Location of Thread: Residential Area - The Gates and around town Tag Line: Better than the devil you know. Characters Involved: Rori Hanaway, Jake Wheeler & Nick Morningstar Played By: Elle Fanning, Colin Ford & Gavin Leatherwood
A few days had passed since Rori and Jake had discovered the delights in the basement of her home. Then the revelation that the town seemed to have some sort of spell keeping them in there. At first she thought that her dad had meant it when he spoke about them leaving. However, after her initial apprehension on the day they arrived, she was loving life in Pandora and she'd not give it up for anything. So she was glad that her dad finally could see how much living here meant to her and so he agreed for them to stay. Where else could someone like her and her father live anyway? This place was made for them, let's be honest.
So she had made arrangements with Jake to get Nick involved, and it was nice now that she knew he was what they call a Nephilim. Half angel, half human. She was actually looking forward to working with him on this. Since he was the son of the devil, yes, Jake had explained that much to her one evening, he might know something about the spell. What if it had nothing to do with the witches? What if it was all Lucifer, and he had basically threatened the witches to do it? Surely witches weren't that cruel to just do something like that off of their own backs? That being said, she had definitely read about the darker side of magic and witches, so maybe it was possible that this spell was done by them, but for what exact reason, she had no idea. Yes, that scroll said it was to keep those outside Pandora safe, those who were just human, but what was the reason for them to do that? Had some of the residents been causing trouble to non supernatural people? She wished she could find that out somehow.
At the moment she was with Jake and they were waiting on Nick joining them. “Not going to lie, kind of surprised that you want to work with Nick given how he's been towards me.” Rori said, sighing gently. Not that she was against Nick at all, but the way he had kept trying to get her out on a date when it was clear that she was into Jake had irritated her just a little, so she wasn't sure how she was going to be with him, although she did still see him at school. A part of her did believe that he was just a lonely boy who was looking for attention and love though, she just wasn't the one to give him that love. Jake shrugged, “Well, like you said, I think he's just lonely and he was so excited when I asked if he wanted to come and help us investigate something. You should have seen the look on his face Rori. Warned him not to try anything with you though.” Jake said winking and smiling. Rori smiled, “Oh, well it's a wonder he's even agreed to come then, but thanks.” She did feel awful having to tell him no all the time. So maybe if Jake has had a word it might help, she could only hope. If not, then she was going to have to talk to him herself, one on one and try to find out what was going on with him exactly.
They had agreed to meet at the gates, to test the gate theory out with Nick, what with him being half angel, they had wondered if he might be immune to it somehow. She and Jake had just arrived there, and she tried to leave again and did so without any issue once again. “That's the third time I have been able to leave. Do you want to try again?” She wasn't sure she wanted to see him get thrown back again, but at least he could heal quickly unlike her father. “Might as well.” And so he did attempt to leave and once again, the invisible force sent him flying back, but he was more prepared for it this time, so he was able to stay on his feet, having already braced himself for the impact before trying to step out. “Definitely doesn't want me leaving that's for sure. It will be interesting to see what happens with Nick.” No sooner had he said that, than Nick approached. “Hey guys, so what's going on, why are you at the gates trying to leave?” He asked with a bemused expression, not fully understanding why they would even want to.
“I mean, why would anybody want to leave the wonder that is Pandora?” God, thought Rori, was everyone brainwashed or something? Even Sam hadn't thought about leaving until they had brought the subject up with her. “You telling me that you have never thought about going to the beach?” Rori asked, and Nick raised his eyebrows, “Why, when we have one here?” He asked, and this time it was Jake's turn to look shocked. “We do? Where? I've never seen one here.” Nick chuckled and shrugged. “No idea why you've never seen or it been aware of it. It's always been there, well, for me at least.” Rori looked at Nick and Jake questioningly, “How is that so? We're inland, we're not on the coast, so how can we?” Nick continued to chuckle, and just shook his head. “Guys, we live in Pandora, it's a magical place, if we want something hard enough, we get it. You want a beach, we get a beach.” Jake put up his hands, “No man, I'm sorry, I'm not falling for that one. I've been here all my life and nobody ain't ever said to me about a beach being there if we wanted one.”
Nick sighed and put his hand on Jake's shoulder, “Jake, how often have you actually wished you were at the beach? Wanted to go to the beach?” Jake thought about it and then slowly shook his head, rubbing at the back of his neck slowly, “Never actually, now that I come to think about it.” Nick grinned, “Precisely. We get what we want, it's that simple. We wanted an entertainment complex, we got one. We wanted a community centre, we got one. We want a beach, we get one. I guess you've never wanted it before, so you've never seen it.” Nick explained it in what sounded like such simple terms, and yet Jake was so confused. Meanwhile Rori was amazed. “Are you telling us that if we just wish for something, we get it?” She asked Nick and he tilted his head to the side, “Depends on the wish I guess. I mean, if you just wanted some money or chocolate, maybe not. But something big, that the town can use as a whole, then yeah, think of it hard enough, it appears.” Still, as fascinating as this was, they still hadn't actually answered Nick about why they were trying to leave in the first place. “Anyway.” Jake began, “To get back on course, we think we're trapped here. Like we found something that states that we are not allowed to leave, that it's to keep non supernatural people safe. Rori can leave and we think it's because she's a Campbell witch, as it was created by a Campbell witch, the spell. I can't leave and a few days ago neither could her dad, but she could again. She just did it again a few moments ago before you turned up. We were wondering if you could leave?”
Ah, he did wonder when people might start questioning the whole being trapped here. That's why he had wished hard enough for a beach, so that he could enjoy the sea and sand and not worry about not being able to leave. He had known about the spell on the town all along, well, from an age he was old enough to understand it. However, he had been told it was for their safety, not for the outside world's. “Where did you find that out? About keeping normal humans safe? Because that's not what I know. I was told, from good authority, that the gates were up to keep us safe, not to keep the normal humans outside safe.”
Rori smiled a little, “From my house. The basement. Jake and I discovered it a few days ago. My house is the old Campbell Coven house and it's full of weird and wonderful things, including a scroll that said what we just told you.” Nick took that in and then grunted, eyes flickering from his usual brown to the amber colour of his angel eyes. “Right, well, I'm not sure if that's true or not, as it's not what I know.” Jake looked frustrated, “Who's good authority?” He asked, having a pretty good idea who. Nick rolled his eyes, “Father's of course.” Meaning Lucifer. Well, that says it all and who can really believe anything that Lucifer Morningstar has to say? All Jake had ever known about was that he was not to be trusted, at least that's what he had always been told by his parents, not that they were around any more, what with them being killed a long time ago now. It was just him and his older brother Jonah now.
“Can I come to your house please Rori? I want to see this scroll for myself, I want to see if there is any magic that is making you read what it wants you to read. I am pretty sure that when father said that the spell was created to keep us safe, he was being honest. Anything else that father ever told me had always been the truth. The devil never lies after all.” Before Rori could answer him though, Jake spoke up, “Well, can you try to leave first?” Nick shrugged and nodded his head, “Fine, sure, yeah.” He stepped out of the gates, and just like Rori's dad, and Jake before him, he was thrown back by the same invisible force. “Satisfied? Now, can we please go to Rori's house, I want to see this scroll for myself.” Jake shrugged, “I guess so.” Rori looked across at Nick, “You're not even hurt at all.” Nick grinned, “Angel powers my dear, I can take anything and it instantly heals.” With that, all three of them made their way towards Rori's house so that Nick could see the scroll, though, she was pretty sure that what they had read was the truth.
Location of Thread: Residential Area - The Gates and around town. Tag Line: Unravelling mysteries. Characters Involved: John McCoy, James Hanaway & Rachel Evans Played By: Karl Urban, Josh Holloway & Elizabeth Mitchell
James was sitting in the office, with both John and Rachel across from him. He had told them he needed to talk with them the minute he had gotten into the station. Not only did he want to discuss the notebook now that he had some sort of answer on it, he wanted to tell them about himself and Rori and what they had found out about themselves and of course, the whole thing about not being able to leave the town. That had rightly spooked him. He might have told John that he'd stick it out when he found out about the town's unusual residents, but he had also liked to think that he could leave when he wanted to. It would seem that the town had other ideas indeed.
John and Rachel were both looking at him with raised eyebrows, and with the silence bothering them, finally John spoke up, “So, what's this about James? Have you spotted some trouble happening around the town?” If only it were as simple as a bit of trouble he had noticed. He shook his head, “No, it goes a bit deeper than that I'm afraid.” This made John sit forward some more and Rachel stand up, and pace back and forth. She did this when she thought that something wasn't going to be very good news. “Sit down will ya, you're making me nervous.” John blurted out and shook his head, looking at James. “Well, I think you better enlighten us then.”
Where to start, did he go with the book, or what he had discovered about himself and Rori? He thought the book was probably the best start to it all, as that was something that he had found in one of the drawers of his desk at the station after all. He lifted it out. “This for a start. I haven't mentioned about it earlier, as I wanted to try and find out what it meant. I found it in the bottom drawer here. It was locked. Apparently it's been found because there is a Campbell witch back in Pandora.” That sort of gave them a clue about Rori as well. He slid it across to the both of them, and John picked it up first and flicked through it. Frowning he put it back down, “Just a book with a lot of names and numbers, don't mean anything to me.” He said almost abruptly, but didn't mean to, it was just that he was still thinking about Whitney and if she was going to cause him trouble. Rachel picked it up this time and looked through it. She put it back down. “Those numbers, are a code right?” She questioned, which made James tilt his head to the side and nod. “Yeah, how did you know that?” He asked, curious.
Rachel shrugged, and smiled a little, “I know I've not been here as long as a lot of the residents, but I did my research before coming here. Code work was well known among the Campbell witches. Since the book says it belongs to Georgina Campbell, one time detective here, it's probably hers and her code.” Well now, colour me impressed thought James. Rachel was quite up on all things Pandora it would seem. “Yeah, that's right.” John grunted, “Ain't been a Campbell witch here as long as I can remember. Why would it turn up...” He trailed off and eyes opening wide, he rubbed at the back of his neck, “You daughter, she's a Campbell witch I'm guessing?” He stated for his own clarification than anything else.
James nodded, “Yeah, but we only found that out ourselves by accident. Her mother was a Campbell, her great grandmother is Georgina. I'm Fae myself apparently. Georgina took great pleasure in pointing that out, not that I fully understand what that means.” John put his his hand up, “Wait, what? Georgina? She's been long dead as far as I'm aware, how did you...” He trailed off again, he was getting slow on the uptake here, “Sam, she conjured her spirit, didn't she?” James nodded and sighed, “Yeah, she did. So Rori is part Fae and part Witch. We discovered we can read minds, that was by accident too. I'm not so in tune with it, probably as I'm so blown by the revelation that I've not fully taken in what it means.” He thought he better explain that, so that neither John or Rachel would feel threatened by the fact that he might be able to read their thoughts.
Rachel spoke now, “So, what you're saying is that you're Fae, Rori is half Fae and witch, and she's a Campbell witch at that? Does she know how powerful a line of witches they were?” James frowned a little but nodded, “Yeah, she does. Turns out our house was their old coven, the basement is one Aladdin's cave of wonders.” John let out a low whistle, “It's been a long time since we had a Campbell witch here. They all left, didn't like the way that things were run here, so we're told anyway. So does your daughter fully understand her powers?” James shrugged a little, “Not sure, but I do know that she is going to talk to Sam about it all. Sam is happy to take her under her wings and help her get into tune with her witch side, which I'm quite thankful for, seeing as I know jack shit about it all.” He chuckled a little then, but anyway he wanted to talk them some more about the book. So he touched it, “But this here, it's a list of names with a code, but we worked it out, and it's just letters, none of which makes much sense to us. We tried to work out what they stood for though.” Rachel picked up the book, “Let me take this home with me, I'll work on it overnight for you. I've got the exact code at home, research.” She said, adding the final word in to explain why she had the code at home and knew all about it. “I'll be able to let you know exactly what it stands for soon.” She took the book and put it safely and gently into her handbag.
That only left the whole leaving the town thing. How should he approach that? Just blatantly say that we can't leave? Or ask if they had ever left the town? He thought the latter approach might be best. “Have you guys ever left the town for business or anything like that?” That was a really good way of putting it, right? Now what would they say to that? Rachel frowned a little and John raised his eyebrow, “Not had a reason to leave to be fair.” John finally said, and Rachel nodded, “Same, since I arrived, not had a reason to leave.” That was very interesting, so was all their family here, or were some of them elsewhere like some of his? He had always assumed he could go and visit them whenever he liked, but the blast from the gate the other day told him differently. “Right. So you don't know about the gates stopping us from leaving then?” James said, leaning back in his chair, frowning. Rachel stood up again and paced once more. “What?” Was all she could say, and John stood up as well this time and frowned, “What do you mean?” James got up now, “Why don't you come to the gates with me and I'll show you what I mean. Are you seriously telling me that you've never thought about leaving to see family out of state or anything?” He found this incredible to believe, surely they had to have some family elsewhere? They weren't all living in this little town were they?
John shook his head, “I don't really have much of a family left to be fair, I have nobody here, and of those I do have elsewhere, not exactly close.” Rachel sighed, “I've got family dotted here and there, never really thought about the fact that I wouldn't be able to see them when I wanted though. You've got me feeling itchy now though James.” James frowned and looked a bit sad, “Sorry, didn't mean to upset you or anything, but Rori and I found it quite strange. Funny enough, she was able to leave without any question. I however was sent back by some sort of invisible force, as was Jake the day before.” This made John turn to face him, “The fact that your kid could leave but you couldn't, tells me that it was some sort of spell put in place by the Campbell witches, and only a Campbell can leave. That also means, only a Campbell can break the spell.” Not that he had thought about leaving Pandora, as everything that he had ever needed was right here.
Funny though that the soon as you realise you can't do something, is the very time when you want to do exactly that. He wanted to leave Pandora now more than ever. “Right, come on then, lets see if we can leave the gates. I need to see it for myself.” So all three of them left the station, with James locking the door at the back of him and they all walked slowly towards the gates. They all walked in a comfortable silence until they reached the gates and then stopped. “I'd offer to go first,” James began, and continued, “But I already got a nasty gash on my head from being blasted back, so I'd rather not if you don't mind.” He chuckled and pointed to the area of his head that was slowly beginning to heal. John shook his head, “That's a nasty one alright. I'll do it, I am built to withstand knocks, besides I can heal pretty quickly, wolf.” He smirked and then headed towards the gates, using his fob to open them, which they did and then he began to walk through and like James and Jake before, John was thrown back with the same invisible force and he landed a few feet away from them, thudding to the ground, but he stood up immediately. “What the fuck?” He exclaimed, he had never thought that they would be trapped here, but then, he hadn't given any thought to leaving either. “Well I never.” Said Rachel, “I might as well try as well, at least I can be braced for a knock back.” She said laughing a little, however, both James and John stood with their arms out so that if it should happen, they would break her fall, so to speak.
Rachel stepped through, or tried to, but like John, she too was thrown back, and thankfully with John and James standing with their arms outstretched, they were able to stop her from going back too far and kept her upright and steady. “Thanks guys. Well, I'm not sure I like the idea that we can't leave, not that I have ever really given it much thought. It's that old, now that we know, you want to do it kind of thing.” John knew exactly what she was trying to say. “So, if this is some sort of spell, I don't suppose you have any ideas on how to stop it or break it?” John asked, to nobody in particular. James spoke up, “No, nothing in the book and Georgina wasn't very forthcoming in any of that information let me tell you. However, if it's been created by a Campbell, it's possible that Rori should be able to break it, but first we need to know what kind of spell it is and what is powering it, as I can't see it being a normal spell, those don't usually last, right?” James liked to think he knew that much about witchcraft. Rachel nodded, “Yes, for something like this, there has to be some sort of anchor. Like an item that has been hexed and it is buried somewhere in Pandora. That's the only way a magic like this, that strong, can last with a witch being in town keeping it going. I will also take a guess that it isn't anywhere near the gates either, as that would be far too obvious.” So she had a book to look at and try to crack some sort of code and now they had to try and get to the bottom of the spell that the town was seemingly under.
James sighed, “Well I think that Rori is going to talk to Sam some more about it, so maybe between them and any other witch that might be in the town, they might solve it.” James said and John nodded, “Well, we have a few, so hopefully they can, as now that I know we can't leave, I kind of want to. Damn this freaking town, more trouble than its worth half of the times.” Again, he was getting short because of the whole Whitney thing. “Well, better get back to the station just in case anybody is trying to call us. Can you let us know if Rori and Sam find anything out about this?” James nodded, “Yeah, sure of course.” With that the three of them made their way back to the station together.
Location of Thread: Hanaway House Tag Line: A white lie that leads to a connection. Characters Involved: Aurora Hanaway, Jake Wheeler & Nick Morningstar Played By: Elle Fanning, Colin Ford & Gavin Leatherwood
Rori, Jake and Nick were now back at her house and she had discovered a better entrance into the basement. There was a door at the back of the building that had proper solid steps with handrails down either side. So that was the way they all entered, and the soon as she turned on the lights, Nick's eyes opened wide with wonder as he took everything in. “Wow, this is, well, amazing and this is all yours now. So cool.” To think that he was standing in the home that once belonged to the elusive Campbell Coven, wait until he told his mom about that later. She's be so jealous. His own mom was a witch also, just not a Campbell one obviously. That meant that he was not only half angel, he was also half witch. So this basement was amazing to him. Rori grinned, “Yes, it is quite exciting I admit. I haven't even explored everything yet. There are several chests that I still have to go through.” Jake was standing off to the side, listening to their conversation, trying so hard not to be jealous and yet feeling it at the same time.
He was simply not comfortable with Nick getting that close to Rori especially since he had shown interest in wanting to date her. Still, he was trying to remember what Rori had said about Nick just feeling lonely and didn't want to be that 'guy', so was holding his tongue, as he also didn't want to come over as controlling. “So, you want to see this scroll right?” Jake tried to get them back on track to the reason why they were all here together. However, Nick's attention had been diverted to the grimoire sitting on its stand and he made his way towards it. “I, erm, wouldn't touch that if I were you Nick, it only seems to like Rori, slammed itself shut on me.” He stated, only a little disgruntled at the memory of it doing that to him the other day. Nick chuckled, “Oh, really? I wonder why that is?” Jake shrugged, “A Campbell thing I expect.” Nick wanted to test that theory, and so he ignored what Jake said and he put his hand onto the book. “I've never seen a grimoire like this before.” He then lifted it up and the book stayed open and didn't even close shut on him.
Now, if Jake had been trying hard not to be jealous before, it was a hundred times harder now. “What the actual fuck man? Why is it okay in your hands and not mine?” Nick grinned and shrugged, “Because I'm divine maybe? I honestly don't know.” Except he did know, he was pretty sure any witch could touch it, even his mom, and Sam, probably any witch in the community. A grimoire was just a spell book after all, and it was probably locked to a witch's touch only. At least that's what he figured. Rori having seen this, stood with her hands on her hips, “Guys, I will not have any ill feeling in my house between you. I don't know why it didn't slam shut on Nick but I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation.” Turning to Nick, she asked, “Is your mom a witch? If so, then you are too or the male equivalent, so maybe it works for witches in general?” Nick knew that he had to come clean and he smirked, “Yeah, mom is a witch, so it will be that, sorry Jake, couldn't resist the tease.” Jake couldn't help but let out a slight grunt, which was more of a growl. He hadn't liked that, he was feeling very jealous and he didn't like it. In fact, he wasn't sure he had ever felt like that before. He wondered if it was to do this imprint thing he had done. He would need to talk to Jonah about it. “Well colour me teased.” Jake said, showing the slight annoyance in his voice. This had prompted Rori to nudge him gently, “Anyway, scroll.” She said hopefully breaking the atmosphere.
She lifted it out of the chest that she had found it in and handed it to Nick, “It's inside this tube.” Nick took it from her gently and sat down on top of one of the chairs that was in the room. He read it to himself, after all, both Rori and Jake knew what it said already. When he finished, he put it back. He had been looking to see if something of his father was on it somewhere, but if there was, he hadn't seen it or been able to sense it. So had it been solely down to the Campbell witches and why? “There has to be some strong magic involved in this though. I mean if a Campbell witch created it, usually a witch has to be around to keep it held and even then a spell like this takes a shit load of power. So my guess is something has been hexed and is hidden somewhere. We need to find what it is to break it, that is, if you want to Rori.” He certainly wasn't about to tell her what she should and shouldn't be doing and to be fair, neither should Jake. It should be up to Rori and Rori alone. Well, as she was finding this whole thing rather exciting, she grinned, “I'm up for a hunt if you guys are? There are plenty of chests to go through yet. Any idea what we might be looking for Nick?” That was the million dollar question, it could be anything. Anything can be used as hexed item, otherwise known as a talisman. However, if it was a blood spell, which is the strongest type, then it was more than likely something that had personally belonged to the witch that had carried it out. “I'm thinking it might be a blood spell, they're the strongest. So we might be looking for something that personally belonged to Georgina, it would have been her, I guarantee it.” Rori smiled and nodded, “Right. I'll start on this one if you all want to take a chest each too.” She instructed. Jake smiled, “Sure I'll start on the one to the far left.” And off he went, and Rori was on the one on the right and Nick took the middle one, but before he did, he whispered something to Rori.
“By the way, I can leave the gates. I've done it a few times. I just didn't want to say that I could in front of Jake, I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I mean, not really fair that you and I should have something in common, don't you think?” Rori looked at him straight in the eye. “Are you kidding me? You made it look so real that you were thrown back. Why would you do that?” She punched him on the arm, then whispered, “Sorry.” He laughed, “Didn't hurt anyway. I told you, I didn't want Jake to feel bad. Come on, he's your boyfriend, you've made that pretty obvious, how do you think he'd feel that we had that connection? He sure as heck wasn't happy that both you and I can touch that book.” He glanced over at the grimoire.
Meanwhile off to the left, Jake was looking over at them talking and the jealousy was growing deeper within him. What were they talking about and why wasn't he included. He had excellent hearing, but they were talking so quietly that he couldn't pick up what they were saying at all and it was frustrating the crap out of him. He couldn't help it, “Thought you were looking through the middle chest dude?” He yelled over and Nick instantly looked at Rori with that, told you, he's jealous look, “I am, just had something to say to Rori that's all.” Rori smiled across at Jake, and then turned back to Nick, “I think you should just tell him. He'll take the truth better than if you keep lying and he then finds out.” Nick sighed, “If you're sure.” He then looked over at Jake, “Rori says I should tell you, but don't freak out man, earlier when I said I couldn't get through the gates. I lied. I can. Don't forget I'm the son of an angel, magic doesn't really affect me the same, not in the way that it can others. Also I'm half witch, might have something to do with that too.”
Jake stopped and came towards Nick and Rori, “Why did you lie man?” Nick gave a small smile and shrugged, “Thought you might get a bit jealous. I mean, look at how you reacted over that damn book not closing on me. Am I wrong? You're put out aren't you? Because me and your girl have a connection that you don't have?” Jake was definitely flustered over it, and yes, if he had to be honest with himself, he was jealous. Why he was feeling it so badly, he couldn't be sure, he didn't like it at all. His hands were in balls, because if he didn't do that, he might lash out and that was the last thing he wanted to happen. “Well, it is a bit annoying, but so long as that's all you share, all good. I mean, I don't mean to be controlling with that, just, well, actually, you know what, I don't own Aurora, she can do what she likes. Look, I need to go. Have fun, catch me up later.” With that, Jake left the basement leaving Rori and Nick stunned. Jake was going to talk to his brother, he had to, he had to find out what was going on with him, he didn't like this personality trait that was rearing its ugly head suddenly.
Nick turned to Rori when Jake had left, “Well, I didn't expect that to happen. I'm sorry. Told you he wouldn't be able to handle it though. He clearly adores you.” Rori sighed, tears stinging at her eyes, “I adore him too, but didn't want to upset him.” Seeing that she was getting upset, Nick took her into his arms and began to soothe her. “Hush, it'll be fine Rori, he just needs to get over that jealous streak, it's hardly your fault or mine that we have a connection in the arts is it?” Rori laughed a little through her tears, arts, was that what he was calling it? Nick gently broke out of the embrace after a short time but continued to hold her hands and suddenly they were standing with snow falling all around them, inside the basement. They both slowly looked up at it, “How?” She asked, and Nick winked and smiled, “Magic Rori, Magic.”
Location of Thread: Residential Area - Police Station Tag Line: Unravelling mysteries. Characters Involved: John McCoy, James Hanaway & Rachel Evans Played By: Karl Urban, Josh Holloway & Elizabeth Mitchell
It was the next day at the station and Rachel had worked on the code from the notebook most of the evening and managed to decipher pretty much most of it. The results had been quite eye opening, especially the LDS one. It was the one that James had thought stood for Lucifer Devil Satan, as in it was something to do with the Lucifer clearly. It hadn't been that easy, in fact, what it stood for, was in actual fact, quite alarming and they might very well need Lucifer's help with it. With the notebook safely in her bag, she made her way to the station, calling ahead, so that James and John were already gathered in one office.
She swept in, pulling up a chair next to James, she really liked him, and in fact, she was kind of hoping that he might like her too. She needed someone in her life. She was too lonely, and although she would have loved to have had kids, she hadn't been lucky and now it was too late for her, but James had the sweet Aurora, and well, she could be a stand in child for her if necessary. Inhaling deeply, taking in James's aftershave scent, she spoke, “So, I managed to decipher the code last night. It didn't take long to be fair. Most if it was spot on, though I think it was more a shot hand for a longer sentence. The code could only give me the basic answer, so might have try and elaborate on the full answer.” James noticed how close she had gotten to him, and it made him feel just a tad uncomfortable.
Not specifically because he felt threatened by her, but he had no intention in 'going there' with Rachel. She was a nice woman and all, but he had eyes on someone else, and that wasn't about to change. He shifted slightly, hopefully not noticeable, to put a bit of space between them. “So, can you elaborate on it more for us then please, don't forget John needs in on this as well.” With that he pulled the other chair over from behind him to his other side, so John could be closer, to see if it would put Rachel off him a bit more. John moved over, already having a fair idea why he had done it, and was mentally chuckling at himself. Rachel was like a dog on heat, she always had been with almost every single bloke in the town, including himself, at one point. Mind you, that was probably to try and get closer to him, seeing how she had been secretly investigating him.
Rachel had noticed that James had moved a little, and so she moved herself also. “Right, so the letters WPM, according to the code, are werewolf pack member. So that to me would mean that the person those letters were next to, were a member of a werewolf pack. So a wolf had been murdered, quite possibly by a hunter of sorts.” She took a sip from her bottle of water and continued.
“HNV was holes on neck and vampire with a question mark. Clearly that meant that the person in question had been found with holes on the neck and as that's typical of vampires, could it be a vampire that carried out the deed. We do have several different types of vampire, not all are blood thirsty, but of the ones that are, unfortunately some can't be satisfied with animal blood or blood from banks, some have to kill to feed.” She took more water, and continued again.
“I went through the whole book, there was also SSM, which was shapeshifter murder. There was also FWM which worked out as fae witch murder. The final one, the one that was down the most was LDS which you thought was Lucifer Devil Satan? Well, I'm not sure you are going to like what it actually stood for.” She stopped and drank more water, if for no other reason than pause for dramatic effect. “It actually stood for Lilith Demon Slaughterer. I can only assume that this means the deaths were supposedly caused by Lilith the mother of demons. If that's the case and she's still about, still here somewhere in Pandora, we could be in for a spate of deaths soon. We need to get help with this one guys, and I know the only person who can help us with it, is Lucifer. He's the only one strong enough to go up against a demon like her.”
Rachel sat back, and pushed the book and the copy of the code chart towards James. “Might as well have it for the future, you might need to update that book, you never know.” However, neither James nor John were fully taking in what Rachel was saying now, they were stuck on Lilith. Just about everyone knew about Lilith, even if you hadn't always lived in Pandora, she had been in enough supernatural shows and movies to know that she was the mother of all demons and the strongest. “So, in order to get to the bottom of this, to help us get rid of Lilith, we have to enlist the help of the devil himself, is that what you're saying?” Questioned James, while John was sat there with his fingers rubbing at his temples. Rachel nodded, “I'm afraid so, but you know, Lucifer isn't all that bad. He was once an angel, you do know that? In fact, he still is, he's just a fallen one and is the king of the demons. They do as he says. He just has some rather unorthodox ways at times. He's a charming soul, will try to get to your own very would just by looking at you and asking your true desire is. But he's not that bad, not really. He just likes to punish the wicked, and well, I can't say that's a bad thing, can you?” Rachel also thought Lucifer was rather handsome too, not that she had even dared to go there with him. He had a love of his own now and he was more than happy with her.
John finally spoke up, “So, looks like we need to have a little talk to our friend Gabe Preston then, lovely assumed name for the devil himself, Gabriel. So, who wants to make first contact with him then?” John wouldn't mind, he was used to him, and he did more or less keep himself to himself, unless someone was pissing him off or did wrong. “Let me, might be good to introduce myself.” James said, and smiled a little, yeah, that's right, he was going to talk to the devil himself. If someone had asked him a few weeks ago what he thought his new job would entail, talking to the devil and fighting demons was definitely not on the list. John nodded, “Alright then, I'll give you the address and you can go and talk to him tomorrow or tonight if you wish.” James nodded, “Great and thanks for doing that Rachel, that definitely helps. Not that it helps those already dead, but maybe we can put a stop to future deaths.” Rachel smiled, “No problem.” She knew that she wasn't going to get anywhere with James, he wasn't into her, she could just tell.
Location of Thread: Residential Area - Hanaway Home Tag Line: Budding Friendship Characters Involved: Nick Morningstar & Rori Hanaway (Jake still away in a huff, possibly soul searching lol) Played By: Gavin Leatherwood & Elle Fanning
As Rori and Nick were stood with the snow fluttering down, with their hands connected, she was in total amazement. Especially when a flake landed on her nose and melted immediately thanks to her body heat. “I still don't know how we're doing this when we never said anything, like, no spell words were spoken.” Rori had a lot to learn about magic and how it worked, she was still under the impression that you had to read a spell out, say an incantation. That wasn't always necessary. Sometimes, all you had to do was zone into your power and think of what you wanted to happen. That's how Nick had made the snow fall. He then transformed some snow by magic into a small ice sculpted rose. “For you.” He said and Rori blushed, but was amazed by what he had just done. “That's amazing. I can't believe you're doing that without saying a word, but thank you.” Nick chuckled, “You don't have to. You can simply think what you want to happen and it happens. Of course it depends how strong your magic actually is. But, you're a Campbell Rori, your magic will be even stronger than mine.” Rori never really thought about that, or more to the point, she had no idea that the Campbell witches were classed as strong. Still, she was only half Campbell, so maybe she wasn't as strong as Nick was trying to make her out to be.
She shrugged a little, “Well, I am part Fae too remember, so maybe mine won't be as strong as you think.” She looked away, and realising that they were still holding hands, and noticing the way that Nick was looking at her, she began to feel a tad uncomfortable, she gently broke away from him and the snow evaporated, like it had never fallen. “Oh!” She exclaimed, “Was that my magic holding it then? Sorry, it's just that, Jake might have walked out, but we're still pretty much together. But I'd like to be your friend, something tells me that you don't make those easily.” She moved over to the sofa in the basement and patted the seat beside her. “Tell me, why is that?” Nick sat down, and wondered if he could really tell her his darkest thoughts. He was forgetting that as part Fae she'd be able to read his thoughts if she really wanted to though. “I'm not sure I want to explain.” He said but looked at her with a sad expression and one that also said, he really did want to tell her, just not sure how to or where to even start. Maybe just one person understanding him and willing to be friends, could be the start he needed for others to follow her example.
Rori not really meaning to read this thoughts, did catch some of them coming through. She reached across and took one of his hands and squeezed it. “Nick, you can tell me, just start from the beginning, tell me what feel you can. I will do my best to understand and guide others.” Oh my god, she had read his thoughts, oh well, there was no point in holding back now, was there? He smiled slightly. “I suppose. If I keep thinking about it, you're only going to find out anyway, might as well talk.” Rori smiled and squeezed his hand again, “Go on. I need friends too, not just a boyfriend.” She smiled, hopefully encouraging him to talk to her. She wanted to understand him, wanted to help him make proper friends.
Nick sighed gently, “I think it's the whole son of the devil thing to be honest. Everyone thinks that I'm the anti Christ, that I'm trouble. I might be the son of Lucifer, but I'm also just a human. My mother is human, well, a witch, but human. She raised me with a human partner, my step father. Well, he's not entirely human either, but he's not an angel. Not a fallen angel.” Nick turned away from her then, as he could feel a tear forming and he didn't want to cry, not in front of a girl, especially not in front of Rori. However, he felt her hand turn his head around to face him. “It's okay to not be okay. It's okay to cry. I don't understand why everyone would think that about you. They clearly don't know you very well. Neither do I granted, but I want to get to know you. But it would probably help if you weren't so guarded and weren't so standoffish to everyone that even looks at you.” Nick knew that she was right, but he was the way he was because of the way that he was treated by them. He nodded his head a little, “I do get that, I do, but when people treat you like you're going to kill them, it's very hard to be any different than that. I honestly did like you, I wasn't trying to ask you out just to annoy Jake you know. I truly felt we had a connection that first day and now I know what that was. We're both witches. If you can talk to some of them and let them know that I'm not all that bad, I'll do what I can to act less like a tool?”
Bless him, Rori thought. Well, how could she say no to that? “I'll do my best. But first, I really need to get to know you more. Meaning, I need you to be more, you.” Nick smiled, he figured that he could do that. “Okay. Well, you know I'm half angel and half witch. My mom's the witch, and my step father, he's a trickster god. They typically can cause trouble for people usually in a fun way for their own amusement. But he doesn't use it like that. He's been good for my mom. I have a familiar, a cat called Jinx and mom has one too, a dog called Zeus. Actually, you must have a familiar too?” Nick asked, stopping his little torrent about himself, and Rori frowned and shook her head. “No, I don't, well, actually, we did a family dog, we thought the journey would be too much, so we left him with my aunt.” Ouch thought Nick, but if that dog was her familiar, it would have done anything it could not to be ripped apart from her. “No, it won't be your dog, your familiar has to be with you all the time. They talk to you, you know. They usually choose you, maybe now that your powers have fully manifested, your familiar will make itself known to you soon. Anyway, so yeah, that's pretty much me. I have no girlfriend either, and the kids at school think I'm trouble. I like to spend time at the beach, well, the fake one at least. It's peaceful there. Ideally would love to go for an evening stroll with someone that loves me. Maybe one day. See, I'm not a bad person Rori, just misunderstood.”
Rori sighed and nodded her head, giving him a smile and squeezing his hand gently again. She could see that. “You do come across as a tortured soul right enough. Is it just girls you're interested in? I mean, what do you go for in a girl?” He chuckled a little. “Well, every girl I've tried to get to know in that respect have been blondes. But really, it's not about the girl, it's about the soul. I'm drawn to the soul, sexual orientation means nothing to me. If I'm drawn to the soul, I'm drawn to that person. I've even tried to date guys, but even the ones that would bat for the same team, so to speak, have never been interested in me.” He looked down, he really was as Rori put it, a tortured soul.
Rori felt really sorry for him. The guy clearly needed to get some love in his life, not just from a partner, but from friends. “Well, let me be your first official friend then, how about that? I mean, we already share a connection with magic, it would seem a shame not to be friends. You can help teach me about my magic.” She wanted Sam to teach her as well, but who was to say that she couldn't be taught by both Sam and Nick? Nick smiled, “You'd do that? Be my friend and allow me to help you with your magic?” Rori grinned, “Sure, yeah, why not. I'll soon make sure that some of the other guys at school learn to take time to get to know you as well. You're not evil, I don't even think you'd have any inclination to do anything that would be warranted as evil, and you know why? Because you have a human soul, that's why.” Nick was so happy that he began to cry. He couldn't seem to stop the tears from falling. This made Rori pull him towards her and now it was her turn to try and console him. “Let it all out Nick.” So the two of them stayed like that for a short time until Nick felt that he could talk again. He broke out of the embrace. “Thank you Rori, thank you, you have no idea what this means to me.” Rori smiled and wrinkled her nose a little, “Oh, I think I do.” She held her pinkie finger out to him, “Friends, and I won't let anybody hurt you, pinkie promise.” Nick chuckled, and wrapped his pinkie finger around her own, “Same, I won't let anybody hurt you, pinkie promise.” With that Rori kissed Nick on the cheek, and then rubbed her lip gloss mark off his cheek. Nick blushed a little and then smiled, “Nobody has ever done that before, other than my mom.” Rori smiled and tilted her head to the side, “Well, that's a first then and hopefully plenty more of those to come. Now, what do you say about helping me go through these chests and see what other magical items we can find? I mean there are stuff in these things I've never seen before and not sure if they should be in the hands of an antique dealer or something else.” Nick grinned and jumped up, “Oh heck yes, I'm up for helping you go through those. There's a guy in town, a historian, Steve Duquette, he'd probably be interested in a lot of it, once we've filtered through it, I'll give you his contact details. He also collects a lot of magical artefacts, because some can be very dangerous. So if you have any of those, they are probably better in his hands than here, when anybody can get their mitts on them and cause trouble in town.” Rori smiled, and nodded her head, “Sounds like a plan.” With that, Rori and Nick set about going through the chests, and Nick had a notebook that he found and began making lists of things that they could keep that were useful and things that should be given to Steve, all the while, both of them building a friendship that was likely to be lifelong.
