Rhiannon turned with a start, her green eyes flashing, certain what she heard was conjured by her imagination. "What the...?"

Her eyes focused in on a tall figure leaning against a tree, but she could make out little more than dark hair. Summoning her aura perception, she viewed him warily, then with a small shriek of incredulity hastened toward him. That aura was as familiar to her as her own...

As he stepped out of the shadow of the tree, she stopped short. His hair was jet black, giving him a dark, reckless air about him. Perhaps that was what she had felt when she dreamt of him. He looked thin, thinner than she remembered, and there was a vague haunted look about his eyes. But his smile was warm, and inviting. He opened his arms, and chuckled. "Haven't you a hug for me my little chuckaroo?"

She ran to his arms and hugged him, pleasantly surprised to feel that with everything they had been through, their bond was deepr than ever, like that of twins when in the womb. Devoid of passion, but filled with love, she began to cry weakly as he hugged her to him.

He chucked her chin up to look him in the eyes. "I thought you might need a spot of company." He looked around, remembering the area...she had taken him here a lifetime ago, when they were younger, to show him her humble beginnings. "Rhiannon, what on earth are you doing here? Why have you come back? You know the past can only clutch at your heart, squeezing it until it bleeds." He grimaced, as a shadow unknown to her crossed his face.

She tenderly disengaged herself from him, and shrugged. "Finding answers...or at least trying to." She looked to him like a tired little girl who had lost her security blanket, her eyes were etched in pain.

"Sweetheart, show me that steely resolve that is yours." He smiled as she squared her shoulders like he had seen her do in times of tribulation so many times before. "That's my girl. Come on Rhi..you know better than this. You can't find answers by living in your past. All you can do is find your comfort place, and remember all that you have learned SINCE this place." He smiled at her, hoping she would understand what he was trying to say.

She looked at him, smiled softly, and said nothing. The pregnant pause stretched before them for several minutes, although a comfortable silence. He looked her over with a critical eye. She looked like a ragamuffin. Although her dress was expensive and quality, it was a little on the shabby side. Out of hte corner of his eye he spied the scar on her arm bearing his name, and grimaced abit.

"Come on now sweetheart...let's take you home." Rhiannon looked at him confused, she was home. He read her mind and smiled. "No darling....home to Cascadia...that's really your home. You'll be safe."

Rhiannon repeated the word almost mechanically."Cascadia..." She smiled involuntarily as all of a sudden all the beautiful memories of Cascadia flooded before her. All the people she loved...some of them dead, some of them still walking the earth, and was suddenly overcome by a need to be there...home...in Cascadia.

"Yes, Cascadia...I would like to go home." Mark took off his jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. Then placed a firm arm about her shoulder, the big brother..the protector, kissed her temple and led her out of the cemetary.....taking her home.

_________________
Breathe,breathe in the air
Dont be afraid to care
Leave but dont leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
is all your life will ever be.

[ This Message was edited by: Rhiannon on 2001-12-21 20:40 ]

And off in the distance..a lone figure...lumbering and tall...with the faintest hint of wing peeking out from behind him looked at the pair leaving the cemetary. He had watched over his beloved Rhiannon, without her knowledge..he didnt want her to become attached to this desolate place again. But now...maybe it was time to see where she went...and reunite himself with his childhood friend..the daughter of the dark....

_________________
Breathe,breathe in the air
Dont be afraid to care
Leave but dont leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
is all your life will ever be.

[ This Message was edited by: Rhiannon on 2001-12-21 20:40 ]

((Woah lol VERY NICE posts :smile: im posting something too now :smile: ))

Still not moving , listening carefuly .... Valek knew he heard something ... but as he was not hearing anything back he tough "I hear voices .... " Valek then turned back to look at the nun's he hanged on the tree of the Cappadocian cemetary ... rope tied around their neck .... Valek smiled evily has he approached them slowly .... arriving next to them Valek smirked as he said

"Where was the so called "God" for your souls when you needed him .... i now have your souls ... and ill make sure they will burn forever in Midian (hell) .... "

Valek start to mouth a few words in Los Demonis "Aramar kouroukour makiial kampa , demonis espiritous ...... Midian .... "

As Valek finished to mouth these words ... the dead bodies of the nuns came back to life .... demons were now in them .... Valek sectioned the rope ... making them fall on their feet .... Valek smiled evily as his eyes turned white and his voice changed to one of a demon as he said

"WeLcOmE .... To a SoOn tO bE ... OuR wOrLd .... "

The demons stood next to Valek .... Valek was a demon himself now .... he tought about the voice he heard earlier as he sent back another message .... " Who .... are ..... you ....... " Valek then sent another message saying only " ...... Valek ...... "

He sat in silence, and in solitude... for this is how the Brujah like to dwell. He thought of his immortality, and how it had almost been stolen from him... He thought of his passions, his desires.... he reminised (Spelling) of the last year he spent in Cascadia, traveeling backward through time... Prince Valek.... Prince Sorenti.... Prince Batgirl..... his shoulders gave a slight shake at the thought of Batgirl...(Cause shes a BABE damit) and finally resting on Prince Rhiannon.

His eyebrow creased as he took a long, slow drink of his beer.

"This place been changin... 4 Princes in less than a year"

His chisled face lit up with a rare, but charming smile...

"I like it...."

Mortal women in the dark bar around him noticed this smile, and fawned over the Brujah.. not realizing thier peril.

Chaz lifted his steel blue eyes and scaned the room, not recognizing any Kindred.

"A damned Torrie...." he muttered to himself.

"She gave this city to me...took me in when I didnt know who I was...."

His thoughts went back to Vincent and his brawl in Elysium... then to Cain... who commanded respect, but was the first to offer aid to a young Brujah....

"With out Rhiannon... none of this...."

He set his beer down, the chains dangling from his leather vest jingling. He stood from his worn table, the fine silver chain hanging from his ear swaying slightly with the motion

"Wonder where she is....."

The Brujah left the bar, sending a quick glance at a tall blonde standing at the pool table. She dropped her pool cue and followed the young Vampire out into the darkness, oblivious to her peril...

((I realize I didnt say much.... but Im half pissed and it dont matter really anyway... Rhia prolly dont remember me, but I remeber you, and just wanted to say Welcome Back. I Hope you are in town for awhile))

((Hey, e-mail me and we'll get you back into the Toreador Loop!--- Diadian@dracona.com .... we have a mailing list going... LoL

_________________
   -=Taste the Blood of a Rose=-
-=Eternially Mine, as I am Yours=-
-=Diam Rayvn Mystiry Bloodstaff=-

[ This Message was edited by: DiamBloodstaff on 2001-12-23 14:38 ]

:grin: :grin:

4,372 miles away, deep in the sands of the as-Sahra al-Gharbiyah, a dreamlike state was fractionally interrupted as a single blood tear soaked into the harsh sand.

((wow, superb posts as always Rhi :smile: good to see you back in Cascadia!

((Hey Sor man :smile: damn cool to see you :smile:

And yep i have to agree,some nices posts here :smile: ))

Rhiannon's heart began to beat, a gift she had learned from Eveshka, and now was powerless to stop it if it decided to mimic life on it's own. Just outside the city of her heart..where she had laid her claim....she was about to come face to face with per past, her mistakes, and hopefully set it right. She clasped her locket around her neck tightly...the blood of Sorenti carefully encased within it's golden elliptical pattern. He had given this to her when she was a child...a young kindred about to embark on a dangerous journey....he had taken a shine to her, most probably because of his close brotherhood with Margrus, her sire. She wondered if he had survived the Gaour attack, and stopped in her tracks. Mark had been sensing her ever changing moods and elected to remain silent. Now his compulsion to find out what ailed her could not be contained...he would drag it out of her if neccesary..

"Something wrong Rhi?" he asked in a small soft voice. She turned to face him, and he could read sadness and fear plainly in her face. "Maybe this wasn't such a good idea Mark...I mean..there will be so much heartache..I don't even know who had survived that terrible night. I'm scared."

Mark was taken aback, both by her easy candor, and the realisation that they had, indeed, refrained from discussing anything about the whos and whats of Cascadia. "rhi, my dearest heart, this is your circle to face..and I think you will have more joy than heartache." It was not lost on him that she was clasping Sorenti's locket around her neck, and latent feelings of jealousy bubbled unwittingly to the surface. He grimaced and then remembered himself. Rhiannon was not his destiny....and perhaps had he not striven to get her back none of any of this would have happened. He shivered with the thought.

"It wasn't your fault, Mark." A small clear voice brought him out of his reverie. Damn her for her empathy. He smiled reminiscient of the old Mark, a smile that few of the new people had ever seen. "Out of my head wench.." he chuckled softly. Rhiannon smiled and kissed his cheek softly.

"Well it's now or never I suppose." She took a deep breath, squared her shoulders in that patent Rhiannon way (Mark giggled softly at the gesure, he figured that anoyone who knew her could see a darkened figure make the gesture and instantly know it was her) and headed into the city.

_________________
Breathe,breathe in the air
Dont be afraid to care
Leave but dont leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
is all your life will ever be.

[ This Message was edited by: Rhiannon on 2002-01-02 02:24 ]

((Nice post))

Valek sat on a tombstone ... watching the dead nuns ... rope tied around their neck ... hanging from the tree's branches ....

(( Nice to see you again Rhia :smile: welcome back ))

Once inside the city limits, a curious energy passed though Rhiannon, a combination of the familiar and alien. She shivered involuntarily, and Mark drew her closer to him. "It will be fine Rhi..I promise..you are home." She looked up at him and smiled softly. "I am, aren't I? Somehow I feel like if I just closed my eyes it would all go back to the beginning, when laughter was heard in the chambers of the houses, and we were so carefree." A shadow crossed her face, though, as thoughts of incidents past vividly rushed to her forethought.

She turned to Mark. "Would you mind if I wandered off for a bit...a sentimental journey, if you will." Mark frowned, knowing where she was heading...why she always wanted to bury herself in the sadness was beyond him. In the years they had known each other she had gone from an uplifting, optimistic girl, to a broken, saddened woman who wore the mark of her tragedies plainly.
He sighed. "If you must, but Rhi..try to remember the good, not just the bad." He lifted her hand to his face, kissed the palm, squeezed it and smiled. "I will catch up with you later."

Rhiannon watched him walk into the city which swallowed him up. She started weaving her way through the city, keeping a low profile, she wanted this sentimental journey, and felt compelled to complete it before the propriety of announcing herself to the Prince. She made her way through the city, catching vibrations of familiar people, but so intent was she on her mission, that for once her Toreador sociability did not overtake her.

After a time, she came upon the gates of the cemetary. She tried the gate, and found that it was locked....that was unusual. She cast a furtive look around to make sure she was not being detected, and easily scaled the wall, using her celerity to hasten the process.

As her feet landed on the earth inside the cemetary walls, she could feel her sadness consuming her. There was unfinished business here, unfinished because of her self-centeredness, toward the last days of her reign in Cascadia..too busy with worry about the city to remember where she had come from, and who had come with her.

She made her way instinctively to a gravestone she had never laid eyes upon. When she reached it, her chest hitched, choking back a sob. Here lay her sister, Jade La Veigh, and Jade's paramour Aeon. She looked down at her left hand, and the ring she wore. Jade's ring...delivered to her after her horrible death. It was a mirror of her own which she wore on her right hand.

She slipped it off easily and looked at the well worn inscription inside the band. "Though not sisters in life..sisters in death...Love, Rhiannon"

She knelt donw reverently on top of the grave, Jade's ring clutched in her hand.

"I am so sorry my beloved sister," she spoke aloud, a tremble in her voice, "so sorry I was too wrapped up in my problems to save you. I miss you every day." She began to sob in earnest, her tears creating wide, pink rivulets of blood down her face, spilling onto the grave of her beloved sister. Heedless of her tears, and refusing to wipe them away, she began to dig a little hole, in order to bury Jade's ring with her, her tears falling onto the grave...and sinking slowly into the earth.....

[ This Message was edited by: Rhiannon on 2002-01-03 00:24 ]

[ This Message was edited by: Rhiannon on 2002-01-03 00:25 ]

((Nice post :smile: ))

But in the cemetary there was another presence. Diam sat on a gravestone, staring at the one across from it with great saphire eyes.
It read "The heart of a rose lays here."

The woman staring at it wore a long black coat guarding her from the cold that bit into the night, her raven curls decended down her shoulders with ample length. She looked over to another part of the graveyard, an aura she had never felt was near, one powerful and beautiful, one of a kindred, great and distinctively Toreador.

She rose from her makeshift seat slowly.

Walking over to a tree near the woman she spoke softly in a thick Louisianna accent.

"Hello mon chere`, I am sorry to interupt your moment of grief... but I don't believe we have met."

_________________
   -=Taste the Blood of a Rose=-
-=Eternially Mine, as I am Yours=-
-=Diam Rayvn Mystiry Bloodstaff=-

[ This Message was edited by: DiamBloodstaff on 2002-01-03 01:09 ]