The Forgotten Zodiac

"Just...play?" Lilith said quietly. "An experiment is when daddy cuts me open and puts something inside me. He says they aren't experiments though, he called them something else...I just can't remember, though."

A pause, and then, "Who are you?"

"I'm Gabe. I am very good at playing. Do you wanna play?" he asked.

"Maybe..." Lilith peeked out from underneath the blankets and crawled to the edge of her bed, pulling back the curtain slightly to peek at Gabe. "No experiments? Show me your hands! If I see anything that so much as looks like a knife..."

Gabe held out his hands, smiling happily. "I don't got nothing. Can we play something now?" he asked.

"I guess," Lilith pulled the curtain back more, but she still looked a little scared. "What...what do you want to play?" She asked hesitantly, still suspecting the worst.

"I don't know. What do you want to play?" Gabe tilted his head as he asked, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

"Well...I have paints and books and toys back here..." Lilith said, stepping back behind the curtain and pushing over a rocking horse, pulling a painting set out of the closet that had been behind it. "Here..."

"Oooh-wooo!" he said, taking the set from her hands. "This is neat!"

Lilith smiled, sitting on the rocking horse and resting her chin on the wooden head, watching Gabe with curiosity. He was just a little boy...harmless. Or so he seemed. She was still half-expecting him to inject her with a tranquilizer and carry her off to do who knows what, but she watched him silently regardless.

Gabe began to paint on his right arm with the brush. He looked up. "Do you want a facepaint?" he asked, bringing the brush close to her face. "I can make you look like a kitty!" he said, smiling widely.

Lilith pulled back sharply, falling right off the rocking horse with a squeak of pain. "Um...no, I'm okay. And you're supposed to use paper, not your skin..." She said, crawling over to the closet and getting a few sheets of paper. "Here, we can use these..."

"Guys?" Verolen sat up, frowning. "Where's Manny? And Gabe? Really, hide-and-seek doesn't take this long. We need to go look for them."

Gabe giggled. "Oh, right. Thank you," He took the paper with a smile, then hesitated. "Are you SUUURE you don't want to look like a kitty?" he asked.

L'arc nodded. "You're right," He said. Israel stood up. "I can go look outside," he said.

"I'm sure," Lilith nodded quickly, then smiled. "I can make you look like one, though, if you want."

"Thanks, Israel," Verolen nodded, standing up.

'Where is Gabe, anyways?' Aries asked Eve, sounding concerned. 'We should go look, too...er...you should go look, I guess.' She corrected herself, since she couldn't actually see much of anything.

Gabe nodded furiously, handing her the brush. "Kitty!" he said gleefully.

Eve nodded. "Alright, I will," she said, standing and wandering out into the hall. Israel went out to the balconey and lifted off.

Lilith smiled and took the brush, dipping it in the black paint before raising it to Gabe's face. "Alright, hold still..." She said, starting to paint on Gabe's face. She was done rather quickly, beaming. "Oh, here, let me get a mirror!" She ran to her bedside table and pulled out the desired object, showing Gabe her work.

Verolen followed Eve, but went in a different direction. He hardly took two steps before the spider-thing from before jumped on him from behind. The energy blast that followed knocked Verolen forward, the demon sliding to a stop and falling still, paralyzed. The spider jumped off and scurried after Eve next, fangs bared.

Gabe squealed with delight. "Oh, goodie!" he said. "Are you sure you don't want me to do you? I can, I'll do a good job!" he smiled. He looked at the door. "I wonder what mommy will say when she sees me. Do you think she'll think I"m a kitty?" he asked.

Eve whirled around, hearing Verolen fall. She let out a shriek, swinging the pillowcase at the spider. "Verolen? Are you alright?" she asked, repeatedly hitting the arachnid with the pillowcase. Of course, there was no reply. She screamed again, taking off down the hall.

L'arc heard her, and wandered into the hallway, drawing Lisben. "What's happening? Eve? Oh, it's just a bug," he sighed, unaware of the danger. Eve sprinted past him. The dryad rolled his eyes and sheathed his blade, watching the spider and thinking it would just crawl past him.

"No, really, I'm good." Lilith smiled, shaking her head and climbing back onto her rocking horse. "Well, maybe if you meow a lot..."

The crown hit the spider once or twice, but it stumbled after Eve regardless, sparking slightly. It jumped at L'arc, determined to take out as many of these people as it could. As, of course, that being what it was designed to do.

Gabe giggled. "Mew," he said.

"Woah, hey!" L'arc grabbed the spider, trying to pry it off his leg. "What are  you doing? Let go!" he said.

"Yes, like that," Lilith smiled happily, nodding. "Good."

"What is that?" Sylas approached from behind L'arc, blinking in surprise. The spider sparked once more and tried to bite L'arc's fingers, attempting to blast the Druid with the same attack it had just downed Verolen with.

Gabe giggled again. "Now you!"

"Sylas! Good! Shoot it!" L'arc said, pulling his fingers back. "Don't let it bite me!" he said.