alderwitch

"Eeeeeeeeee!" The little monster trilled delightedly at her as it snatched the cookie and swiftly devoured it. When another wasn't swiftly present it tried to respond to her, tugging at her pants plaintively, "Eeeee? Eeeezzzz?" Taylor opened her eyes and began to try to peel the clinging purple alien from her shoulders with limited results, "Well, if they are some subset of changelings, they're just here to be foisted on better parents than their native environ allows. A little like the coocoo that lays its eggs in other birds nests, but-" Taylor's words were briefly muffled as the clingy critter crawled up higher to escape the fingers that were trying to pull it from what it had deemed as 'safety'. There was a comical struggle as Taylor's hood was yanked over her face but in the end the mystic prevailed and managed to switch the creature to a cradle hold that was a little tight. Shaking her hood back with a frustrated huff, Taylor picked up her conversation again, "But those usually replace an existing infant, and aren't just abandoned in the park. Its possible they were kidnapped or even lost through a rift. I'll know more once I can do some research but first, there's one more of these in the park. Over by the old oak I think."

"Very funny," Taylor said dryly, but her relief as the critter hopped towards Stesha was palpable. Now that she could focus a little better, she closed her eyes and cast out her senses for any more of the little monsters. "They were just shoved through the veil this morning, I can still feel the passage but its too faint to lock down where they were shoved from." Taylor provided as she scanned the park with her magical senses. Absently, she patted the runt of the litter that was shivering. "They're some sort of changeling creature. They pattern off of what they see. Defense mechanism, you see." The green furred creature hopped forward on its hind legs towards Stesha, its gait altering as it approached until it was copying her walk on toddling legs. It snatched the cookie and, after sniffing at it for a moment, crammed it into its mouth greedily before crooning at her again urgently. Its fingers made little grasping motions that were really pretty easy to interpret.

"I was jogging in the park not far from home. I'm tucked back aways from the path among a few trees," Taylor explained and supplied a slightly more clear directions and hung up the phone with a relieved, "Thank you!" Fortunately, with the winter weather, the park was nearly empty this early in the morning. It would take until the sun came out enough to burn through the night's chill for the park to fill with people. By then, Taylor hoped to track down the last of the furballs and escape to the apartment with them. She made quite the sight when Stesha arrived, with one of the furry creatures arms wrapped in a death grip around her neck and a slightly larger one trying to take a chunk out of her hand with its gums. The creatures themselves were an odd hodge podge of mamilian features: soft fur, big eyes, and large ears that swiveled at Stesha's arrival. The more timid creature buried its face in Taylor's throat, its fur rippling to match her cloak's colors while the larger one left off slobbering to cock its head curiously at Stesha and made a low crooning sound. Its fur rippled to a mix of greens and tans to reflect Stesha's costume and it crooned again, the note high and plaintive.

Taylor nodded sharply at each question, finally dropping everything on the couch, her dark eyes troubled as she turned her face up to him. "Jack, she says Dracula is coming. Here, to Freedom City." It should have sounded melodramatic. It was like the line out of one of the bad B movies that Taylor enjoyed but she was both worried and serious as she looked up at him. "I couldn't read her well enough to say for certain if it was truth but she seemed very frightened. Also, very grossed out about our relationship. She seems to think that's the whole reason that Dracula's coming, which tells me that after several centuries of life, he clearly needs to find more hobbies." Her tone was dry and sarcastic, although she didn't try to use it to cover the fear she felt at the entire idea of it. Taylor hoped it had just been another scare tactic, but the sinking feeling in her chest made her doubt it.

Taylor teleported into the living room in enough of a hurry to actually cause his paper to rustle when she crackled into existance. Living with Taylor, Jack had gotten to see that her teleportation spell varied depending on her mood. There was the 'I stayed out past my physical limits and its a good thing I'm intangible because I just teleported myself into the couch', the 'I hate that professor so much crackle of power', and not the least of which was 'Landing on my boyfriend's lap because I feel frisky'. Sadly, this was definately not the last one as Taylor showed up with an audible crackle of a showy corona of energy and her lips compressed into a thin flat line. Pulling things out of the void with quick, agitated gestures, Taylor dropped her notebook on the couch and followed it with her jacket and hat as she announced, "Some blonde vampire showed up in the library tonight while I was studying for an exchange of threats and warnings."

"Interdimensional orphans," If they weren't orphans already, they just might be once Taylor tracked down their parents, so it wasn't even a real lie. Taylor made a noise that sounded like a yelp and muttered, "Please send help." Taylor was only halfway kidding. She was pretty sure these things came in packs. Herds? Maybe, litters. Shifting 'Clingy' to her other shoulder, she supplied 'Bitey' with another knuckle to gnaw on, and shifted the phone back to her other ear, "I've got to figure out where the heck they came from. Maybe one of the fae realms. They could be changelings, maybe. I can't get to my research books to tell and I'm afraid there might be one or two more out there but I can't go out with them to look as they're a little odd looking. Even for Freedom City."

Early December.

"No! No biting!" Taylor yelped and danced sideways as she tried to dial the phone. Her antics were somewhat hampered by the small and slightly fuzzy creature clinging to her shoulders. Its larger (and more aggressive) sibling aimed another bite at Taylor's thigh and she gritted her teeth. Juggling the phone to the other hand, she reached down and jammed her thumb in its gaping maw. Fortunately, they didn't have their much sharper adult teeth yet. Abstractly, they were kind of cute in an oddly alien sort of way. Chubby, and covered with soft and brightly colored fuzz, they looked almost like children's toys, which Taylor assumed was sort of the point. She had no idea if this was actually their natural shape, or if it was just some sort of default to appeal to idiot mammals that fell for soft fur and huge eyes. She hadn't had time to do any sort of research into the subject matter since she'd literally stumbled accross the smallest one clinging monkey like to her shoulder. She ignored both the contented noise as well as the vague pain as the more aggressive one slobbered all over her knuckle. Before Stesha could even get out her 'Hello', Taylor burst out with, "How are you at babysitting?"

"I don't give a damn what your feelings are," Taylor shot back, striding forward to collect her things quickly from the table. The few things she'd brought with her vanished into the ether between her fingers, "You're a fool if you think changing anything now is going to make one difference. I may not have stood and watched blood turn Freedom City red twenty years ago, but even if Jack becomes a model vampire scion, it isn't going to prevent Dracula from doing what he has always done." Taylor straightened and looked at Claudia, her lips set in a flat line, "For the warning, I thank you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to return to the man that I happen to love very much, and try to help him keep everyone alive. Humans, vampires, and everything else in this blasted city."

Taylor made an impatient noise, stepping forward as her eyes narrowed. She shook off the personal attacks that stung and the vampire partyline nonsense. Taylor would dearly like to point out that the leading cause of death for vampires was other vampires, actually. Honestly, Taylor couldn't remember the last super-hero that had made vampire killing his big thing. The cosmically empowered tended to fight aliens and most of the mystics were concerned with navel gazing these days. That all fell by the way side as she zero'd in on Claudia's final salvo. "Dracula? For all of our sakes, I hope this is just an additional flare for the dramatic on your part." Taylor said with deadly intensity. "If a war erupts between vampires and the guardians of Freedom City, it will be because that bloodthirsty madman starts it. He'll bring every hero scuttling out of their headquarters to be the one to take down that vampire legend once he starts ratcheting up his inevitable body count."

"I suggest you study your arcane lore better. If you think that I'm still anything like human, you are dramatically mistaken," Taylor's voice rolled like thunder, her shoulders squared up. Claudia had succeeded in wounding her, but in the anger that simmered, Taylor spat out a truth that she preffered to ignore. There was a reason she belonged with the Midnighters. She walked through all the worlds and all the places in between without ever being a part of any of them. Her hands flexed and she banished the power leaking around her fingertips with a sharp gesture. Her spine ramrod straight, Taylor gave the other woman a cold look that made the youthful appearance the lie that it was. Claudia was not the first, or the tenth, or the hundreth person to blame Taylor for the cruelty of the world. People who had begged and pleaded to not be returned to their own world, their own sorrows. "I grow weary of your accusations. If you have a point in this farce, I would make it now if I were you. How, pray, would my presence in Jack's bed make or break your war?"

Why does she keep saying that like it means something more. Jack's not interdimensional. He's native to this plane, just like she is, or my senses would be going berzerk. Taylor's long, slow blink was her only outward sign that Claudia was rattling her, as was the pause before she spoke. "I fail to see what my personal relationship with Jack has to do with my other duties. And whatI see in it, frankly, isn't any of your business. If you want to warn me off, I'm afraid you're going to have to do a good deal better than vague threats of death and doom for all and sundry. I hear that an awful lot in my line of work." Taylor replied, forcing her hands to relax before she left little half moon imprints from her nails into her palm. She didn't deny the charge of crossing the line, her memory of summoning Moira too fresh for that to have any ring of truth in it and somehow Taylor rather thought this vampire could smell the doubt in her words. She knew the woman would take advantage of it if she did.

"Please, spare me the victim routine." Taylor said flatly, her fingers curling into the palms of her hands, "You've postured and posed with deliberate intent to illicit my flight or fight response, even down to that very elegant flash of teeth. You're a predator. Its what you do. I've postured back. Trust me, when we move onto the violence portion of the evening, I'll be throwing things a little more potent than Homer." Taylor curled her fingers and the notebook that Claudia had taken her hands off flew neatly into Taylor's palm and vanished. Her Greek final safe in the Void, Taylor arched a brow and asked with exaggerated politeness, "Would you like to get on with that now, then? Or shall we trade insults instead?" She's faster than Jack. I would have hit him with that. I bet she hits like a truck Taylor was careful to keep her face blank of her reservations.

Taylor's cheeks pinkened slightly at Jack's questioning look but she smiled her reponse to his unspoken question. At Derrick's glowing reccomendation however, Taylor made a flustered noise and gave a little wave of her hands. "We met very briefly with that Arachnos thing but I was in costume then." Taylor provided, glancing from Derrick back to Moira. She lifted her chin self conciously. Taylor wasn't sure what Moira had heard if anything about her alter ego, but Taylor doubted it would be good. The greek pantheon wasn't a big fan of the Pact or its enforcers. "It was several months ago, though."

Someday, Taylor really hoped they'd let her back into the library. Reacting to the threat, Taylor automatically phased, her hands curling into fists at her sides. "Somehow, I am very certain that I don't want to give you back anything that I might happen to have." Her hands were outlined in eldritch energy, but Taylor was somewhat reluctant to fire. Vampires were a pain to hit and she was pretty sure that blowing a hole in the stacks was going to not only out her, but likely get her banned for life. Not only that, but the crazy vampire had her almost finished final. Taylor made a cutting gesture with one hand and sent a heavy tome whizzing at the woman, hoping she'd release the notebook. She knows about Heshem. That's probably a really bad sign.

Taylor didn't recognize the woman, which gave her pause. She'd worked at the library long enough to know most of the librarians on sight. At the hard, challenging look in her eyes, however, Taylor automatically jerked her chin upward. Without concious thought, she settled her feet braced slightly apart, her hands rising to about waist height automatically. She met the woman's gaze with dark, unflinching eyes as she asked politely "Can I help you?"

Taylor tapped her pen against the thick book in a staccato rythm that seemed unnaturally loud in the empty library. This late at night, the place was nearly empty but Taylor actually enjoyed the solitude. Three years off odd hours had left her decidedly nocturnal, something that moving in with Jack had not aided in the slightest. Leaning over the table, Taylor's long black hair was pulled up in a pony tail that made her look younger than she was. She wore a sweater as a nod to the inclement weather outside but had shoved the sleeves up to her forearms while she worked away at the archaic text. A battered hat and equally battered jacket were tossed haphhazardly in one empty chair. She jotted her notes down rapidly, her manner bored as Taylor translated the greek to english for another assignment. Taylor looked like any college bookworm might, cute if a little frumpy as she shifted the large heavy books around on the table and intermittantly checked her notes.

"Hello, Deadhead," Taylor greeted the zombie with a quick smile. Out of costume, Taylor was a much friendlier figure than her alter ego. She pivoted to include him in their circle and leaned her denim clad hip against a gravestone. "You haven't missed much. I think you knew Avenger was a vampire. Hellion's appologized for the near destruction of the world and I have promised Atlas that I am neither a werewolf nor a robot." Her cheek dimpled as she added, "And Avenger has promised next time we get chairs."

Taylor was quiet at the joyful reunion. Considering the events of the last few days, her solemn expression could have been easily dismissed but for the fidgiting she was doing with the amulet resting against the hollow of her throat. Her senses thrummed at the dimensional activity, summoning a goddess to this realm went against every instinct she possessed. Taylor only hoped that she wouldn't some day have to banish Moira. Supressing a sigh, Taylor reached up to twist the amulet between her fingertips again. Her white shift melted away into shadows to be traded for the faded jeans and dark sweater she'd put on this morning.Taylor resisted the urge to brush her clothing self conciously. Taylor leaned against Jack, having sternly reminded herself for the umpteenth time not to grow maudlin, and suggested, "If you'd like, we'll clean up in here while you two get dressed in something a little more casual. I'm sure the boys can help with any heavy lifting." The last was said with a stab at Taylor's usual dry humor.

Taylor's hands fell to her sides in mingled relief and weariness. She rubbed the back of one hand accross her eyes, before shoving her hair out of her eyes with the same hand. While Stesha hugged Moira and greetings were exchanged, Taylor scuffed through the protective sigils with her bare foot. It was important to break the lines in the right order. Quickly, far more quickly than it had taken to draw everything, the power of the circle snapped with a subaudibile pop that felt like a pressure shift and the lines of salt were simply salt again. "Ace found the right ritual, I just provided the details to look for."

On Psyche, all 5 points to her wisdom please to bump it from 26 to 31. Thank you! Done by Sandman XI

Taylor nodded, both to confirm Jack's answer for Stesha and that she was ready to begin. She stepped into the circle, careful not to kick over the little lines of salt as she found a place opposite Stesha. She left the book outside the circle. It was best to memorize these sorts of things rather than introduce another object into the ritual. Lighting in the incense, she nodded to signal to Stesha before she began uttering the chant. Really, she wished that Ace could have found a ritual that wasn't one of the Bacchaus. Lots of dancing and hand waving, but what could one really expect of esctatics. Resignedly, Taylor stomped her feet in the patterns, her hands rising and falling in time with the chant. She always did hate Greek rituals. At least she didn't have to sacrifice anything but a bit of wine. It was expensive wine too. That was Stesha's job, however, acting as Moira's prophetess to Taylor's priestess. Despite the rather grim look on Taylor's face, she committed to the entire ritual. By the time she'd finished the three or four minute long chant-and-dance, her hair had worked its way out of the knot and was streaming down to her waist. She ended, arms upraised and breath coming in sharp little pants as she focused on pushing the dimensional barrier aside while Stesha provided the offering.

After, Doc.

There were smudges under Taylor's eyes as she moved around Moira's living room lighting candles. Hopefully, after Moira was returned, she'd get a chance to collapse into a bit of a heap. After the whole 'hell on earth' fiasco, she'd hit the ground running to rescue Jackson, and had spent the last few days mopping up the occasional lingering pocket of demons and making certain that she knew this ritual backwards and forwards. Except for the occasional nap - or, more accurately - the occasional pass out into an exhausted heap, she'd been burning her candle at both ends. And the middle. The center of the room had been cleared to bare floor and a complex sigil had been laid down in salt lines. Normally, Taylor would never use something so easy to smudge, but they weren't summoning anything that would be dangerous to anyone in the house, and salt was much easier to clean up than paint. As it was all over Moira's floor, she thought the goddess might appreciate the thought. Taylor herself looked younger than usual as she was dressed in a simple sleeveless white shift that she hoped would pass close enough to 'toga'. Her dark hair was pulled back in a simple knot and she bent over the book again, squinting at the spidery greek writing. "I think that's everything. Stesha and I will stand inside the outermost circle. I still think its best that everyone else remain outside the outermost lines. Moira's pantheon is, well, a hedonistic one and I'd rather not confuse our intent. So to speak."

Summoning Moira back from Olympus. Role call: Stesha, Dark Star, Jack, Taylor, Ace. And of course, Divine A few days after the invasion.