Fangs and Pentagrams (Jusztina, Javier)

[Vsevolod Khlystov]

Vsevolod could taste the tangy saltiness in the air as he took a long drag on his cigarette. In Russia, one usually did what he could to keep warm. Sure enough in recent years, Vsevolod had been in the relative comfort of his numerous homes. But he remembered his time as a young Avyortiyet...rushing through blizzards, sleeping whenever he could, not really caring where and when...only caring that he didn’t wake up to find that he needed to cut off some fingers due to hypothermia. Smoking had always been a good companion during those days, and a habit he didn’t plan on breaking any time soon.

He wasn’t exactly cold tonight, perhaps a little bit chillier than normal due to the sea breeze of the night blowing in from the east. But he was dressed in a sharp solid black suit, over that he had a thick black coat lined in grey wolf fur around the collar. His shoes were of good leather, not italian made, as a matter of Khlystov principle...but still they were very good shoes. Vsevolod took the cigarette from his mouth, as he looked down on his watch. The hour was nearing, the hour as far apart from both the sunset and the sunrise as possible.

He heard the click of a gun from behind him. The break in composure, made Vsevolod’s lips tighten in irritation. Vsevolod’s personal limousine was parked a few meters, back but there were three other sedans that his entourage had used. All powerful mages in their own right...but the fact that they were anxious told a lot about this meeting. After all, meeting with the Vampire Queen herself wasn’t a very comfortable notion for anybody. Even though Vsevolod would deny it to his grave, Jusztina was as dangerous as they came...and her beauty made her even more so.

Suddenly a lone raven screached into the night, it should have gone unnoticed on an average night. But every single mage in the vicinity looked up towards the sound. The same raven circled around them a few times, before it dove down and landed delicately in front of Vsevolod. It stretched its wings, and the air around it shimmered as if in a heat haze, as it slowly transformed into squat pot-belied creature with leathery wings, a red scaly complexion, horns and ape-like arms.

Vsevolod didn’t say anything, but from behind him a stunningly beautiful woman of mixed french-chinese ethnicity walked up. She had lustrous black hair spilling over her back, and tonight she was dressed in a flimsy white blouse with ruffles on the sleeves and over her generous cleavage, her pants fashionably flared at her ankles, and as always she preferred stilettos. The cold didn’t seem to bother her at all...but then again, despite what appearances conveyed...she was as much demon, as the creature before her. She was known as Sophie Yaofu his secretary.

“Report” she said sternly, yet somehow her voice remained as beautiful and melodious as it always was. She crossed her arms over her chest, and slightly tilted her head up to look down on the other creature. She was an 8th circle demon, and this one used as a scout was only a 3th circle. Demons’s had strange notions of superiority but Vsevolod could boil it down to “I defer to you if you can kill me”

“The Draculesti are arriving” said the creature in a voice as coarse as gravel. “Their force is enough to threaten what we brought. They may have seen me, but they saw a bird if anything else.”

Sophie nodded before turning to look at him. Vsevolod merely nodded and took another long drag on his cigarette. He figured as much really, vampire populations were greater than mage ones for the first part. Especially considered that there was only one mage born in every fifty people, and the vampires merely needed to bite and make sure they didn’t drink too much. Next of all, Vsevolod would like to think that Jusztina was as wary of him as he was of her.

“Demons hide yourselves” came Vsevolod’s commanding voice. Even though they weren’t bound to him, all the demons, except Sophie, turned themselves invisible. That presented a visibly smaller force than what they really had. Vsevolod was wary of Jusztina, but he wasn’t about to let her know that.

[Jusztina Draculesti]

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tagged , vsevolod and javier - words , 886

“I want the elders to remain here under heavy security,” the vampire looked at herself in the mirror as she applied some heavy mascara to her already thick and plush eyelashes, “Not that they really need it,” she mumbled the last bit to herself. She knew the elders were strong and she’d rather keep them home, in the Red Light District, than anything. She was only bringing two elders with her but mostly as leaders and threats should anything go wrong, “Bring the rest that I told you about last night,” she looked over at the other vampire standing in the doorway of her bedroom, her back to the young male as she reached over and grabbed the corset she planned on wearing. She looked over a lean, bare shoulder and the vampire gave a bit of a bow before backing out of the room just as her orbs roamed over to Javier. The teasing grin appeared on her face as she looked him over before facing the mirror again, grabbing her golden hair and gently moving it to the side while holding her onyx corset filled with lace and leather, up to her chest, “Mind lacing up my corset, darling?” despite her words coming out as a question, it was a completely rhetorical one. She expected him to simply do it.

She took in a deep breathe once she let her hair glide down and looked at herself in the mirror. The corset she donned outlined her curves, skin tight leather pants clung to her long legs to make them look endless, and knees high boots made her three inches taller than she already was. Her head cocked to the side before she frowned and grabbed the maroon, velvet coat from the closest hanger with the black mink fur along the collar, cuffs, and bottom hem. Once she slipped it on, she seemed more satisfied and she smiled, much more satisfied before turning to fully look at Javier, “Do you think it is a bit much? I thought the black and red would be so…fitting, do you not?” she seemed almost giddy though the severity and seriousness of such a meeting was everything but charming. It was times like these her late husband used to tell her she was still a child, still with the mentality of a seventeen year old girl and not a young woman with two children and a kingdom at her feet. But Jusztina would always be Jusztina and despite her immature amusement, she knew better than to take this meeting lightly. After all, Vsevolod was dangerous. If he wasn’t, she would have crushed him years ago – alone.

The fair haired woman eventually found herself in the back of her sleek, black limo, holding a mirror while carefully applying some bloody looking lipstick before taking a sip of the warm blood from a wine glass, “The others are in place, no?”

[/i] she asked Javier nonchalantly while finishing her wine and tossing everything else to the side without thinking much of it. She’d brought two groups with her; the first going along with her being a bit weaker, maybe even significantly so, than the second who would wait a little ways farther, about a mile or so out of sight in case they would need them. She didn’t think she would need their assistance. This was supposed to a good meeting, not a foul one, but then again people liked to surprise her and how she did hate surprises. Her diamond studded ears perked up at the sound of a bird, though, and she frowned as she looked up through the sunroof and saw a raven, though it could have been something else. She wasn’t a fan of birds that weren’t really in the “bat family”. She wiped away her frown, though, as the limo came to a stop. She waited for her door to open before she let one smooth, leather clad leg after the other out and then the rest of her in a graceful manner that didn’t belong to this earth. It was super natural – as was everything about her. She gave Javier a teasing grin, again of amusement of the circumstances they were in as if to add a light hearted, childish spin to the ordeal.

Jusztina turned to see Vsevolod and kept her icy, feline orbs locked upon him unwavering. She looked him up and down, letting Javier take the wheel in judging everyone else in his group. He was better at those things than she was – considering who they were up against. Once she was close enough, she stopped, directly across from him, and offered him a charming smile and the slightest bow of her head, eyes as always never leaving his, “A pleasure, Lord Khlystov,” always with the pleasantries; a habit she always did have a hard time with erasing. Tradition was tradition, though, and that was why she never gave it up fully, “I pray I did not keep you waiting long?”[/i] her accent was thick like the Romanian born woman she was but she kept her voice light and friendly, inviting and sensual at best. Her orbs, however, could say an entirely different story.
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[Vsevolod Khlystov]

Vsevolod felt the magical wards be disturbed upon the entrance of the vampires into the perimeter. It didn’t take long after that, before the Vampire Queen finally came into view. She was every bit as beautiful as Vsevolod remembered, even back during the first time that he had laid eyes on her all those years ago. He had aged, that much was apparent, but she seemed frozen in time. She was flanked by other vampires, undoubtedly powerful in their own right. Vsevolod had six men behind him, each controlling their own demon. Dalit was inside the car and to his right Sophie of course.

He fought the urge to burn her where she stood, but then decided not to. There were times to swing the sword, and there were also times to swing the white-flag…you just had to make sure that one end of the pole was sharpened…just in case. He took another long drag on his cigarette before he threw it to the ground and crushed it underfoot. The glowing embers would have been offensive to the vampires…and it would also have been a little tempting for Vsevolod. Amplifying flames was far easier than having to create new ones.

Jusztina inclined her head slightly at him, and he returned the gesture no more no less. Civility had to be kept, but the power struggle was unavoidable…no matter how subtle. That beautiful face was everything but trustworthy, she wasn’t his ally…both of them just had goals that seemed to coincide with each other’s at the present. But Vsevolod didn’t doubt that she wouldn’t hesitate in the slightest to snap his neck once the situation seemed more promising in that direction. His resolve strengthened even further, knowing that the fearful blade was just there. He just had to make sure that he could burn her, before she laid her hands on him.

“A pleasure, Lord Khlystov. I pray I did not keep you waiting long?” she said. Vsevolod took the title of Lord with an air of old world pretentiousness. True, the Khlystovs were descendent from royalty and had held lines of nobility during the Tzarist regime. But things had changed, and as Russians they were used to regimes coming and going. He wasn’t a lord, he was a business man and this meeting was pure business.


“I’m delighted you got here safely.” Said Vsevolod, none of his prior thoughts ever showing themselves on his face. His mind was magically warded against invasive presences. Aside from that, the Ring of Solomon was enchanted to grow cold whenever anything of malicious magical intent was being directed at him, which included what these vampires called the Mind Gift. It was cold right now, but only the coldness of metal in the night air it didn’t feel as if it were forged from ice, and it meant Vsevolod was safe for now. “The Stregoni are fabled for their hospitality, but I doubt that extends to us.”

The other mage clan’s their territory had to be crossed to gain access to the port. The war between the crime families wasn’t so blatant except for the occasional street violence of the lower members. But surely, if that rat Vincenzo had gotten wind that two of his most powerful enemies traversed through his property he’d take advantage of the situation. Vincenzo may be a vain, posturing ingrate but he was no fool; and Vsevolod was no fool to think otherwise.

He noticed that he let his mind digress, and so forced It to snap back at the matter at hand. The enchanting statuesque woman before him, that and the transaction that they were about to make. Vsevolod clenched his fists tightly; things could go either really well or really poorly tonight.

[Jusztina Draculesti]

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tagged , vsevolod and javier - words , 657

The vampiress knew very well that the chances of Vsevolod's group being as small as they appeared with the naked eye were slim to none. She'd met him enough and knew just enough to know they were very powerful demon summoners and it wouldn't be a surprise if they had those pesky beings hidden somewhere, somehow. But she wasn't here for a fight - unless it was necessary. No, she was here to chit chat, so to speak. She let her own group's eyes sweep over every nook and cranny from their vantage point and take their own notes, though she had already done so herself while walking up to him. She liked knowing who she was up against. It made things at least slightly easier. As he spoke, he feline orbs glanced over at Javier before looking at Vsevolod, and she made sure to keep her thoughts to herself and to suppress the urge of trying to read the minds of those around her. She'd gotten much better at it and it was so much nicer to not have other intrusive voices in her head. It was becoming a habit but she was fearful, at times, that she could somehow lose the gift all together. She'd been assured she couldn't - but the fear never went away.

With the mention of Stregoni, her azure eyes seemed to snap up to his face as a smirk played itself out on her full, pale rose colored lips, "It is exciting, really. It gives a nice little edge, hm?" the amusement played itself on her features, a light and gentle laugh escaping her in the process. She had an appetite for rebellion that never left her from her mortal life and only grew more furious and uncontrollable with her immortal one but she knew when it was right and when it wasn't. She generally just sought entertainment in the strangest of ways. After all, torturing people was a favorite hobby of hers, "I doubt he would want to go against both of us, hm? He is intelligent. He knows better,"

[/i] her Romanian accent was still thick, after all these years, only further proving her slight struggle with adjusting to the modern world. She loved the modern world, sure, but she also adored tradition and it was embedded deep into her bones. Plus, in today's standards she was a goddess. Back then? Nothing but skin and bones.

And how she did love to be praised for her beauty. That vain little thing she was.

Jusztina was probably speaking out of line but it was very much like her to be blunt about those around her. She valued honesty, even among the other races, and loyalty within her own. Such a simple characteristic could mean the difference between life and death when it came to dealing with Jusztina. She, herself, was very honest but there was always a twist or a loophole to her words that danced around. But her amusement slowly eased up so she was much more serious, letting out a satisfied little sigh. She was in a good mood, considering the situation at hand, "Let us get down to business, yes?"[/i] she clasped her slender, delicate looking hands with onyx nail polish in front of her a bit like a school girl, another reminder of how young she'd been when turned. Much too young. Her confidence seemed impenetrable, her pride making her chest swell. She probably had too much confidence in the two of them, together, defeating Stregoni should he, stupidly, come after two very powerful people. But her ego was big enough to swallow everyone whole and thus, one could even say she was delusional. One couldn't mistake delusional with stupidity or ignorance, though, unless they wanted a death wish with the golden haired woman.
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[Vsevolod Khlystov]

Jusztina seemed so cheerful; it was slightly offensive that she wasn’t showing any obvious concern for the matter at hand. He knew that she was hundreds of years old, but looking at her Vsevolod saw nothing but a little girl with too much power. He took it in stride, vampires were creatures of emotion. Most of the time, they couldn’t control themselves. Jusztina herself was perhaps the epitome of restraint that they could achieve, and by Vsevolod’s standards it wasn’t much.

The most archaic role of the Khlystov family was to rid the Russian empire of such creatures, along with those mangy dogs and they were to use darkness to combat darkness. True, it had been an ambitious mission when it was begun and now the Khlystov House had to admit that to eradicate the entire world of these hings was impossible; unless of course, they gained control of the Arc. This meeting with the Vampire Queen herself was merely one step closer to achieving that goal. Vsevolod wished there were some other way, but sometimes one had to do what one would have preferred not to, such as fraternizing with such fowl creatures as Jusztina and her kin.

He kept his face blank of emotion, and his own men remained stolid as granite statues. They were Khlystov men, tempered and disciplined by the harsh nuclear winters of Russia and the monumental task of making demons submit to their will. They didn’t move, but nothing about their bearing said that they were slow. They were all birds of prey, perched quietly for the moment but ready to lash out with their talons once the situation called for it. Not to mention the small contingent of powerful demons who were just idly bidding their time, hidden from visibility on the first plain of existence.

"Let us get down to business, yes?" finally said Jusztina. Vsevolod nodded in agreement, the longer they stayed out here, the greater risk they placed on themselves. Should he and Jusztina be eliminated as players in this game, the world would be doomed no matter who won. Vsevolod honestly didn’t trust the fate of the Arc either to Vincenzo or the wolves. The former would misuse the power of the Arc for self gain, while the latter was still a brainless mutt, no matter how well he dressed and played at being human. Of his greatest adversaries, Jusztina was really the only one he could count on - not trust mind you, he’d never trust her - but in situations like these, she was the only one he could see himself somehow working with. Perhaps it was his necromancer side that decided it. He was powerful enough to control the younger vampires against their will, they were just magically moving corpses after all.

Vsevolod snapped his fingers and Sophie nodded to him, before walking forward and slowly closing the distance that separated two of the city’s rulers. In her hand, she held unto a plain looking brown folder. But inside, it contained the documents that Jusztina would need to see about this transaction. For a few seconds, everything had gone deathly quiet except for the distinctive click of her shoes against the concrete; she finally stopped half-way before holding the folder up invitingly. “Come and get it handsome.” called Sophie towards the male vampire. She blew him a kiss, before giving the suggestive wink of a seductress…but for a brief moment in the darkness, her eyes seemed to flare a bright crimson. Sophie was an obedient and subservient demonic slave, but she was Gremory, the demoness who caused young lovers become unfaithful. She still had her temptress nature, and some things, she just couldn’t help herself but do. She just had to tease her opponent; in some way…she just had to play with her food. She was a demon, and she possessed that innate ability to sense evil. Vsevolod would stake his reputation on the fact that she was just reveling and soaking in the wrath that radiated from some of the vampires.

Vsevolod knew this, and some of Jusztina’s leeches looked just about ready to start a personal war between Draculesti and Khlystov because of the cheekiness of a demoness. So Vsevolod preempted any such occurrence and spoke up from across that invisible line that separated him and Jusztina. “Inside that folder are the details of my part of our transaction.” He paused to let his words sink in and perhaps to give Jusztina the opportunity to calm down her men.

“I will allow your people to cross over into my territory…under strict regulation of course…but they will help rid me of those condescending Witch-Hunters. In return I will manufacture for you the enchanted bullets that you may need …more of the details are inside Jusztina. I’m sure you do not wish me to verbalize, what you can simply read for yourself.”

It was a risk on Vsevolod’s part…letting vampires enter into Khlystov land. They wouldn’t roam free of course, they’d be monitored, have magical tags on them, so that within his boundaries, his forces would know where they were and what they were doing at all times. But in doing so, he was gaining a policing force. The mage population was preciously small to just throw around like nothing. And these witch-hunters were prepared to fight magic, not vampires. He was ready to take that risk; it was now dependent on Jusztina.

[Jusztina Draculesti]

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tagged , vsevolod and javier - words , 617

Jusztina relaxed herself a bit more, becoming more serious than she had only moments ago as she waited for the brown folder to reach her. Upon Sophie saying the words to Javier, however, the vampire's eyes seemed to glow with a sudden rage that filled her gut. She was possessive of the male vampire - something well known throughout her coven which could have explained the anger that fluttered through them as well. She didn't bother looking over her shoulder as she held up a delicate looking hand firmly with her fingers pressed against one another for silence. Not even a hiss came out of them after that though it looked certain one would come out of her. The blonde forced herself to remain under control, though, by taking a deep breathe as the folder finally reached her fingers. Maybe it wasn't Sophie's words but that kiss...Ugh! No, focus. Jusztina focused on the task at hand which wasn't all that difficult.

A nod came from her as Vsevolod explained what was in the folder. Yes, she knew, and she thought the transaction was fair enough. She would monitor his...minions...should they have needed to go into her territory. Precautions needed to be taken on both sides. She opened the folder and with ease looked over every page, looking as if skimming it but anyone who knew Jusztina knew of her incredible photographic memory. She could look it over in more detail with the other elders, discuss it further as to how to hold up their end of the bargain. It seemed like a simple win-win situation. Sure she had to probably give up a vampire or two in order to rid the city of those witch hunters but if her children were as well trained as they were supposed to be, then they should be fine. Plus, it wasn't that difficult to kill a witch hunter. One just had to be careful and know what one was doing. She'd done it for decades, she was sure her coven could continue on, "Precautions...understandable," she mentioned toward his comment over being strictly supervised. It didn't seem to bother her one bit though she had obviously gone into a sort of professional "super serious", mature mode that seemed like an extreme mood swing compared to her previous, amused, emotions.

And yet she was one of the few who had a pretty damn good lid on her emotions. She'd simply been getting lethargic with it lately. Javier, if anything, was probably more composed than anyone she'd ever met and obviously much more determined. He was mute and, from what she knew, it was optional. She didn't mind his silence but, at times, she did wish for his voice to be heard. She remembered someone telling her, long ago, that he had an amazing singing voice. She wished she could have heard it before the world shut him up.

"Consider this an early agreement,"

[/i] she said simply and bluntly, looking up and straight at him while handing the folder back to Javier to hold on to until they were safely home where she could read it in the privacy of her office, "You will have your witch hunters annihilated, I will have my weapons, and we shall both be happy. Win-win, yes?"[/i] she kept her eyes firmly on his own and unwavering, the flicker of life and light no longer there and instead nothing but shadows and decay within their azure tones. She would not bring up what would happen after. No, there was no need to bring up what would happen once this was over and done with. She'd be preparing for it, but until then there wasn't anything to worry about.
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[Vsevolod Khlystov]

It seemed that the blood sucking wench could control herself after all. Vsevolod let himself be content with her sudden change of decorum, he decided not to over-analyze and think whether she was trying to play him or not. Vampires were strange unpredictable creatures with emotions that shifted like desert sand. Of course to a certain degree there was a need to understand them, understand them enough to manipulate them. But if it was the task of understanding their inner motivations, then Vsevolod found that he had much better things to do than make sense of what was in essence nonsensical.

"Consider this an early agreement," said Jusztina after she had read through the file. "You will have your witch hunters annihilated, I will have my weapons, and we shall both be happy. Win-win, yes?" Vsevolod examined her face for any sign of deception, but found none. Even though he couldn’t tell it from her expression, he was sure that there were plans of treachery working through Jusztina’s head as easily as they were working through his. Of course, thoughts of casting a spell to force her to state her intentions were tempting - about as tempting as thoughts of incinerating her – but the moment he would begin uttering an incantation this precariously hanging truce would be over. The entire harbor would be lit up in a blood-spattered battle between the two of them.

“Forgive me Jusztina, but so far it is only our words binding us to this agreement.” said Vsevolod. Perhaps the Vampire Queen was expecting that he would just easily commit to the agreement based on good-faith, but Vsevolod didn’t raise his multi-billion energy enterprise because he handed out his trust like flowers from a spring basket. Vsevolod’s business ideals were cold and ruthless like a Russian winter. The words of men barely counted for anything even when they swore on their lives, so how could Vsevolod trust anything coming from the mouth of someone dead.

“Don’t take it personally. I know you trust me about as much as I trust you, which is to say not much at all. We obviously cannot remedy this by signing legal contracts.” Of course they couldn’t the very nature of their transactions were illegal, murder and arms trafficking to be specific. “So don’t you want to cement this agreement in something more powerful?” He raised one hand to show that he wasn’t about to try anything devious, as he used the other one to reach inside his coat. Not too long after he pulled out a small ornate bottle containing a nondescript clear liquid. Jusztina was an intelligent woman; she could put two ends together and figure out that it wasn’t just plain water.

Vsevolod swirled the contents visibly and still the liquid didn’t seem to show any magical qualities. “This is water from the River Styx, you’re aware of the lore I’m sure. This tiny bottle was extremely hard to come by, many of my men died to get me this. I wish I had enough of it to bathe in it and turn myself invulnerable, but unfortunately the amount I have will give me an invulnerable pinky at the most. But I digress. The waters of the river have other properties, such as all those who swear by it are forced to keep their word. If you are willing, we both shall swear by the water from the river, and it will create a magically binding contract that will make either of us unable to break the terms of our contract.”

He stopped his small spiel, letting the words sink into Jusztina’s head. There was some unrest on both parties, Vsevolod was sure that the vampires found it difficult to trust him and his magic. His own men on the other hand looked upon the precious liquid and didn’t wish to see it go to waste over an undead cur. But Vsevolod made his decision, In the long run this would work out in his favor.

[Jusztina Draculesti]

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tagged , vsevolod and javier - words , 724

When Vsevolod said he, essentially, couldn't trust her just as much as she couldn't trust him, a sort of wicked smirk fluttered across her face. She remained completely still as if encased in ice, letting only her eyes follow his actions and his lips with his words. But when he started speaking of the River Styx, she could feel her eyes glowing, narrowing on him as he brought forth the little bottle of the clear liquid. Of course it wasn't simply water. It was from the River and she did know the tale well. Neither would be physically able to break the supposed contract. However, Jusztina almost instantly found the loophole and she smiled at his words. He must have known the loophole as well or he wouldn't have come up with such a proposition and in her mind, she had already found the perfect candidates to taking Vsevolod down. Still, her eyes went over to Javier, interpreting his stoic face as she always did, knowing there was more to him than he ever let on. He must have figured it out as well because he wasn't attempting to stop her or even speak to her in any kind of way whether it be through their minds or the emotions that sang through their blood. She could feel the unrest of her coven behind her and she once again held up her hand for them to relax and to show she knew exactly what she was doing. She was confident with herself and her decision as she nodded at his words.

"Sounds simple enough. Would you like to do the honors of being the first?"

[/i] she smiled, liking this contract but then composed herself because this was still serious business. She expected him to start and she would, in a nutshell, repeat his words. He came up with the concept, he could start them off. She'd never sent any of her vampires to get water from such a river, valuing their supposed lives a bit more than she should but she did consider them her children and many times she treated them as such - an example being the raising of her hand to keep the under control. Maybe it was her own maternal instincts, left over from her mortal life when she had actually been a mother. Either way - she wouldn't risk their lives unless she absolutely had to because making more vampires, as fun as it was, could be such a pain...and she was basically a teenager with way too much power at her disposal. She wasn't going to risk losing such power by having her own turn against her.

This would go in her favor, she was sure. She made sure not to let the names or faces of those she wanted to use come up in her mind strongly. The last thing she needed was them figuring everything out and unraveling her plans before she was even able to bring them about in a discussion with the elders - and first most, Javier who she trusted with her life - a weakness she would never admit to in the open air. Patiently, she watched and waited, eyes sweeping over the enemies across from her and wishing to laugh in their faces but not doing so. She remained perfectly composed, knowing that even if she could not physically do anything, she was quite alright with that. Jusztina would not go down without a bloody, tortuously slow, and horrible fight. She also knew that should she die in any way, she would be viewed as a martyr to her fellow coven members and it would only add more anger and turmoil,causing them to increase their numbers even further and strike with a vengeance - especially if it was Javier to take over which she'd made very clear in her will - not caring whether the other elders opposed to such a proposition or not. He, more than anyone, knew how she wanted to coven to work given she had an untimely demise.

Not that it mattered. Jusztina was confident she wouldn't be going anywhere. She'd be walking this earth for another couple of centuries before someone could take her down and she would make sure of it.
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[Vsevolod Khlystov]

”I’m afraid it isn’t as simple as that.” began Vsevlod, his tone was matter-of-factly, almost lecturing. If he was addressing a coterie of mages, he’d have no trouble explaining the mechanics and technicalities of the spell work. But Jusztina was no mage, so he would have to explain this as affably as he could. A certain part of Vsevolod resented the necessity; it was like purposely using small and ineffective words, when you needed to explain something to a child. “I have to perform a magical ritual in order to invoke the powers of these waters. If you’ll permit me to begin, some fire will be involved.”

That sounded pretty direct in his opinion, and all of it was true. Vsevolod had managed to gain this bottle of magical water during the first time that he had entered into the netherworld, back then he had been careless and arrogant. He brought along with him some very trusted men, and he expected that his power could sustain all of them. If it wasn’t obvious yet, only Vsevolod had survived. The rest were lost, wandering the realm of the dead lost forever in a mind-rotting silence and darkness. The recollection brought deep feelings of guilt from somewhere deep in the caverns of Vsevolod’s chest, but he froze them over with winter cold apathy. In his lifetime, he had already traveled to the netherworld in body and spirit thrice in his life. It was dangerous for him to travel again as his soul was now touched by death more closely than a normal human soul was. Obviously his usage of an extensive magical ritual would come as a surprise, and maybe Jusztina would have second thoughts about it. Vsevolod couldn’t have that, he needed this transaction to go smoothly and he needed Jusztina to swear to the River. He knew the Vampire Queen managed to see through such an obvious loophole, but that wasn’t what Vsevolod was going to exploit. Oaths sworn by the river had a nasty reputation of sending someone to their death. Zeus swore to give Semele whatever she wanted and was then obliged to follow through when he realized to his horror that her request would lead to her death. This situation between him and Jusztina; who was Zeus and who was Semele? With a brave course of action, Vsevolod dismissed all his demons, including Sophie beside him, Dalit in the car, and Fabio tending the gardens in Khlystov manor. All of them faded away like a mirage in a heat-haze, and the expression of disbelief was just catchable on Sophie’s face before she winked out completely. The next action shocked everybody else, as Vsevolod pulled off the Ring of Solomon and handed it almost graciously towards Jusztina. “Some collateral for you Jusztina, without this I have none of my demons. But I do expect you to return it afterwards.”

He waited until Jusztina took the ring and gave her blessing for him to begin the ritual. Neither of them was going to travel into the netherworld tonight. Vsevolod was merely going to thin the fabric that separated the world of the living and the dead.

The mages behind him moved diligently, carrying different magical requisites. One of them drew a magical circle in the space between Vsevolod and Jusztina, another arranged bowls of herbs at specific places, and another arranged four human skulls each with a black wax candle placed on top of it, then someone unzipped a body bag and pulled out what appeared to be a fresh corpse. The man made an orchestrating motion with his hands and the corpse lifted into the air, arms stretched at his sides and head bowed, almost reminiscent of the crucifixion. The mage telekinetically directed the corpse towards the center of the circle where it hung suspended. The only one left handed Vsevolod a bone-white wand about at long as his forearm. Vsevolod stepped forward, cool, calm collected breathing in deeply as he tapped into that portion of his soul that made him a mage. He narrowed his gaze at the candles and at once the wicks burst alive with flame. He moved his gaze and the herb sprigs also ignited. The mixture of henbane, aloe wood, hemlock, saffron, opium, and mandrake created stark incense that permeated through the air.

He met Jusztina in the eye, his ring was in her possession and hopefully with it the trust between them maintained. “I suggest you step back, your body might be sacrificed by accident.” It wasn’t a threat, or if it was it was extremely veiled. But Jusztina was virtually a walking corpse, and if she stayed too near the circle the magic might accidentally recognize her as the conduit. Vsevolod closed his eyes and began to call upon the forces that presided over the dead.

”Colpriziana, offina alta nestra, fuaro menut. By the mysteries of the deep, by the flames of Banal, by the power of the east and the silence of the night, By the holy rites of Hecate. This common ground cornered by the gates of North, South, East, West be marked for purpose, and by this vessel that once held life I open a cavern.”

Vsevolod touched the tip of the wand over the eye of the corpse, and over its chest, making an X. The corpse suddenly shuddered and its head threw back as if it had once again gone alive. The flames shifted into an eerie green color, and the same green light emanated from the corpses eyes and mouth, making it look like some twisted beacon of death.

”I call thee! Spirits of the ancient realm. Thee who were the breath of a panting world, still giving birth to life. I resurrect thy consciousness. I resurrect thy primal instinct and thy will to survive. I wrest thy disembodied presence from eternity to come forth now and protect me as you would protect your offspring. For I am your offspring by the continuity of life and I inherited this era that was prepared by your hand, your existence, your death and now your resurrection. I walk the path where the living do not tread, and bring with me another.”

Vsevolod drew a rune in the air with the wand, and where its tip moved a trail of ghostly green fire was left. He made two, directed one to his forehead first before directing the other one to touch Jusztina on her forehead as well. Even though it looked like fire, it was cold to the skin. This would provide the protection for both of them as they were exposed to the thanatoic energies.

”By the universal elements that I command and am a part of, I rip thee from thy anchoring in flesh and cast thee into limbo. As I breathe, and by virtue of my life, this space dictated by the Ash of bone is dwelt and woven into the nothingness of the abyss. AUDIRE ME ANTQIQUUS MORTUS BENEVOLENS! TE DARE LUMEN ET ORATIO AD CURARE! DARE ME TUS SACER CUSTODIA ET TUS POTENS.”

With Vsevolod’s final word, there was a ghostly wail that echoed from the corpse, but not directly from it, but more seemingly from something beyond. The corpse quivered once before it was torn apart. It wasn’t messy, however disturbing, every piece of flesh and every drop of blood was thrown into the green fire. The flames of the candle consumed the corpse instantaneously and grew from the fuel of the sacrifice. The flames shot up high into the air, forming four green pillars of light. The fires of the burning herbs rose as wall, but as soon as they left the bowls they were no longer fire. Vsevolod could only describe as ethereal wisps, and they slowly began to close in the space between the pillars forming a sort of walled enclosure around the circle. It was the same spell used to travel into the netherworld, but Vsevolod purposely used weaker herbs so that the fabric wouldn’t be completely shred and instead only thinned.

It was obviously something that could be seen by everyone within a mile radius. But prior to arriving, Vsevolod had taken precaution and instructed that wards be raised so that all the magical activity in his port would be hidden from sight and its resonance contained. Nobody outside the wards would have been any wiser.

Vsevolod stepped into the perimeter and at once he felt the familiar tug of death at his soul, it was as if death was saying that he already had one foot in the door, why not follow with the rest and enter into perpetual peace. He wondered what Jusztina would feel once she entered, she would be the first vampire he had ever performed this ritual with. Was she as close to death as he? Or perhaps she was closer.

“Please enter Jusztina, I assure you it’s quite safe.”

[Jusztina Draculesti]

LOTS OF WORDS - TAGGED: VSEVOLOD
She gave a barely visible nod of her head when he said he needed to use fire and took a few steps back as he, well, did his thing. Jusztina really was on the fence about magic users but knew, for a fact, that she disliked necromancy greatly considering what she essentially was. But this had to be done, a pact had to be made with magic since paper and pen didn't work in either of their realities. She found her feline orbs watching the entire spectacle closely, ears perking every time the man across from her spoke. She wasn't phased much by the process, more or less curious about it. Though she'd seen mages and their work tons of times over the many years she was alive, this would be the first time for this type of spell which she found a bit...nerve wrecking. She didn't want to know why she felt some invisible string tugging on her chest, maybe even her essence as she was basically beckoned into the doorway the man had created. The familiar tug of war with death was something she had experienced twice before and both times it had been painful and the need to just let go and wander down the river, so to speak, had been so immense, she was surprised she hadn't fully traveled all the way down it's calm waters in the past. Either way, she felt a bit like a child at a circus, watching a performance and wanting to be part of the act, to learn how to walk the tight rope or do the acrobats. Her curiosity had her trying to memorize everything but she hid the slight sense of awe that made it's way into her bones.

The vampire looked a bit skeptically at Vsevolod but didn't hesitate to step in. But once she did, those voices in her head grew louder, making it a tad bit harder to concentrate. Most were memories, full and vivid, of the thousands of lives she'd taken and the old saying of life flashing before one's eyes was an understatement. Her own blue orbs glowed faintly with the energy she used to keep the memories and voices at bay. The last thing she needed was her own insanity to come creeping up on her. No, she had to focus...she should have somehow brought Javier with her. He always knew how to calm her down whether he realized it or not, "Let us do this quickly, yes?" she was much too close to death. One would think she was so familiar with it, having gone through it twice and still walking the earth, that this wouldn't be anything new to her but each experience was different - each one feeling more horrible than the other.

The first time she'd become acquainted with death, she'd been sixteen years old, sitting in a dungeon, chained to the ceiling and the ground with heavy whips going down her back every time she refused to answer the brutish Turkish general's questions. He'd even beat her with his own fists, hoping she'd just give up and throw her husband, her family, her country under the bus so she could live to see tomorrow but she hadn't. They had thrown her body into the Lady River over a bridge when she'd gone limp and immobile, hoping she would simply drown. Jusztina had felt the water fill up her lungs and the way the darkness seemed so inviting with it's peaceful plea. She'd been there, almost completely through that doorway before she seemed to be pulled out just as quickly as she'd been diving in. It felt like life had been thrown back into her veins and she was all too aware of her heart beating, her lungs desperately taking in oxygen, the way the soft glow of dusk burned her eyes, and how the snow felt like fire against her bare back. A fisherman had saved her - not her husband, not the army. A fisherman and she'd been eternally thankful...

The second time had been when she'd been arguing with her husband in their castle, the master chambers a room she'd become all too familiar with over the course of her arranged married life. She'd been holding the bloody remnants of her youngest son's clothes tight to her chest, angry and depressed, desperate, confused, and for the first time she felt completely alone in the world. She had tried to hit him but he had been so cold and heartless and when he'd grabbed her thin, seventeen year old shoulders and given her a rough shake to calm her down, it felt like he'd ripped her arms out of their sockets. He had yelled at her that she had to join him in their new life together - in eternally walking the earth - because she was his wife, it was her duty, and whether she liked it or not it would happen - their son was just a sacrifice - and a young mother like Jusztina had been wouldn't ever understand what he meant by such words. Their flesh and blood, killed by his own father so he could walk on earth for the rest of time? And as she'd struggled against him in vain when his sharp fangs appeared, she'd let out an ear splitting scream as he sunk them into the crook of her neck. She had continued struggling, not wanting any part in some crazy idea that they could somehow live forever and that their newly acquired abilities would help them defeat the Ottoman Empire.

But the more he drank, the more she'd felt her body going numb, felt that familiar pull again into that dark doorway and while before she'd wanted to go right into it's tranquil and serene essence, this time she was struggling against the current, wanting desperately to live and kill the man draining her blood and giving her a supposed gift she never wanted. The idea of revenge was much too strong and she had kicked and screamed in her mind before she opened her eyes she hadn't noticed had closed and found her thirst for human blood suddenly uncontrollable and the first person she bit was her husband, Vlad, who had been laying in bed right beside her, and smiled at his newly turned wife.

Now, it wasn't a physical pain like the other two. She wasn't struggling against the pull of death and yet she wasn't trying to go any closer to it. This pain was all emotional and mental. The lives of those she'd taken on her original quest to take revenge and now her quest to turn back the hands of time so she would never become a vampire in the first place...it was all too much and she wanted to get this done with so she could get back to reality and the way the real world worked so she could just...live her silly immortal lifestyle, so mundane and repetitive, until her time was essentially up. She didn't fear death...She was just patiently waiting for it.

[Vsevolod Khlystov]

Vsevolod watched as the Vampire Queen stepped through the curtain of magical energies. Once she was fully through, Vsevolod immediately felt aura of death begin to thicken. Jusztina acted like some sort of beacon for the dead, perhaps all those that she had killed during her existence wanted a chance at revenge, or perhaps thousands of lost souls were angry and jealous at her opportunity to retain her life when rightfully she was supposed to be as dead as them. The mass of spirits continued to grow, and they were trying to get to both of them but that was impossible. It wasn’t something physical, the spirits weren’t knocking outside the box of light…if anything they were inside the box with him and Jusztina. They were amassing where he and she stood but since they were in different dimensions they could technically occupy the same “space”. The two worlds were still distinct from each other, but with fabric thinned it would be like being able to look through a glass wall. The spirits angrily pounded their fists against it, they bashed their heads against the partition, sent forth their screams and emotions trying to somehow reach the world of the living. The fact that they could see what they wanted but not get to it tantalized them to the brink of pain and made them even angrier.

"Let us do this quickly, yes?" suddenly said Jusztina. Vsevolod looked towards her and tried to find any visible sign of weakness, she put out a good front of being unfazed but Vsevolod could see through her ruse. A tiny twitch of an eye here, a quirk of her mouth there; to most they would seem like nothing, but in many ways he and Jusztina were alike. Vsevolod understood what those tiny changes in expression meant, so to him they were as betraying of emotion as if Jusztina had suddenly started screaming and clawing out her eyes.

The ceremonial wand was still in his hand, but it served its purpose of marking the conduits that allowed the both worlds to merge into each other. Some ignorant fools still thought that all wands were mandatory to cast magic, and that Vsevolod could just point it and shoot out beams of magical energy. Some wands were built for the purpose of battle, such as detonation wands or fire-conjuring ones. But this wand wasn’t one of those. This wand functioned something akin to a key – or more accurately, a part of a key – to the netherworld. It was very powerful, but had no application in battle unless Vsevolod wanted to whack someone over the head with it. Instead, Vsevolod raised his free hand over his head and began to mutter an incantation.

“Curator silenti, sino phasmatis venire contra mihi. I banish the jealous dead that wish to steal and ruin life rather than protect it. Commodo adeo suffragium mihi in meus negotium.'” From the center of Vsevolod’s palm a sphere of light swirled into existence. It was like a small white sun that Vsevolod held in his palm and it burned with an intense light that at once drove away all the wraiths that were hounding them. He closed his palm and the sphere disappeared with a distinctive sound. He looked towards Jusztina, she just stood there waiting patiently but Vsevolod seemed to register something like a relaxation to her stance. Perhaps the spirits had been bothering to her? But what use was there to speculate? He couldn’t read Jusztina’s mind and had no real wish to do so. So for now it was better to get on with the business at hand.

He quickly reached into his coat and pulled out once again the small ornate bottle with the water from the River Styx. He used his thumb to pop out the stopper and it came off easily, dangling over his hand by a chord that connected it to the bottle. He carefully tilted the bottle letting a drop of the liquid fall to the ground. The water looked normal in the bottle but as the drop fell it seemed to change turning into liquid light. It was ghostly blue in color and once it hit the ground, it sent out a ripple as if it had fallen into a stagnant pond. The ripples were also ghostly blue and moved outwards in concentric circled until they began to rebound from the corners of the box of green energy that enclosed them. Vsevolod let a second drop fall to the ground and the same thing happened.

Earlier, Jusztina had offered him the honor of swearing first. Of course Vsevolod knew it wasn’t just for the sake of honor, but the Vampire Queen wasn’t going to let herself be duped in anyway. If Vsevolod swore first then she would have assurance that there was no insidious activity going on. It was like if you’re worst enemy gave you an apple, you asked them to bite it first to make sure it wasn’t poisoned.

“I Vsevolod D’yavolich Khlystov,” he began his voice clear an enunciating every word as clearly as he could despite his thick Russian accent. “Vor v Zakone of the Khlystov Bratva, swear upon the waters of this River Styx to uphold my end of the bargain for so long as the contract stands. No harm will befall Jusztina Draculesti from my hand, or from my instruction. Should I fail from my promise, let the waters of this River Styx consume me and make my body and soul part of it. This is so swear.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt something come over him, drape over his skin like an invisible film, then it tightened up until his very core. In some part of him he could feel the oath, like some clenched up ball tied to his soul. He looked up at Jusztina and knew that even if he wanted he wouldn’t be able to cast any spells against her. His tongue would lock up and he wouldn’t be able to access his magical powers. Vsevolod wasn’t lying when he said that he would swear, that was actually part of his plan from the beginning. But of course, this entire orchestration was merely one string in a elaborate web of manipulation and intrigue. He knew Jusztina had her own goals, had her own web. Things were still essentially the same; it was a matter of who played the better game. This contract and this binding ritual merely added a few more rules.

[Jusztina Draculesti]

Jun 4, 2012 10:42:25 GMT -5 Jusztina Draculesti said:

1084 WORDS - TAGGED: VSEVOLOD
She could feel them clawing at her blood with invisible strings, trying to drag her further and further into her own insanity but she willed it all away as her ears and eyes concentrated on Vsevolod , his words, and his movements. She seemed to relax more as he continued as if the spirits were falling back, realizing they couldn’t reach them and that her mental capacity was stronger than anticipated. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. Oh no. Blue orbs watched the drops, only her eyes moving to follow all the movements as her body remained practically frozen in its place. Her ears picked up his words, twitching as she memorized them clearly like a script in her mind. Once he was done, she spoke up, breaking the silence that had formed and settled like a blanket of electrified tension between the two.

“I, Jusztina Szilagyi Draculesti of Moldavia,”

[/i]she switched to Romanian out of habit, “regina vampirilor (queen of the vampires), swear upon the waters of the River Styx to uphold my end of the bargain for so long as the contract stands. No harm will befall Vsevolod Khlystov from my hand, or from my instruction. Should I fail from my promise, let the waters of the River Styx consume me and make my body and soul part of it. This is so swear,” her words came out smoothly though her accent was ridiculously thick and the second she finished the last syllable, she felt a sort of pressure build up around her like a heavy fur quilt wrapping around her. Then it felt as if it were transformed into water and melted into her skin, seeping down and taking control of her muscles and her bones. She didn’t need to have Vsevolod removed based on her instructions. Javier knew her well enough to know she wanted him good and dead. He didn’t know, however, the extra plans she had set aside, the bargains that had already been planned ahead of time. She had her own dealings, her own ways through the loopholes in such an agreement and truly, if she died it wouldn’t be the first time – maybe it would be permanent this time around should she break such a heavy promise.

But anyone who knew Jusztina well enough knew that she kept her word and it was shown through her track record from even as far back as her mortal life. It had simply been the way she’d been raised by her family. The feeling of pressure lightened until she felt like herself again only with a chain and ankle brace attached to her that linked her to Vsevolod. Other people wanted him as dead as she did so it wasn’t like she had any problems with the bargain. If anything, she could see it playing in both their favors – depending on how you see it. But after the swearing, she felt the spirits again and was all too aware of their wailing, their pounding, and their desperate attempt to make their way to them. It made her feel like there was a death grip on her heart but she forced her face to remain stoic and unmoving.

The blood lust raged within her as she looked down at the man that was her husband, his eyes a dark charcoal as he looked up at her. His straight, raven hair had been long, then, and he looked at her in disbelief, hurt, betrayal, and pure guilt and regret. He grew pale, his thin lips chapped as he tried to reach up for her, his bare chest lined with his veins that surfaced on the toned muscle of the soldier. A nasty bite, bloody and oozing with jagged edges was on the crook of his neck and shoulder, “Jusztina…” he barely managed to get her name out in his weakened state as she sat on top of him, straddling him with an anger possessing her that she never knew she could achieve, a hurt and betrayal beyond repair stemmed from the pit of her very soul; a depression that couldn’t be fixed in any kind of way, “Did I ever tell you how delicious you look?” the Romanian words left her full lips, chin stained with his blood as she chuckled at her own joke. He used to tell her that all the time instead of telling her she was beautiful, instead of telling her he cared, instead of saving her…all he did was kill her over and over again yet dangled her in front of death so she wouldn’t be able to find peace or solace within it, “Jusz-” but she cut him off as she bared her sharp fangs at him and dug her teeth back into his wound, sucking him dry until she was sure his heart gave its last pump, until the last molecule of oxygen left his system, until he was so far down the river of death, there was no way he’d ever be able to come back. As she pulled away, she gulped in mouthfuls of air, his memories, his life, his world running through her mind a million times a minute and she locked her jaw and pressed her fingers against her temple to brace for such an impact. Then, when the memory of him killing their son in such a vicious manner entered her mind, she let out a terrible scream and, with a simple swipe of her fingertips, beheaded him so his head rolled of the bed they had shared for so many blissful years as mortals and landed on the floor. She let out another scream, more so at his lifeless corpse, with tears streaming down her cheeks as she moved away from him to the other side of the bed, pulling her knees up to her chest and simply sobbing…his spirit firmly locked up within her and clawing at her eyes so the river of sadness would never end – he made sure of that.

But just as quickly as the memory flashed within her mind, she suppressed it and there was no change in her stance, in her stare, in her stoic and calm behavior. It was all in her head. That was all. His spirit was not wandering just outside them, wanting to drag her to the depths of hell for all eternity. He’d gotten what he deserved and eventually, Vsevolod would get it too.

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