The Forgotten Zodiac

((And you didn't even mention Timothy. Good job.))

Werr just rolled his eyes, focusing on the road.

Sylas stiffened a bit, looking around nervously. Malya struggled to sit up, despite Vrach's protests. There was a knock on the door, of course; Malya couldn't just lie still while someone was waiting at the door. Vrach said something, then moved to get the door.

He was blasted back into the room, slamming into the wall and sliding to the floor, barely still conscious. Sylas stood quickly, knowing full well who had done it. Lotis had arrived.

((I forgot.))

Timothy felt Lotis' presence immediately and screamed. Torn between running and hiding and leaping to defend the great and wonderful Sylas, he stayed where he was, terrified. He planted his hands over his ears and whimpered, hoping to drown out Lotis' life and keep the Iyouis out of his head.

((I forgot.))

Timothy felt Lotis' presence immediately and screamed. Torn between running and hiding and leaping to defend the great and wonderful Sylas, he stayed where he was, terrified. He planted his hands over his ears and whimpered, hoping to drown out Lotis' life and keep the Iyouis out of his head.

Malya stared at the place Vrach was at, turning in time to see the tall freak step over the rubble of the door. Lotis chuckled a bit, looking at the destruction he had caused. "Lotis! You are not allowed to hurt my friends!" Sylas snarled angrily, though he was trembling in fear.

"Friends? First gifted, now humans, you've stooped far too low, oh pathetic one." Lotis sneered, taking two steps closer. "I'm glad to see you've taken care of Timothy, though. My little servant should come back to me. It would be much easier that way."

"No!" Sylas growled, putting his hand over Timothy's head, blocking Lotis' attempt to reach into the boy's mind. "I won't let you!"

Timothy stood back up immediately and glared at Lotis. "Sylas is not pathetic! Sylas is better than you are!" He was to angry to realize how dangerous that might be, if he actually made Lotis angry. "Don't call him that!"

"He is pathetic, he can't--" Lotis stopped as gunfire rang out. Malya had a pistol, fetched for her by Vrach's ever-helpful ferret. Blood spread along Lotis' chest as he looked down. The bullet had gone right through him, and had stopped against the bulletproof kitchen window.

Lotis swung around, a shadow lance forming around his hand and extending towards Malya at lightning-like speeds. Malya didn't have time to move. The lance slammed into her lower chest, piercing her clean through and pinning her to the couch behind. She let out a sharp gasp-like noise, but was unable to catch her breath again. She struggled to keep her eyes open as Lotis took a long step towards her, licking his lips; Malya raised her gun again and emptied her entire clip at the Iyoui.

Lotis retaliated by driving another lance into her chest, this one driving straight through her heart. She collapsed, coughing weakly once before her eyes clouded over like glass and she fell still.

Lotis stumbled. He had been shot multiple times in the chest, legs and twice in the arm. He was bleeding badly, and very angry about it, apparently. "T-Timothy, remember our de-deal? Kill S-Sylas? I go away? We never finished th-that, did we?" He gurgled around the blood dripping from his mouth, attempting to push into Timothy's mind. "Do it now, why not?"

Timothy clapped his hands over his ears again and leaned against Sylas, determinedly ignoring Lotis. After a few seconds, he opened his eyes and glared at Lotis. "I-If I kill you, you would g-g-go away. Wouldn't y-y-you?" A bubble formed at Timothy and Sylas's feet, expanding to hide both of them from view.

Lotis growled, very much displeased. He heard the motorcycle pull into the driveway, he smelled Werr and Michael and Quinn. Considering this venture a total failure (even the human he had killed was worth nothing to him), Lotis transformed into the only other form he knew, a lion. He bolted, certain he could make his escape just fine like like this.

Michael pulled his hands out of the motorcycle, sliding the metal so it wouldn't appear that he had ever put them in. When Lotis ran past, he hurriedly placed a heat shield around the entire group, preventing Lotis from getting to them without scalding himself.

Timothy leaned against Sylas, and the shield lowered. "S-Sylas? Was that r-r-right?" He asked nervously.

Lotis payed them no mind, running off and ignoring them completely. Werr noticed the blood and moved to examine it. "He was bleeding..." Werr looked up at the windows, spotting the cracked kitchen window. "Something's happened. We need to get inside now," He said, moving back to Quinn and picking the girl up before moving to the building to go inside.

"Yes," Sylas nodded. "I do not like it, but...it is right. If Lotis is dead, he would not bother you anymore..."

Timothy hung his head, again looking like a puppy who had been yelled at. "I'm s-sorry. I won't d-d-do it ag-gain." He stayed leaning against Sylas, looking vaguely like he was going to cry. He didn't ever want to upset Sylas, so if Sylas didn't like it, he would never, ever do it again.

Michael stood up and ran inside, yelling for Tyler.

"N-no, it is fine, Timothy," Sylas said quickly, patting Timothy on the head. He looked up as the others arrived. "Michael! Werr! Lotis was--"

"Malya!" Werr cried out in alarm, seeing the mess. "Vrach! Vrach, what happened?!" He put Quinn in one of the chairs, running to get Vrach up. He shook the older man, who jerked into consciousness.

Vrach mumbled something in Polish, then blinked the grogginess from his eyes. "Strange white man...explosion..." He stammered, before his eyes wandered to spot Malya. He used Werr to pull himself to his feet, stumbling over to the very dead woman. He checked desperately for a pulse, though he already knew his answer. She was cold, and pale. Dead.

Vrach didn't seem to be in grieving for long. He reached under one of the couches, pulling out a black sheet of some sort and draping it out the window, shutting the hatch and pinning the black fabric in place. It was a flag, really, with a single white bar down the middle. The snakehead's symbol for, 'stay away, the area's been compromised'.

Vrach then moved to see to Quinn's injured feet, distracting himself from Malya's corpse. Werr, in the meantime, plopped down in a chair and looked much like he was in shock.

Michael ran upstairs, then came down with Tyler in his arms, though he was careful to hold his hand over Tyler's eyes until they were past Malya's body. "We need to move. Lotis knows where we are. He might be hurt, but he's probably coming back."

((Heeey, where'd Syl go? ._.))

Subject followed Michael down the stairs, just in time to hear the oh-so dramatic exchange. It was a very long moment before Werr responded. "Yeah. Move. We need to." He said, then growled something in Russian at himself before climbing to his feet. "You'll clean up here, Vrach?"

"Yes," Vrach murmured. "This your fault, you know that." He said, his rage obvious in his voice, though his touch was as gentle as ever as he worked quickly on getting Quinn's feet repaired and set to heal. "You wanted payback for that day this badly?"

Werr was taken aback. The day Vrach referred to was none other than the day Werr's sister was killed to save him. Some part of him realized that yes, this was his fault, though. If he hadn't come here, Malya would still be alive and well, sipping a glass of milk and going over her job list. "You're wrong," Werr said firmly, despite his thoughts. "I didn't want payback, Vrach. I never wanted this. We'll be leaving now. You should too, before Lotis decides to return."

"And where will I go to, Werr-swine?" Vrach spat angrily as he finished tying off the bandages.

"The Snakehead has more headquarters and lodging than just this, Vrach. You know that." Werr scooped up Quinn as soon as he was done. "We'll be taking Malya's other car. Kindly refrain from marking it as stolen." Vrach didn't respond, not looking up.

((Oh-so dramatic exchange. Bleh. I hate these things.))

((He's a heavy sleeper.))

Michael set Tyler down by the front door, then turned back around. "Werr, I'm going to go wake up Syl. We're going to drop him off at the nearest city where he can pretend he's been kidnapped." With that he marched up the stairs and grabbed his cousin, then marched back down, dragging his cousin. "Shall we go?"

"Right," Werr nodded, headed for the door with Quinn in his arms. Subject followed him, completely oblivious to the drama that just occured. He didn't get what was going on anyways, though his normally cheery attitude had been dampened by the sight of the body. Sylas picked up Timothy and followed, looking at Malya with sadness. He had been starting to like the human woman, too...

"Where will we go?" Sylas asked as he followed the others.

Michael marched Tyler and Syl into the car, then sat down in one of the back seats, pondering Sylas' question. "Where to go next..." He frowned slightly, then turned to Syl and explained to him what he needed to do to make himself look like one who had been kidnapped. Once that was done and Syl began doing what Michael had demanded, he turned back to Werr. "You'll have to drive. We need to get to the nearest Walmart." He offered no explanation, though he inwardly hoped Werr would ask.

"Drive? I guess...Wal-mart? Okay, sure, let's go hide out in a big mall with security cameras and security guards and other things that I take very serious measures to avoid. Can I ask why, exactly?" Werr said, though he climbed into the drivers seat anyways.

Michael grinned to himself. He'd wanted to play this card, not that he really should have. "I'll do you a favor, Werr. I won't ask about Snakehead, that wonderful thing you and Vrach mentioned before. You won't ask about this. If it helps, I'll tell you that we need Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips, a kiwi, a lime, a frisbee, and..." Michael stopped to consider the situation, then nodded. "And a lemon juice container." He strapped in next to Tyler and Syl, grinning to himself.

Werr looked irritated for a long moment, but he started up the car. "I get it. To the wonderful land of wal-mart we go." He shifted the car into gear and started forward, but not before doing a quick head-count to make sure everyone was in the car.

"I like wal-mart." Subject looked at the others, smiling a bit. He was buckled in next to an unconscious Quinn, with Sylas and Timothy on the other side.

"What's a wal-mart?" Sylas blinked.