New Players In The Pattern

[Nox]

It was three days after the accident. Three days after the strangest thing ever happened to me. Here I was cleaning a window of my building, the cables were old, frayed, they had to be. There I was 30 stories above the ground washing the windows. Everything was great in the world, my wife was expecting our first child in a few weeks. I was going to be a great Dad. Just like mine!

The cables frayed. I went down with the scaffolding. Down, down, down, I saw the world flash before my eyes. My life, my wife, my unborn child. I was going to die. But then, I didn't. I hit the ground with an earth shattering pop. But nothing happened. I blinked, the scaffolding was crushed from the fall rumbled where there was nothing. And then, I sat up. I fucking sat up. Excuse my language, but I sat up, after a 30 story fall.

I stood up and looked around. There was everything in the world to live for. I looked up at the cables dangling in the wind. I'd fallen from there. People rushed out and saw me standing there. I was a local sort of hero. People kept asking me how i did it. I didn't know. I didn't do anything. I wasn't one of these channelers. I'd never had the sickness. I didn't even know anyone who had. So that wasn't it.

Three days later and I'm back at work. Though I'm not on the top stories, just washing the lobby windows when I hear this growl. It was a deep low growl, one that made me shiver with fear. I turned to look behind me and there was nothing there. Nothing but an street full of people walking by. A commotion across the street caught my attention. maybe it was the dog over there. That's what it had to be.

The growl happened again and I saw a pair of red eyes in the window. Glowing red eyes and they got bigger, and larger and I turned around and I screamed. What the fuck was that. The only thing I could smell was sulfur. Those eyes, those claws as large as my face. I screamed and tried to run, but there was no time. Before I knew it I was crashing through the window the large beast on top of me. I screamed again. The beast slashed my chest, again and again, and again and I prayed to the heavens above This couldn't be how it ended....

But it was...

[[ This is a hellhound attack. You can't see the hellhound unless you are a prophet ]]

[Aiden Finnegan]

Aiden was about to steer Lasher and Sage away, but then something strange happened. Directly across the street, the window of a building exploded into thousands of tiny little pieces. A man tumbled through the wreckage, struggling and howling. He hit the ground with a thud, unseen knives raked at the man’s skin. Blood and viscera shot into the air, his gut-wrenching cries accompanying the visuals like a twisted cacophony. Lasher turned around, ears, hackles, and tail standing straight in the air. A deep, low growl sounded in his throat. Aiden had never heard him make that sound.

                He clutched Sage closer to him, eyes wide and mouth working for a moment before he finally got a sound out. The only thing Aiden could say was, “What! The Actual! Fuck!?” 

[Sage]

A scream pierced the air. A crash of glass. Sage turned to look even as Aiden pulled him closer. Sage felt all the blood drain from his face. He didn't have to queue the memory, it wasn't even his memory. It was a recording, they'd watched it over and over again. There was nothing there. The images were identical. The slashes across the chest. There was nothing there. Sage saw nothing. He would have sank to the ground if it weren't for Aiden.

Inside the building things began to become chaos. A woman screamed. The security team had guns trained on the dead man. He wasn't screaming anymore. He was dead. Just like in Nox's nightmares. Sage had never been privy to them, but he knew Nox dreamt about his mother's death. To see it in person, not over the parking lot video feed was different.

It had been hard on the twins. Sage left Aiden's side. He walked to the body. There was a smell of sulfur lingering. But other than the broken window and the claw marks there was nothing there. Sage swatted the air above the dead man and there was nothing. Nothing to hit, nothing to shoot. Nothing. There was nothing you could have done. Nothing...

Sage looked at Aiden and he felt fear greater than he had ever felt in his life. We couldn't do anything. Did you see anything?" He begged for an answer. He turned back to the man and scanned his horrified face to find out more about him. Why did he have to die this way? "Nox will know more. I..." Sage didn't want to tell Nox there was a hellhound in Moscow. But that was his job. He had to know.

[Aiden Finnegan]

Lasher moved in front of Aiden as Sage pulled away, crossing the street. The other people that had been out and about were now either running away from or to the scene. Aiden held tightly to Lasher’s leash and looked uneasily to Elias, “Dude… You, uh, might want to make your storm rage thing happened… Whatever just happened over there was not normal.”Aiden’s own stomach was doing backflips, frontflips, and cartwheels. The flame that had manifested over his head split its self into 7 orbs, they swirled overhead in a circle, reflecting the anxiousness Aiden was now feeling. They swelled in size until they were about as big as two of Aiden’s hands put together. A few shrunk down to half the size and then expanded again.

                Sage called back to them and Aiden responded, “Yeah, didn’t see shit, Sage! What the fuck!? Are there invisible demons I don’t know about!? Or does someone around her have psychic telekinesis!? Either way, we better get the fuck out of here. You coming, Elias? Or are we going to walk into a death trap and see what else is in that building?” More screams came from beyond the broken window. Whatever had gotten that stranger, was now getting more people inside. “I don’t have a gun, I can’t make these damn flames do shit. Sticking around is a terrible idea. What happens when the authorities show up!? I cannot be connected to a man’s death! There is too much other shit people say about me. No. Fuck that, Sage. Call Nox or whoever. We either leave now, or call someone that can fix it… Unless you home some tricks up your sleeve, Elias?”

[Elias Donovan]

They were about to part ways when a scream split the night air. Elias jumped, spinning in its direction.

A man was thrown through plate glass. That wasn't going to go well for him, but there was no sign of the attacker.

Elias quickly snuffed all evidence of the Rage fires from his command. Even still, he continued to douse the fairy fires that the stranger continued to spit out like incoherent sputtering. 

Elias didn't hide, but he wasn't stupid either. Their kind were already accused of violence, and there were witnesses. He cast a quick study of those nearest in case any fingers pointed their way.

Then the date sprinted away. Elias frowned from the depths of black hair framing his face, but rooted in place, he didn't follow.

Until the fairy-guy lured him in. He looked like he was about to pee his pants. 

Elias didn't blame him.

He growled inwardly like he knew this was a bad idea and followed the trail across the street. Uniformed security swarmed from the lobby, but their guns were useless. Hell, Elias and all the powers of Rage were useless now. 

"Gory," he said more to himself than his companions as he peered down at the mess of the body. The security guards rushed back indoors at the behest of potential victims within. Elias had no problem with leaving, and he was no hero to rush into a burning building and rescue the damned.

He might have left them alone, until a name pricked his ears.

Nox wasn't a common name. Tie the name with that of someone who can use the powers of Rage, and there had to be only one guy in the entire city that they meant. 

His face darkened. 

Fists balled, Elias frowned, looked at the two one last time like he hated them for pulling him into this. He sighed, called on the powers of Rage until that darkness contorted the edges of his face, hungry for more of the power to fill him.

He stepped over the window, coat snagging on the jagged edges, utility boots safely crunching glass unconcerned for the safety of his limbs. Rage sharpened his eyesight. Nostrils flared wide with the stench of chemistry lab heavy on the air - sulfur. Gross.

He didn't know what he would find, but at least he'd find it before Nox.

[Sage]

There was no mistaking that expression on Elias' face. He knew Nox. And apparently didn't like him. Sage wondered when he had met the other man and i there had been footage of them. Probably. And Sage had missed it. Another casualty of Grim's actions. Sage sighed as he grabbed Aiden's hand and lead him around to the other side while Elias looked or did whatever he did. Sage tapped the dark man on the shoulder. "You aren't going to find anything. It's a Hell hound. Only the person it's after can see it. Nox could tell you more. I don't need to call him, but you're both right, we need to go."

Sage turned inward and listened to the dispatch he was perpetually tapped into. "The police are 2 minutes out. We don't want to be here when they get here. Two channelers won't look good." And Sage didn't want to get caught here either. If they found out what he could do he could see them putting him in a deep dark dungeon to work forever for them. No he didn't want to be there.

Sage sighed. "And Elias, whatever you need to kill. This rodent, I'm sure Nox might help you figure it out. He's good at killing things, and he kinda does it for a living."

[Aiden Finnegan]

Aiden was lead by the hand, thanks to Sage. It was good that his date knew how to take charge. Aiden fancied himself Versatile, leaning Top, both sexually and within the general relationship dynamic (at least where men were concerned); so, despite the situation, it was a bit of a turn-on. He took a mental note of that for later…

                Elias seemed to know Nox, judging by that grim expression at the mention of the name. Did all Channelers know each other? Perhaps Aiden should have paid closer attention to the news and the rest of the world in general… He was so far behind! The world-wide revelation made by the Ascendancy had only happened a few weeks ago. Aiden had definitely heard about it from his personal assistant, but he had been so involved with his novel. He would just get up and dive into it day in and day out; only taking breaks to eat, or smoke, or drink, or jerk off, or whatever distraction tickled his fancy. He didn’t normally watch the news, no social media, no friends. He was all but disconnected from the wider world, especially in the medieval wet dream that was Suzdal.

                Aiden gave himself a mental kick in the ass. He had been too focused on getting his career back on track to notice that the world was changing again. It happened before, but that was out of his control. It was the coma. This time it was completely under his control. He chose to be ignorant and it was turning out to be deadly. If he had been more informed or at least got curious enough about the Fairy Fire… He might be able to do something in a situation like this… Instead… He had to tuck his tail between his legs and hope that he and his group made it out alive.

                There was a fucking invisible monster killing people! Right by Aiden! And no one knew where this death machine was! He feared for his life and that of his companions and Lasher and everyone else in the vicinity. Panic tried taking hold, but Aiden pushed it down stubbornly. He wouldn’t die here and neither would the others. He was having a fucking fantastic night and then all this weird shit had to go and ruin it. He doubted he could salvage it… Really... All thoughts of Sage's dominance aside... Viscera and gore weren’t exactly a turn on for him, nor for Sage he hoped.

                “My limo driver is just 2 blocks down. Let’s book it now. He can take us back to your place, Sage. Elias, I strongly recommend you accompany us unless you want to hunt this invisible… creature… on your own. I’m sure Lasher, my dog who absolutely adores you, apparently, would probably like you to come with us too. We can even drop you off at your own home if that is what you wanna do, but I think Sage has the right idea. You and I aren’t normal and we will be the first blamed. C’mon, let’s get the fuck out of here.” Aiden took control back from Sage and was now leading him down the block, Lasher’s leash in the other hand. He didn’t wait to see if Elias followed. Aiden had to get out of there. The tabloids would be ablaze the next day if he was caught up in another scandal!

[Elias Donovan]

Elias stopped in his tracks.

"A hell hound?" He looked from one guy to the other like some explanation might be shared. "You have to be kidding." Sea devils hiding in rivers, guardians awakened from ocean crevices, and mists haunting tunnel tracks were all creatures that could be killed. An invisible dog jumping from the shadows and shred someone to tatters? 

Guess that sounded about right.

Elias returned swiftly. The idea of being questioned by the police was not the way he intended to pass the night.

Tony's place wasn't far. If he left now, he could be out of reach before they arrived.

Then the guy had to bring Nox back up. The asshole wasn't even here and yet the whole world still seemed to revolve around him. Elias wasn't interested in his kind of help. "You tell Nox he's not the only one that can kill rodents." A few steps away, Elias turned to add one more thing. He remembered the way he looked at Asha, the names he called her. "While you're sending messages, tell him to stay away from Asha. She is better off without him."  

He hurried down the block, coat catching the air behind him as he went.

[Sage]

Elias really didn't like Nox. But then that' was the way of it. Nox either pulled you in from the get go, or you hated him. Though Sage had never actually met anyone who'd hated Nox from the start. Elyse had a right to hate him, and so did Emily and from all things that Sage gathered Nox was an asshole to both of them. So finding someone who didn't like the good looking foul mouthed kid made Sage smile.

Aiden was pulling him after him and Sage followed a step or two behind. He hoped he was right about that hell hound. He didn't know much about them. Only what Nox decided to share with him as he replayed the footage over and over again trying to find something he missed back then, something he could have used to save his mother. And now his rock was gone, his sister, the one thing that kept him going in one direction was gone. His nightmares were stronger again, and he was an insomniac. Sage sighed. He had a perfectly handsome man holding his hand and he was thinking about someone else.

Once they were in sight of the limo Sage spoke quietly. "I'm sorry, I've been a bad date." Sage wrapped his arm around Aiden's waist as they walked. "And I hate that Nox is apart of this all. I can't imagine what you think of me, with all the talk about him. I really am here to see you. To help you, and to help you, you need Nox." Sage smirked. "And as you can see Nox isn't liked by everyone." Sage stopped and made Aiden stop too. "And to prove I want to be here with you." He leaned in and kissed Aiden.

[Aiden Finnegan]

Sage slipped an arm around Aiden’s waist and apologized. The went on a little further before his date halted, leaning in and bringing his lips to Aiden’s. He felt his cheeks grow hot at the unexpected affections. One strong, blazing ball of fairy fire popped into existence above his head, making frantic flutters above their heads. Sage pulled away and Aiden was left breathless.

                “You haven’t been, really. I would’ve gone back to Suzdal a while ago if I thought that. You told me earlier that there’s nothing between you, that’s all I needed to hear. Still, you two must be close; that or the man must have helped you through some shit; hopefully he wants to help me too,” he said to Sage, pulling him in closer, “Tonight’s been… interesting. Nox must be quite the character to make that Elias guy just run off. I don’t know many that would turn down a free limo ride. His loss.” A smirk spread on Aiden’s face before he went back in for another kiss, this one deeper and longer than the last. The fairy fire splitting into two large orbs, swirling overhead as if they were dancing together.

                Pulling away, Aiden cocked an eyebrow at Sage, “So, uh, we still taking this back to your place?”