Post by tbc on May 7, 2019 12:29:41 GMT -5
The Beginning
Luce stood in the front of a broken window, the second one in about the same amount of months, only this one wasn't cause by Cat, Dame or Fin.
No, she was sure this was done by someone who needed the item in the window that had been stolen, however, the problem was, the item in question was of the cursed variety and it had called out to the only other person who could have heard it, the intended owner and instead of coming in and buying it like a normal person, it was stolen.
"No, it was a opal inlaid handle with a tempered bronze and copper blade." She told the officer who had responded, who was not understanding that the items in her store were of the magical kind and this particular knife had a ban held with in it.. one of wanton violence and once you feed the blade blood it would continue it's lustful need and drive the user mad. She wasn't sure why she had reported it stolen in the first place. "You know what, never mind you are absolutely right, it was probably just some kids and a rock." Let alone a blood lustful blade that would certainly drive the user to madness and kill whoever crossed their path, but this beat officer seemed of the mind it was just kids.
"Thank you for your time." The problem was that this bane was of the Garou type and would gleefully enjoy the hunt and evade her attempts at finding it.
It was about that time that Lexa was stepping into the building, careful over the broken glass just in time to hear Luce dismiss the officer. " You're dismissed Connelly. " Lexa said simply with a firm but cool tone. The officer looked they were about to protest but seeing the detective he muttered, closing up the notebook he had been using to put back in his pocket.
Lexa stopped him and held out her hand. The officer looked at her surprised, confused. " The notebook" The officer scoffed before handing off the notebook and trudging off. Lexa flipped open the book and gave a look over the details that were written, it was piss poor writing. She smirked and looked up to regard Luce.
"Fancy seeing you here.." She offered with a small smile after the officer was gone. -d
Luce sighed as the Officer was dismissed, but she perked a bit at the new officer to attend to her needs. "Finally, someone who knows that they are doing." Oh yes, there was a lot of suggestion in that sentence. "I do recall you mentioning you were an officer... I think. It's all a haze... of.. well, anyways." She stepped aside to let her further into the building, the previous officer wasn't very keen on coming in. Not a lot of humans were interested in coming in, too many heavy tension and vibes from her collection.
Lexa didn't seem bothered. There was something heavy, thick in the air but Lexa seemed to let it roll off of her shoulders. Lips twitched faintly at the suggestive tone. " Yes. Detective" She informed her, a glance behind her, she noted the officers still milling on outside but not wanting to come in. Green hues slanted back to Luce. " Detective Woods" A hand was offered out to Luce. " I don't think we were formally introduced last time.."
"Lucien Rodriquez...Keeper of the cursed" The hand was taken, her palm sliding gently across Lexa's delicate fingers wrapped around for the shake. The other motioning to the shop"Formally? No, but we know each other quite well." Luce was certainly not behaving herself, but she cleared her throat. "Detective Woods.. You see.. the problem is the item in question is... Cursed and I couldn't seem to get that across to the officer."
"The officer is a non believer in such things." Lexa replied, her hand lingered in the grasp. A spike of heat rose up at her center but she had to tamp it down. "There's a few of them, actually.. " She gave another look over her shoulder briefly. The officers were talking amongst themselves and seeming to want to leave. " Gimme a minute.." Lexa stepped away to head to the door and talk to the officers. " I got it from here fellas. " The officers were happy to hand over the investigation over and were soon getting in their marked vehicles to drive out of there. The spiraling lights disappearing from view.
" Okay.. " Lexa turned then, the notebook slipped to her pocket she stared at Luce. "Tell me more"
"Do you want the full story on me, the shop and the item.. or just the item?" She waved Lexa in and offered her a seat on the ostentatious pink velvet love seat with its gold tassels and matching foot stool. The shop was full of curiosities, some looked to be normal items, others hand a very different look. In one display case there was a mummified tongue.. and.. what may have been... no, yes, yes it was also a mummified penis, odd things got cursed, haunted, enchanted, or were simply vessels for souls, spirits, elementals and at times, gods and goddesses.
Lexa had roamed the interior of the building. She would bend at the waist and peer at the mummified tongue and.. penis. A brow arched upward high. A shake of her head as she straightened up. " First.. the item.. and then.. after.." She turned her stare upon Luce. " I want to know more about you." Stepping over to that chair, she eyed it before lowering to perch at the edge of it. " Sorry about sneaking out .. before"
"The Item is a switch blade knife, opal inlaid handle with a Bronze and Copper blade, nothing of significance really. It's not the knife I want back, it's the bane inside of it." She watched as Lexa roamed and rose a brow at the mummified remains.
"The tongue.. when ingested allows the eater to have the gift of a silver tongue. The other, well.. if is a bit like the tongue, only it grants the user... mmm, well I am sure you get the point."
Alexa seated herself on the chair and apologized for sneaking out and Luce shook her head. "There were no strings Lexa, I may have been more surprised had you still been there." Not that it would have been a bad thing.
"The Bane is a bane of Blood lust and violence. Once it tastes blood its hunger will be insatiable and will drive the user mad.. so.. unless I get it back, you will have a nice good old fashion serial killer murder spree."
The information was filed away in her head. " That's fan-tastic" She scowled lightly while leaning back some. " Is there any way to track the power signature or its just by the bodies it leaves behinds?"
"If I could I wouldn't have called. It is Psychomachiae which is a powerful bane that feed on carnage and death. They often possess weak-willed humans and send them on killing sprees. They may also subtly whisper into the ear of their targets, encouraging them to engage in ever more brutal acts.... in this case it was trapped and bound to a knife.. and, well who ever has it, fed it and woke it.. eventually the Bane will possess the human and not need to knife, which.. bad from worse."
A soft sigh escaped her. Lexa pulled out her cell and quickly began to text out a message. Once she was done the phone was replaced to its holder on her belt and looked back up to Luce. "And why were you not affected by it?" She was curious how Luce came into contact of that and not fall to its call.
"Think of me as a magical Indiana Jones. My Job is to find these unique objects and keep them safe until such a time the rightful owner comes to claim it. That could be tomorrow.. it could be never. They call to me, tell me where they are, some are exact, some are a general area, some are dead and I have to find them. I am not affected by them as I am the keeper, if I as affected I couldn't keep them. "
She motioned to a greyhound bookend. "That is a spirit of a greyhound. It imbues the person with an insatiable need to run and it will run them to death, unless you have the other half which balances it out to a healthy athlete, so to speak. Only, as you can see.. I only have one.. the other is missing, so my job is to keep this guy safe until the person who owns the match shows up and purchases it. Some are here for life as the owner is gone and won't be reincarnated to retrieve it."
She eyed Lexa to see if any of that made sense. "The reason I called about the knife, is that someone stole it.. and the person who did is not the rightful owner and will not be able to handle the bane and they will descend into madness, murder and mayhem.. "
Luce hesitated a moment and sighed. "They are attracted to Vampires .. ones that are particularly brutal in how they feed." Did it get any worse?
Jaw clenched. "Gawd damnit" Slender fingers rubbed over her jaw and cheek only to sweep back into her hair line to smooth out the chestnut hair. "Alright.." Her mind had raced for a milisecond but she had got it back on track. Greens leveled upon her again, attentive. " Does the bane give the user any powers? Besides psychosis and the urge to kill... is there more if the user wields it? Immunity ? Strength? "
"It only gets worse." She warned. "They are powerful and feed on carnage and death.. More powerful Banes can completely possess their host, obliterating all traces of their previous personality..." This is the part where Luce stepped a little bit away from Lexa who was looking like she was ready to jump her and not in a good way.
"Some very powerful Banes can also materialize in the real world, without need to possess a host. They will simply manifest horrible twisted versions of their spiritual form in the real world and go about their business, and I don't know how powerful it is.."
Luce sighed. "I just got it, I hadn't had a chance to call one of the Packs to come and take care of it.. I was planning on banishing it.. My Ex is dating a girl who is working for a guy whose girlfriend is a Fury.." That was a long chain of people there. "And I was working on the daisy chain to get to her and see if she could come take care of it."
When Luce stepped away Lexa rose up to stand, she even followed her but kept some space ...til well the daisy chain comment. Lexa reached out to grasp her wrist and pull her to turn around and face her. " Manifestation of their beings.. and you were just sitting on it til you could get to the fury?" Brows knitted cause Lexa was about to shake her silly but released her .
"How do we separate from the host? Is there a way, Luce?"
Wrist taken and she turned to face Lexa. "It was contained, there was no danger in it, it was safe with me until I could pass it on to one of the packs." Ok, so there was a bane of Carnage and Death loose in Arcus and someone had set it free. "It has to be found before it escapes from the knife. This isn't just a case of someone breaking in and randomly picking something Lexa.. this was deliberate...Someone knew it was here and came with the specific purpose of taking it. Look around... nothing else is touched. There was no reason for it to have been activated.. I do know what I am doing, and this isn't a one off... " It also wasn't a coincidence that Luce's shop was next Cat's salon.
Lexa hadn't known about what happened at Cat's salon. A nod of her head, she placed her hands on her hips, pushing the jacket back in the process revealing the badge at her hip and gun at her waist. " Okay.." The look of concentration on her face. " What do we need to do to contain the bane?" Lexa needed to know all details to how to handle this.
"The knife is a fetish.. and it depends on if the Bane is still in the Fetish or if it was released. If it has possessed the host, the host and Bane will need to destroyed, preferably with that has the ability to damage spiritual beings."
Luce went on. "It also depends on if the Bane was forced into the Fetish or if there was a contract between the bane and the Fetish maker, in which case, until the contract is fulfilled the bane can not be banished, it can just be returned to the Umbra in a spiritual slumber and can return upon waking. The Garou would know more about it"
"Great...." She looked down for the moment. Taking it all in. There was a moment of resignation, Lexa knew this wasn't going to be easy. In fact, this was going to seem fucking impossible! Still, it had to be taken care of. " Do you have any idea of who knew about it? Or anyone showed interest in it?"
Luce had explained that she did not have any idea who might have known about it, or who it belonged to in the first place, only that it had been one of the items that called to her to be collected.
All the important information had been given to Lexa and the standard crime scene investigations had been done and soon Luce was left with a broken windows, yellow crime scene tape on said broken window, black dust sprinkled about and little yellow triangles with numbers of various ‘area’s’ of interest.
Something was said about an ongoing investigation and she was escorted out of the building and told not to re-enter. Thank God for separate entrances to the loft or Her and Marion would be back at the Shagadelic tin can. Escorted out of the building she stepped around the broken glass and sent a mass text to Dame, Fin and Cat about what had just happened. Sighing she tucked the phone away and left the shop in the hands of Lexa and the AVPD.
Whoever had stolen the knife had awakened the bane and it was not keen on being found again, at least not by Luce’s magic, one would have to follow the trail of bodies and hope to get one step ahead of it, unless one of the packs stepped in. -f-
Luce stood in the front of a broken window, the second one in about the same amount of months, only this one wasn't cause by Cat, Dame or Fin.
No, she was sure this was done by someone who needed the item in the window that had been stolen, however, the problem was, the item in question was of the cursed variety and it had called out to the only other person who could have heard it, the intended owner and instead of coming in and buying it like a normal person, it was stolen.
"No, it was a opal inlaid handle with a tempered bronze and copper blade." She told the officer who had responded, who was not understanding that the items in her store were of the magical kind and this particular knife had a ban held with in it.. one of wanton violence and once you feed the blade blood it would continue it's lustful need and drive the user mad. She wasn't sure why she had reported it stolen in the first place. "You know what, never mind you are absolutely right, it was probably just some kids and a rock." Let alone a blood lustful blade that would certainly drive the user to madness and kill whoever crossed their path, but this beat officer seemed of the mind it was just kids.
"Thank you for your time." The problem was that this bane was of the Garou type and would gleefully enjoy the hunt and evade her attempts at finding it.
It was about that time that Lexa was stepping into the building, careful over the broken glass just in time to hear Luce dismiss the officer. " You're dismissed Connelly. " Lexa said simply with a firm but cool tone. The officer looked they were about to protest but seeing the detective he muttered, closing up the notebook he had been using to put back in his pocket.
Lexa stopped him and held out her hand. The officer looked at her surprised, confused. " The notebook" The officer scoffed before handing off the notebook and trudging off. Lexa flipped open the book and gave a look over the details that were written, it was piss poor writing. She smirked and looked up to regard Luce.
"Fancy seeing you here.." She offered with a small smile after the officer was gone. -d
Luce sighed as the Officer was dismissed, but she perked a bit at the new officer to attend to her needs. "Finally, someone who knows that they are doing." Oh yes, there was a lot of suggestion in that sentence. "I do recall you mentioning you were an officer... I think. It's all a haze... of.. well, anyways." She stepped aside to let her further into the building, the previous officer wasn't very keen on coming in. Not a lot of humans were interested in coming in, too many heavy tension and vibes from her collection.
Lexa didn't seem bothered. There was something heavy, thick in the air but Lexa seemed to let it roll off of her shoulders. Lips twitched faintly at the suggestive tone. " Yes. Detective" She informed her, a glance behind her, she noted the officers still milling on outside but not wanting to come in. Green hues slanted back to Luce. " Detective Woods" A hand was offered out to Luce. " I don't think we were formally introduced last time.."
"Lucien Rodriquez...Keeper of the cursed" The hand was taken, her palm sliding gently across Lexa's delicate fingers wrapped around for the shake. The other motioning to the shop"Formally? No, but we know each other quite well." Luce was certainly not behaving herself, but she cleared her throat. "Detective Woods.. You see.. the problem is the item in question is... Cursed and I couldn't seem to get that across to the officer."
"The officer is a non believer in such things." Lexa replied, her hand lingered in the grasp. A spike of heat rose up at her center but she had to tamp it down. "There's a few of them, actually.. " She gave another look over her shoulder briefly. The officers were talking amongst themselves and seeming to want to leave. " Gimme a minute.." Lexa stepped away to head to the door and talk to the officers. " I got it from here fellas. " The officers were happy to hand over the investigation over and were soon getting in their marked vehicles to drive out of there. The spiraling lights disappearing from view.
" Okay.. " Lexa turned then, the notebook slipped to her pocket she stared at Luce. "Tell me more"
"Do you want the full story on me, the shop and the item.. or just the item?" She waved Lexa in and offered her a seat on the ostentatious pink velvet love seat with its gold tassels and matching foot stool. The shop was full of curiosities, some looked to be normal items, others hand a very different look. In one display case there was a mummified tongue.. and.. what may have been... no, yes, yes it was also a mummified penis, odd things got cursed, haunted, enchanted, or were simply vessels for souls, spirits, elementals and at times, gods and goddesses.
Lexa had roamed the interior of the building. She would bend at the waist and peer at the mummified tongue and.. penis. A brow arched upward high. A shake of her head as she straightened up. " First.. the item.. and then.. after.." She turned her stare upon Luce. " I want to know more about you." Stepping over to that chair, she eyed it before lowering to perch at the edge of it. " Sorry about sneaking out .. before"
"The Item is a switch blade knife, opal inlaid handle with a Bronze and Copper blade, nothing of significance really. It's not the knife I want back, it's the bane inside of it." She watched as Lexa roamed and rose a brow at the mummified remains.
"The tongue.. when ingested allows the eater to have the gift of a silver tongue. The other, well.. if is a bit like the tongue, only it grants the user... mmm, well I am sure you get the point."
Alexa seated herself on the chair and apologized for sneaking out and Luce shook her head. "There were no strings Lexa, I may have been more surprised had you still been there." Not that it would have been a bad thing.
"The Bane is a bane of Blood lust and violence. Once it tastes blood its hunger will be insatiable and will drive the user mad.. so.. unless I get it back, you will have a nice good old fashion serial killer murder spree."
The information was filed away in her head. " That's fan-tastic" She scowled lightly while leaning back some. " Is there any way to track the power signature or its just by the bodies it leaves behinds?"
"If I could I wouldn't have called. It is Psychomachiae which is a powerful bane that feed on carnage and death. They often possess weak-willed humans and send them on killing sprees. They may also subtly whisper into the ear of their targets, encouraging them to engage in ever more brutal acts.... in this case it was trapped and bound to a knife.. and, well who ever has it, fed it and woke it.. eventually the Bane will possess the human and not need to knife, which.. bad from worse."
A soft sigh escaped her. Lexa pulled out her cell and quickly began to text out a message. Once she was done the phone was replaced to its holder on her belt and looked back up to Luce. "And why were you not affected by it?" She was curious how Luce came into contact of that and not fall to its call.
"Think of me as a magical Indiana Jones. My Job is to find these unique objects and keep them safe until such a time the rightful owner comes to claim it. That could be tomorrow.. it could be never. They call to me, tell me where they are, some are exact, some are a general area, some are dead and I have to find them. I am not affected by them as I am the keeper, if I as affected I couldn't keep them. "
She motioned to a greyhound bookend. "That is a spirit of a greyhound. It imbues the person with an insatiable need to run and it will run them to death, unless you have the other half which balances it out to a healthy athlete, so to speak. Only, as you can see.. I only have one.. the other is missing, so my job is to keep this guy safe until the person who owns the match shows up and purchases it. Some are here for life as the owner is gone and won't be reincarnated to retrieve it."
She eyed Lexa to see if any of that made sense. "The reason I called about the knife, is that someone stole it.. and the person who did is not the rightful owner and will not be able to handle the bane and they will descend into madness, murder and mayhem.. "
Luce hesitated a moment and sighed. "They are attracted to Vampires .. ones that are particularly brutal in how they feed." Did it get any worse?
Jaw clenched. "Gawd damnit" Slender fingers rubbed over her jaw and cheek only to sweep back into her hair line to smooth out the chestnut hair. "Alright.." Her mind had raced for a milisecond but she had got it back on track. Greens leveled upon her again, attentive. " Does the bane give the user any powers? Besides psychosis and the urge to kill... is there more if the user wields it? Immunity ? Strength? "
"It only gets worse." She warned. "They are powerful and feed on carnage and death.. More powerful Banes can completely possess their host, obliterating all traces of their previous personality..." This is the part where Luce stepped a little bit away from Lexa who was looking like she was ready to jump her and not in a good way.
"Some very powerful Banes can also materialize in the real world, without need to possess a host. They will simply manifest horrible twisted versions of their spiritual form in the real world and go about their business, and I don't know how powerful it is.."
Luce sighed. "I just got it, I hadn't had a chance to call one of the Packs to come and take care of it.. I was planning on banishing it.. My Ex is dating a girl who is working for a guy whose girlfriend is a Fury.." That was a long chain of people there. "And I was working on the daisy chain to get to her and see if she could come take care of it."
When Luce stepped away Lexa rose up to stand, she even followed her but kept some space ...til well the daisy chain comment. Lexa reached out to grasp her wrist and pull her to turn around and face her. " Manifestation of their beings.. and you were just sitting on it til you could get to the fury?" Brows knitted cause Lexa was about to shake her silly but released her .
"How do we separate from the host? Is there a way, Luce?"
Wrist taken and she turned to face Lexa. "It was contained, there was no danger in it, it was safe with me until I could pass it on to one of the packs." Ok, so there was a bane of Carnage and Death loose in Arcus and someone had set it free. "It has to be found before it escapes from the knife. This isn't just a case of someone breaking in and randomly picking something Lexa.. this was deliberate...Someone knew it was here and came with the specific purpose of taking it. Look around... nothing else is touched. There was no reason for it to have been activated.. I do know what I am doing, and this isn't a one off... " It also wasn't a coincidence that Luce's shop was next Cat's salon.
Lexa hadn't known about what happened at Cat's salon. A nod of her head, she placed her hands on her hips, pushing the jacket back in the process revealing the badge at her hip and gun at her waist. " Okay.." The look of concentration on her face. " What do we need to do to contain the bane?" Lexa needed to know all details to how to handle this.
"The knife is a fetish.. and it depends on if the Bane is still in the Fetish or if it was released. If it has possessed the host, the host and Bane will need to destroyed, preferably with that has the ability to damage spiritual beings."
Luce went on. "It also depends on if the Bane was forced into the Fetish or if there was a contract between the bane and the Fetish maker, in which case, until the contract is fulfilled the bane can not be banished, it can just be returned to the Umbra in a spiritual slumber and can return upon waking. The Garou would know more about it"
"Great...." She looked down for the moment. Taking it all in. There was a moment of resignation, Lexa knew this wasn't going to be easy. In fact, this was going to seem fucking impossible! Still, it had to be taken care of. " Do you have any idea of who knew about it? Or anyone showed interest in it?"
Luce had explained that she did not have any idea who might have known about it, or who it belonged to in the first place, only that it had been one of the items that called to her to be collected.
All the important information had been given to Lexa and the standard crime scene investigations had been done and soon Luce was left with a broken windows, yellow crime scene tape on said broken window, black dust sprinkled about and little yellow triangles with numbers of various ‘area’s’ of interest.
Something was said about an ongoing investigation and she was escorted out of the building and told not to re-enter. Thank God for separate entrances to the loft or Her and Marion would be back at the Shagadelic tin can. Escorted out of the building she stepped around the broken glass and sent a mass text to Dame, Fin and Cat about what had just happened. Sighing she tucked the phone away and left the shop in the hands of Lexa and the AVPD.
Whoever had stolen the knife had awakened the bane and it was not keen on being found again, at least not by Luce’s magic, one would have to follow the trail of bodies and hope to get one step ahead of it, unless one of the packs stepped in. -f-
