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"Maybe next time little one" snow said as she was going to follow irdil. Zac stopped her and wrapped a his long gold clock around her and his wing before he took both her and Grim through the portal. All the could hear as they left was Kula's screams and curses.

Unfortunately for Kula, the ones that woke up were probably not the ones she should have had waking up first...

Blade came to with a low growl, glaring at the ghouls that had been told to watch them. She checked over the cell she was in and her growl went louder, causing even the ghouls to start to shift around in fright.

Ash didn't bother to tell Blade to calm down. He was just as pissed off. He knew that their captor had to have known what he was when he'd been seen in the gold outfit he was wearing, something only an Incubus could wear. He too checked over the cell he was in and looked the ghouls over, knowing that it wouldn't be long before one of them ran to tell their captor that they were waking up.

Dancer had woken up before any of them and was now sitting in his cell calmly, his harlequined eyes missing nothing that went on outside the cell. He knew the moment Blade and Ash had woken and had been able to scent Ora and Cain as well.

Cain woke up last, sitting up with a groan and a hand to his head before looking around himself in bewilderment, "This isn't the castle. I should be in the hallway on my way to the library. This is more than a bit troublesome, it's decidedly inconvenient," he said softly to himself then frowned at the chains at his wrists, "It's also rude..." he added as he sat up and tested the bars, frowning even more, "Very rude..."

Cain raised one eyebrow at the woman, one hand still holding his head where he'd been hit to knock him out, "I'll have you know that this is decidedly inconvenient for me... You interrupted a great deal of research and now I'm going to fall behind. Not only that but you're going to make my lady rather unhappy over this... I only hope she keeps things together long enough to realize that she can't come after me by herself..." he paused and tilted his head a bit as he considered that.

"Though knowing Rose, she'll think it through and get help," he decided then returned his harlequined gaze to Kula, "I really do need to get back so that I can get that research done. Do you know how hard it is to put together information on every protective spell known to all known species? How much research that's going to take? Admittedly, perhaps not that hard for me, but for anyone else it would be a true nightmare," he told her, sounding very annoyed about the inconvenience.

Ash gave a soft chuckle over the entire thing as he stood up and approached the bars in a hip-rolling movement guaranteed to draw attention to himself, tossing his long dark hair over one shoulder so that it framed his body perfectly and showed off every inch of his gold outfit and what it certainly did not hide.

"Trust you to grab the castle librarian... You could only be Kula, Snow's former master... You're playing a dangerous game by kidnapping all of us... But I have to wonder if you truly know what you grabbed when you did so?" he teased her softly, knowing the kind of response he'd get when he spoke like that, his voice filled with hidden promises of things done in darkened places filled with bodies writhing passion. He was a full-blood Incubus, after all...

Dancer remained silent, his eyes silently watching everything, the most patient of them all.

But the main problem came from Blade. She was seriously not happy with the situation. In fact, she was seriously pissed off. Enough so that the spells on the cell were not likely to hold her for long. Proven when she managed to shift over to her panther form, her growling taking on a different tone as she approached the bars of the cell again, her eyes on Kula only.

Cain grabbed the notes as Kula threw them at him and frowned, noting the places where she was going wrong with the entire thing. So he used the pencil he habitually kept behind one ear to add in his own notes to realign her thinking about her experiments. His worth couldn't be measured in anything less than his intellect. He knew more than the usual vampire and was very useful for that, despite his annoying tendencies.

Blade angrily gave Kula a swipe with her claws, having no problem with attacking her that way since she was so close to her.

Ash gave a deep chuckle as he noted the claw marks Kula was now wearing, "Of course, threatening a pregnant shapeshifter isn't really that smart either... I promise you, I'm a much better playmate than any of them..." he said softly, easily dropping his voice into the realm of 'too tempting to resist'. He was also leaning against the bars so that he could still see Kula but in a way that showed the subtle promise of his body.

"Come on now... Are you so busy that you can't play for even a little bit?" he added, licking his lips as he looked her over from top to toes.

Dancer knew exactly what Ash was doing and hoped that the woman would leave soon so that he'd be able to do what he could to calm Ora down.

Blade coughed herself into a migraine, which didn't help her disposition, the smoke causing her to nearly pass out. That worried the others though they didn't say anything just yet.

Cain gave her a disgusted look, "You're going the wrong way with your experiments, you know. That's why they keep failing. If you actually follow what I added in, you might have a chance to succeed," he told her simply and passed the notes back to her, tucking his pencil back behind his ear. Then he got up and moved over to the cot to sit on it, not looking at her or anyone else. One would think that the librarian didn't get along with anyone else...

Ash blew her a kiss and winked at her, "All work and no play will make poor Kula a dull and lifeless girl... But if you wish to work instead, I have rethink myself... Apparently I'm not as attractive as I've been lead to believe..." he even pouted sexily and seemed to wipe a tear from one eye as he lowered his head, his dark hair hiding him from view as he sniffled convincingly, turning his back to the room to lean his back against the bars.

Rose eyed Dev in his tiger form so that's what he could shift into. With some help from , was it Wind?, well that was her best guess, Rose managed to climb onto Dev's back. "I'm sorry if I accidentally yank on your fur..." Rose paused and reassuringly rubbed Dev's shoulder. "Don't worry, everyone is coming home this time. I promise."

Come hell or high water, Rose intended to make good on that promise. Kula probably only had a general idea who was coming to break down her door, and her spine. There wasn't going to be another Donovan, another Lucie, another Helen. Everyone was coming home, and not In a box.

The still liquid experiment with glass suspended in it made a crinkling noise as it shifted so there were no exposed edges, it looked a bit like a very out of place mosaic. Maybe when this was over she'd harden it like this and make a bracelet, but a secondary goal of hers was to bury all of the pieces into an enemy. So maybe next time.

((Ladies, we're going to go ahead and continue and you can post as we go. K?))

Desha turned at the sound of his name and frowned when he saw two vampires. He approached cautiously with Wind still in his panther form following, "I'm Desha, yes..." he said with equal caution.

He was glad he'd dressed with care for this trip, buckskin from his toes up; knee-boots that laced up his calves and bound his tight pants to his lower legs, linen shirt tucked into the pants with a buckskin jacket over it, all in a dark green that accentuated his feline-slitted eyes and blended into the surroundings. As for his silver hair... That he'd braided down, wrapped and pinned it once around his head, and let the rest of the thick braid fall to his knees.

He still kept to the pact he'd made with Mao that they wouldn't cut their hair despite the fact that Mao was gone. But the fact that his hair was pulled back from his face showed how beautiful the rest of him was. Except for his eyes, he looked entirely human. Well, if one completely missed the aura of power that surrounded him and the sense of great age. Being immortal had a few perks, after all. One of which being that one could only grow in power over the centuries.

Beside him, Wind's pale brown eyes looked both vampires over, easily noting the dagger at Andy's waist and relaxed. Somehow, he managed to look completely innocuous despite the fact that he was black from nose to tail and the size of a small pony.

Behind them, Dev gave a low predatory growl, the white tiger with silver stripes turning pale blue eyes on the vampires who were delaying them. Only the fact that Rose was on his back and Anube was at his side kept him from doing anything drastic. Needless to say, the WereTiger was not in a good mood...

Desha relaxed at the sight of the dagger and nodded simply, the small relieved smile on his face giving hints to just how beautiful he could truly be in better circumstances, "Thank you for the help. We won't turn you away," he said softly, his voice a soothing sound out of long habit from dealing with patients for centuries.

He turned with Wind and lead them over to the others then made the introductions and started to lead the way through the swamp. But Dev pushed ahead of them all, easily tracing Snow through the blood she'd taken from him. Desha gave up the lead without a protest, keeping one hand on Wind's back to keep himself steady.

For all that he was immortal, he was still human. So the trek through the swamp wasn't easy on him. When Andy moved up to his other side and assisted him as well, he gave him a small smile and a nod of thanks.

He couldn't help but be worried about his son, Blade, and sweet Ora but he kept it all silent and didn't let it show for now, knowing that he had to keep his wits about him.

They found the ruins that Kula had made into her home soon enough, though most of the compound was now deep underground. They paused a good distance away, watching as a few ghouls moved in a haphazard patrol of the ruins. Dev moved in first, easily getting Rose in past the creatures. Wind and Anube moved in second, moving like shadows.

That left Desha and the brothers. But just as they were about to move through, one of the ghouls unexpectedly moved in their direction, causing Desha to instinctively put his hands on the brothers' arms and pull then down in a low crouch with him. He moved his magic over all three of them, closing his eyes to concentrate easier, making them appear to be rocks in the ghouls path.