“There are also those of us,” Duncan added in, not giving Jimmy time to respond, “that protect her believe that, as a human, she is entitled to live her own life. Frankly, I couldn’t care less if she brings forth a savior or not…that’s for her to decide, not anyone else.” Duncan leaned forward, gazing at the entire room of younger protectors. “Throughout the history of the Mother of Hell, in more than 75% percent of the cases we have on record, the Mother was ultimately killed by her Protectors, after she was…”taken” by demons. Most believe that, should her child be of demonic blood, that the gates will be open. As such, those who were sworn to protect her instead killed her.”

“I won’t pull any punches with you,” Duncan says, looking at Jimmy directly, “you’re little crush has drawn you into the oldest, most one-sided conflict in human history. Not once in thousands of years has the Mother of Hell been successfully protected. She faces death at the hands of men who believe the world is safer with her dead, and a fate worst than death at the hands of Hell cultists and demons who wish to open the Gates of Hell so that they may claim this world as their own. We as Protectors probably have about as great of chance of dying of old age as you do of being struck by lightning right now. We will either be killed by those who consider us traitors to the race, or torn to shreds by the nightmares the like of which you are only beginning to comprehend. And those few of us left alive will more than likely have to face the choice of either killing Laurella to guarantee that the Gates won’t open, or to let her live in the hopes that it will ultimately lead to their sealing.

“Generally, you have a handful of choices. You could go about life as you have been, hoping not to get drawn into this again. You could totally ignore Laurella, not caring what her fate is. You could choose to protect her, whatever your motives are...heaven knows that are not shortages of motives even among us.”

Duncan stood, and began to walk out of the room. “Whether or not you make a decision is entirely up to you. All but one of us are here by choice…the one being Laurella herself.”

Duncan stopped, turned around, and gave a slight bow. “Please, forgive for being melodramatic and running, but I have some other things to take care of. Please, stay for dinner. Claire is an excellent cook, and her lasagna is to die for. I will gladly inform her to prepare a place for one more.

With that, Duncan turned and left the room.

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Nat came in the front entrance a few minutes later. He had driven the way to the school and back a few times to make sure that Kasey and company weren’t followed.

“Ah, Master Jackson,” Jenkins said as he came into the room. Jenkins was indeed an honest-to-goodness butler, and he didn’t get the jokes about being so and having his name, “A message was left for you. You are to call a Mr. Caleb Balthazar as soon as possible.”

Nathaniel stopped dead in his tracks, and looked over at Jenkins. “What?”

“A Mr. Balthazar called looking either for you or Master McCragge. He said that you would have his number.”

Nathaniel nodded. “Thank you, Jenkins. No need to bother Duncan with this, I’ll call him back.”

“As you wish, sir.” The butler said as he gave a slight bow. “If you will excuse me, sir…”

As the butler walked away, Nathaniel hurried to his room. Caleb…why is he contacting me after all these years.

Nat flipped through an worn notebook, it contained names and numbers on pages ranging from old and yellow to new and crisp. More than one name as crossed out, with a sidenote explaining why…reasons from death to no longer being trustworthy…until he found a page that was quite old and yellow.

Nathaniel flipped out his cellphone, and began to dial. This had better be good, he thought to himself.

((OOC: Sorry…I had to de-sugar coat the likely fates of the protectors. ^_^

Mintaro, look for a PM.))

Jimmy watched Duncan leave and then shrugged. "So... if all this fuss is over her kid, why doncha all just get her, yanno, fixed?" he asked a bit incredulously. "I mean, it's not like ya have to kill someone to keep them from havin' a kid."

Zack's eyes widened. "The whole POINT is to not mess with the prophecy. If SHE decides to get her tubes tied..." he jerked his head down the hallway in the direction of Laurella's room, "then she can do that. But WE can't make that decision. Some of us by oath."

Zack stood up. "I figure we should get you a room assigned, even though I'm assuming you won't be staying here most of the time. In case you ever need to crash after a particularly tiring battle, or, Heaven forbid, something else happens..."

He started down the hall to the bedrooms, motioning for Jimmy to follow.

I hope Laurella isn't doing anything at the moment. If I'm gonna come clean, I'm gonna do it today.

"I say we impregnate her." John voiced his opinion, using a cough to catch attention..

He had suddenly appeared in the room, casually leaning against a wall.

OOC: Bah, I have fallen behind.

Zack's eyes flared, a Silence card suddenly in his hand. "Let's not go there, shall we? Most INTELLIGENT people know how I feel about those kind of... suggestions."

"Come on, Jimmy. I'll show you to your room."

He shook his head in frustration. I almost lost it there. Hold on, Zack. In a little while I Laurella and I will be clear about everything, and I can stop obsessing.

Harm watched the whole exchange from a silent corner of the room, noting the flare in Zack's eyes, the lust in John's and the complete lack of a real unifying goal in the whole bunch. Few of those standing here would have had the strength of character and faith to stand among the Blood, but that was not the point, and that was not why they were there.

" Be easy, remember we have a common cause, the protection of Laurella's right to live in the manner of her choosing as much as possible, her road is her choice, none of us own her or lay any claim to her beyond what she gives us." The last Harm directed at Zack, a father's warning to a boy he does not trust yet in the company of his child.

Training OR Wasting Time
 

Rick woke up a few hours later, no longer woozy from blood loss, and in significantly less pain then he was earlier. Wow, they have to teach me that one! He hopped onto his feet and began stretching. Nice, back at 100%, OW! Rick grimaced a second, gripping his left arm. …98%, still, they saved me a trip. Rick went out his door and checked his mailbox. Well, they got the note. Let’s see what the response is. He grabbed a spare sweatshirt and jogged to the nearest sporting goods store, and picked up some tennis balls. I have a fun new training idea!

Rick arrived at ‘His’ warehouse a few minutes later. Still abandoned, wonder why no one uses it? Wonder if it’s the spooky noises and lights? Hehe. He then sat in the middle of the floor, and started writing sigils on the balls with his industrial strength marker. After setting up his experiment, Rick stood in the middle of the building and put on his blindfold. Let’s see how this works. KAI!

As he lay on the floor, writhing in pain induced by 50 Tennis Balls smacking him at once with some force, Rick reviewed his training session. Maybe I should start out lightly tossing the balls instead of smacking them away with my Boken, or how about just a few at a time, instead of all 50? Rick hopped back up. Well, let’s go again, shall we? KAI!

After spending a few hours getting hit by tennis balls, Rick stumbled back into his apartment, and fell onto his futon. Still no orders, wonder what’s going on at the Manor? Would definitely like to find out what I should plan for. He then dozed off again for a bit.

With a near full day out of school, Laurella found some...unique ways to entertain herself. Like teaching herself how to dance to Dshingis Khan's Moskau. It wasn't as sexy to dance this way wearing nothing from underwear and a dress shirt as one might imagine. In fact, most people who be laughing at it too much to draw any kind of attraction.

On the other side, Troy had just received Trish's message.

"I'M FINE. POSSESSED STUDENTS KO'ED. M.O.H. AND FRIENDS ESCAPED. TEACHER IS A FREAK. AND YOU?"

Sighing in relief as the words appeared on his cell, he leaned against the door, thinking about what he should send back. A creak was caught by his ears, and before he knew it he was falling backwards - the door finally opening now that he had calmed down.

Finding himself on his back, he blinked and looked up at his sister, his phone still held in front of his face. Blinking, he typed out a message, and sent it to her.

"I'M...FINE."

Caleb leaned back in his chair, biting the eraser of a pencil. When the paper work was finished he had begun doodling. He'd always had a small talent at it, but spending his life fighting demons instead of drawing, he'd never really improved at it. Before him was a picture of a strong woman, standing in front of the gates of hell, demons struggling to get at her through the bars. He'd drawn a lot of pictures similar to it.

Picking up the paper he pulled a lighter out of his chest pocket. Lighting the paper on fire he held it burning for a little bit then dropped it into the empty garbage pail. It burned like all the other ones had. Just as he was thinking of putting it out the private line rang. It got halfway through the second ring before he answered it.

"Caleb Balthazar, to whom am I speaking?"

"Its Enos man. I still havn't heard from Nathaniel, so did you talk to him or what?" He asked.

"Not yet." Calebs response came quick. "Look I don't even know if he'll call me back so-"

Enos cut him off mid sentence. "Well look, I have to go, but this might work out in my favor actually, I want you to set up a meeting for me with him instead. I want to meet him at 9pm at Jacks Joyrides and Games, you know that old amusement park. I'll give you another $500 to set up the meeting instead."

"Uh sure but, I don't think that place has been used for a meeting grounds in a long time. Is it even still there?"

"Yeah it is. Look I'd love to chat but I have to go. Get me this meeting man." -Click.

Caleb hung up the phone. He was about to sit back and think about it when the phone rang again. He picked it up immediately, answering in the same fashion.

"Caleb Balthazar, to whom am I speaking?"

"Its Nathaniel, whats this about? I'm a busy man."

"I know, I saw what happened at the school today." Caleb smiled a little, it had been a long time sense they talked, he hadn't expected roses.

"Then I'm sure you'll understand I don't have a lot of time to spend on Ex-protectors. Do you have information. Or did you just want to chat?" Nathaniel was becoming irritated, though he was relieved that Caleb seemed to be sober.

"Honestly, I don't know what I have. An old acquaintance called me. A man by the name of Enos, I took down a couple of demons with him back in the day." Nathaniel sighed a little on the other end of the line. "Well anyways he had wanted me to give you his number, but now it seems he just wants me to set up a meeting between you two. 9PM at Jacks Joyrides and Games, I'm sure you remember that old spot."

"Yeah I do." Came Nathaniel's suspicious reply. "Caleb be straight with me. Do you trust this?"

Caleb really wished his answer could be yes"No Nat I don't. If I were in you're shoes I wouldn't trust this either. Especially considering he's offering me $1000 just to set up this meeting."

"Yeah, thats about what I expected to hear." Nathaniel seemed calmer. "So Caleb, how have you been, no one's heard much of you in almost 10 years. You didn't even say much of a good bye."

Caleb was silent for a moment. "I'm sure you kept tabs on me for awhile. Well not a lot has changed. I keep my business running. I just clean up the small stuff you guys miss. Possessions mostly. I drink less now, and I don't have as many nightmares." Caleb paused again. "I saw Laurella today she-" Nathaniel was quick to cut him off.

"Stop right there! You keep away from her. It was hard enough for her when you just vanished out of her life. I know that you only stayed in this city to keep tabs on her. The last thing she needs right now is a shock from her past. She's 18 years old and has the world on her shoulders so you keep out of her life." Nathaniel was angry, but he didn't yell. He seldom yelled at Caleb. There was another silence.

Caleb broke it first,"I saw that Rick and Patricia were killed, I assume it was demons?"

"I don't think thats any of your damn business. Look man if you wanna keep tabs on whats going on thats fine. Its nice to know you're keeping an eye on things, you might even see something we miss, but you're out of the game now. You wanted out and you got it. So don't come back to me looking for answers after 10 years because I just don't have them for you." Nathaniel took a deep breath to calm himself. "Look I want you to come to the meeting tonight. I doubt you have any plans anyways. He's your friend so you can be responsible if anything goes wrong."

Caleb was quiet, he had planned on going anyways, Nathaniel probably knew that."Yeah ok. I'll be there." He said it softly. "I'll see you then."

"Yeah I'll see you." He hesitated before hanging up. "It really is good to hear from you again though."

"Yeah," Caleb's reply came through a little clearer. With that the two hung up the phones.

A tear ran down Caleb's cheek. He wiped it away. Nathaniel was right though, it wasn't any of his business now. He was out. He pulled a bottle of whiskey out of his bottom desk drawer. As he grasped it however he saw into his trash bin. There at the bottom of it was something that wrenched his heart. A picture of a strong woman, with just a hint of a gate behind her, surrounded by black ashes. Caleb dropped the bottle and shut the drawer. He put his hands onto his desk and took a few deep breaths to settle his nerves.

Caleb walked out to the waiting room. Susan was packing up her work. "I'm going to leave for the night so I'll close everything up. You go on home and enjoy your night off. Go out on a date or something." He smiled at Susan.

"Wow closing up the office? Dose that mean you'll actually sleep in a bed tonight?" She tittered at her own joke. "And for your information I go on lots of dates. Not all of us spend our nights watching old movies." She stood up and grabbed her bag.

"You love old movies." He reminded her with a smile.

"Yeah, but I watch them with other people." Came her quick reply.

"Indeed you do. Well good night, I'll see you tommarow. "

With that he shooed her out and closed everything up. Putting on his coat and hat he went home. He spent the rest of the day cleaning up, and trying not to get drunk.