Abra Kadabra [IC]

[alderwitch]

"It was," Taylor agreed quietly, although she squeezed his fingers back to take the sting out of her words, "You've hidden so much from people for so long, it's just a mess to undo. I know why, I mean, I could have told Stesha. Maybe I should have, but every person who knows what you are could go after you."

She lifted her shoulders in a rather miserable shrug, her gaze still downcast as they made their way through the grandiose hall. For once, Taylor didn't even look up at the Egyptain carvings she usually found fascinating. Taylor hesitated for a moment, before sharing the opinion she'd mentioned to Ace earlier, "Maybe we really should just elope. I just want one happy day. I know its tough. I know that we've really got the odds against us, but I just want the wedding to be one day where none of that matters."

[Avenger Assembled]

"I'm sorry," he said again, leaning down and putting his forehead against hers. "I can't change what they did. But I can promise I'll do everything I can to make it right." He kissed her softly on the lips, his eyes dark as he looked down at her. "You deserve that happiness, Taylor. It'll happen." He smiled, ever so slightly. "And hey, just think how exciting this conversation will be with your family. I don't think we have a deeper baseline after this."

[alderwitch]

Taylor groaned but she was laughing as she pulled away, dimple flashing reluctantly in her cheek. She left her fingers tangled with his as they continued heading down the corridor, "That does not help disuade me from eloping. They love you at least, so that should go well. Unless you've just jinxed us."

She pulled a face at him, "My mother was a tiny tyrant with my sister's wedding. I am not signing up for that."

[N/A]

The heroes filed into a familiar chamber, covered in the same ancient stone facade as most of The Scarab's Lair. The room was lined with lotus-style pillars, some adorned with the Egyptian pictographs also carved into the walls. The Scarab herself, resplendent in her gleaming crimson and gold armor, sat upright and unmoving upon her throne at the far end of the audience chamber, her massive cape draped over her shoulders and spilling over the sides of her seat. The same large plush cushions dotted the floor before her, but this time she made no gesture of welcoming toward them, nor any movement whatsoever.

The multi-layered voices they had come to know as Elena Guerrero and Prince Heru-Ra echoed once again in their minds. I had hoped our inevitable reunion would take place under more auspicious circumstances. But while against an external foe you are a force umatched in this world, we are, as a group, still disappointingly susceptible to acrimony.

Avenger has called you here in a sincere attempt to salvage what remains of your comraderie. To this end, he has opened his mind to me, and allowed me to see the truths of his heart, his soul, and his sins. If this meeting is to be at all productive, I encourage those of you involved in these unfortunate incidents to do the same.

Avenger has been accused of deceit, manipulation, coercion and assault. From his memory, his perspective, most of these charges are, at best, a misunderstanding, at worse, self-serving lies. Now I require other perspectives with which to compare his.

[alderwitch]

It was basically identical to the first time that Taylor had arrived in the Lair. She'd thought the setting overdramatic and pretentious then, now it merely made her sad. She squeezed Jack's hand one last time before letting go to make her way up to the throne at the far end of the audience chamber. Taylor gave into the urge to scrub the sleeve of her sweater accross her face, although it wasn't going to do a thing about the redness around her eyes. Dressed in scrubby jeans and an oversize turtleneck sweater, she looked younger than usual and more vulnerable than she would have liked walking accross the hallway to Scarab's throne.

She stopped at the base of the throne, thrusting her hands into her pockets as she tilted her face up to Scarab. Although still as youthful as the day Heshem had plucked her from the world, the recent trials and tribulations had left their marks in the faint bruising under her eyes that spoke of sleepless nights and a lingering sorrow in her dark brown eyes.

'Hello, Elena,' Taylor didn't bother to vocalize her words as she set about pulling down her usual mental defenses, 'If you don't mind, I'd rather go first.'

And get it over with, really. Taylor didn't try to hide the thought from Elena, it would have been both ludicrous and insulting since she was leaving her mind open for the psychic, anyways. Not to mention, Elena knew how she felt about having her thoughts sorted through. It wasn't a judgement on Elena, so much as an extension of just how private a person Taylor was. The cloak of Phantom was just as much barrier between herself and the world as Scarab's armor. The barrier Taylor kept between herself and the world was a neccessary one. With her brother's recent capture, Taylor felt that even more keenly than usual. Despite her own emotional reservations, the mystic didn't hesitate as she methodically stripped her sheilds down to nothing and patiently waited for Scarab's examination.

[angrydurf]

Ace lounged indolently against a pillar examining his nails. Elena could play to her theatrics he'd play to his own. He wasn't entirely sure what was supposed to be illuminated for him in this little gambit but he was interested to see how it all came out in the end.

"So we have company on the way or are we just gonna get this shindig started?" He inquired lazily.

[N/A]

To Taylor's surprise, it didn't feel as though The Scarab was entering her mind, so much as inviting her into The Scarab's. It wasn't a complete tour by any means. Quickly, Taylor realized that it wasn't The Scarab's memories she was viewing, but Jack's. Everything The Scarab had scoured from inside Jack's mind, she was now displaying for Taylor. And when she spoke, her words were for Taylor alone.

You may wonder, in light of his many missteps, why I still trust Jack, why I still consider him a friend and comrade. He is no Centurion, no Captain Thunder, no DarkStar. He is not a man of uncompromising ethics or an unfailing moral compass. He lost himself in a downward spiral of nihilistic self-loathing and despair, and at his most vulnerable moment, he was absorbed against his will into a society of unparalleled decadence and perversion. He is consumed at all times by a hunger no mortal being will ever face. The fact that he managed to break away and rise above it at all proves that he has the heart of a hero. He is a deeply flawed man, who makes many mistakes. But his defining trait is that he never stops trying to be better.

And I can say upon even a cursory mental examination that he loves you as much as you love him. You would both walk through fire for the other, and together you have found a peace neither of you knew possible. If you decide to stay with him, you will face criticism and warnings from all sides. Take comfort in the fact that you have literally seen into his soul, and no one else can decide for you whether or not you like what you have seen.

[alderwitch]

Taylor remained very quiet, although she flinched and blanched at intervals. Her hands never left her pockets, and her shoulders squared under the grueling onslaught. Sometimes it was better than her fears, sometimes wose. Eventually, she pulled one trembling hand from her pocket and rubbed her eyes.

'It will take me a long time to decide if that was a gift or a curse,' Taylor thought honestly, her lips flatening into a stark line, 'Either way, I'd appreciate you providing the same from my thoughts. It only seems fair. Time permitting.'

She returned her hand to her pocket, gaze slipping down to the floor as she dredged up her own past. Peeling down to the memories that were hardest. The abadonment of her beloved brother to save a world was foremost in her thoughts but not the only weight, merely the most recent. Past a thousand refugees, each clamoring not to go back to whatever personal hell awaited them, and down to a sunny day in a park, with the streamers and balloons of a children's birthday, and a young girl's stark horror that she would lose them all again.

Pale and shaky, Taylor inclined her head to the Scarab respectfully, before she retreated from the throne and collapsed bonelessly on one of the pillows, denim clad legs crossed over one end.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack slumped into a convenient chair, a disconsolate look on his face. He stared at nothing for a moment, lost in his own sordid past. "I'm just grateful for the chance to have known all of you," he said suddenly, looking at Elena, Taylor, and even Ace. "Not many people who've lived the life I've had and done the things I've done have a chance to be part of your team, to love you, to know you. If there is anything good in me, it's because I know people like you."

[N/A]

For the first time since the arrival of her guests, The Scarab finally spoke out loud.

"It appears that Stesha will not be joining us today. In her current emotional state, she will not care to what degree Jack's liason with Moira was consensual or not. Instead, she is consumed with revulsion over her ill-fated romantic encounter with you. The revelation of your true nature has traumatized her. Personally, I think she is overreacting - to borrow the common parlance, all you did was give her a hickey. She would be in greater physical danger from kissing another human being than she was from the few drops of her blood that wound up in your surprisingly sterile mouth. But such logical arguments would be futile at present. Intense emotion and ignorance are an unfortunate combination, but one we have all indulged at one point or another. I would advise giving her a wide berth for the time being."

"The matter of Jack and Stesha is beyond our help at present. Which brings us back to the matter of Jack and Moira."

[Cyroa]

It took only a second for Dark Star to arrive. He was far from happy. Actually he was about as miserable as he could ever recall being. Trust, love, duty and honor warred with anger, confusion, hopelessness and despair. And they seemed to be loosing. He felt like they were all crumbling away. He'd never been afraid before, not of anything. But now...it was like his whole world was crumbling and he had no idea what to do to fix it. Or even if it could be fixed.

He easily found where everyone was gathered and drifted down from the ceiling to stand off to one side. "I apologize for my tardiness. I was unavoidably detained."

[alderwitch]

Taylor's nose wrinkled up and she shifted uncomfortabally at the Scarab's clinical recitation of the nature of vampire hickeys. Taylor was intimately aware of how the entire process worked after all, but it was really just as uncomfortable as Moira talking about how she just couldn't keep her hands off of him

Taylor slanted Jack an unhappy glance that seemed to adequently sum up, 'Do you really have to have past with absolutely everyone we know?'.

"Now, Elena, you have amassed centuries of experience and I am a mystic of no small talent or skill, and I daresay both of us reacted emotionally the first time that we found out what Jack was," Taylor opinioned reasonabally, stretching one hand out to squeeze Jack's hand to mitigate the sting of her words. "Stesha knows next to nothing of the city's monsters save what popular cinema has provided and has only ever been presented with the very worst. Its not an unreasonable reaction."

Her voice was a little detached even as she deflected the criticsm of Stesha. While all that was true and very logical, it didn't make Stesha's accusations hurt less. Taking a small breath, Taylor continued on gamely "I don't think any of us believe things happened quite that way with Moira and Jack, but unravelling things so that it doesn't get out of hand is a good plan. Dark Star was just as upset. Maybe more so."

Speak of the devil, Taylor glanced up as Dark Star flew into the room. Her greeting was quiet, "There's nothing to apologize for."

[angrydurf]

Ace rolled his eyes at Scarab, "Come off it Scarab even you're not that out of touch." He said with perhaps more vitriol than he intended. "Jack assaulted her, in a way that most people would find rather horrifying, and she had no idea until now. Add in his generally poor treatment of her throughout the whole affair and I'd say she's taken it surprisingly well. Pretend all you like that his appetites are victimless crimes but we both know thats simply not true." Ace was in fact rather sick of the 'So what?' attitude his fellow heroes took regarding Jacks nature. So long as he kept himself under control his good may outweigh his wrongs but he'd had enough of the molly coddling of Jacks misdeeds rampant amongst his partisans.

As Dark Star appeared Ace regarded him carefully, It was never easy to get a read on Dark Star but he looked tired and Ace really didn't like to see his illusions shattered like this. The world needed more of that kind of Faith not less. He offered an gentle smile, "She'll get over it, let her have her sulk bring her some flowers from another world and she'll forgive you in time." He suggested with a shrug.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack sat alone even in the company of the others, hands folded before him as he stared off in a brown study. He was a little surprised when Dark Star didn't begin the fight with more anger in him; Derrick once again surprised him with his willingness to stick to his principles. But he wasn't going to push the man any further than he already had. Vampirism meant he had an intimate acquaintance with just how powerful the innate beast was in every man, whether good or evil. "No, there is something to apologize for," he said, suddenly unlimbering himself and looking up at Dark Star. He remembered his arrogance of just a little while ago; as if his nature was something Moira and Stesha were just going to shrug off! How he'd learned.

"That night with Stesha was the last night I've ever fed from an innocent. It was a mistake I've made before, but not one I've ever made since. I'm sorry, Derrick. God, I'm so sorry." He shook his head, not bothering to hold back his inner turmoil. "All I can tell you is that I didn't hurt her physically. She'd never have noticed anything if the chemicals in her blood hadn't pushed me off her. I've never done that to anyone else, not since that night. Whatever anger you want to feel towards me, I'll understand. Whatever...whatever response Stesha wants for me, I'll accept. I've passed as a man long enough that I should be able to accept the consequences of my actions."

He looked up at Dark Star, summoned his courage, and continued to speak. "I've killed five human beings, Derrick. Three times were early on, when I wasn't in control of my actions. When I was made, but too feral to hunt myself, Claudia liked to troll for potential rapists and trick them into going to our place; she knew I'd kill when I fed, and she thought that was easier than going to the trouble of...of ordering blood bags." He scrubbed his eyes. "I didn't...I didn't even know what was happening then. Another...another time was when a hunter broke into one of our clubs and started shooting up the place. He had silver bullets, and there were humans there too...I didn't know how to fight well enough, and it was him or a lot of dead innocent people. We struggled over the Uzi and it went off when it was pointed up..." He looked down at his hands, visualizing the blood on them. "The...the last time was an accident," he finally said, his voice almost inaudible. "And after that, never again. Never."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star shook his head. "There is plenty to apologize for I'm sure. Including from me. I shouldn't have acted that way. Regardless of the situation, I should have been better mannered. People deserved better from me. I accused when I had yet to hear everything. I didn't give a chance for a full explanation."

He looked over at Ace, his face blank though his voice was heavy with emotion. His face and body might be difficult to read but Dark Star was relatively easy when one listened. "I don't know. I truly hope so, but I don't know if she will," he responded quietly. He shook his head. "But she is not sulking," he said in her defense. "She was attacked, violated, and just hit with multiple shocking truths and the revelation of lies that had been concealed. She is entitled to needing some time alone," he said firmly.

He looked over to Jack, his voice quiet. "Jack, it's not about how many lives you took because of accidents or events you couldn't control; not really or not in this case anyway. I've taken many, many more than that. And it hated every one; I can recall every face..." He trailed off. He shook his head and brought himself back to the unpleasant present. "Yes, you did something horrible. But you shouldn't be apologizing to me or asking my forgiveness. You committed no crime, no wrong against me. In general...well, yes, biting someone and draining them without their consent is a horrible violation and crime. But I don't know what to do, if anything, about those 'slips'. If it happened again, I know exactly what I would be forced to do," he said quietly but firmly. "Even if carrying it out destroyed me," he whispered.

[Moira Morley]

Moira wanted to go to Stesha. She wanted to comfort her friend's hurt. She'd only done this because Stesha wanted it. If she had known the roof would blow off she would have still done it because that's what friends do. Help each other. When she got off the elevator she quickly ran into the courtyard's green area searching for Stesha. Though there was a bit of nagging doubt. A few minutes later she decided maybe Taylor was right. She was on her way to hail a cab when a voice she had not heard in a long time entered her head. She was half tempted to ignore it, but what if Stesha was there?

When Moira appeared where she was ported there, everyone BUT Stesha was there. She did not show any signs of apprehension. She was going to face everything they threw at her.

[alderwitch]

"I'm going to assume that the reason I don't count as an innocent is because if moved to do so, I could probably hurt you very badly. And not that it was because I was in the process of losing that innocence in your car," Taylor said very quietly, without moving a finger from where she lounged in one of the squishy chairs that adorned the throne room. Her fingers were laced accross her stomach, and thankfully weren't currently crackling with eldritch light. But Taylor looked at Jack like she was considering smacking him against the wall again. Her eyes glittered dangerously at him before she turned that gaze to Moira, where they narrowed.

Having recently been treated to the entire debacle from Jack's point of view, Taylor didn't know if she was more pissed about Moira's speech earlier or having been treated to memories of Jack's sex with Moira. Or about Stesha's accusations because of it all. Actually, there was a lot to be rather testy over.

"Speaking of which. Hello, Moira. Would you like to assist in the illumination? It's a lot of fun and no one's even been slammed into a wall." She paused before adding a little too sweetly as her gaze slid back to Jack, "Yet."

[Avenger Assembled]

Through gritted teeth, Jack murmured, "I had thought we already settled that, Taylor. Why don't we talk about it later?" Folding his arms, he faced Moira directly. "Yes, Moira," he said more calmly, "why don't you tell us what happened?"

[Moira Morley]

Moira slowly walked towards Taylor with with a happily determined look and an approachable demeanor. "Taylor," Moira softly said sitting on her knees to the side of Taylor and putting her hand on her shoulder and looked her in the eye, "I'm not going to sit here and lie to you, but I will tell you the whole story. Everything I said up to the part where we got to the car was true. Even then there was a bit of truth to that. I made it sound like Jack was the person initiating most of this. No, it was me. I was feeling my oats by that time. It was mostly one sided thing in the car. I invited him into my house. He did make the choice of his own volition though. I didn't club him and make him go against his will. Neither did he make me." She sighed lightly, "Yes it was mostly my fault. I was trying to fix things between Stesha and Jack. Though people do things they wont to do inwardly outwardly sometimes. I wanted Jack. I still want Jack. Though I know my limitations." She smiled brightly and winked, "Illuminated enough?"

[alderwitch]

Taylor eyed Moria uneasily as she approached and settled herself in. Briefly, she wondered if this is want snakes felt like when they were charmed by the music. Moira presented everything so reasonabally, so simply. It all made perfect sense. At least until she got to the part about stil wanting Jack. It was like a pin breaking a soap bubble. Taylor's eyes narrowed into deadly slits before the pupils vanished into a white glow. Taylor raised her hand up between the two of them and shoved at Moira with a bolt of eldritch force even as she retreated, ghosting back automatically. She didn't want to hurt Moira, but she wanted - needed - the distance.

"Quite enough," Taylor replied tightly, her voice echoing with that supernaturally hollow ambience that said just how close she was to vanishing into her cloak and possibally from this dimension entirely.

[Avenger Assembled]

Though he wasn't sure it was exactly a heroic impulse, Jack automatically put himself between the two women; not incidentally acting as a shield for Taylor. "All right, all right, I think we've got that settled." He looked Moira in the eye and said, "Moira, listen to me." And oh it was so hard to look into those impossibly lovely eyes and look away, but Jack had experience with immortal women with strange desires. "You don't want me." He looked away at that, moving back to rejoin Taylor. "For the love of God, we can all do better than this."

[Moira Morley]

Moira took a few steps back after the hit. It didn't hurt, just unbalanced her a bit. Jack played intercessor well, though his words hurt her. She frowned when he looked away. Dejectedly she spoke, "If that's what you want to hear, Jack. I'm sorry I ever admitted my feelings for you. I won't say it again."

[angrydurf]

"Oh I think she does Jack." Ace said slowly strolling towards the action in the center of the room, "Moira is exceptionally suseptable to a pretty face overiding her better judgement."

He glanced somewhat bemused to Taylor for a moment then back to Jack, "I think what you meant to say is that you're not interested. Or have you used up your lies for the day?"

In the end Ace found the entire situation absurd. Jack clearly had no such change of heart after Stesha, It sounded as if taylor had straightened him out on that at least. Moiras doe eyed inocence was of course equaly laughable. Moiras lie about the initial encounter had been laughable he wasn't at all sure why they were even still discussing it other than Defending himself against that was far easier than facing up to Jack real crimes. His honesty to Dark Star was touching in a way at least. Maybe Jack might hold out longer than Ace expected. Of course if he did Dracula would be after him sooner rather than later.

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack was dead still for a moment, fingers over the bridge of his nose, before he turned to Ace. "Look at you. You're trying not to smile. You think this is funny." He didn't sound angry, just thoroughly fed up. "Moira is your friend. Taylor is your friend. Stesha is your friend. And you think what's happened to them, and the things I've done, are worth the chance to take a few shots at me. I find you a small, contemptible man, Ace Danger. I don't like you," he added, "but I thought I could at least respect you."

He turned and walked away from Ace, turning back to Taylor and extending his hand to hers, then turning back to face the crowd. "I'm done here. Derrick, if you think Stesha wants to talk to me, I will so she can hear this from my mouth. I'm so sorry for what I did to her, and I promise that neither I nor any other vampire from the city will ever approach her again."

[Cyroa]

Dark Star stood with his head hung just a little. Once again, it seemed that small lies and deceits were on the verge of destroying the good people underneath. Moira continued her social dance. (He wasn't so naïve as to believe her innocence and purity. He was gullible and trusting but he wasn’t that blind. It didn’t mean he disliked her, but she was a rather decadent woman. He doubted that monogamy was even in her lexicon.) Taylor didn’t take it well, but she didn’t really strike out. Ace continued his quietly insulting comments. Avenger and he butted heads. Scarab sat quietly and said nothing. Still, Dark Star didn’t have the energy or will to intercede. He just watched quietly. It was frighteningly reminiscent of the final meeting of the Knights. Any moment, Scarab or Ace would likely yell at everyone to calm down. And nothing would change. People would still hate and hurt. Did it really matter anymore?

He looked over at Jack and just stared for a moment. “Does she want to see you? No. Far, far from it. Does she need and deserve and apology from you? Absolutely. Not today perhaps. If she doesn’t want to see me, I have serious doubts that she wants to see you.â€

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, but we’re not done. Not yet. We need to clear this up. Your…feeding. I was there when you assumed control of the others. You were going to change things. That takes time I know. I’m not denying your right to live. Every creature has that right, even vampires. But not at the expense of another. This whole thing has really brought this...situation to the fore with me. Before I might not have understood or even dwelled on it. But I will not let it continue any longer without doing something about it.â€

“I need to know, I need you to convince me that you do not feed from those who are not willing or have been coerced somehow. I need to know how you survive. As to the rest of the vampire population, I will treat them the same. They have the same choice. And the same consequence.†He might have been in an emotional tornado and far from settled, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let people be hurt if he could do anything about it. And there was quite a lot he could do. “I’m not going to turn a blind eye to this or just let it happen without getting involved. If that puts me at ‘war’ with the vampires, then that is the way it must be.â€