they have been conspicuously absent during these events. Siete, her and the others...the Originals...hmmm This is exactly the kind of thing they're supposed to stop and yet they..." Sarah looked really confused. She didn't know much about the other immortals but her immortal mother, is, or was, Macht. Now, technically, Siete was her immortal Father. She knew very little of Macht, but Siete's powers were legendary. Were there others like him, like Macht? She asked Eserven, " Are they still alive then? Macht too? Where are they?" Eserven said quite darkly, " Where indeed..." He seemed lost in his thoughts then. Sarah looked around her and for the first time realized the night had fallen on them. She whispered to Eserven, " I think we should get out of her now. I get the feeling that just because nothing alive is here, that doesn't mean nothing lives her at all, and I would rather not stay around to find out." He said with a laugh in his voice, " You know... if something isn't alive then you can't really say lives..." A large whooshing noise cut him off and Sarah was thrown backwards into the concrete ruble of a collapsed building. Eserven quickly drew a sword from, seemingly, nowhere and slashed at what would appear to mortal eyes to be nothing but air. A large squeal erupted out of nowhere and Eserven quickly moved into the woods and told Sarah in her mind, " Don't get up. Stay there while I take care of the Typhons." Sarah tried to get up but found she could not move. She heard a humming noise coming from the floor. She had the sinking feeling Eserven was keeping her there. She could hear his sword slashing and squeals in the distance. She didn't like laying there but what could she do? Then she remembered something she had once read in the old Vida archives. The book explained magic and magic seals. She had looked through it because her mother had recently bound her powers and she wanted to know how it was possible someone could just decide to take away her gifts. These were her powers so how could someone else decide what to do with them. That was how she used to think. She remembered that seals and bindings are extremely difficult, and risky magics to attempt because the magic behind them is flawed. Sarah had the ultimate power, all living things had it: free will. This power hindered all seals and bindings. If one had a strong enough will, one could destroy any barrier, any seal. She focused what power she could feel inside her, and then the humming came to an abrupt stop and a large blast of energy propelled her onto her feet. She ran towards the battle. Eserven was slashing at thin air but she could hear the sounds of the metal scraping on something. Sarah was confused. She wanted to help but... she didn't even know where to strike. As she stood there powerless to help, watching Eserven become slowly overwhelmed on all sides, a voice, barely a whisper came into her mind. It was definitely a woman's voice but anything beyond that she could not discern. It said, "Focus Sarah and you'll see. They do not exist, so to see them you must believe in that which cannot be believed in. Your friend, he understands that the only way to see is to look!" Then the presence she felt vanished and Sarah saw before her abominations for which she had no name. These dark animal-like figures shimmered in and out of her sight and they had what seemed to be covered in a dark fur-like substance. They walked on all fours and there were six of them slashing at Eserven. She immediately darted forward to help. She lunged at the beasts that were at his back. What happened next Sarah could not explain. They were moving so incredibly fast that she wasn't even sure she was moving herself anymore. She had never pushed her vampric agility to the limit like this before. Finally, with a blast of light form Eserven's hand their deadly game broke apart and his sword slashed four of them into nothingness. Sarah used the distraction to push one down to the floor and she tore it to pieces. When she looked up Eserven's sword was just leaving the black heart of the last monster. She looked at him for a second longer then necessary and looked away. She said, " How did you fight them on your own like that? I could barely handle the three at your back!" He looked up at the sky and slowly turned back to look at her. "I have been fighting for a long time Sarah. The appearance of these beasts can only mean one thing. Someone has committed the unthinkable. Sarah, I... I'm sorry, truly." "Sorry for what?" He looked away and gestured her to come closer. He thrust his hand into the air and said, " Come, I'll take you to someone who can explain." They disappeared once more into the dark.
Caryn Smoke stared into the eyes of the vampire she was sure would one day be her death. The most deadly of all, aside from Siete, Silver, had just basically confessed he had feelings for her. At least, she wanted to believe that, because the truth was she felt like that. He was a deadly creature that was playing by her rules only for as long as he was amused. She wanted so much to believe. A tiny voice inside her told her that he only wanted one thing, her blood; much richer then a humans and certainly more satisfying. The alarms in the building were blaring, the lights flashing on and off, people rushing by and gathering, readying for a fight, and Silver tilted her face up, and for a split second she thought he was going for her throat like always, but he leaned in for a kiss. She let herself go into him. He released her and she said, " umm.. okay." He smiled at her, "Is that all you can say?" " umm... ya?" At that moment a witch rushed into their moment and said, " M'lady! The force is ready. The scouts have been sent ahead to the location you specified in the mind communication. Oh... I'm not interrupting anything am I?" "She thinks he was sucking my blood...", Caryn thought to herself. Silver grabbed Caryn embarrassingly close to himself and said, "Right, tell my people to head out as well Flora." Flora looked at their embrace and was quite disgusted by it. "Right...I'll go do that." She ran off into the chaos of the mobilization. Caryn smacked Silver right on his left cheek. " What the hell? Now everyone's going to be saying things, and we really don't need this kind of thing considering..." He looked all the more amused by her reaction. "You don't believe me do you?" She looked him straight in the eye, which is always a mistake with his kind, and though she wished with everything that she could answer otherwise, said, "No, I don't."
"Where are we Nikolas?" Christopher had just spoken for the first time in months. His brother had been leading him around the States and Christopher was so dazed and lost in his memories he had not noticed where they were going. "If you'd been paying any attention you would have noticed I have been trying to help you. I was just looking for some people that might be able to find your witch, or whatever she is these days. She sure didn't smell like a vampire anyway." Marguerite and Ariel were a few meters away looking at some buildings and holding a giant map. Marguerite was pointing somewhere north and Nikolas looked at her 'that' way. Christopher knew he was silently communicating with her. He only ever did that with her. The others, the other 'servants' he never treated with such respect. He said, "Excellent. We found it. I'll tell you, it was pretty hard finding a Single Earth building that isn't garrisoned up the ass with troops. This one still operates in the old ways. I heard our old friend is here. He'll be able to help us find your...friend." Christopher said, "We are we looking for her? After what happened...she'd never forgive me. She'd never..." Christopher squeezed the letter in his hands. He didn't want to see her face. That face that was imprinted in his memories. The face she left him with when she had come back. They walked into the crowded streets of Los Angeles from the alley where they had been talking. The moon was abnormally bright. At this time of night the city was usually quiet, but not this night. Unlike other cites such as New York, Los Angeles knew it had to get its beauty sleep. The streets on this night were filled with people. Something big was going on but Christopher did not pay attention to what happened in the human world anymore. The usual night walkers were present too. Christopher could tell they were here. They were among the crowd but their discomfort was plain. The nights belonged to them, and they resented the regular people invading their time. The old beggar lady with a cart who actually sold cigarettes to minors, the kids with back-packs filled with spray cans, the guys with coats who were obviously up to no good but liked to pretend otherwise, and the seemingly innocent boys who dealt marijuana out of their underwear, all were mixed into the crowd. Other vampires were there too. He could feel them. They were weak, and had only a tiny faint of human blood on their auras. These were the Single Earth vampires. They seemed to sense Nikolas because then they took off like bullets. Nikolas shouted, "Now why in the world...c'mon, lets go. We must reach the building before they get all riled up." Christopher responded, "Well you are you...it only stands to reason..." They ran down a street and Christopher saw a sign that said 'Angel's' and the rest of the sign was worn off. Some sort of machine that took passengers up used to be there. Christopher couldn't care less about abandoned machinery, but something had drawn his attention in that direction. For just a split second he had felt an enormously strong aura there, and out of the corner of his eye he had seen two little kids standing there. But now there was nothing. Nikolas didn't seem to have noticed anything. He continued down the street and they come into a district with many abandoned buildings. Again the presence shattered Christopher's concentration. Two children were holding hands. They couldn't be more then eight or nine years old. They looked very much alike. The girl and the boy both raised their free hands and put their finger to their lips and said, "Shhhh..." Then they walked away. He said, " Nikolas, did you see that?" Nikolas answered, " What are you talking about. There's no one there." He didn't seem to have noticed. Nikolas was approaching a building that to mortals would seem like any of the other ruined buildings in the area. For the first time Christopher noticed the state of things. "LA certainly has seen better times..." Nikolas turned and looked around. He absentmindedly said, "Haven't you been paying attention? Didn't you wonder why we didn't pass through New York? Or why we completely avoided DC? I don't think nuclear radiation affects us but I wasn't sure so... better to stay clear." Right then a group of three witches and two vampires came out of the building. They looked with concern towards the area where the humans were causing a commotion and then turned towards Nikolas. "What do you want?"
A desert wind whipped through the air. Two voices spoke in the dark of the desert night. "My lady... the Watcher leads her to the Seer as we speak. Soon the trail will bring her to the cage. We have very little time before the catalyst learns the truth. If you wish to act, now would be the time. Otherwise it will be too late to save them." The dark shadows seemed to shift with those words. The lady spoke, "Oh my dear... we do not know she will choose that path." A cold chill seemed to fill the air. The servant spoke, "Have you told... The Silent One?" The lady looked around and said, "There is no need, he is here now. He heard everything. Can you not feel him?" An aura of pure power, control, and immense cold seemed to make its presence known. It seemed quite at odds with the aura the Lady seemed to give off. From her the feeling of pure wild, freedom, and joy all seemed to rise. The servant said, "He gives me the creeps...all these years and still...What shall we do my lords?" A cold harsh voice said, "Leave them to their fates. Where were they when we needed them? When our power flooded out and brought ruin? When the Usurper locked us in the cage and led our people astray? Where were they when we begged them for help and they turned us away to feed their own powers and ambition? Leave them..." "You know very well we can't do that. They believe us to be dead. We stand in the perfect position to help!" "And what happened the last time we...'helped'? The lady took a long silence on this question. "It matters not my friend. That was a mistake. We allowed them to run astray. Now we must be more cautious. If the Watcher has made his move I believe we should as well. After all...he'd never forgive us if we didn't." "Who cares what the little bastard thinks..." "We promised him. After he freed us remember?" "How could I forget..." The servant had been fidgeting nervously all this time. He spoke very softly, "My lords, now is the time then. I will open the way." He raised his hand and the air shimmered. Nothing seemed to have happened. But suddenly a man came into existence next to the Lady. The man was thin and very tall, at least 6ft and 5 inches. He had the appearance of a very handsome man, but to call him a man would be a mistake. He had not been a man since time immemorial. He wore black jeans with red twists that wrapped all around his legs on them. His shirt was of a very old design. It was white and was reminiscent of old Greek tunics yet different. The Lady was very much the same in the fact that she too had once been a woman but now she no longer remembered her mortal life. She wore shimmering white robes that went down all the way to her feet. It was a sleeveless masterpiece. Together they walked forward and disappeared with the servant.