Colin's posts

"Damn it all." Hal growled.

"I understand why Aedan would be angry, but on the warpath? Who would she know to look for?" he asked.

"I don't know." Zeke mumbled.

"Someone killed Azazel, and now Aedan is looking for someone." Hal went on.

"We can't even examine him to see HOW he died." he continued.

"We have NO information, and we're in the middle of trying to shut this place down due to the trial resurgence." he muttered, shaking his head in frustration.

When she burst into the room, the two that were in there looked at her.

"Gemini?" Zeke asked, before seemingly freezing.

"....this box will explain it...?" Hal mumbled, before opening it.

Inside, there looked to be a pile of dimly glowing ashes, with hardened calcium-like bits in it. And it smelled pretty bad.

"...th... that's..." Zeke stammered.

"That's the remains of a demon." he said.

"...a demon?" Hal asked him.

"Azazel's dead." Zeke said plainly, though he was clearly shaken by this.

At that moment, Azazel knew something was wrong.

He then got up, and made his way over towards her.

"Sierra." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I can tell something's wrong. I KNOW it." he told her.

"...and I'm going to help you right now."

"..........." Azazel was silent for a moment.

"That... is fair." he said.

"She should be wearing it now. I mean, she doesn't really burn through her clips, so... yeah." he said further.

"At any rate...... how are you?" he then asked her.

"Everything... good?"

"....uh... yeah... yeah, I did." Azazel replied.

"I mean, she thought it was a little weird, seeing as she only really uses 1 or 3 clips in her hair, but she did like the design on it." he told her.

"She switched one of her current clips out for it." he then said.

"...why?" he then asked.

'The HELL is going on with her...?' he then wondered mentally.

"...I do as well." Hal replied.

"I really do." he said.

"But unlike a quarantine, this WILL take some time." he told her. "This place will be shut down in a week, tops." he then assured her further.

-Several days later-

Azazel just sighed as he sat in one of the break rooms, shaking his head.

"Ugh. Tired." he muttered.

"With what's going on, I'm being run ragged." he said further.

'...and is it my imagination, or was Sierra being weird earlier...?' he then wondered, reflecting on a recent interaction, where Sierra had given him a hair clip to give to Aedan.

Hal seemed to be stunned for a moment.

"That... might explain a lot." he said.

He then leaned forward, pinching his forehead with his hand.

"Lovely." he growled.

"Well, there's a number of protocols that need to be observed, but I will get on that immediately." he told her.

"...but... globally?" he asked.

"This is a disaster."

She was waiting for far longer that she would have liked, about 10 minutes, before she saw someone come out of the office, and leave, looking angry.

They had left the door open, as well.

"Hollie?" Hal asked from where he was, seeing her sitting there.

"Come in, come in." he told her.

"And please, shut the door behind you." he added.

Luckily for her, it WAS Jake.

And he darted his tongue out a few times, before opening the door for her.

"...sure thing." he said.

"Wait..." he muttered.

"Before you go in, why did you need to go through ME?" he asked.

"Can't you just get right into Sharp's office?"

Vincent nodded.

"I will need it." he said.

"And I will make sure sealing and/or stripping her mana will NOT be necessary." he told her, levelling a small glare at her, but there was understanding beneath it.

"You do what you need to do." he went on.

"And I shall do the same." he finished.

"....that works." Vincent replied.

"I'll see to it that she goes there post-haste." he told her.

"Thank you for the information, as harsh as it was." he said. "It was something I needed to know, obviously." he went on.

"....and I'll do all I can to try and calm Rowena down even a LITTLE." he promised her.

"I... make no promises, though..."

"That... that might be enough." Vincent said. "That just may be enough to stop her from completely going off the deep end and succumbing to the darkness..." he said further.

"..." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Alice will need to be away from her, though." he said. "As an empath, the negative emotions that Rowena will exude will overload her for sure." he reasoned.

"....Hollie, if nothing else, I will personally search for Vicki." he then told her.

"I can't let anything happen to her." he said.

"I refuse to fail her."

When he stopped, the storm outside continued to rage.

And it seemed to show no signs of stopping.

There was a crash of thunder, a flash of lightning, and it seemed to cause the power in the house to flicker, which meant that there was a chance that the power would go completely.

But Aly continued to sleep soundly.

Ryker, on the other hand, was outside in the pouring rain. He was standing in the backyard, seemingly staring at the sky as the heavy rain soaked him through his clothes.

"That... that might be enough." Vincent said. "That just may be enough to stop her from completely going off the deep end and succumbing to the darkness..." he said further.

"..." he was then silent, and sighed.

"Alice will need to be away from her, though." he said. "As an empath, the negative emotions that Rowena will exude will overload her for sure." he reasoned.

"....Hollie, if nothing else, I will personally search for Vicki." he then told her.

"I can't let anything happen to her." he said.

"I refuse to fail her."