Do You Walk in the Shadow of Men...

[redlightgreenlight]

Characters: Valdis and open
Date: The Month of May
Location: Throughout Keeliai
Situation: Various
Warnings/Rating: In Headers


Moving out of the hotel didn’t take long. Valdis hired a few kedan to help her move her things to the small house near the former palace gardens. It was a comfortable enough space, moreso because Wan had built it. She wasn’t entirely certain why she had waited so long to move here, but perhaps she had just needed time to let go of Anton. The house needed a bit of work after having sat empty for so long, but not much and nothing she wasn’t willing to do. Valdis was capable of creating things, not just destroying them.

The KPD hasn’t let up on patrols and she’s renewed the watches on the water sources. She now had thirty-seven officers and the support of the Justice Guild, a far cry from where she had started almost a year ago. The addition of four Kirin to the KPD resources had been a bright spot, but now Valdis had to find a caretaker for them. She hoped that the four mounts could help reduce response times to crisis as well as aid in crowd control should something arise. Allying with the Guild of Justice and Arbitration had been a wise move as it seemed to calm things down a bit and give both parties a more stabilizing structure. Now she could hunt...

Comments

[annihilist]

"You're alive. That means you have every right to fight to keep yourself alive, no matter the circumstances."

He was aware of the hypocrisy of that statement. Devin tilted his head to match, appearing almost bored.

"If you have a question, Valdis, ask it. This tip-toeing is getting a little tiresome, don't you think?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"That's what Hila tells me," Valdis muttered. Gods the ka would have words when Valdis called her to the life plan, better save that for another day. She straightened, eyes narrowed as she still watched him on the soul plane.

"You aren't an angel," she said, "That much is clear, but you aren't bound to hell like you say your kind are."

There was something there, a tiny flame. Part of him, and yet not.

"What is that flame?"

[annihilist]

Devin regarded Valdis silently for a while, idly fiddling with the mug in front of him.

"I said vampires were bound to hell. I did not say that I was," he replied, carefully neutral. A frown pinched his forehead together at her actual question. "When we first met, you noted that I was not 'alone', like most people are. You were correct in that observation. My life is not entirely my own."

[redlightgreenlight]

"True, but you implied it," Valdis pointed out, then she sighed, "So you are saying that there is another entity possessing you?"

Hopefully it wasn't an evil entity like hers, or she'd start to think the Turtle was trying to say something about possession.

[annihilist]

"Not exactly." Devin looked away, ostensibly taking in the rest of the cafe. "Possession implies the active ability to control. And it's not an entity, so much as part of one. At least, that's what I've been told. I'm not sure how much I believe it."

Though when God and an archdemon are singing the same tune, it's a little hard to disagree with them.

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis didn't believe that whatever it was couldn't take control if it desired, but perhaps if it was an incomplete being like he said then it wouldn't be strong enough.

"An angelic entity?" Valdis arched a brow,

Why else would Revelations respond to him in such a manner.

[annihilist]

Abaddon might be able to control him, but he'd have to be awake for that to happen.

He gave Valdis a brittle smile. "If you have to ask that question, you already know the answer. It's simple maths at this point, isn't it?"

[redlightgreenlight]

"Not as simple as you might think."

Good thing he wasn't interested in hunting Hounds, because she had the feeling he would be a very dangerous opponent.

"How did you, a vampire, come to have the fragment of an angel inside of you?"

[annihilist]

"That's an excellent question," Devin said sarcastically. "I ask myself that most every day, because I honestly don't remember."

It's the truth. He only knows that it's there, as much as he'd prefer to believe it was all a ploy.

[redlightgreenlight]

Just like she couldn't remember when her soul had been shattered, aside from that vision so long ago. But memory could be selective, and she still didn't remember her life before becoming Valdis.

"I see," she said, finishing her tea, "And no one has bothered to tell you why either?"

Because bigger powers seemed to enjoy interfering with others.

[annihilist]

"The only beings that could are rather mum on the subject." The Spirit was always incredibly cryptic, and Abaddon remained dormant.

"Apparently, it isn't knowledge I'm meant to have yet, if ever. I do my best to avoid the subject and anything related to it, though this place," Devin said, exasperated, gesturing to the cafe and by extension the rest of Keeliai, "seems very intent on bringing it up at every possible turn. The fact that I'm capable of handling your blade does not thrill me in the slightest."

[redlightgreenlight]

"Keeliai has a way of...changing people," Valdis replied, "But believe me, I'm no more thrilled about you handling Revelations than you are."

And she could sense his lack of thrill on the subject.

"At least you have relatively non-evil beings looking out for you."

[annihilist]

Devin's expression hardened. He didn't want to change, if the change intended was to dig into his deepest secret and bare it to the world; expose him. He wanted to be left alone to do his work. None of this was said aloud.

He made a dryly amused noise at her last remark. "'Relatively non-evil'. I'll have to borrow that one. I suppose that is something to be faintly, grudgingly grateful for, although it's made me a target for the absolutely evil beings." The vampire tilted his head slightly, studying her. "You're speaking of your own demons, though, aren't you? This 'Void', as you called it?"

[redlightgreenlight]

She smiled bitterly, he wasn't happy about the circumstances and she didn't exactly blame him for it.

"In a way." Valdis signaled the server for more tea before continuing, "The Void manifests as a seven-headed serpent, it is essentially the embodiment of sin. It moved in when my soul was shattered by the Archdemon Amos, except it didn't exactly move out when my soul was restored. The combination apparently makes me either very dangerous or very precious, depending on who you ask."

[annihilist]

"It sounds positively charming," Devin replied sarcastically. "And here I thought my hanger-on was aggravating."

He still did, but Valdis' situation was comparatively worse. They were both targets, but Devin had the advantage of a god on his side, even with a demon on his tail.

"I should think it makes you both, not one or the other. Unless you have a preference."

[redlightgreenlight]

That comment was oddly nice for him.

"I'd prefer neither," she said, "On one side, I have the angels trying to destroy me, and on the other, an Archdemon hell-bent on figuring out what makes me tick. That doesn't even count the plans of my own kind."

Her only ally was her brother and she wouldn't even remember him if she was sent back.

[annihilist]

Devin laughed, something low and humorless. "What a pair we make," he remarked without particular context. They had far more in common than he realized before.

The vampire looked down again, at the remnants of his meal and took another sip of tea. "You said Keeliai has a way of changing people. What did you mean?"

[redlightgreenlight]

Valdis arched a brow at his comment, but without context, she couldn't discern what he meant.

"Keeliai is a place of second chances," she said, taking the new cup of tea from the server as the kedan took the old one away. "When I got here, I wasn't exactly as...invested in helping others. I didn't believe in emotions, or relationships. Those things were all human weakness."

[annihilist]

The vampire has zero interest in changing, and he deserves no second chance. Maybe this place will leave him be, since it seems to be having an excellent time throwing irony in his face left, right, and center.

Not likely, Devin.

"They are weaknesses. They're also strengths, in the right circumstances," he conceded. "But that's all a part of being human, is it not?"

This last was wry, seeing as neither of them were human.

[redlightgreenlight]

"Funny," she replied, though her tone did not actually suggest that she found it funny, "No, though they weren't quite prey anymore, humans were inferior. Relationships were nothing more than a means to an end. Why should I care about anyone when none of them truly cared about me. Who would even want to care about me? I was a monster, but a monster that cared about her own survival and little more."

Then there had been Wan. Followed by Anton and then Dante.

"But here, I met people who changed all that and while those people are all gone now, I can't go back to what I was, even if I wanted to."

[annihilist]

Using relationships as tools was familiar to Devin. It was something he did often, though not through forming any of his own. Other people could be used as leverage, which was why he didn't allow for that leverage to exist in his own life.

"It seems this city has been good for you," he commented idly, keeping his gaze away from hers. "And it's quite powerful, if it can change such a formidable creature as yourself." He sighed. "I think I'm beginning to like being here even less."

[redlightgreenlight]

"I don't know if I would call the city powerful," she replied, "But the foreigners I've met? They seem to be very stubborn and determined to trust and care about others. I suppose it has simply rubbed off."

Much to the chagrin of the Void.

"And I'm starting to think that you don't like much at all."

[annihilist]

"People make a city what it is. A city without people is simply buildings and the slow crawl of entropy wearing them away," he said idly, looking out a window. "You're not wrong, but it's less that I like very little and more that I have limited opinions on most things. I neither like nor dislike - it's simpler."

[redlightgreenlight]

"That is true," Valdis said, "But I was referring to the Foreigners, not the kedan and Keeliai was their city first. And your definition of 'simpler' sounds rather lonely."

[annihilist]

"It can be," Devin allowed, and shrugged lightly. "There's nothing wrong with that. I have more than enough complications in my life; no need to invite more."