Lost Omega wrote: |
Who's the real one? |
Lost Omega wrote: |
Is the character bipolar? |
Lost Omega wrote: |
Have I been watching too many Lifetime movies? Maybe. |
Lilith wrote: |
The late July sun beat down on the cherry red hood of the 1999 Chrysler Sebring convertible as the woman behind the wheel pushed the gas pedal to the floor. One tanned arm hung out over the driver’s side door and occasionally a strand of inky black hair escaped the confines of the long braid down the woman’s back and fluttered in the wind. The road was empty with the exception of the red car and faded lines marking the center of the asphalt. Loud rock music blared from the speakers as the Sebring ate mile after mile in what seemed to be seconds, and the driver’s mauve-painted lips parted slightly as she sang under her breath with the band on the radio. Hours passed and the sun was barely peeking over the horizon by the time the car pulled into the parking lot of a motel along the highway. It was a little run down, not having gotten many customers in the past few years, but livable and pest-free. |
Lilith wrote: |
Storm grey eyes peered at the girl acting as receptionist, seeming to bore into the perky blue eyes, and forcing the girl to stop popping her gum so obnoxiously. |
Lilith wrote: |
The dark haired woman flung her ball cap across the room as soon as she’d closed the door and locked it behind herself, fury flaring in those grey eyes of hers as she stormed in the bathroom and tore the band from her hair that kept the braid in place, urgently running her fingers through it to get the braid out and then stepping out of her jeans and underwear, and almost just as urgently, wriggling out of her white tank top to step in the shower and turn it on full blast cold. As the icy water beat down on her skin, she heaved a great sigh and broke down in tears, her sobs silent but wracking through her chest and body hard. |
Lilith wrote: |
Eventually, she pulled her body out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body, her dark, medium length hair still dripping with cold water. There was a Celtic knot tattooed on her left shoulder blade, but in the shape of a heart, the black ink looking just as new as the day it was put in her olive skin. But not many knew that no needle had ever touched her skin. That wasn’t a tattoo; it was actually a brand, and an old one. She padded to the double bed and fell on her back into it with a groan, turning on her side and burying her face into the clean linen covered pillow, her face now tear-free. She pulled the towel around her body tightly and fell into a fevered slumber, her sobs having been quieted before she left the bathroom, her dark, damp hair splayed out on the pillow behind her. When she woke, night had truly fallen, the moon high in the sky, bright and full, hung in the sky amongst the stars. Slowly, the woman sat up and gazed out of the window briefly before returning to the bathroom and picking up her clothing and re-dressing. As she adjusted her shirt in the mirror and was just running her fingers through her dark hair, which was now very curly from air-drying on the pillow, she heard the unmistakable sound of breaking glass coming from the bedroom. Instantly, her senses were on alert and her heart raced. They’ve found me. Finally. A sardonic smile twisted her otherwise pretty face into one of purpose as she reached for the doorknob and wrenched it open, meeting the black and red robed figures in her room head-on. The first came at her at a speed that was almost unreal, and she responded in kind, one sharp jab to his windpipe putting him down within seconds, choking without air. The rest stiffened and became even more guarded as they moved closer together and the one white robe amongst them stepped forward and spoke in a woman’s voice. “Guardian Catarínn! You have failed your responsibility to protect your charge and then you did not return to the court to report the death of him. You are thus charged with betraying the Order of Eden to our enemies and murder of your charge. You will now come with us and be stripped of your brand, your honor and your life!” The voice rang out with power despite the volume being just above a whisper. It seemed to sap the strength from Catarínn’s bones and she slowly fell to her knees, a burning sensation emanating from the brand on her left shoulder blade. Quickly, the red and black robed figures moved forward to chain and shackle the woman still so she could do nothing but stand and walk when she got up from the floor. But before she did that however, the white robed figure knelt down to be eye level with Catarínn. The white hood fell back and revealed a woman who looked almost identical to the dark haired woman before her. “Catarínn, my sister, why did you kill him? Why did you kill Lucas?” She whispered, her own storm grey eyes filling with tears. Catarínn leaned back, panting heavily from the struggle against the brand’s power but failing and stared into her twin’s eyes, willing her to see the truth in her words. “I did not kill our brother, Marianne. Please believe me! I did fail to protect him, yes, but I did not kill him. I didn’t return because I could not live with the shame of failing our little brother!” She gasped, almost in terror, begging her twin to hear the truth in her words, even as Marianne stood up. “Mari!” The white-robed twin of the woman fixed Catarínn with a dark look. “I believe you. But you did abandon the Order. I have to uphold our laws. You will be named a coward and burn before the Council.” Catarínn stood as the red and black robed people stood and tugged on her bonds to bring her up too, holding back more sobs. “Wait,” Marianne added, turning to look at her twin again straight in the eyes. “I might be able to get a reprieve for your sentence, and just imprisonment for the rest of your eternal life.” Then she turned and looked at the robed people who weren’t holding her sister in bonds. “Go, Mark the girl. She will come to us in ten years time.” The order was obeyed immediately and then Marianne, Catarinn and her captors disappeared into vapor, as if they’d just evaporated into the warm night air, amidst the scream of Sasha in her room she slept in when a brand was set on her upper arm in her sleep. When the brunette girl sat up and looked around, she saw nothing and no one in her room, but the brand was there, fresh, black and unmistakably Marking the child, just as Catarinn was Marked. |
Lilith wrote: |
Warning: This tale is going to have serious themes and some violence. PG-13 Rating.
Chapter 1: Ten Years Later Sasha woke with a start when her alarm went off and reached over, grumbling, to smack it several times before it shut off, and she could stumble into the bathroom. She’d stayed over the weekend at the small motel her parents owned in the middle of nowhere, but now she had to get up and get ready so she could have a meeting with the bank loan officer that was coming in to see if the place was worth an SBA Loan to get them back on their feet. Ten years since the break-in and the disappearance of an odd female customer, that break-in hadn’t given Burkhart’s motel a very good reputation. She groaned as she saw that her cat was lying on her gray pencil skirt she’d been planning to wear to the interview with the loan officer. “Damn it, Cory, c’mon, give it back…” She batted the black and white male cat off her skirt and he leapt away, and then spun around in a circle to chase his tail. “Silly kitty.” She added with a smile, reaching over and rubbing his ears before running into the bathroom, and disrobing to clean up quickly and then get dressed. From there, her morning turned to be bad. The faucet broke off into her palm when she tried to turn it off, so she had to get out, naked, and dig in the toolbox she kept under the bathroom sink, and start bashing away at it with a set of pliers before the cold water turned off. She ran her forearm over her forehead to wipe away the sweat beaded on her brow, and then remembered she was naked and hadn’t done a thing with her hair. Then one of her perfect little black heels broke and Sasha had to dig out a pair of flats with a grumble to go with her skirt, which thankfully, still fit. She managed to drop her lipstick twice and the second time, got a swipe of it on her white blouse, so then the woman had to grab her scarlet silk button-up and put that on. |
Lilith wrote: |
Despite her nightmare of a morning, Sasha was ready in time to be in the sitting room just off of the ‘Welcome!’ area of the motel and glanced out of the window when she heard a car door slam. Immediately she peered outside at her bank contact and took note of his gender, quickly undoing one more button at the top of her blouse and adjusting it so that her black bra wasn’t shown, just yet, but very well could be when she leaned over to pour him a cup of coffee. There was a knock on the door and Sasha stood up, smoothed her skirt and turned the door knob to let the banker in. He was taller than she was, about a half foot actually, and she was decent five-foot eight-inches with a curvy one-hundred-and-thirty pound frame, and he was fit. She smiled brightly and offered her hand, which he gave two firm shakes before she stepped aside to allow the man inside. “Hello, Ms. Carter, I’m Lucas Henderson, but most people call me Luke.” Briefly, Sasha allowed herself glance-over of Lucas and she could definitely appreciate this guy’s looks. He was broad shouldered, but had managed to wear a tailored blazer and trousers to fit his tall frame, so he probably had them custom-made, which meant he wasn’t too shabby with his funds. Looking up, she could see blue-green eyes that were not too dark, but not too light, and dark hair that was in that almost-messed up style, but was acceptable for the everyday workplace, and in the indescribable length between short and medium. His face was pleasant enough, no protruding forehead or uni-brow, but he wasn’t girly-looking either, plus he had that great smile. “Welcome to Burkhart’s Mr. Henderson, if you’ll just step in the conference room on the left here, I’ve got a pot of coffee and some pastries if you’re interested in breakfast while I show you the information you asked for.” Sasha smile at him genuinely; there was not much to not like about this man. And then there was the drool factor. |
Lilith wrote: |
The loan officer raised both eyebrows and nodded as he stepped in the room to sit down and helped himself to a pastry as Sasha followed him in and closed the door behind her, before setting a mug by Lucas so she could pour him a cup. She sat the pot of coffee back down on its heating tray and then pulled over the file folder, thick with documents she’d put together over the past week. However, Sasha did notice ‘Mister Henderson’s’ eyes stray to her cleavage when she leaned over a bit to pour him some coffee, and that made her smile to herself as she set out a spreadsheet before him on the table to show to him. “If you look here, I’ve put together ten years’ worth of Profit and Loss predictions, as well as the same amount of Cash Flow predictions. Now, I estimated my first few years will be quite profitable as the name change will be in place and everyone will want to try it because it’s new and the critics will be chomping at the bit to see what we have to offer. However… I expect the economy to do a few more dips back down before it’s out of the recession completely, you know, how it has many times over the years since we became a nation, and even after the Great Depression in the 30s. It’s not going to surprise me at all. But, with a little extra advertising in my early years, I’ll make it through no problem, as you can see here...” She pointed at the bottom line of one of her cash flow statements, entitled’2020’. “I’ll even turn a profit if everything goes according to plan with a little extra flexibility of course in case of repairs being needed for the building once I’ve finished renovating it.” Just as Sasha paused to take a breath, Luke put his coffee mug down and held up both hands to stop her. “Miss Carter, if it’s alright I call you that, I can see that you’ve got plans for this loan and you’ve got by far, the best business plan I’ve seen in some years that you emailed over to me at the beginning of last week. But I want to know a couple of things as well outside of the numbers. Any idiot can pull those numbers at the bank and give you a yes or no.” He paused and watched her face, looking at her very intently, every inch of him radiating seriousness. “What I want to know is… if we say no, and every other bank in the tri-state area says no to you, would you do the logical thing, and knock this building down to sell it to a developing company?” Then he sat back in his chair and waited. Sasha thought for about two minutes before she frowned and shook her head at him. “I’m sorry, Mister Henderson, but I’m afraid that I will not take the ‘logical’ option, as you call it. I actually refused several developing companies who offered me several sizeable amounts of money, less than what I’m asking you for and they would take this land as is. But I want to succeed at this endeavor, Mister Henderson. And if your bank says no, I will keep working at this until I find one that will.” She gave him a hard look and stood up. “So, if you’d like to return to your comfortable corner office to … do what any idiot at your bank can do, please feel free.” Her voice had become icy and clipped when he offered the possibility of giving the land to developing companies to use. |
Lilith wrote: |
Both of Lucas Henderson’s eyes widened at the curt voice Sasha had started using and when she was finished and stood up, he couldn’t help but to break out in laughter. “Well done, Miss Carter. Well done. That’s the first loan interview I will pass this year! No one else thinks it wise to stand up for their business endeavor, no matter the cost.” When he saw the startled and confused look on Sasha’s face he cleared his throat and said simply, “You got your loan. The interview process is the biggest part of determining whether or not you did.” “Oh. Well alright then.” Sasha grinned and slid the box of pastries closer to the loan officer. “Have another pastry. They’re homemade.” She winked at him and then poured herself a cup of coffee, settling back down in her chair to get comfortable. After a few quiet moments of coffee-drinking and chewing of pastries, the dark haired woman glanced over at Luke and smiled again. “So, do you have to go back to work, Mister Henderson?” She asked politely, in a business-like tone. He grinned in return back to her. “Nope. This was my only interview today because it’s Saturday. I am free the rest of the day. Do you have things you need to be doing in preparation for your loan funds when they come through?” He countered slyly, giving her an obvious once-over with those blue-green eyes of his. Sasha had opened her mouth with a smirk, ready to give him a coy reply when the sound of smashing glass and splintering wood met their ears. And not too far away. She froze for a minute, ice flooding her veins before she shoved herself from her chair and took off at a jog to investigate. She could hear Luke’s heavy footfalls behind her as she skidded into a hallway where more noises were coming from. Someone had smashed open the window of the side door that she always kept locked unless there was a fire that endangered her guests. And some oozing black thing was sliding in through the window and the cracks of the now bashed in door. Her eyes went wide with shock and slowly the feeling of fear and swelling dread went from the knot in her stomach to her chest, her lungs seeming to work overtime as her heard thudded in her chest. She could hear Lucas behind her, whispering in her ear, “My god… what is that?” Sasha shook her head slowly and swallowed back a whimper of fear. She didn’t know what the hell it was, or how to get it to go away. Should she run? Attack it somehow? Whatever she did, she’d better decide soon, as Lucas was tugging on her arm to pull Sasha behind him and murmuring for her to get out of there. It would be too late to get them both out of harms’ way if this… ooze-blob was toxic or poisonous somehow. Your DP: What’s a girl to do? |
Andolyn wrote: |
she said there "was not much to not like" meaning that there was nothing to dislike. she likes him. lol! |
Quote: |
Just tell everything you know to Lucas (Who incindently has the name of the guy who was supposedly killed by Catarínn... Just a thought) |
Lilith wrote: |
*squeals happily* It just made my day that you noticed that Vishal! |
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