Corruptions of nature (Woof)

The strange winged boy muttered something to himself, drawing his attention just enough to give him a curious look. There was nothing they could do about the tree with roots that reached far too low for him to purify in the time he would need. All of the magic available to him at the current moment were not enough and ripping the plant from the ground was the only method that would work. Only when he spoke with such confidence that the tree would come out that his own shock turned to Jake with true, genuine uncertainty. As if the young man were insane and speaking the kind of nonsense only a madman would consider saying. ”You’re not serious are you?” He questioned, forest green eyes narrowing in further skepticism.

Then he grasped onto the tree and began pulling, wings shifting into things that no living flesh should be able to do. Twisting into massive arms with grasping fingers that also helped reach into the bark and flesh beneath. Whatever this person was, their strength was far beyond anything humans could hope to gain. One of those metahumans he heard about and saw through the broadcast boxes he occasionally saw. The red energy that crackled along his arms was even more reason to question, though he didn’t say anything and just watched as he began to wrench a massive tree from the ground, Roots deep enough that it could have been dozens of feet into the earth and even beyond. Yet they were ripped upwards, nearly uprooting the entire tree and drawing the attention of any humans that were close enough to see the sight.

This was something better attributed to a dragon, a few of those had moved through The Enclave though they rarely ever stayed too long. These days dragons had few places in the world of man where their supposed progress was pushing all except man out from the world. He wondered how long until all nature was turned into concrete jungles.

He drew in a breath and it felt like that breath were lasting forever. Watching the thick black roots that dangled from the uprooted tree, even dripping onto the ground. ”How did you…” His voice broke off, realizing he had without thinking walked back a couple dozen feet as if trying to avoid even being touched by The Blight and its effects on the tree. Whatever had been done to the tree, he couldn’t help feeling apprehensive about what this person could do as well. Was this the limit of his strength or could he do far more with a little effort? The awe of looking at something far more massive than he ever was. ”living things are much easier and take much less time to corrupt. So the earth might be fine for now, though I can’t see how far down this goes.”

Unbothered by the gaze of men he approached Jake and looked over the tree. ”Preferably we’d cleanse this tree, best by fire but something tells me the humans wouldn’t like such a large blaze in the midst of their territory,” He noted, imagining the fire that would consume the massive trunk nearly split in half. ”I’m not sure if we could move something like this before it begins to take effect, though I don’t understand the nature of that energy around you arms,” His eyes scanned over the teen now with a more curious glance, wondering if he could even be seen as close to human. Despite having a pleasing face, that rarely ever served as any indicator of what a person was.

”Do you know any places that might be good to burn a large tree?” He questioned, still taking in the acrid scent of corruption within the root, sap and even bark. Everything about the plan was beyond saving. All he could hear was the twisted words of the tree itself, wracked with pain, close to death and even a desire to spread corruption. It made his stomach turn. ”if not I have an idea but it might be…well something I would only do if there was no other choice,” he ran fingers through his hair, smoothing out the strands and eyeing the mutt still curious.

"Place to burn it?" The boy lowered himself back to the ground, his wings slowly twisting and turning back into the grey feathers, the sound of flesh ripping and changing was disturbing to hear, but Jake wasn't phased by it. He didn't understand how it worked, or how the other things he could do similar to that worked. "It feels like it's growing over my arm... Place to burn... I don't really... We'll just have to find a big enough rooftop. I can douse the flame when it's done the job." The older looking boy decided as he moved forwards to rip the rest of the roots from the earth.

"Damn. One moment. I'll be too fast for you if I stay like this. Turn back into a bird, we have to go now." As he spoke, the red hue to his skin started to fade. The power that seemed to surround him started to fizzle, and all that remained was the boy, the tree held above his head. And the mass of corruption that started to pour down atop him. "Can we be quick? I feel rather cold." The boy muttered as he jumped into the sky, his wings carrying him and the tree. A rather strange sight to be sure.

Jake kept an eye for a tall and open roof, he wasn't picky, landing atop the first one he found. By then, his body had a unhealthy amount of the black goo that corrupted the tree. He started trying to wipe it off, not looking very pleased with the current outcome. He didn't want to deal with any side effects. If it did what he felt it might, then he was too dangerous for everyone else. "Can you get this off? Or should I just shake. It smells really bad."

”Yeah, burn it,” He stated as if that were the most simple thing ever to say. It made sense to someone that worked with blight, but to someone who likely never fought something like this before it could have seemed like something else. Perhaps he just didn’t know what he was dealing with. ”rooftop? Well I could work with that,” His lips pursed, still somewhat shocked by watching the male somehow able to rip the tree from the ground with seemingly casual ease. What was this person and how strong was he? It made him wonder, though he didn’t question it too much.

Corruption poured down upon him and didn’t take hold yet, which meant he had some kind of resistance to the darkness that was turning the very earth into a twisted form. Without wasting time, he shifted into a flying form and followed the other guy, flying through the air as a lithe and swift bird. Another pigeon for sure, though as they picked out something that could hold the massive tree with the roots that dangled lazily through the air. As the two of them landed, he returned to his humanoid form and noted the black goo clinging to Jake with a slightly surprised expression.

”I…can purify it for you,” Letting the wind swirl around his hand, he let the mana flow through that hand.  A feeling of power and cleansing energy forming into a spell as he approached the strong male and pressed the flat of his palm against his chest, watching the energy course through the corrupted ichor and causing it to fall away. Like water on a ducks feathers. ”can that strange power you employ burn things?”

Rowan was quick to act on the corruption. Jake gave off a surprised cough as the boy placed the magical filled palm on his chest, feeling the almost refreshing wave of smooth water like energy wash away at the gunk that stuck to his skin. "That's... Better." The older looking boy sighed, eyes closed. This was peaceful and he wasn't so cold anymore. It was interrupted when the strange boy asked if Jake could burn the tree himself with his energy.

"I was hoping you could do that." Jake shook his head in answer, a soft frown on his features. That was a shame. The boy had a plan so he had assumed they'd fulfill that part. Seems it wasn't going to be that easy. Glancing at the corruption that seemed to pool and drain from the uprooted tree, he quickly hopped onto the edge of the roof, balancing himself as he peered down into the streets.

"I'll look around. Worse case, I'll steal some gas from a pit stop. Might be my only option. Keep an eye on the tree and uh... Don't go free falling again okay? Can't always be there to catch ya." The boy teased as his wings unfurled and he hopped off the roof with a salute, twisting into a dive before allowing his wings to catch him and he was gliding through the streets and pass buildings, eyes scanning for anything relating a pit stop.

But as the self proclaimed abomination left, the corruption wasn't going to wait for him. Dark and ugly liquid pooled together and seeped back into the tree. As if possessing the tree, the roots twirled and grew, bark cracked and took shape, branches became weapons as the corruption turned the uprooted host into a foul creature, ready to prey on the boy left to guard it.

The balm of the summer court was something that felt refreshing to any being that was washed over with it. The sign the male was relaxing he could see even through his shirt, pulling his hand back and looking to the poor corrupted tree. He could hear the soul within it screaming in deep agony.  It lashed out at his own essence, sending goosebumps cross his body in a way that threw the young prince off for a few seconds.

”I…um…do that then,” he said with a small nod, wondering what he could do about the giant black oozing tree. The male flew off the rooftop, and left him with the tree. That was when something began to happen, bark, root and stem shifting into something else. It was mutating and at speeds that were going to make this difficult. Some of the roots lashed out at him above his head as he ducked down, reaching for and knocking one of the arrows within his quiver.

Another slammed down in the spot he was kneeling, letting off an arrow into the massive trunk of the tree. Large cracks spread out from where it struck. The damage didn’t seem too obvious, though he put himself in a position where he could barely stop another strike by raising his bow to shield himself. It snapped down the middle, and he was thrown across the rooftop. Pain blossomed across his body, scrapes and other things he couldn’t tell. Instead reaching to grab the lip of the roof to keep himself from falling. Tension was now present in his knuckles, though he managed to halt himself and pull himself up.

Jake had left the tree and Rowan on the tallest building he had seen and the one that had been closest. With a fire, he hadn't wanted to cause any issues for buildings around them, nor did the corruption that had been gathering on his body help. Finding a pit stop and almost kicking his way in, the boy grabbed a lighter in the case the boy couldn't create any sort of fire, before grabbing a jerry can. His wings were still on full display, and despite folding them close to his back, they still knocked plenty to the ground, which he hoped was enough to confuse and or scare the service worker to not say or do anything.

Filling the Jerrycan, the boy called that he'd pay for everything later and immediately took flight back towards the building he had left Rowan at. Flight gave you a different sight of the city. An easier sight. Buildings were easy to recognize. Still, he was some distance away... With a reserved sigh, he allowed his eyes to flash red, an ability he hadn't used in a while. Suppose it was easier to see someone when they wer- Why is he on the edge of the roof?

"Damn it. Damn it I need to be faster." With his words. The red eyes vanished as his wings seemed to go smaller and fluffier of feature as his body mass reshaped itself, lighter in pocket, he tightened his belt around his waist as it grew smaller. Less weight and whatever mutation mixed with his magic wings to make him faster, it worked for Jake as he flew faster towards the building. Down some way, they flew as high as they could as they closed in on the building, shifting gear to fly upwards, feet running across the glass of the building, wings flapping and fluttering to keep the young man going.

As their foot hit the corner of the roof, Jake allowed his wings to vanish into his back as he flipped onto the roof besides Rowan. "Damn it. Take this, and this. I'll distract it, you light it on fire." Rowan might have been confused as the girl with an oddly familiar face and same clothes as Jake ordered him to take the lighter and jerrycan, practically dropping the two atop the boy as they charged towards the tree.

Their form seemed to shift as a hand loosened his belt, muscles returned, facial features and fat moved around until the girl shifted back into the boy that had been before, all while he was lunging into the tree, aiming to push it back. At first, Jake had thought it worked. But then he realized that all he had done was crash head first into corruption and bark, trying to jump back, vines whipped, crashing into the boy, some wrapping around his limbs to keep him still, and as the boy struggled to release himself from the unnaturally strong tree, bark opened into some kind of mouth, black goo bubbling inside it before the corruption spewed onto the mutt, covering him from head to toe of the black goo and corruption, till it looked as if the boy was nothing but a human sized statue of the stuff.

Calling upon all the strength available within his lithe body, Rowan pulled himself up and rolled into a crouching position. His head was swimming and knuckles screaming in agony, though he knew he couldn’t allow himself to focus on that. ”I have to cleanse this somehow,” he muttered under his breath, still hearing the cries of the nature spirits within slowly being consumed by darkness. He didn’t even realize the small amount of blood trickling down hos forehead. That guy really needed that to bring that fire now, though he knew things were not so easy. Rowan needed to somehow slow this thing down before it could cause any harm.

Maybe even to humans.

That was when someone returned. He wasn’t expecting a woman but here she was, all too fast for his eyes to really follow, and then this woman changed back into the guy he knew before. For less than a second he was confused but that didn’t matter when they were dealing with the corrupted monsters. Before he could react he watched the boy jump forward in an attempt to attack the tree but ended up covered within the corruption. Would that strange energy protect him? Something about it didn’t fit in with the world he knew, so perhaps.

”Stop rushing in like that,” He called out, extending his own spirit and mind beyond his body to call upon the spirits of the wind.  Wind and air, things that all beings needed truly to survive within this world. A branch lashed out at him, though a gust of wind managed to push it off by a few inches. Causing it to slam into the rooftop next to him. Sirens echoed off in the distance. That small gust grew into a torrential hurricane laced with the mana he could spare and unleashed that purifying wind upon the mutt. Washing away as much of the corruption as he could manage, though such a large amount he could feel the drain from.

His knees grew wobbly and sight a little blurry though Rowan was able to keep standing. Still he had enough strength to unleash a blade of wind, pressurized enough to slice through the center of the mass. It let out a gut wrenching screech that made his stomach turn, each half hitting the rooftop and attempting to fuse back together but obviously slowly.

For a moment it was hard to see, feel, think. It was all darkness really. Inky, slimy darkness. It sucked... But at the same time the boy couldn't help but just... Not... Care. He was tired after all. Why not just rest. It'd be easy to do. Too simple really. Just keep his eyes closed. Yet something nagged. A sense of needing to do something. He wanted to laugh. Why? He wasn't a hero. No he had longed dropped any desire to think of himself as such. He was just a freak... A freak that choose to help people. Damn it stop making arguments for yourself!

Suddenly the burning corruption that surrounded the boy was attacked by the purifying winds and Jake remembered that a tree of slime was a thing. The boy called Rowan was a thing. Looking over towards the boy, he noticed that the gas hadn't been touched. Kid had asked him to get some fire and what did he do? Didn't bloody use it. Typical. Jake was about to call out to them when he realized that the kid looked hurt. He looked back to the tree, cut in half, trying to restore itself. It's branches and roots still coiled around his body, the corruption festering on the mutts skin.

"Enough! FBR 3." The boy called, using the words to focus his power as the red energy coiled around his body. Bubbling under his skin until with a brilliant flash of red light he was empowered. Energy sparked off his skin which was now a deep shade of red, the corruption seemed to almost peel off, as if ripped away from the power inside the young man. With ease he didn't have before, he ripped himself free from the roots, and dived into the tree, getting between the two parts of it as he gripped the lower trunk with both hands.

And in a second, ripped the entire trunk in half. Growling, the boy continued, ripping into the wood and bark, and eventually the roots, his hands burning away the very corruption that manifested itself in the tree, his focus entirely on decimating the lower half of this monster like tree in a brutal fashion. He had almost completely forgotten about the top half, but was too invested in destroying it's lower body. Not thinking of the fire he had originally brought to eradicate the corruption.

When overusing mana there were many things someone had to look over for. The human body or even a halflings body could go through many things, especially when they were injured. Clotting felt as if it were slowing down, causing the trickle of blood to accelerate somewhat. Vision became even hazier and standing was more akin to a herculean feat of strength now. What good would he be to this stranger now? Still the tree cried out in agony, the spirit within rending at his heart with words no one else could hear. ”hurts. It hurts so bad. Hate hate hate all humans,” That angry voice cried and then growled within his mind. His eyes stung, on the verge of watering as he watched the strange boy envelope himself within that red energy and begin to tear that thing apart in ways that he could not.  Each strike doing nothing more than sending its cries of agony through his mind, like lances and spikes that threatened to tear away at the very sanity he held onto. Still eventually the voice grew quiet, unable to sustain itself from the pummeling. He pressed the palm of his hand against his face, realizing that his nose was now bleeding.

When did this happen?

That was when he saw that the guy wasn’t doing what he was suppose to. There was no cleansing fire despite the fact that they were trying to do that. ”This’ll hurt,” he drew upon what mana he could, from himself and the air around him. The wicked energy of the male seeped in, but that only managed to give the spell what he needed. Lightning coalesced into the shape of an arrow, and he grasped it. Feeling his muscled tense, only able to will himself to move through the last bits of mana within his body and hurl it forward. Slamming into the bark, catching the gasoline on fire and the wood with it. Soon enough even the blight fluid began to ignite.

”A shame prince of summer. You had to kill this poor soul, I know it must KILL you,” A sharp pain lanced through his stomach, and he looked down to see a tendril of corruption sticking through his stomach as if it had stabbed him from behind.  Blood turning black leaked from the weapon as it yanked out.

”Oh….” Was all he said as he weakly fell backwards.

Jake, lost in his rage, only barely able to contain himself to not shatter the very building under him with his own steps, his own terrifying force of power, snapped back into reality at the sound of a lighting strike. He spun in place, catching sight of the top half of the tree, now ablaze with fire. Right, fire. He looked back to what remained of the lower half, more splinters then anything whole, but he threw what was in his hands atop the pyre of flames now burning away at the corruption that had previously seeped over his whole body.

"Good job kid." Jake called, voice sounding oddly echo like as he turned his head towards the strange and small boy. And watched as blood ran down his stomach. No obvious attacker. No, didn't matter. The boy was falling. Jake was faster, with a step that shattered much of the support of the roof, he was already beside Rowan, catching the kid before they could hit the hard roof. "Hey! Stay awake! Hey! Do you heal?" The boy yelled, his ears drumming with so much blood and heat and thoughts he could barely hear himself think.

Letting out a huff of air, the boys red skin faded to a lighter shade, his eyes stopped glowing a menacing red to a almost pinkish shade as it mixed with the blue of his eyes. He didn't need Full Body V3 for now. But V1 remained useful. Picking the small boy up, Jake looked over his wound. It looked infected. Like the corruption. "Gotta get you to a hospital... No, no they wouldn't be able to help you. Sammy? I don't know if he'd see me..." Now that he could hear himself, he could think. Who did he know? He knew a lot of people. He didn't know where all of them wh-

"You might not see dragons. But I know a place. Just gotta hope the owner is in." Jake told the boy, unsure if he could hear him, not needing to know. Wings sprouted from his back as he jumped from the edge of the building and fell, holding Rowan tight to him. He'd been there only twice before, but he had an idea of where it was. Hard to forget the place... Honestly now he wanted to hang out with the dragon kids again. They were cool... Shaking his head and focusing on now, he sped through the city, his wings feeling the strain of the speed they were being forced to move in his current form until he saw the building. Not slowing down, he hit the ground and starting skidding, shoulder hitting the door and smashing right through it to Lily's shop as he came to a full stop. "Lily! Lily are you here I need help!" The boy yelled, hoping to the gods he didn't make a mistake.

Rowan had been hurt before but this was different. It started out as pain he couldn’t even describe, steadily giving way to what he could only describe as pleasant oblivion.  The boys words were lost to whatever sensation he was feeling, he couldn’t even thinking really.

The last thing he remembered before losing consciousness completely was a memory. A woman with hair like spun gold and eyes like honey, holding him close and cooing softly.

Mom? He thought as it all was lost to darkness.

The door to the shop was thrown open, and across the room. The surprised mage could only blink twic, as the door smashed off a barrier. Seeing the pink winged by holding the one bleeding out. ”So that’s where the sonic boom came from. Follow me,” Her voice went from perplex to serious within seconds,  flicking her wrist as the door seem to reform from splintered glass and wood, the open sign turning to a closed one.

She lead the youth to a room behind the counter, seemingly shifting to one with a large table in the center, large shelves lining the walls with various items and motioned for him to set the youth down there. ”What happened to him Jake?” She questioned, letting her hands hover over him as green sparks of energy issued from her fingertips. Seemingly working some kind of magic though it wasn’t obvious yet. There had to be a reason why he didn’t just take him to a hospital. Perhaps that wasn’t an option. As she hovered over the bleeding wound through his stomach, a dark aura seemed to emanate from it.

”Shit, Jake I need you to get me a few things from the shelves. I need one of the large white crystals over there and…some rowan berries from that labeled jar,  dragon bone ash and…one of the small vials of angel blood,” Her expression seemed to shift to one of exertion, though she didn’t stop trying to work whatever spell she was trying.

”Lily, did I hear an explosion,” A voice questioned as someone with copper red hair and thick rimmed black sunglasses stepped into the room.

”Perfect timing. I need you to hold him down before he starts convulsing. He’s poisoned by something bad,” Without even thinking the man bridged the room and began to hold him down as he started convulsing.  Well, this was going bad.

The boy only nodded when told to follow, leaving everything else out of his mind. Not even bothering to look to the door as it restored itself. In the back room, Jake moved to set the young looking boy down on the table before Lily even motioned for it, laying him flat before stepping back, allowing the red energy to fade from his body and his wings to fold back into his body till he looked as normal as one could look with his situation.

"Umm." Lily asked him what happened and initially the boy couldn't think. What had happened? The tree was burning, there didn't seem to be any corruption near Rowan. And yet he was injured like this, by what seemed to be the very corruption they had fought. "Don't know. He fell from the sky, said something about corruption wandering about. We found it, tried to burn it. It fought back. He must have been hurt before we destroyed it." He did his best to explain, still frowning. How...

His eyes widened when the woman ordered him to grab the items she requested. He moved quickly, grabbing the crystal and Rowan berries easily, the dragon ash wasn't difficult. The angel blood took him a second, and when he found it, he held onto the vial for a second, stunned. His stunned state was broken when a familiar voice entered the room and he turned to see Samael. Jake didn't bother trying to formulate words as the man moved to Rowan and Jake moved to give the things Lily had requested to her.

"He said he was an elf of some kind. Uses magic, shapeshifting from animal parts. Not sure if that changes anything." The boy stated, before deciding to help with holding Rowan down on the other end of the table from Sam.

As the reagents were brought before her, Lily seemed to produce a small mortar and pestle from a bag hanging around her waist. Mashing the berries, along with the blood and thick grey powder. Gold light emanating from the crystal, saturating the paste like mixture as it took on a swirling mixture of red and gold, Lily weaving a spell through to give it the form she desired with as little time as she had in the moment. ”Never thought I’d have to make something like this,” She muttered to herself,  forcing the boys mouth open and pouring the mixture in. Doing what she could to see that he drank it.

”That doesn’t change anything but it does help some. I know what I’m dealing with now,” A half fey? Was he summer or something else? She thought this over, watching his adverse reactions slowly change to calm ones, running a finger over the injury that ran through his lithe form. Inky blackness coming from the wound and being drawn with a fluid motion into the crystal she called for. Turning it black, blacker than expected and with that set on the corner of the table she sighed. ”the worst is past us now,” She sighed, realizing that that minutes had passed without even noticing it.  

”something tells me he might have died if you didn’t bring him here,” She looked to jake and gave him a small pat on the shoulder.

”Looks like it if that’s what I think it was,” Samael added, looking to jake with a slightly sympathetic expression. ”been a while hasn’t it? How’ve you been?” Well, he might as well ask since this was the first time they’ve seen each other in months, Lily already beginning to heal the injury itself. Lost to the working of a spell that could knit back together flesh and organs, while also purifying more mundane infections.

The boys chest was hurting by the time Lily had fed the concoction to Rowan, and it was only then did he realize that he had been holding his breath for the last minute and so. Letting out a long and slow breathe, he nodded in Lily's general direction when she had explained that the kid might have died had he not brought him here. All he could do now was sigh in relief, knowing that he had made the right call. Knowing that it had been enough. At least he had been smart in this regard.

Then Sam spoke again and it all those good feelings he had went and vanished on him. He glanced in the cambion's direction, unsure if to trust the seemingly causal nature of the mans greeting. The boy hadn't seen Sam since that vampire, when he had been... Well.

He reflected on the corruption Rowan and himself had been facing. Oh how he wished it had been so simple back then. Didn't help that he was the reason that vampire lord escaped. Whatever had been happening. He didn't feel like he had helped.

And now Sammy was in front of him. And he didn't have anything good to say. So he lied. "Good." A simple lie. It wasn't enough. Didn't feel real enough. He needed more. "Been good." Damn it. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breathe and looked over the child like being laying on the table one more time, rubbing his arm unconsciously. "Discovered I can shapeshift somewhat... How have you been?" He finally asked back, not really looking back in Samael's direction as he did.

”That’s good, I’m glad you’re doing good,” Samael nodded, feeling the daggers being glared at him from Lily who now held the pitch black crystal between index and thumb. Why did it always feel like she was judging him without saying anything. Was it his own relationship with Adam? Now that sounded like something that could have made sense.

”Well if you’re going to stay here for a while, might as well help me Sammy. ” She motioned to the now unconscious fey child, and he nodded. Lifting him up with as much care as he could, using both arms to keep his body upright and cradled. Almost felt like he weighed nothing when he actually thought about it.

”I’ve been doing well. A lot going on in my life too. Found out I could shapeshift too…sort of,” He mentioned, motioning for the male to follow him with his head and leaving the back room. Heading up the stairs to the loft above, and stepping through a room. It was sparsely decorated but the bed looked soft enough. He settled the young looking male into the bed and tucked him in, likely leaving the rest to Lily who would have known how to take care of catatonic people.

”seen Adam lately?” He questioned turning to Jake with a quirked brow.

Following the half demon, Jake kept his eye on Rowan. As if he could somehow fall into danger at any moment... Well, he was in the arms of someone who could relatively be dangerous. A thought that quickly was followed by disappointment. It was one day. One time. And that itself was a very strange and hectic day. He didn't even remember all of it. Just the bad parts.

So trying to step away from the self loathing and loathing of a man who had saved him before, several times. Jake instead listened to what he had to say and tried to pretend that things were normal. "We'll have to compare shapeshifting then. See who got the luckier straw." The boy half joked as Rowan as set down onto a bed. Hopefully he recovered quickly.

"No. No Adam... No... Anyone really. Met this alien of sorts... Some Demon Lords. Madeline of Arcadia if that rings anything... But for a while I've just been drifting." That was the sum of it. Drifting. Crime could be difficult to find as a side hobby... Well. Drifting without much a goal beyond hopes... Well. He had one singular hope. But he never really gave it much more thought... Frowning in Samael's direction. He considered that perhaps... Just perhaps. He could realize it. But not now. Not with Rowan like this.

"That vampire queen been found yet?" He tacked on at the last minute. One of those bad memories.