To Catch a Protege

WHEN: 10-15 years ago. WHERE: Slums. WHO: Lex and Naoki.

Lex (angrydurf) Lex was no ones first choice for tasks such as these. The acerbic wizard was well and rightfully feared and despised by both the mystic and mundane establishment. However that shared distain also left him unswayed by the politics of either nor the diplomacy betwixt them.

Thus Lex had been called upon, he'd not tolerate summons, to investigate the grisly scene in the back alleys of the docks. The Constable looked tired, his trainee green about the gills. Lex took both in with an impassive glare. "How long?" He snapped curtly not bothering with introductions they knew him and he had no interest in their names.

"She was found this morning professor." The Constable informed him slowly, "Some kind of animal attack we suspect." he recited carefully though the way he clutched at the beaded charm in his hand showed he suspected what Lex already knew, this could have been no animal. "We uh, rolled h-her, s-sir." the trainee stammered, "once we saw we ..." he swallowed hard as he forced the gorge back down with a surprising show of will.

Lex stepped then into the alley alcove where the remains of the woman lay sprawled. He looked up and down the alley checking sightlines, nothing would have been visible from the street. He pulled a pair of thick rubber gloves from his satchel and rolled his sleeves as he crouched to examine the unmistakable bite marks scored along her torso. His eyes roamed the scene expressionless, he tupped up a discarded crock revealing a handbag and emptied it upon the cobbles picking through what was left behind by a life cut short. "Her key is from a boarding house not far from here, her uniform marks her as a nurse at the hospital." he ran a hand through her hair and produced a long and wickedly sharp hat pin with a nod. "She walked into this ally, lured by her better nature."

"You mean to say a person did this?" The trainee exclaimed earning a glare from the Constable, "No man had a hand in this, regardless of the form it wore." he chuffed earning a rueful sneer from Lex, "Superstition aside yes a man did this." he confirmed flatly, "Perhaps with an animal, it could be part of the lure." He lied effortlessly.

He looked over the torn clothes and frowned at the clumsy redressing of her corsetry. "Was she found like this?" He asked firmly eyes boring into the Trainee with the devils own fire. "She's been redressed, was that the animal?" he remained unblinking as he awaited a response as the Constable looked to the trainee and arched a brow, "Well howie?" The young man's eyes fell, "Her alltogether were out for all tah see it weren't right sir." he defended but Lex was already moving to flick loose the fastenings once more. He looked down at the womans mutilated torso and the grisly hole in her abdomen where the attacker had feasted. He gave no warning as he hiked her skirts and stuck his hand betwixt her thighs to determine the extent of the violation. When his hand came back bloody the Constable looked green, the trainee lurched out of the alley to dry heave into the gutters. "Fascinating." Lex remarked and stood removing his gloves careful to keep the mess from his clothes. "You're in luck Constable, your case has caught my interest." he stated flatly though the constable clearly did not share Lexs enthusiasm, "Because of that they may actually be stopped before they attack another young woman."

When Lex returned to the alley it was full dark the distant revels of the quayside bars and brothels tinkling faintly in the air. The body was long gone though the stains remained on the cobbles. His hands ghosted across the wall as he stepped past the wards he'd earlier inscribed as he activated them. "Come on out now lets get a look at you." He intoned flatly dropping a mass of pigs entrails, "you must be hungry."

CAEL (helio5igma) There were things he learned over the years: he attracted less attention if we wore clothing, hunting was better at night, certain smells that marked diseases or healthy meat. He was a decent hunter by now… not typically one to have his mark discovered so quickly.

But he’d gotten bored. It was more thrilling closer to town, more difficult with the constables and crowds. Naoki craved the challenge and taking prey from underneath the watchful eyes of nighttime dockworkers and patrols was exciting.

He’d allowed her to see him, scuffed and scratched up - his own doing, for sympathy. The poor girl had followed so readily in an effort to help and he’d borne no hesitation in stripping her and ripping her open for her efforts - but he’d been interrupted. The scream had attracted attention and he’d had to leave the unfinished carcass behind. He didn’t yet know not to return to the scene of his crimes.

Naoki was poised in the shadows among the shipping crates piled near the alley wall. The body was gone… there was something else - more meat, different meat, but more than that - someone else. Lex’s stature and posturing should have marked the wizard as something distinctly other than prey but given the choices, Naoki was far more enticed by the man than the entrails.

He didn’t speak. Walking forward on quiet, bare feet the Jikininki approached and crouched near the far end of the mass of gore, reaching to grasp one coil of it. Silvery hair was collected in a messy ponytail to reveal boyish features, smooth if dirty skin, sharp grey eyes that were bloodshot and ringed from lack of sleep. He looked rail-thin then but the stare fixated on Lex was anything but vulnerable. And when he moved, swinging entrails like a whip with the added force of his blood magic bidding them to coil around Lex’s wrist and yank, he was fast. Lex (angrydurf) Lex observed the boy with bald curiosity as as he took in both appearance and body language as he tried to place what it might be. He'd expected some sort of feral naturae but this seemed more like than not some form of possession. Perhaps a cannibal spirit of some sort. Of course the musings proved enough distraction that he mistook the boys intent. The coil of entrails was too tight to precise and too strong. So there was more to this than a lost feral. He looked down at the loop of gore upon his forearm and frowned, "Rude." he remarked flatly and with a powerful swing of his arm jerked on the snare to pull the boy within his reach. "Spirited but ultimately futile." he remarked coldly, "Do you speak?"

CAEL (helio5igma) Naoki stumbled forward, easily yanked. He was fast but he wasn't nearly strong enough to fight a pull from Lex. The stuttering steps got him well within arm's reach for Lex to grab - if he still wanted to after Naoki reflexively tensed his muscles. Needle-thin spines the color of blood erupted from the surface of his arms and throat - clearly where he was used to be grabbed. His eyes stayed locked to Lex's face and he frowned, neither shaking his head nor nodding to specify. He either didn't speak or clearly didn't want to.

Lex (angrydurf) Lex eschewed the obvious grip on the neck or arm and grabbed a handful of silver hair pulling the boys face down as his knee came up striking with the force of a steam hammer. He flung the boy back after the strike shaking off the entrail whip from his arm and frowning at the blood soaked fabric of his shirt.

"Stay down boy I don't need to hurt you further." he warned dangerously as his looming form loomed over the odd urchin staring down without fear or disgust merely a simple confidence in his own superiority.

CAEL (helio5igma) The blow sent him reeling. Naoki’s blood-formed spines receded as he stumbled back holding his face. He was off-balance enough that he ended up on his ass on the alleyway floor, looking up at Lex with unfocused eyes. The Japanese that he spat out was angry, if muffled by the hand stemming the flow of blood from his nose. [”As if that hurt.”] It clearly had or he wouldn’t be quite so shaky as he was. Naoki lowered his hand to the loop of entrails he’d dropped on the wet stones. Clumsily they intestines shot up and stabbed at Lex’s face, the leading end of them tipped with a blood-formed barb.

Lex (angrydurf) The spirited attack was not entirely expected and the barbed tip scored a jagged slice across Lex's cheek as he barely evaded the sudden lance of blood and viscera. He winced in pain and growled in a low rumble of lightly accented Japanese, ["Have it your way."]

The alley grew darker nearly drowning the faint light from the street as shadows billowed behind Lex as a steady stream of murmured latin fell from the wizards lips. A clench of his fist and the writhing dark grew along the walls. "Enough of your tricks." he spat as tendrils of shadow shot from the walls to grasp at Naokis limbs one after another. As each landed the boy could feel his blood grow cold and still in his veins his power chilled by the tenebrous grasp.

CAEL (helio5igma) Naoki’s eyes widened in surprise when Lex answered him. He was already slowed by the blow to his head, too dazed to properly scramble to his feet and run. The tendrils grabbed him and he pulled, struggling against them until the chill slowed his heart rate enough to make leave him limp and unconscious in their grasp.

Lex (angrydurf) Lex stepped forward as the darkness took the boy, "I could wrench your limbs form your body and they'd call me a hero." he explained in clipped tones, "But you could be more than this." The darkness closed in as Lex turned away purging his wards and carving a path for both of them through the darkness to his home above. Naoki would awake some time later, caged, the runed bars arcing with power to a mages sight. There was food, meat in a loose stew and crusty bread. Any attempt to work his magic would send lances of pain through his body. Thus began his lessons.