RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Jun 23, 2022 18:46:28 GMT
Rhys dumped his backpack on a stool as he bellied up to the bar at the Grill. Usually he’d have taken the waitress who’d waved a menu at him at the door up on her offer to show him to a table. Him and his dad had eaten more lunches here than at home over the years, eating out the excuse his dad needed to come down from his work room in the attic, the excuse he needed to get out of the store.
The look Bri had given him when he’d said he’d be back in an hour had way too much of a smirk to it. She’d seen his dad at the store that morning and knew he was headed to a meeting with his publisher in Lynchburg. ’So, you’re not heading out for lunch somewhere then?’ There’d been a pause, she’d let it hang on purpose like he was going to fill in the blanks. Yeah, no. It definitely wasn’t like that with him and Mandy. He’d shown her around Whitmore when she’d arrived earlier in the year, and they’d had dinner at the Grill – a chance meeting, not a date or anything. Two people at a loose end having a meal together.
And this was a store owner extending a friendly hand to a clerk at another store. What could be wrong with that? If Mandy hadn’t been exaggerating too much about her big brothers, a lot.
He smiled as Clea grabbed a couple of paper bags from behind the counter and set them down in front of him. ”Not hanging around today, huh? No lunch date with your dad?”
”Not today,” Rhys told her. He pulled his wallet out of his pocket, pulling out a couple of bills to set down on the bar. Maybe calling in the order in advance had been a wise move. Clea’s blue eyes were already narrowing, that look appearing on her face like she was ready to pluck all the details out of him – no mysteries allowed at my bar! Rhys grabbed his backpack and shouldered it again, catching the tops of the paper bags between his fingers. ”Maybe we’ll swing by for dinner later if he’s back. See ya.” He returned her wave as she scurried down to the other end of the bar to a waving customer.
The sun streamed down as he stepped back out onto the sidewalk. Spring hadn’t slid into summer yet, but people were already out in the square, enjoying the weather. They’d be doing the same on campus, like they’d been hibernating all winter and suddenly they were stumbling out of their caves. Maybe if Mandy’s brothers were there he could talk her into doing the same, even if it was at the end of a shotgun.
It was less than five minutes from the Grill to the Reids’ store. The place was quiet, like Kitschy Kitschy Coo had been that morning, no one moving behind the glass, no tinkle of the bell above the door until he shouldered it open.
Balancing the bags a little more carefully now – he wasn’t about to spill the milkshakes all over the floor on top of everything else – Rhys backed into the shop. Three steps in and things were crunching under the soles of his sneakers. He sidestepped, frowning down at the floorboards. They were black, charred in the centre of the floor, and dusted with beads and broken glass. What the … ”And I thought I was gonna wreck the place. Hey, what happened out here? Gas line explosion? Mountain lions? Your brothers…” Rhys looked up, turned, stopped. Maybe gas line explosion hadn’t been far off, the place was a wreck.
The counter was shattered, the glass that had lined its top and sides reduced to a glittering blanket across the floor. What had been in it was scattered, what had been on the long tables that lined the centre of the room tossed aside, broken on the floor. The smell of smoke hung heavy in the air and a thin plume of it, almost invisible, rose up from the burned floorboards as the breeze through the door reignited some sort of spark. ”Mandy?” His voice was tight as he called out. The curtain to the back of the store, he presumed, was still closed.
That feeling he got when he’d seen the vampire in the woods – the vampire waiting on dead bodies – rushed back in, like he’d taken a step and dropped neck deep into Arctic waters. Pushing that to the back of his mind and pretending like he’d dreamt it had been the only way to try and stay sane about what had happened. It hadn’t been a dream though, something had happened out there and now something had happened in here too. ”Mandy, are you back there?” Another step, another crunch, a faint squeak this time like his shoe had slipped against something.
Fingers going numb as he moved his foot and looked down, Rhys dropped the food. A different sort of crunch this time, an ooze of strawberry milkshake working its way out of the corner of the bag. The bell had gone on when he’d walked into the shop and nobody had answered, surely, if she was here, if she was OK, she would’ve done. Rhys stared at the drops of blood on the floor for a second before he ran for the back. He tore the velvet drapes open, stared into the back of the shop for just a moment before the door clanged open again. Spinning around, he hoped to see Mandy there, a little worse for wear after whatever accident had happened maybe but … ”I didn’t d-do this…” Rhys stuttered out at who he could only presume were her brothers. One on the shorter side with dark hair and eyes so pale they looked like a husky’s, the other was taller, thinner, freckled like his sister and if he was one of them, he’d have been hit by suspicion like a damn anvil.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Jul 5, 2022 22:37:15 GMT
 ━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Less scrawny since Lorna’s death, for sure. Living with his siblings again meant he was constantly rotating between them and Sadie, so he was always eating, always stuck in a good routine. He didn’t feel like he was getting babysat, but that’s what others could’ve called it.
Anyway, it was just a few stones and another grimoire, and Darcey had made an offhand comment about how Cassie might like it. Obviously, he was being an asshole━trading rare items was more important to him than learning spells. Did that make him a bad warlock? Probably. Did he care? Not a bit.
Mandy was fine at the store by herself━Darcey hadn’t even considered it. Not here, in Mystic Falls, where the town was half asleep a majority of the time. They hadn’t had out of the ordinary trouble, nothing to be concerned about. Mandy wasn’t a baby (alright, in Darcey’s eyes, she always would be); she could handle an unpleasant customer or an old lady who drove a hard bargain.
When they stepped through the doors, however, it was clear that wasn’t what she’d been up against. “What fucking…” Darcey trailed off as they entered, gaze trailing down to his shoes, to the debris strewn across the floor. The shop was destroyed, but none of that mattered━not when… Mandy.
He barely heard what the kid had said. It sounded like some sort of stupid blubbering, nothing of importance, and the familiar booming in his ears had already started. Pure rage drove him forward, one hand jumping up, fingers curled around that skinny, little throat. Darcey drove the kid back with that hold, clambering over broken glass, takeout bag and whatever else was on the floor until he had the stranger pinned against the display case’s bare frame. “What’ve you done with my baby sister?” His voice was like a low growl, piercing blue eyes close and trained like a fucking attack dog that wouldn’t let its prey out of its sight. “Huh?” He shouted, pushing the boy harder into the broken case, squeezing his fingers━playing with his oxygen supply. “Where is she? Where’s Mandy?” Panic began under the surface, adding to his rage in a way that was so unpredictable and toxic that Darcey wondered if he’d murder the kid before he could get a word out.
NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Jul 16, 2022 18:04:28 GMT
In a business sense Darcey’s presence hadn’t been strictly necessary, in terms of keeping his brother occupied and out of that abyss of grief he’d been all too close to drowning in when he and Mandy had arrived there was no bloody question about it. And anyway, Nicky thought as he’d propped his hand on his brother’s shoulder as the grimoire had been set down in front of them, he liked it. Their parents might’ve been hundreds of miles away, tucked up in their shop like little figures in a doll’s house, but he had his family here now and it’d loosened something that had been tight as the Gordian knot in the pit of his stomach since he’d left home. It was just a shame that it’d taken Lorna’s untimely death to make it happen.
Given how long they’d taken just to poke around a few bits Mandy might not’ve been thinking the same thing. Better her there than under the watchful eye of both of her brothers, eh? Still, Nicky imagined that she’d be practically chewing her way out of the back door of the shop by the time they got back. Desperate to get back to the freedom of the Whitmore campus, leaving her eldest brother in the other set of safe hands … one of the other set of safe hands.
He wasn’t about to say it aloud, but whatever connections he was building in this town were looking good on Darcey. The hollows that had shadowed his face when they’d arrived seemed to be filling out, taking him from cadaverous back towards merely gaunt. Had that been a smile as he’d tossed Cassie’s name in? Nicky had narrowed his eyes at his brother, grunting faintly in amusement. Maybe, and that was progress. Yeah, he’d take that.
Nicky paused as they got out the car outside the shop. Stretching his shoulders beneath the starch of his shirt, tipping his head back. His eyes fluttered shut as the vertebrae in his neck cracked. Too much time spent in the car, bartering for things that probably weren’t worth much more than he’d paid for them in the end. He locked the car, trailed Darcey up onto the pavement. Twisting his wrist, Nicky checked the time as Darce opened the door and stepped into the shop, footsteps crunching. ”Maybe we can shut up early, talk Mandy into dinner before she …” Scurries away from the mess she’d left the shop in. ”…hell,” Nicky finished for his brother. He side stepped Darcey, his hands coming up to cover his lower face as he saw the trail of destruction through it, and the kid stood in the middle of it with Mandy nowhere in sight.
In the split second it took him to try and stack the shattered pieces into some sort of order to make sense of what they’d walked into Darcey had moved. His brother’s brain had always worked faster than his in a way, his fists certainly flying with a speed his own measured moves weren’t capable of. He was a thinker, a planner, the sort of man who pondered things, Darcey was a doer and right now he had the kid shoved up against the what was left of the display case, rage written all over him. Nicky kicked aside the bag on the floor, the sweet scent of milkshake spilled out to cover other scents.
Fingers bit into Darcey’s shoulder as his other hand was thrust between the two of them, trying to make sure the kid could answer. His own voice was tight when it emerged, squeezed in his throat by a wave of panic that was being rapidly eclipsed by what was rolling off of Darcey. ”Mandy? Mandy!” Blue eyes skittered towards the curtain that cut off the back of the shop, barely parted, the damage not spilling out beyond it like it did in the front of the shop. No answer, no scurrying footsteps and the babbled apologies he’d hoped for. ”You heard my brother,” Nicky said coolly as he looked back, somehow holding the cracks together while Darce’s threatened to shatter wide open.
The kid struggled hands slapping at those restraining him while a dark red stain crept up his face. ”Mandy was here … and now we get back to find the place a wreck, her gone … and you ‘ere. I’d start to explain real soon son, before what we think happened starts makin’ things real bad for you. Where is she?” The babble of ‘fetching a broom, or going for help’ would’ve been a relief but the kid was blubbering harder, his eyes rapidly blinking as he tried to thrust out a hand towards the rubble on the floor they’d stormed through, like there could be an explanation for what he’d done to their sister in all of that.
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Jul 16, 2022 20:29:57 GMT
The ogre charges. You have one chance to bring up your defence before he overwhelms you. A twelve or above sees you successfully block the charge, anything between a four and an eleven sees you fail to bring your defence up in time, throw again to determine how many health points you lose. A three or below and the attack renders you immediately unconscious. Miss your next roll.
He’d never met either one of Mandy’s brothers, and this was absolutely the worst circumstances for it, but the identity of the two men who stepped through the door had been in no doubt. Turning at the sound of the door opening, Rhys had a momentary flash of familiarity – the red tint to her brother’s hair, the freckles that stamped themselves on his skin the way they did on her, pale blue eyes – but it was short lived. The ice that had already dropped like a lead weight into his stomach at the sight of the blood drops on the floor gathered weight and threatened to tear right out of him.
This was like the woods, only somehow worse, because the body he expected lay somewhere wasn’t some random woman, wasn’t someone he’d never met crammed into the trunk of a car. It was Mandy. He’d spent an afternoon showing her around campus, he liked to think there was something approaching a friendship with them and he’d intended to keep that going. An hour spent chatting over burgers and milkshakes, something normal. Not this nightmare, only deepened by the stench of fear that felt like it must have been pouring out of him.
Rhys’ hands came up as he scrambled back around from behind the counter. His fingers shook, that ball of ice doing its best to launch itself up into its chest where it could finish the job the discovery of the trashed, empty shop had started and entirely steal his breath. ”I turned up and it was already l-like … I was bringing something for the …” Nothing made it out in a way that made sense before a hand was locked around his throat in an iron grip. Flashes of the man out in the woods lit up behind his eyes as he found himself shoved back over the frame of the counter. There wasn’t any glass left in it to shatter under his weight but the metal frame pressed hard into his spine as the man bore down on him.
Eyes wide, Rhys scrambled for the guy’s wrist, trying to break the lock he had on him so he could get a clear breath. The questions came in that low growling voice, at first, then they were spat at him, peppering him like shattered glass as the metal rail cut harder into his back. Tears burned in Rhys’ eyes. He shook his head, his throat straining as he tried to breathe in. The other brother was there then, colder, like the rage in him was frozen instead of boiling over like the one trying to choke him out. Nails biting at the guy’s wrist, Rhys shook his head, the tears swimming in his eyes clouding his view. Mandy wasn’t here. Something had happened, something bad and instead of looking for her, that blame was coming down squarely on his shoulders.
There was reason in that cool words the younger man spoke but it didn’t do anything to break the grip on his throat. Rhys brought a leg up, trying to shove the guy back just a bit, just enough to get words out past the constriction in his throat. It didn’t work, nothing seemed to loosen it. Darkness swam in at the edges. He let go of the hand, pointing towards the bag scattered on the floor, the blood drops scattered among the little river of melting pink milkshake.
”Darcey. Darce. There’s blood.”
The high whine almost covered the man’s voice in his ears. Something seemed to shift, suddenly he was being tossed down on the ground, right down into the middle of that mix. ”G-g-gone … brought l-lunch … b-b-but … g-gone.” Broken words spilled out, not enough to tell the whole story of how he got there, or why, but maybe enough to break through the haze of rage that rolled off of the guy like cheap perfume.
Rhys scrabbled on the floor, trying to push himself back away from the two men. Feet kicked at the ground, his hands scrabbling through the glass, one closing around a pendant on the floor. There was an instant flash of a man storming through the space, flames dancing up in front of him. ”He t-took her. He came in and he t-took her, before … it happened before I got here, I swear. I just wanted to b-bring her lunch … I found the place like this. He took her before I even walked in.” There was confusion in his tone now. Rhys lifted his hand slowly, staring down at the pendant like it was some alien artefact, beaming snap shots of Mandy and them an straight into his head.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Jul 29, 2022 14:48:05 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
His blue eyes filled with tears, sparkling under the light like the shards of glass crunching beneath his shoes, desperate to find her. He kept imagining losing Mandy like he had Lorna, just as he almost did that night, and getting every piece of his heart ripped out and stomped on, then ground into the broken glass. It was already happening; he was slipping. He remembered the boy he’d almost killed for Lorna in fucking high school, and that was when he was a kid. With age came only a bit of wisdom, and none was lent to his short temper. It also didn’t erase the love he had for his family.
Nicky was there, a ghost at his shoulder and between Darcey and the boy, but he wouldn’t stop Darcey from killing the kid. Nobody could, not if something had happened to Mandy.
Somehow, his brother could speak, and all Darcey could do was stand like stone, impervious to the boy’s wiggling, kicking and smacking, not truly feeling any of it. It didn’t matter━none of it did━not if he couldn’t protect his baby sister.
Nicky’s voice brought him back for a moment. The kid was pointing, but Darcey didn’t see, didn’t look in that direction until his brother directed him━as if Nicky held the reins to somehow control the rabid animal his brother had become in a matter of seconds.
His shaky, blurred gaze skittered sideways, then over his shoulder, finding the blood on the floor. Mandy. Not for certain, but Darcey couldn’t think of anything else. All that mattered right now was her━and squeezing the truth out of this little shit.
He turned, tossing the boy to the floor like a predator toying with its prey, lending him a few more seconds to breathe. It would only be that, seconds, and then he’d break the kid’s legs. Darcey slipped his jacket from his arms, tugging it off and tossing it away before he stalked forward, now unrestricted by excess fabric.
He almost made it to the boy despite his crawling, growling, “Stop babblin’, kid. Won’t save ya.” As he closed in, only halting when the boy seemed to get a read off the pendant. Darcey wouldn’t have taken a second glance if he didn’t know of the magic that intertwined with their world, wouldn’t have stopped, but this permeated his frenzied state. He could’ve been making up a story, it would’ve been easy enough, but the stranger sounded confused, almost━as if he was hearing it for the first time himself.
Darcey glanced at Nicky, brows furrowed, and then moved in slowly. He bent, snatching the pendant, then straightened up, lifted his foot and, as casual as ever, started pressing his weight into the kid’s thigh. “This isn’t hers,” With clear doubt in his voice, Darcey lifted the necklace to show it to Nicky. He wasn’t sure, and gave his brother a look that said as much, but he was almost certain it didn’t belong to Mandy, and Nicky kept better stock of the items in his store than Darcey ever would.
“You get a read off this?” Darcey asked, now to the boy, shifting to dig in the ball of his foot. “Are ya a warlock, too, or just a fuckin’ liar?” His willingness to believe━to find an explanation or perhaps an easier way out of this, with the boy being able to see who took Mandy━didn’t necessarily make it true. Darcey was desperate for anything, though. Anything that said their sister could be brought home.
That she was still alive.
NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Aug 8, 2022 19:58:58 GMT
Three kids in a cramped flat above an Aladdin’s cave of a shop, coming into their magic one by one, had created some chaos, but never like this. Lightbulbs exploding in a shower of glass and sparks as Mandy learned to keep a lid on things, flames rippling through rolls of old film when Darcey lit up, his own Fantasia moment, although the pink elephants hadn’t come for a year or two after that. Two young men rolling around drunk down in the shop, furs a tangled mess around their legs as they’d tipped over, fingers pressed to their lips when their parents had come down to find the two of them unable to stand to get the place picked up. Normal chaos for them. Not this. Not violence obvious in every shattered vase and glittering sprinkle of glass.
This was … fear … hot and cold at the same time. A whirlwind of it in his gut that tore up into his mind. Darcey hadn’t been taken by the sirens like this, it had been a lure, but it popped to mind all the same. Things came in threes, didn’t they? Darcey lured away by the kids chasing after the Pied Piper, Lorna dying to get him back and now …
Nicky’s own hands shook as much as the kid’s as he called out Mandy’s name and got ringing silence back. The only sound in here was Darce’s laboured breathing and the boy’s wheezes. Not enough to hide a whimper from his sister or the echo of the excuse the kid had tossed out. Someone had done this, Mandy couldn’t have … not years after she’d gotten control over her magic. No matter how much pressure Lorna’s death had left on her.
Strained laughter rolled from him as tears burned at the back of Nicky’s eyes. He jabbed his hand between the boy and Darcey, a sharp shove to the chest with two fingers. Blue irises glittered through slitted lids, his teeth bared at the kid. ”I can’t stop ‘im if he wants to do this. You’re gonna answer my brother’s way or mine.” The kid’s knee came up, like he’d try to ram it right up through the middle of Darcey. A knock to the nuts wasn’t gonna make his brother any happier, but it wouldn’t stop the two of them long enough to let this kid scramble out the door leaving the less behind.
Instead of swinging though, that had came up, pointing at the floor like the answer to whole fucking mystery was laying there in the middle of all that destruction. The torn paper bag he’d kicked aside on the way in. Fries now scattered like daisies in the park after Mandy had finished chaining them up and had lost interest in the game. Pink milkshake oozing in a puddle he would’ve been pissed about under other circumstances. Lunch. The same bloody thought he’d had on the way back in here. Red drops like spilled rubies being swallowed up by that slowly growing pool. Fuck.
In an instant that fear tore out of him in a sharp slap of words. The kid was down on the floor in an instant, thrown by Darcey into that mess. Flailing hands and feet scattered it. Nicky spun on the spot, eyes wheeling around the place like he’d find some trail, fixing on Darce as he stripped off his shirt in the end. ”Wait, Darce, wait …” He knew Darcey would beat his knuckles raw to get the story out of the kid but it almost seemed unnecessary now – unless it turned out this bumbling, terrified act was all bullshit and then that scatter of blood drops wouldn’t be the only ones on the floor.
His fingers were numb as the whole place seemed to slow down. The kid babbled out a story. A man taking her, before this one had arrived with lunch … like he knew her. That was a question for later, when Mandy wasn’t in someone’s hands. ”It was behind the counter this mornin’.” Nicky grunted, his fingers gripping Darcey’s shirt sleeve over the peak of his shoulder as he stood back up with that necklace in her hand. ”With others. She wouldn’t have been playin’ with ‘em like a little kid … someone came in.” Like the kid had said. The one who knew more than he should.
Nicky squeezed Darce’s arm tighter, colour rolling up his own face like he’d lose it and bring the place down around their ears. A siren still maybe, although every one he’d ever heard about was a woman. Someone he’d crossed? Someone who wanted to hurt the girl … maybe still a siren but, Jesus. ”You’re not a liar, are you son? You’re gonna hold on to this and tell us word by bloody word what happened to her. Who’s the man? What was he?” He bent, pressing the necklace back into the boy’s hand so hard he yelped. ”If you don’t get what we need my brother here’s gonna make you remember. Right Darce? We don’t take lightly to our own bein’ hurt.” Whether the kid had been the one to touch her or not, Mandy was still hurt, still gone and that hole torn clear through Darcey and into him and his sister by Lorna’s death had them all bleeding.
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Aug 9, 2022 17:53:00 GMT
Other kids had fought at recess, rolling around on the ground, taking quick little - mostly harmless - rabbit punches at one another before the teachers had broken it up, or out in the woods after school, leaving them covered in equal measures of dry leaves and smeared blood. Most of the time they’d made it up within hours or days, back to being best friends. Rhys had never been one of them. He was a quiet kid - not shy, he was never the bashful, blushing sort - just quiet and kinda geeky and happy to be that way. He’d had his little knot of friends and they’d been just the same. Only once had he been knocked on his ass and had ended up going home with a black eye and a split lip. Some stupid thing with Johnny Roebuck’s little sister in the 8th grade that hadn’t even been a thing really. His dad had freaked, Missy Roebuck had cried, and for a week straight he’d winced every time he tried to grin to reassure one of them.
This was a thousand times worse already. Worse than the woman from the diner twisting him up until he’d almost imagined she’d hauled him thirty feet off the ground and left him dangling from a tree. Worse than the guy in the woods who’d sent him home practically crapping in his pants. His lungs burned, his throat felt like it was made of glass and any minute now the unrelenting bony fingers that felt like a vice around his windpipe would shatter. Sweat and tears stung his eyes and that high pitched wail that was probably some scream trapped inside of his own skull gew louder.
Rhys’ gaze wheeled to the other man, the calmer one - the one who was doing absolutely nothing to help. His voice cut through all of that terror filled noise, low and almost reasonable. He wasn’t going to pull this guy off of him, he was going to leave it to him and neither one of them would hear what had happened before they’d killed him. They would be no closer to Mandy, there’d just be two people … no … even if it looked bad he wasn’t going to believe that Mandy was …
The knee hadn’t done half as much as it was intended to. It had barely connected when he was thrown to the floor, because the guy had wanted him down there, not because he was letting him get away. The berserker look was still in his eyes, although he was skinnier than any berserker had likely been there was a vibration to him that screamed of a blood lust that wouldn’t stop until some sort of thirst had been slaked.
He hadn’t meant to grab the necklace as he scrambled away. The intention had just been to put space between himself and the guy who was likely going to shake him like a ragdoll again. Rhys clutched the pendant hard enough that it felt like it was cutting into his fingers before the vision ended and he peeled his hand open. It lay in his palm, red lines striping his fingers where he’d held onto it like it was a lifeline right to Mandy. ”He came in,” he echoed hoarsely, frowning up at the more reserved brother. ”Taller than her. He was talking to her, like he was trying to convince her to …” He would’ve wrapped his hand back around it, holding on tight enough to squeeze something more of it but the skinny one was bending back down.
Flinching away from him, Rhys tried to hold onto it, but he snatched the pendant away and stood. As casual as anything the man brought his foot down on his thigh, pinning him to the floor with ever ounce of what should’ve been insubstantial weight. It didn’t that insubstantial as he roared out in pain. He scrambled at the guy’s ankle, trying to pull it away while they just talked over him. Rhys let out a small moan, that tailed off into a whimper as that foot ground down. ”W-warlock? This isn’t H-Harry P-potter.” Fantasy was just that, no matter how many weird things had happened around in him the last couple of years. ”I’m not anything. I just … I picked it up, I saw him, the Englishman … he was making an offer, I don’t know if she w-went in the end … there was a crash, a f-fire … I don’t know anything more. I swear. This was just meant to be lunch. I’m a friend.” Or they’d been on their way to it at least before all of this had happened. He let go of the man’s ankle, bringing both hands up to his ears as he heard that crooning voice echo through him again.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Sept 15, 2022 15:47:49 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Well, it turned out the kid was telling a bit of the truth, huh? That, or this was the perfect story to offer up to two men willing to beat it out of him. Darcey trusted Nicky’s judgement, though, and knew that when he got like this, all he could see was red. There weren’t any coherent thoughts swimming through Darcey’s brain, it was only electricity in his muscles, ready to unleash on the kid once given the word from Nicky. He didn’t like that so much━being an attack dog with someone else holding the lead━but it had always been this way.
“Yeah,” Darcey growled, backing up his brother. “Start talkin’, lad. We’re only gonna ask once.”
Weren’t a warlock? Darcey had to scoff at that, though the expression on his face was anything but amused. He pulsed the pressure, leaning in once, a little harder and for only a moment, before returning to regular weight. “Ya catch images from objects and don’t think there’s some magic in that?” Darcey shook his head, “Maybe you are just a fuckin’ numpty. Too stupid to lie, huh?” He pulsed again,
“An offer of what?” Darcey demanded, growing impatient with the lack of coherency in this kid’s story. Finally, he moved off the boy’s leg, though that was only to drop down to a kneel with his knee on the kid’s chest. He put most of his weight on the foot planted into the ground, of course, but Darcey didn’t let up more than enough to keep him breathing. His foot shifted to pin the boy’s arm between Darcey’s shoe and the floor, knowing he could handle it if the kid’s other arm went crazy. He didn’t seem smart (or strong) enough to get himself out of this bind.
One arm rested on his thigh, as casual as ever, while the other darted down like a viper to grab the kid’s jaw. Darcey squeezed it in his fingers, glaring. “A friend? I’ve never seen ya before. If you were mates, we woulda met.” He tugged the kid’s head forward by his jaw, then dropped it, letting gravity follow through. “Details of this ‘Englishman,’ now, or I’ll break your ribs.” As a warning, he did the same sort of pulse as before, though this time it was on the boy’s sternum.
NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Sept 20, 2022 18:18:35 GMT
The drops of blood on the floor weren’t going to be the only ones shed by the time Darcey was done. Nicky knew that he’d been his brother’s choke chain practically from the minute he was born. If this was to stop and the kid was to walk out of here on his own two legs, he’d need to pull on it. The drops of the blood were the reason he hadn’t. In all likelihood it was Mandy’s blood and that swept away all rules of civil engagement.
Fingers curled, his voice slid out like a ribbon, but it was just a ‘hold here’ rather than a ‘let go’. The kid’s eyes slid to him, wide like a frightened horse’s, but this one wouldn’t kick. It was flinching away instead, too scared to try and utter much past the pinching grip of Darcey’s hand. Nicky wasn’t sure he’d heard - or rather, understood - a word out of their mouths until Darcey had tossed him down amongst the mess that had been left.
He’d imagined that the story of whatever had happened to Mandy would be spelt out in the spill of broken glass and scattered food, the smudges of soot. Nicky would’ve bet the kid had helped spell it out, until the lock on his throat had broken and suddenly he was talking. Darcey could’ve shaken him off like a dog as he’d tried to talk around the kid’s sudden revelation, but like before, all of Darcey’s focus was on the kid. A pulsing wave of it that squashed down on that squirming body in a violent rhythm.
Laughter cracked out, low and bitter, choking off like a fist had gone around his own thr0at as he stared at the pendant in Mandy’s hand. It didn’t have any real power to it, if it had done it would’ve gone in the back room with everything else. Protected, shielded, not left out here to be scattered like the rest of the cheap trinkets. The only value to it was what the boy said. ”He. You’re still sayin’ it like we’ve got some clue who you’re talkin’ about.” The story, bitty as it was, started to tighten the grip fear had on him though. Talking. Convincing. Luring like a siren. Nicky’s fist tightened in Darcey’s shirt, like he could will the possibility away without saying anything. They’d lost enough to those things, something vital seemingly cut out of Darcey with his wife’s death.
Letting Darcey pull away from his grip, the kid pull away from him with the necklace clasped tight in his palm, Nicky stood. He dragged his hands tiredly down his face. Pale eyes cut to his brother and down again, feeling the pulse of Darcey’s stepping on the kid echo in his chest. ”He’s not got the brains for it,” he confirmed. ”He’s young, might not know what he is … it is what, son. Your parents didn’t tell you? Warlock, psychic? One of ‘em’s got somethin’ about them.” Whatever they were, and he was edging towards psychic rather than warlock like the two men bearing down on him like a juggernaut, they hadn’t taught him. A cossetted little life in a town where the supernatural should’ve been slapping him round the face every morning.
Maybe this was too far, it wasn’t the 1500s, you couldn’t press answers out of witches anymore, but it was like Darcey was trying. Knees, feet, pinning the boy to the floor, grinding until he was squirming like a butterfly stuck to a board, still alive, but with no way out. Nicky saw his eyes go wide, his face burning red. ”Darce,” he said low, waiting until the questions had finished spilling out and that last threat seemed to have the boy clutching his ears. ”Darcey. You think she would’ve told us if there was some boy sniffin’ around?” Dark brows rose, his finger jabbing down at the bloke without actually looking at him. ”She knows it would’ve been this. He came with somethin’ for her and now he’s seen what we need. He can’t tell us any of it if you squash him flat. Easy. Just for a minute.” Nicky’s voice was level, although the threat of a bite was there. He knew all that grief, all that anger and guilt were welling up, ready to explode out of him like Krakatoa.
Slowly, as the boy’s tear filled eyes rolled up to him, like he was some saviour, Nicky squatted. He settled his forearms on his thighs, not touching, just studying him like he was that butterfly and his were the fingers that could pull the pins and free him. ”My brother’s asked you multiple times and all yer seem to be spoutin’ is nonsense.” His chin rose, indicating the pendant still clutched in one sweaty palm. ”Look again and talk us through it slow. Details, we need to know who walked in ‘ere and took our sister and we need to know what they did. Tell us and you walk out, alright?” If the news didn’t snap the one last thread of control Darcey had left. Nicky had done all he could to try and pull the ragged edges of his brother’s life back together, but some damage was beyond repair.
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RHYS MCEVOY
Psychic
Posts: 45
Age:
22
Occupation:
Owner of Kitschy Kitschy Coo
Status:
Interested In
Partner:
Mandy Reid
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Oct 21, 2024 18:25:33 GMT
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Post by RHYS MCEVOY on Sept 20, 2022 19:02:54 GMT
Mandy had warned him about her brothers, but it had seemed just like the normal big brother type thing (not that he would’ve known since his dad had retreated into some sort of permanent state of chastity after his mom had died). The jokey threats to break the kneecaps of any boy who so much as looked her way. Two men – at more than a decade older than her, even the younger one of them had been that when Mandy had entered her teen years – putting together that intimidating line. It would’ve put some guys off if they’d seen the pair of them. Rhys was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been … if this was the sort of meeting that would’ve started with a handshake and as polite a greeting as he could manage.
Polite wasn’t the word for this. Terrifying. Shocking. Violent. Painful. Everything that should’ve been the worst case scenario for meeting the family – and it wasn’t even like they were dating to earn it. Lunch hadn’t been that serious until he’d walked into the nightmare.
You couldn’t talk your way out of things when it was the dice controlling your fate, or there was the surprisingly heavy weight of a scrawny looking full grown man on your chest. It wasn’t as easy as risking it all on a role. Rhys could barely see the two of them past the tears in his eyes and the sting of sweat rolling down from a face gone red, but he heard them. The younger one laughing, tossing what he’d managed to hold onto from the vision, whatever it was, back in his face like somehow it wasn’t enough for him. There was more, they thought there was more and somehow he was the one who knew just what.
The cry rolled out of Rhys as a hoarse moan. He shook his head, blinking at the burning in his eyes that matched the burning in the socket of his hip. It felt as though it would pop loose at any moment, the ones driven apart by the grinding of the man’s shoe. ”I’m n-not. I’m n-not lying.” His voice was a hiss, the pain intensifying as he tried to squirm out from beneath the foot that pinned him in place. ”I don’t know what it is. I don’t know how I g-got it. I don’t want it, b-believe me.” What had scared him the first few times it had happened was now bringing a nightmare to his door, one he couldn’t explain away with stress or even a damn aneurysm. ”M-my d-dad … he’s not … he doesn’t know either. My m-mom…” Rhys whipped his head back and forth, feeling that yawing pit of grief in his stomach open up again. His mom hadn’t had the time to explain anything to him, not before something in her brain had given way and she’d died.
Warlock. Psychic. Lunatic. The possibilities swirled through his head like the blood drops through the milkshake that finally reached them. Rhys squeezed his eyes shut tight to avoid the view of them, but it didn’t work for long. The weight lifted and for just a moment he thought he was free. A single breath sucked in, the vicious ache in his hip fading for as long as it took to start exhaling it. Then the pain was back, crushing his chest, stopping him from sucking in another deep breath. ”T—to give him w-what he w-w-wanted or h-he’d take it. He’d t-t-take her.” Rhys’ eyelids fluttered as he pictured the man doing just that, Mandy’s small form gathered up before the man had been gone and those flames finally died down.
The scent of smoke lingered in the shop, in his nose. Rhys tried blocking his ears to shield himself from the echoing crash that had rung through the room when all the glass had smashed. It didn’t work, it still rang in his head, until the man’s fingers clutched his jaw, sharp enough to make it feel like he was tearing it off. Rhys whimpered, his hand going to the guy’s wrist, fingernails biting into the freckled skin to try and keep the pressure off before he let him drop back. There was a crack as his head hit the floorboards, the pain instant and sharp as a lightning bolt across the back of his head. ”I showed h-her around at school, you … you can ask there. They asked me to d-do it. Then we had dinner. That … that was all until today. It was … she told him you wouldn’t b-b-be happy with some g-guy sniffing around.” He’d done it anyway, believing he wasn’t that sort of guy.
Rhys flinched away as the other lowered himself towards him. There was nowhere to go, not when the foot flexed again and his ribs felt like they were bending, ready to snap. He stared up, the light seeming to halo around both of their heads now – although they were anything but angels. ”I c-can’t see it all. I would’ve t-t-told you if I could…” Instead of bargaining, Rhys clutched the pendant again, holding it up between them like some sort of talisman to ward off the pain. He squeezed his eyes shut, blocking out the men, the pain.
”T-tall. Sandy hair. He was polite at first, until … Mandy did something, he saw s-something and he s-said he knew she was a … she’s a witch …” It felt just as ludicrous to say it aloud as to hear it. ”She tried to run, b-broke everything in here t-trying to get away. She made it all b-burn, b-but then his face changed. His face changed and then he h-hurt her. I think he’s going to t-take something from here … d-drain her. I don’t know, I swear I don’t know, it’s all I can see. He b-barely touched it.” Not that it seemed that would make much of a difference. Rhys flailed out, trying to see something else from the floor, the blood drop that smeared his fingers and left him flinching away, the scatter of trinkets, but there was nothing.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Oct 6, 2022 22:19:31 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Nicky saw it, too; Darcey was sure of it. Even if he hadn’t been there and didn’t know it was happening, he was made aware after the fact. After they’d come to America, imagining they’d be safer.
His younger brother tightened the chain, yanked on it, and Darcey wanted to snarl like a rabid dog. That’s what he was, anyway, but this was their sister. Their baby sister. Darcey didn’t care about the kid’s fucking family or whether or not he knew he was a something. All that mattered was Mandy.
Still, as much as he hated it, Darcey relented. He wanted to fight against Nicky’s reasoning and do just that━squish this kid flat━but he knew better. Grumbling, he shifted his knee off the stranger and planted it on the floor, though Darcey’s other foot still kept one of the boy’s arms down. He didn’t look like he’d fight, but Darcey wasn’t taking any risks, especially with a maybe-warlock without training.
Nicky was right. Mandy wouldn’t have told them, and that’s what twisted Darcey’s gut. It was to keep her safe, didn’t she know that? To prevent this.
Walk out? His gaze snapped to Nicky, blue eyes widened, brows furrowing. In a moment, Darcey’s focus was back on the boy━where it would stay. There was no way he’d let the kid go that easy. He’d be lucky to walk out of here with all four working limbs.
Finally, more explanation came. Nicky’s words seemed to work better than Darcey’s action, but that didn’t deter the older Reid. He had his ways of interrogation, and Nicky had his. That’s why they made a good team, he supposed.
Though they got answers, it didn’t make Darcey feel any better. Rage bubbled faster than he thought possible, stinging his eyes and tightening his muscles. Hurt. Mandy was hurt. Some man hurt her, and all they had was a weak fucking description.
Some vampire, it sounded like. Was that worse than a siren den? It felt like it. Dread swam to mingle with the rage, and Darcey choked on it, doing his best to strangle back a sob. His fist came up, colliding with the space beside the boy’s head. He’d split a knuckle at the very least, but he hadn’t broken the kid’s nose, which was good of him, right? Perhaps he would’ve felt better if he had.
Darcey hauled himself away, knowing it would get them nowhere if he pummelled the kid to dust. “Fuck!” He shouted, eyes flicking around for something else to take his anger out on, though the store was in shambles already.
With little thought of what he could do next━the hopelessness was the worst of it━Darcey trudged into the back room, with the door separating the spaces bearing the brunt of his anger. He nearly pried it from its hinges as he shoved it and hunted for any sort of map and charm they had. He’d split his palm and bleed himself dry if it meant they’d find Mandy. He’d do anything to find her.
NICHOLAS REID | zee end! |
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hope to see you in the discord! 
