"It seems I've gotten her a bit riled up,"  Serrela replied nonchalantly to Jesca's exclamation.  Draining the rest of the cocoa, she smiled at Lucai when he spoke.  "It's touching that you're worried about me Lucai, but I'm not helpless.  Quite a shame though, I just promised my sister I wouldn't cause anymore trouble."  She sat the mug down on the table with a bit more force than was necessary.  "But, since you've "gone off the edge", as Jesca pointed out, it seems I have no choice."  

Scowling at the last statement, Serrela stood from her chair and swiftly stepped in front of Beka, kneeling and grabbing her shoulders with both hands.  Her pupils dilated till her iris was almost invisible as she began to scour through the girl's memories.  "Now, let's see what you're hiding in here, little lizard," she taunted.

((I'll leave the rest up to you, Det.)) 

The being which was no longer Beka, but the inner monster that dwelled within her, narrowed its eyes at Serrela’s delving. ‘Kekeke, do you wish to know my most secret memories. I have none of my own. I am but a shadow that lies captured within this human vessel. Perhaps if you try hard enough you could access the human girl’s---‘

The oily, sly voice was cut off mid-sentence as Serrela dug into its memories, dropping to its knees with its head bowed. ‘Agh…’ the monster moaned, clawing at its head with long pointed claws. Images flashed before its inhuman eyes.

A small girl standing alone in a meadow surrounded with the dying and dead bodies of a herd of deer, hands covered with slick red blood, tears streaking down her cheeks.

A fire burning high as it devoured a large townhouse, red and blue flames licking the sky in their fury. The stench of burning people and animal alike filling the surrounding air as a girl sits in a small heap, an older boy hugging her gently.

The taste of blood filling the girl’s, now a teenager, mouth, the bright red liquid spilling out of a man’s torn neck. The girl swallows and grins, revealing shining ivory fangs red with the precious lifeblood.

The monster lifted its head and growled at Serrela with fury. ‘What are you?’ it hisses balefully, clawing at its head and leaving long gashes behind, spilling dark black blood.

No longer in her own body, Serrela flipped through the girl's memories with an almost bored attitude, ignoring the creature until it began clawing at itself.  "What am I?" she repeated.  "Just a bystander who wanted in out of the rain.  But then that girl challenged me, and I became curious as to her true nature, so I invited myself into her mind.  But, instead I found you."  She walked closer to the monster, surrounding the two of them with Beka's memories as she did.

"You don't like these, do you?" Serrela asked, gesturing around them to the memories she had pulled forth.  Her lips pulled back from her teeth in a predatory smile.  "I could stay here all night, making you watch them.  But, I made a promise to my sister, you see.  So, if you'll simply give back control of this body to the girl, and cease causing trouble, I'll gladly leave.  There's no gain for me in tormenting you, anyway."

The monster snarled but bowed its head in aquescience. 'Alright, but I'll get you someday,' it hissed as the scales slowly faded and its eyes rounded out into more natural eyes. The claws that rested against scaled cheeks slipped into invisible sheaths with a small swooshing noise and the tail faded out of existence. All that was left was a rattled Beka, who kneeled on the carpet shivering with disgust.

'God,' she whispered, grasping the small silver cross that hung around her neck. 'Never again. Damnation, why did Jace have to be half-dead now?'

Aes stopped during his journey to stoop down and look at some flowers. Hannibal joined him, and they had a pleasant conversation on the beauties of nature and life. Hannibal suggested Aes should do some gardening around the house, but really, Aes didn't have a green thumb so sadly declined. He'd have to ask someone else to do it.

Nerves easing slightly, Aes stopped and sat down on a rock. It was your average rock. Big. Gray. A bit mossy. Sighing in contentedness, Aes scratched Hannibal behind the ears and hummed a tune. The cat, though enjoying the affection, flicked an ear in irritation and turned around.

"Did you hear that?" He asked. Of course, what he actually said sounded more like "mrrroor" and was little more than a growl in his throat, but Aes understood that perfectly. "Hear what? I don't hear anything?" Aes peered into the shadows, shadows easily picked apart, and shrugged a shoulder.

Serrela smirked at the creature as she felt Beka's mind regaining control.  "You're welcome to try, creature," She slipped back into her own body with a parting shot.  Her pupils contracted, and she pulled back from the girl who was now kneeling on the floor, breaking their contact.  Serrela could dimly hear her twin raising a fuss in the background, but her focus was on Beka in front of her.

"Well, that was unexpected," she mused.  "How long has that creature been a part of you?"

Shaking, Sheyla leaned on the chair next to her for support.  "You just promised me you wouldn't cause anymore trouble," she leveled accusingly at Serrela.

"And I didn't," her twin snapped back at her.  The kneeling twin gestured at the girl in front of her.  "She's back to her normal form now, see?  No bloodshed or broken furniture, even." 

((Damn double posts!  Damn ALL the double posts!))

Beka winced at Serrela's calm tone. 'Ever since I was born,' she snapped, or at least attempted to. Her voice came out hoarse and scratchy, the way it always sounded after she had gone through that sort of shifting. 'A drawback to my ability I guess. It's half-me half-saurian, a hybrid.'

She pushed herself up and balanced on the edge of the couch, shaking her head to get the blood back into it. Jace seemed undisturbed by the entire affair, but the simple movement of his sister caused to him to jerk himself awake.

'Beka, you didn't,' he accused frightfully, pulling himself up into a sitting position. He didn't remember much since the shooting, but he knew the look on her face and could tell what had happened. 'You tried, and failed,' he whispered gently, putting one tanned hand on her pale forearm.

[[xD Aes might be upset, but he would consent to it if it were Hannibal's decision.]]

"Look, there is a house. Who do you think lives there?" Hannibal's stump of a tail wiggled in curiosity, and he looked over his shoulder at his gasping and jittery human friend. Aes dropped down on all fours to peer at the cabin with his furry friend. "I... huuuh, I don't know Han. Maybe banditss. Or murderersss. Or women." His face blanched and he had to scoot farther behind the bush they were crouching behind.

Hannibal would have rolled his eyes at him. "The sound came from here. Very strange. Something... unnatural was at work." He said, in one verbal meow, as he sat back on his haunches. Aes stared at him, biting his lower lip. "Un-unnatural? Well, well then maybe we ssshould get going, back to the hotel..." Visions of dark cults and sacrifices flooded Aes's mind, and he started to stand.

"Just a peak. I am curious." and Hannibal prowled to the door.

Aes's hands flew into the air. "You know what curiossity did to the cat!" he moaned, in a whisper as he walked after him. Hannibal might have laughed, had he been equipped with the ability to do so. "Yes, but generosity brought it back!" he purred, and leapt up onto the nearby windowsill to peer inside.

[I love Aes too. You have such an amazing posting ability. I love your insecure characters. <3]

[And I thought it was satisfaction. O__O;]

[[Making my characters quirky and weird is fun. xD gotta shake it up sometime and play someone different.

And I've heard the saying a few ways. o_O so I can't say for sure which is right. the satisfaction one I've seen around more, but for some reason I always liked generosity (since it rhymed better, I think).]]

Serrela stood up and stretched slowly.  "Well, now that that's over, are you feeling any better?" she asked Beka.  "You need to get better control of that thing if you intend to be around people for any amount of time, my dear.  There won't always be someone around to snap you out of it when things get tense.  And stop glaring at me like that Sheyla, I kept my promise."  She sauntered back to her chair without another word.

Shooting another dirty look at her twin, Sheyla knelt next to Beka and Jace on the couch.  "I am really, really sorry about her." she apologized miserably.  "She usually just ignores everyone, but occasionally she takes these spells and feels the need to cause trouble."  She caught a flash of movement in the window and took a closer look at it.  "Jesca, is that your cat out there?"

"Bad news, Aes; there's women." Hannibal pressed his nose to the gla.ss and peered around at everyone. Hard to tell what the situation was, but it sure was crowded in there. Aes made a noise of fear as he crouched below the window, looking ready to bolt at any time. "No worries though, most of them aren't even that good looking." Hannibal continued, snuffling on the window and twitching his whiskers.

Of course, how could he judge people anyway? They were all pretty ugly in his opinion. His gold eyes glinted when Sheyla spotted him. "Abort mission, abort!" and he jumped off the windowsill, landing right on Aes's head. "Oooww! Hannibal!" And there was a bunch of hissing and spitting from both parties as they tried to right themselves and take off into the woods.