"Yeah, not gonna lie, healing isn't my thing." Miyu noted. Not immediate healing, anyway. She could slap a talisman on someone and help them recover much better overnight, but other than that, she didn't really have any talents in that field. That said... while she hadn't hesitated to smack the fey down, she wasn't going to object if someone else wanted to help them. She'd just make sure the fey didn't cause any... further trouble.
Jennifer ends her bloodrage and reverts back to her normal self. She casually leans against the wall and catches her breath.
With a groan the Blood Golem stopped, drying out as the bright red life within it faded away. Within moment it was nothing but a husk of dried blood, and then even that turned to powder and collapsed to the ground.
"She's not undead," Jared replied, looking around. "She's Fae. Boabhan Sith, right? They're like...fae vampires. But they're not undead. You should be able to heal her. Trust me, I looked into a lot of vampire stuff...a while back."
Looking at Aurora, he smiled wryly. "Yeah, well, you might not have lied but you weren't honest either. But neither was I. As I think you've guessed, I went full undead a while back. I take a potion to hide that, to give me an illusion of life. It's hard enough maintaining a life when people think you're half-undead. I reckon we can call a truce on this." He glanced at Jennifer and Thomas. "So long as no one lets them near my collection of vintage stakes."
Jennifer blows a kiss at Jared.
"I'm afraid it isn't that simple, sir. My findings were that an undead dealt the final blow to our unfortunate victim." He pauses, gathering up his stakes. "One about your size and weight, with fangs." He stares sternly at the vampire, awaiting an explanation.
Ancient Icelandic words come from Aurora's mouth as she kneels over the wounded Sidhe, as magic flows from her to the monster, magic once meant to mend the wounds of those warriors who were not yet to die, now used to carry an unholy monstrosity to her doom. "Munu ósánir akrar vaxa; bǫls mun alls batna mun Baldr koma.
Nurai paused at Jared's words, considering getting out her healing wand but went back to typing when she heard Aurora heal Carm's wounds.
"Nothing is simple." Nurai commented with a sigh without looking up from her phone, "Particularly with all that is involved. While that does fit Jared, others would fit that description - it's pretty generic - and more could fake it if they wanted to do so. And there is the issue with the window and other things." Nurai continues with a shrug, choosing not to mention the possibility of missed or misread information as she finished and sent her message off. She also made a note in her phone to pick up truth telling magic when possible. That would have made all of this much easier. Right now it just felt like a frustrating ball of too little solid information to do anything with.
Thomas casually checking his weapon before holstering it. "Fire's a lot easier to come by. Trouble is charcoal makes a poor talker."
Crossing his arms and trying to force his own heart to stop pounding Thomas asked. "Would someone like to explain to the audience what the f!$% that was all about?"
Aurora's healing stabilised the creature, although she was still unconscious.
Jared held up his hands. "As far as I know, he was alive when I left. It's possible that he'd been drained to a point where me biting him is what finished him off, but it wasn't what I intended." He glanced at the downed woman. "If she drank most of his blood, it would certainly explain why she's being so weird. She's probably higher than a kite. It's also possible someone else did the deed. There are a few ways to be undead for a few minutes...long enough to screw with any means of working out who the killer is, anyway." He shrugged. "I'd offer to let one of you hit me with a Zone of Truth or some such, but they don't work on me."
Looking over at Thomas, Jared added, "What he said, but with more ****ing swearing."
"Oh, I have other ways of finding out when people are lying." Miyu said with a bright smile. "Unlike fey, I don't need to screw with people's heads to do it, either... and I'm pretty sure whatever short-term benefit you'd gain from lying now would be vastly outweighed by the trouble it would inevitably cause you. So... I think we can trust you to tell us the truth."
Nurai's phone melodically chimed for a second. Glancing down at it, Nurai chuckles to herself, her smile widens for a moment, before showing the phone to her shadow who seems to snort as well. Nurai pockets her phone befoe speaking, "Valda is fine, though has raised the concern that since Carm's fae, there might be an oath or pact involved with her."
Calmly looking from Jared to Thomas and then around the area, Nurai shrugs, "What would you like explained? And how much detail would you like? I can try the cliff notes version but, like I said, nothing is simple and not much is solid right now..."
Her gaze turns awkwardly towards Jared, "The only other person here that may have more information would be Carm, though...after what just happened... well... whether she's high-weird or something else, to prevent hurting herself or others, it...may be a good idea for some sort of restraints to be involved before she wakes up..."
As far as Miyu can tell, Jared isn't lying. Of course, vampires are known for being social creatures, skilled in the art of deception. But he seems to be honest.
Jared nodded at Nurai's words, looking over at Carmilla. "Fae can't lie. I think we'd all like to hear her version of events." He glanced around. "Do one of you have ropes, handcuffs, things like that? If not, I can probably find some. But if it's all the same to you, I'd rather not have you traipsing through any more of my house."
Solomon holds up his hands disarmingly. "Fair." He says with a nod.
"Oh, and I'm Doctor Solomon by the way. I'm afraid your female guest tricked me a bit to get me here. I was parked outside as afterparties aren't really my cup of tea." Solomon rubs at his temple and winces a bit. "I don't mind waiting wherever you'd prefer, but could I bother you for something caffeinated?"
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Jared considered, and nodded. "Coffee machine is downstairs, kitchen is in the rear. There are caffeine drinks in the fridge, too. Don't work on me, but they serve as a mixer." Thinking for a moment, he added, "There should be some painkillers in the medicine cabinet in the bathroom down that corridor." He points to the southern door on the second-floor landing. "Admittedly, I haven't really needed them for a while, so I'm not sure if they're still there..."
If nobody has anything more appropriate, Jennifer gets to work binding Carm to a chair with a roll of duct tape.
"That should do," Jared notes as looked over the bindings. "She's stronger than she looks, but weakened as she is those will at least give us warning. Of course, anyone who isn't immune to mental magic might need to keep an eye on themselves, too." He glanced around. "I can't heal her enough to wake her up, so if one of you would do the honours...or we can wait an hour."
"No need to wait. Munu ósánir akrar vaxa; bǫls mun alls batna mun Baldr koma."
Again, icy wind howls for a moment through Aurora's hair, a gale from nowhere as magic flows from her. Reason caws ominously.
As Aurora focused on casting, Miyu muttered under her breath, settling another Moment of Prescience over herself as a contingency for... future events. Precognition was often handy that way, and she drew out a talisman a moment later. "If she tries anything, I'll... discourage it." the exorcist said mildly. "And don't trust a fey just because you think they can't lie. Plenty of them are good at telling you exactly what they want you to hear, but not what you're actually asking them about."
"Of course, anyone who isn't immune to mental magic might need to keep an eye on themselves, too."
Jennifer joins Doctor Solomon in the kitchen to brew a pot of coffee.
Nurai made affirmative sounds at Miyu's remark. To Nurai, anything said to deceive was lying no matter how much truth was in it. Experiences and stories flashed uncomfortably through her mind for a moment before she shook them off and her fading smile returned.
"I'd ask if you want to leave but I think I already know the answer..." Nurai said softly, a chuckle heard from the shadow as it moved closer to the summoner. With the chance of mind magic, the risks to and from her shadow made Nurai pause in thought.
Glancing over to Tom, Nurai asked, "You okay?" with a warm smile though less smoothly than she would have liked as she moved the hand with the knife into a jacket pocket. Considering Jared's words, she stepped back from the bottom step and moved back around the corner out of sight from the top but still mostly in earshot she hoped, motioning with her head for her shadow to follow though they were already moving behind her. Nurai thought on the possibilities and risks while waiting for Carm to wake up.
Carmilla's eyes snapped open. She struggled for a moment, lashing out, and biting like a feral thing. Jared backed away, looking slightly ill at the display.
After a moment, however, the Fey calmed. "Why am I not dead?" she asked, a slight hint of wonder in her voice. "Do you fear the results so?"
"No," Jared replied. "They want answers, and I so do I. What happened to that boy back at Sanctuary? How did he end up dead?"
Carmilla smiled. "Why, with your teeth in his neck. I spoke that already," she nodded to Aurora, "That you drank down every last drop."
"The hell I did!" the vampire shouted, obviously agitated and upset. Or obviously acting agitated and upset. But Fey don't lie...
Carmilla, just like the vampire book? What's next, Coach Feratu? Why can't these creatures resist the urge to find themselves an unassuming name?
Aurora doesn't even try solving the enigma. She never had the patience for riddles, brain-teasers, or even chess. Instead, she locks eyes with her. Down, deep inside Aurora's blue gaze, Carmilla can see the gallows, corpses hanging from an ash tree, and ravens pecking out their eyes, while an old man is watching in delight...
Carm held her gaze for only a few moments before averting her eyes. "It must be pleasant, to have The Allfather's Eye cast your way now and then. But you know it's the truth. A Fae cannot lie. Ask what you will, and I'll answer."
"But you can twist the truth," Jared growled. "Spin it until you can't even see the reality anymore. How much did you drain, huh? How much was that 'last drop'?"
"Clearly I did not kill him," Carm replied calmly. "He had enough blood in him to keep breathing when I left him."
Solomon walked out of the kitchen with a cup releasing a gentle coil of steam above it. He looked at the fey with tired impatience and addressed her bluntly.
"Why did you set up Jared for the murder of that faerie dragon?"
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"Enough to keep breathing" could still be pretty darn close to dead. You had to be pretty canny with your questions if you wanted to get a truly honest answer out of a fey who wanted to be slippery. Something like, oh, how much blood had been drained as a percentage comparison to the amount Jared normally consumed.
Listening as best she can from the kitchen, Jennifer is leans against the counter and takes a sip from her mug.
This coffee is shit, she thinks to herself.
Thomas stood by mostly passively watching the proceedings. He'd sat in on enough interrogations to know this was about the tamest thing that could possibly happen. As the voices droned out and faded into the background the cacophony of voices that typically accompanied his thoughts grew louder drowning out all but their insistent input. Colors muted and faded away as time itself seem to slow. Cold sweat formed on Thomas's palms as unbidden visions clouded his senses.
As the vision fades he's greeted by the warm smile of Nurai. "Yeah, long night is all."
Carm's face contorted for a moment - anger, shock, horror? - before she was able to smooth it out. "I am not setting Jared up for the murder of the Faerie Dragon." She smiled slightly as she said it.
Solomon took a seat and set the steaming cup on his case. He drummed his fingers on the hard plastic, looking impatient. "Who are you setting up, then?"
He turned to Jared and addressed him frankly. "Does she know you by another name?"
Jared grit his teeth, and impressive sight for a vampire. "Yes." He paused, then asked, "Are you trying to set up Rupert de Rais?"
This time, Carm remained silent.
After his retirement and her death, de Rais was accused of monstrous acts including the abuse death of dozens of children. He was reported hanged by the neck until dead and his body claimed by four women of noble rank.
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She was pretty good with her history, but... nope, that one didn't ring a bell. "I wonder what would happen if we convinced the Hunt that you were the real target..." she wondered aloud.
Nurai nodded with an understanding tired smile to Tom's comment. This had certainly been a long night and nothing like what Nurai had expected when she had travelled to Fever.
Rolling what she could hear around in her head as she leaned against the wall, the game of battle semantics frustrating. With Carm's silence, Nurai tried to think of what would...persuade such a fey to speak as she shrugged silently to her shadow.
"De Rais? Seriously? You can trace your heritage to him? Do you mean that he truly was a murderer and all, and it wasn't slander because he was filthy rich? Wow."
Back to Carmilla, she keeps gazing into her eyes. "It's not pleasant at all. Unlike you, I don't revel in slaughter, and I don't like having these urges. But I will use this power, and I suggest you stop playing games this very moment, unless you wish to feel what it's like to be carved into a Blood Eagle."
"He said he wasn't," Jared replied to Aurora. "But he wasn't entirely honest with me, so take that for what you will. If you're really lucky, you might get a chance to ask him yourself one day."
Obviously now nervous, not sure where to go but unwilling to answer, Carm's eyes flickered between Miyu and Aurora. Perhaps weighing up which threat was more likely, or which was more dangerous to her. Finally her eyes flicked to Jared. "You wouldn't let them do such to me, would you...?"
The vampire stared back coldly. "You tried to use me, to pin a crime on me, and feed me to Valda or the Hunt. They can use my basement to hide the body when they're done."
Nurai heard what Aurora said to Carm and an idea flickered through as she looked to her shadow. She pulled out her phone, quickly typing with an overexcited smile on her face and showed it to her shadow who nodded with a widening grin. Nurai smiled and shook her head as she typed something else quickly. Once done, gave the shadow a once over before nodding it out.
The shadow appeared at the bottom step pausing for a long moment, hands balled up into fists, wide grin on edge. Nurai appeared with loud steps a moment later and walked through the shadow as if they were not there.
"Can you check this for me please?" Nurai says to Tom, gently forcing her phone into his hand with a smile and a look over her glasses before she moves past him up the steps. Where as before Nurai and her shadow moved with practically the same smooth gait, Nurai walked as normal while the shadow seemed to stalk up the stairs quickly. The shadow stopped just before the last step while Nurai stopped a step before that on the other side.
As she moved up the steps from Tom, Nurai talked with a warm voice, "As I was telling you earlier Jared, that big Fey of the Wild Hunt is unlikely to take any but the actual one behind it without issue. Same with me. Though Valda bringing up the chance of an oath or pact raises concerns she may be working - and not talking - on orders from another." she says, leaning against the bannister as if a bit tired, looking from Jared to the others with a smile before turning attention to Carm with a wave. "I'm another of Valda's friends." There was more Nurai wanted to say but she did her best to keep all of that in check for now. Her opinions weren't as important as getting this resolved, if possible.
On a whim, with her mug of shitty coffee in hand, Jennifer heads upstairs and scans the outside grounds from any available second story windows, trying to get a 360 degree scan of the grounds.
Solomon remained silent as the others deployed their various charms. He pondered the name and the implications in silence, swirling his cup idly.
Carm stared in horror at the shadow, looking around to see if anyone else was reacting to the creature. When she saw that no one else was bothering to look at the phantasmal creature, she slumped her shoulders. "Take it away," she whispered. "I believe you all. Just...stop it, and I shall speak. My word on it." The creature was obviously disturbed enough to speak if she gave such an oath.
A wave of nausea washes over Aurora. Merciful Freya, I just threatened a helpless woman. After I fought, for the first time, with all my strength. And that weird woman has a shadow moving on its own, the other one turned into a monster, and the bartender shot lightning from his gun. What have I got myself into?
Forcing her voice to be steady, she addresses Carm. "Speak all the truth, without deception, and no harm shall come to you by my hand."
Carm nods. "I agree. I will speak on the murder, with no attempts to hide the truth." Her eyes remained focused on the shadow.
The shadow remained focused on Carm, shifting as they mimicked Carm's movements slightly. At her last comment, the shadow tilted their head as if waiting expectantly.
Nurai leaned against the wall in the stairwell, hands in her jacket pockets. "Go on then, tell us all you know of the fairie dragon's murder..." she replied with a shrug.
Her eyes glued to the creature, Carm said, "My Lord and Master - whose name I have vowed not to speak, and so cannot - granted me the little faerie's life, to take in this precise manner. He feels that the Hunt has been weakened, a lack of blood shed, has lead to our fading from mortal minds. He wishes to remind humanity of its place. Only now, at the flux of the seasons, could such a plan go unnoticed by the Court. Even the rulers of the Fae would not bind a hand raised in blood vengeance, and since the creature died under guest right of Valda Simmons, the Hunt would have every right to repay the insult in blood shed here." Each time the woman mentioned the word 'blood', her eyes lit up a little, even with the fear of the shadow in them.
"But three plans are afoot - one for if the Hunt may ride, one for if the truth is revealed, and one for if favours bind the sound of the horn's call. I know only the workings of this plan, and that Valda Simmons is owed a powerful favour as part of the third - the second, what will occur if the truth is outed, I know nothing of."
"Our place, huh." Miyu said, sounding distinctly unimpressed. "Funny thing about mortals - we like deciding our own place. If you were really as great as you think you are, you'd never have declined originally. For my part, I blame you - and your master - for the departed's blood." she paused thoughtfully. "And my own. I wonder what would happen if we sent your sworn testimony to the courts..."
...All right, she knew the answer to that one. Politics would happen. But then, that was pretty much always the case.
"A set-up by The Hunt, for The Hunt. That seems logical." Solomon shrugged and returned his cup to the kitchen, as the liquid inside was yet untouched but had by that point cooled. He returned and checked his watch.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, I suggest we deal with this... woman, in whatever manner you all find most pleasing to your sensibilities, and then we get some rest. I, for one, am tired, we haven't really any hot leads to chase, and it's a few days yet before The Hunt is likely to come down upon us."
As he picked up his case and fingered around for his car keys, he looked to the woman. "Say, you wouldn't happen to know when The Hunt would be coming through, would you?"
Nurai considered the words for a few moments before talking as she thought, "Interesting, I wonder if this master has anything to do with that big fey of the hunt, certainly showed up fast enough and knew far more about me that anyone on first meeting should be able to see, fey or not..."
She sighed, "There will be rules for how Carm is to be dealt with - always are." she said with mild frustration, as her gaze turned to Jared, her tone attempting to return to normal "As you have been wronged in this scheme, as has Valda, your opinions on the next action will hold sway more than ours, the rules will simply need to be kept in mind to prevent the Hunt or further harm. If Valda has such a powerful favour I'd rather ensure she is able to keep it if possible." Nurai commented. She was also tired and wanted to get some rest, but didn't want to rush and cost them what they needed. With what Nurai had seen of Jared so far, he seemed knowledgeable enough to know what needed to be done to ensure this more than the summoner would and wanted to try to cool any current anger in the vampire.
Her looked turn to Carm, her smile less pleasant, "I probably don't want to know why you would take such a boon or mess with Jared as you seem to have done. Seems rather unfeeling to me." Nurai began, the word unfeeling came out like angry poison in comparison to her usual soft melodic tone. Nurai hadn't been able to hide it and while she knew that rage and fear seemed to have been provoked in the Baobhan Sith, those weren't really the feelings by which an Avatar of Love assessed situations or people. "The rules of the fey with consideration to the wronged parties will have to do to get things done..."
The shadow kept watching, kept mimicking, kept on guard. They seemed to scowl when Nurai showed anger with their clenched fists tightening for a moment.
"Plans within plans within plans, as was to be expected. Shall we bring her to Valda? I gave my word that I wouldn't harm her, and she may have a liaison within the Hunt, possibly exchange some favor. ut then again, there is a fallback plan should the truth get exposed, and we'd likely be playing right into their hand... Argh, I don't like brain twisters."