Step One: Ensnare [Event] [PG13]

[ωΘĿƒ]

Coyle snarled to himself lowly as he watched White meander away. Damn vampire.... Damn leech. The loafing old creature could really get under your skin... but not to worry. Coyle's specialty was skin-getting-under. He could take a little annoyance from something like White.

He could cause much more of it too, but that wasn't important now. He'd taken this job - beneath him as it was - only for the fun. That's all that mattered. He got to sit in here with a bunch of kids, alone, all without Crane's vines getting all over the place. Now that sounded ripe for opportunity. White even had the intelligence to give him a dungeon to house these not so legal activities, and of all the reasons that the old, worn out vampire should be disemboweled, this wasn't one of them.

Hey, the guy could do torture. Cole liked it, but White had some real talent. Took his time. Got all the right tools. Coyle might have even been worried, if he wasn't able to phase through any of White's little traps.

Torture... That wasn't killing, yeah? He could do that?

In a moment of absolute boredom, Coyle let his temporal claws out through the back of his skin, so they attached quite formidably to his human shoulder blades instead of his cat ones. They poked around, sensing about for what the room looked like.

Oooohhhh.... Pretty tools. Coyle picked one up, playing with it like a child would play with a rattle. Something clicked in it then and like a mini bear trap, it snapped shut. Giggling excitedly at this, Coyle didn't even notice that it had almost chopped his hand off.

Cool.

"Oh, shut up..." the beast said, the sweet, melodic voice almost comforting in the darkness. "None of you are going anywhere. We've got some swanky stuff here, and it's all being put to use so you don't slide out the back door. So sit tight. It's going to be a while."

In a lower voice, Coyle muttered something a little less melodic.

"...whenever it is we get our next orders. Is this guy a spy? All the running around... I haven't even seen the base yet..."

A little louder now, Coyle had caught the sound of whimpering from the kids. Escape plans. Cute. They thought they could leave with a little team work and hope. He always did love the hopeful ones. They fought more!

He sat there chuckling to himself until he heard the sound of a not-so-whimpering voice. One that was thick with anger, and nothing else.

"Puppets?" The beast repeated the word in his lovely, gentle voice. You almost couldn't hear the seething malice buried under it.

"Puppets... Puppets. Puppets."

Let's see now? Play this one angry? Or laugh it off? So many choices when you're playing kidnapper! He liked this game! He chose the happy option, laughing to himself even more as he picked out the right words for his bad guy monologue.

He loved being evil...

"What? So now we name call? That's not very nice of you... I'd like to think of myself as the hired help. Someone who's getting paid to do this grunt work."

He chucked that weird torture device away, leaning on the bars that held the cell where they all were.

"And you know what I'm getting paid with? Pain. Lot's of it. And today, you'll all be playing the part of my bank!"

He clicked his nails against the bars, wondering what he should start off with on his very long list of fun things to do.

"Now let's make a withdrawal, shall we?"

He still hadn't decided... Physical fun? Mental? Or he could just make it a contest of wits! He liked those!

Of course it helped when you had multiple levels of consciousness to be witty with...

[Erzbet Bathry]

Erzbet's fighting instincts came over. Even though she was positive she wasn't getting out of here alive, she couldn't help but fight back. Her father had gone to his death kicking and screaming. To do any less would be disappointing to his spirit.

"You don't have to torture us." Even when she was calling out, her voice was still quiet. She'd never been good with word play. This was merely something she'd thought about and decided to say out loud. "It's insulting enough that your the one that's down here. Was that a quip? She had no idea. Would it help? Probably not. But if felt good to say aloud. Physical pain was something she was used to. And mentally...well, her father's death would top the list. Nothing could be worse than that.

She realized that, by calling out, she was making herself a prime target. She squinted into the darkness, trying to envision the other kids she knew were there. They were all doomed, but if she put herself directly in the creature's path... It would give them more time. If nothing else, she didn't want to wait. Waiting was the worst part of any unpleasant experience. "The least they could do is bring down a professional."

[Anzeh]

Jericho Mist

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Jericho was silent for the most part. He was managing to keep a level head, and although it was really just a way to keep himself from crying or ****ing himself in fear. Breathe, like big brother taught you. He breathed. Good, he thought to himself. Now out. He breathed out. It felt... good. Relaxing. Grimoire was right, whenever things got scary he just had to take a nice deep breath.

Although seeing was completely inpossible, if he paid attention he could pick up on the sounds he managed to get a basic idea of where the talking person was. Perhaps... he honed in on the noise, walking and talking... and found that he might recognise him, maybe. They had never met, though he thought he'd overheard him talking in the auditorium and in the halls though he seemed to appear from no where when it came to the latter.

It took him many months to glean a name. Coyle... that was it. Why was he here?

He looked like a nice guy, but when he spoke now... it frightened the Cheshire cat some.

"Yeah, that's a great idea." he said, not directed to Coyle but to the person who had just spoke, Erzbet. "Insulting the person sent down here to torture us is definitely the first thing you do. Next I supposed you'll try to wrestle the torture device from him with your teeth." He'd said this with more bite than he actually intended. But really, when your trapped down in a dungeon and you know you're going to be tortured, why the hell would you insult the guy that's gonna torture you? "Bleeding retards."

[Erzbet Bathry]

"So you'd rather plead for mercy knowing you're never going to get it?" Erzbet shot back with more malice than she knew she had. "You can be the lamb led to the slaughter if you like." She'd never seen a lamb, much less seen one slaughtered, but it was a common phrase to humans. She knew enough about it to know it was something she'd never want to be. "I fought my way through life and I'll fight till death." The "civilized" people thought they had all the answers. They had their peace corps and their governments. But put anyone of those high-and-mighty in the jungle and they lasted a day... if they were lucky. Fighting for her life was all she'd known growing up.

Erzbet laid her head against the stone, all claustrophobia gone. She realized she knew that voice. The strange boy from the candy store. The one that loved sweets. The one that looked cruel and strangely innocent from the same time. The one that kidnapped her. She grit her teeth to keep a growl from escaping. This was personal. Erzbet could forgive someone that attacked her. But someone who put her in a cage? Now that was unforgivable. The only problem was, she was still trapped. Unless she could figure out something to do with that information, the revelation was useless.

[ωΘĿƒ]

"Now children, children..." the silky, beautiful voice cut through the stifling darkness like a refreshing beam of light. "There is no need to fight. Not a one reason. In fact, perhaps you should come to know one another better?"

The beast threw out his hands - even though most of them couldn't see him - and in general made a very dramatic and self-entertaining show of it all.

"Now, you will all be fine, and none of you will need to go down fighting. I do not approve of such things, as violence for the sake of violence is wasteful and therefore a terrible shame to behold for any reason."

This, oddly enough, was truth. As far as anyone knew of Coyle, he did not cause pain for "no reason" as it is said. He always had a very good reason, and no amount of taunting, jeering, or little child's words would cause him to anger to such a state that he would harm something.

...that being said, he did have a specific reason to harm these kids, but not in a direct and inconsolable way. He would make it all very fair, as it always was. He was a fair creature, after all. His deals were always followed to the letter.

"Now, let's talk about your release..." he had been thinking, and he had found a really good way to do this all. "I'm going to let you go - just so long as you don't tell that jackass vampire. He's not as nice as me..."

Coyle snarled, thinking about it. He would get in big trouble if White went snitching on him, but he wouldn't let that happen. He would do his job, and it would all work out as planned! Just like the boss ordered!

"So then let's play a game... An easy game that has only one rule to it, and one way to win - I'm going to take you to a tunnel, and at the end of that tunnel is the "winning box" you could say. It's a space that if you reach, you're allowed to leave - no hard feelings. I'll even make sure none of the other bloodsuckers notice you wandering around upstairs."

So saying, Coyle snapped his fingers and the room they were in turned into the tunnel described. The bars were gone, and the chains too. Everything that would have kept them locked away was gone, save this one circular tube of space that ended on one end - their end - in a horrible, hollow looking darkness that led off into nowhere - and the other end to light - the way out.

Coyle stood between the light and the kids, but in a different form that he had previously been.

He was a cat - small and white, with chalky lime green eyes that reminded the eyes vaguely of new spring leaves. Coyle the cat stretched out slowly over the tunnel in front of him, fluffy white tail curling.

"There you are. Freedom at a premium. Go and get it, boys and girls..."

The small, slender cat's eyes closed, as if asleep on the black, ugly surface of the tunnel. He did not move, save to heave in his small, delicate sides with each little breath he took.

[Iƪƪia]

Ailyth listened to the conversation's around her disinterestedly, not bothering to add even one word like she would have normally. What did it matter? Nothing she said would change anything and... Well, she couldn't do anything at all either, so all that was left for her to do was just sit there. Sit there and listen and wait.

Then, somehow, the chains were gone. For a moment she wondered if she'd just lost all feeling in her arms and legs, but when she opened her eyes she realized that they weren't in a cell any longer, but rather a tunnel. A tunnel with a light at the end. The way out? You were supposed to go toward the light, right? Right. Because light was full of goodness whereas the dark was full of evil. What a lie. There was evil everywhere, it was just harder to hide in the light.

Without stopping to look at what everyone else was doing, she released her skin, and hit the ground running. It would have been so much easier if they were in a forest. That was her specialty, darting in between the trees and hurrying underneath the bushes and such. Meanwhile, this place was just a long stretch of land without many places to hide. Still, she wasn't trying to hide, she was trying to get the hell out.

So she darted past the weird cat and toward the not-so-evil light.

(lolol it's a failure of a post. BUT EVERYONE ELSE POST NOW! DO IT!)

[Anzeh]

Jericho Mist

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Jericho didn't bother replying to the girl's accusation. Mostly because he had been tortured before. He'd been tied up by humans and poked and prodded, hurt and abused, and the tough guy act didn't work. All it did was encourage the torturer to prod more, hurt you more, and in the end acting tough only made the pain that much more excruciating. On the other end of the spectrum, begging for mercy only made them eager to shut you up. It was better to simply not reply to their jabs and cry out in pain when it hurt. It made things much easier in the long run.

But she, of course, didn't know that. And because she didn't know that it made things all the more annoying for him. His eyes were on the surroundings when they seemed to be moved from the dungeon to some type of tunnel. In his elation he had immediately tried to shed his skin. The momentum had been built and stopping the momentum of a shedding skin was very difficult, not to mention very painful, when he realized that he'd tried it. Fright almost overcame him, until he was on all fours and streaked with purple and pink.

Ohhh, that's right. His binds were gone.

He shuddered as he stretched out paws opening, looking like a normal pet cat save his odd appearance. Then he took off like a shot towards the end. There was only one exit, and all around him there were walls. This test was pretty much completely Idiotproof.

At least, the Cheshire cat thought it was.

[reynard]

Reynard listened to the cat's words not trusting the being a bit. How did they know that the cat wasn't lying. For all they knew the light might kill them or control them with magic or something. Perhaps something that required a living sacrifice. There certainly were rituals that required those. He had seen them.

Still Reynard knew that he didn't have a choice but to attempt the run. Still he wasn't stupid enough to simply charge wildly. The second the bonds dissipated he changed into his Kludde form. However he waited a second to ensure that he wasn't the first running into the tunnel. He leaped along the tunnel on the lookout for any possible ambushes the entire time.

[Erzbet Bathry]

Erzbet was surprised when the chains were suddenly gone. It was as if she could finally breathe freely. The light was blinding. As averse as she was to being in a cage, wide open spaces weren't her thing either. What she wouldn't give to go back to her jungle! She made a silent vow that she would go home as soon as possible and refuse to leave again, no matter what her mother said.

She watched silently as the others took off down the hall. She frowned. There was something not right about this. She wanted more than anything to stay in the dark. It didn't bother her much. She was a panther, for god's sake. Half of her life was lived in darkness. The other half was spent in a murky partial light. She looked back to the darkness. There was nothing left for her there. She had no choice but to follow others into the light. But, unlike the others, she didn't take off running. She walked forward slowly, casting one more glance at the cat. Even in such an innocent form, he gave her the chills.

Seeing as the chains were gone, and she was dying to anyway, she dropped the human skin. The feeling of being on all fours was beautiful. As much as she wanted to run full tilt, for the joy of running if nothing else, that would be stupid. If there were traps ahead, running would only make her hit them harder. And if there weren't, well she wasn't eager to run into any of the other escapees either.

[ωΘĿƒ]

Coyle heard not one, not two, but three come running. Still in that calm, peaceable state with his small cat head in his small cat paws, he didn't move to stop them. Or hurt them. Or do much or anything.

Why not? Oh well, now that was a good story... A very good one. But it required a bit of demonstration, because to explain it would defy the mind completely. And despite what they all were thinking, Coyle wasn't going to start off with anything cruel and unusual.

No no... That came later. He'd explain that part soon.

The white, fluffy cat only stretched slightly, rolling over as the three raced by. Tail twitching as if he were dreaming, the beast gave a small yawn, then tilted his head up just enough to watch them head out into the light.

...oh yeah. He forgot about that. The light. The light at the end of the tunnel. The safe place in a scary one. Heaven. The after life. Somewhere where nothing bad would happen ever again.

Well yeah, he'd have known that if he were from around here, but ya see he had no clue. Not a bit. There funny superstitions only served to amuse him, so why would he make the light at the end of the tunnel a way out? Didn't make any sense to him, personally.

He'd want to stay in the dark. But that was just him.

All three made it through, and then- ha! The cat rolled over, looking back where the rest of the group was. They were over there, all safe and sound - not a hair harmed.

Just not a step closer to escape.

"Oh look at that," the beast chimed in his silvery sweet voice, "running wildly around didn't work. It did cost you a penalty though!"

The cat, small and fail, got up, back slowly arching as it roused from sleep.

"That was try one to get out. You have one more try before level two."

Yes, one try. They did not get three magic wishes, three strikes and then an out. It was two. Once again, a silly superstition. And level two was the fun level! He actually got to do stuff then!

His newest set of rules revealed, the cat curled up to sleep and wait. They would never get it. How could they? It was only because of him that they got out of that bloodsucker's little dungeon in the first place.

[Anzeh]

Jericho Mist

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The cat blinked and looked around, finding himself where he had started, the box back at the end. Coyle told them that running blindly hadn't worked, and so they had one more chance to figure it out before it was time for level two.

This wasn't fair! There was no way this was solvable if the light wasn't the answer! He was about to say something when he bit his tongue. No. Stay calm. Caaalm. Do what Grimoire always tells you to do: Mellow out and relax. Look at things with an objective eye.

"Sometimes the light at the end of the tunnel is just another form of hell."

Jericho was jolted out of his thoughts. His older brother had said that to him when they had started to argue about what happens after you die, and it seemed very resemblant to this situation. Jericho didn't want to go to level two. Who knew what level two even contained? But... He thought hard and sure enough the answer came to him.

He turned around and ran away from the light.

After all, Coyle had never said anything about the light being the way out. All he said was that there was a winning space, and since the white light reset them the first time, why shouldn't it reset them again? Who was to say that the "winning box" wasn't submerged in total darkness?

Of course, running in endless darkness frightened the Cheshire cat, hoping that if he was wrong that he would just be reset back to where he was and not fall head over heels into some dark abyss of death. Perhaps if he had ever bothered to read those spell books for class he would know that illumination spell so he would at least know where he was going. In the blackness every square looked like every other square, so he wouldn't know when he found the way out.

He just hoped it was on the floor.

[reynard]

Reynard cursed as he found himself back at the start. He had messed up? He thought carefully over what the cat had said. He figured it out a split second after the other beast did. The cat had simply said the end of the tunnel. Not necessarily the light. Still he wouldn't be surprised if the cat was tricking them yet again. Still it didn't matter since the other beast was heading towards the back so even if Reynard waited he would still use up their last try.

Reynard sprinted after the other beast in an attempt to reach the other end of the tunnel. Hopefully they would get out and this nightmare would end.

[Erzbet Bathry]

When Erzbet found herself back where she started, she frowned, but otherwise didn't let on to her emotions. This was frustrating, but she didn't mind in an odd way. Maybe it was the fact her life was on the line. You always feel the most alive when you were facing death. Hadn't she faced it every day in the jungle? Granted, this wasn't a simple laid-out fight-to-the-finish type of thing. It was all a riddle.

She watched the others sprinted into the darkness. Hadn't he just said that "running around wildly didn't work"? Weren't they listening? If this truly was a mind game, then everything he said mattered. There could be hints and double meanings. Or maybe she was overthinking all of this. Maybe it really was as simple as running in the right direction. She sighed, shaking her head.

Forcing herself to go slowly yet again, Erzbet followed the others. The darkness felt like home. The ghost of a smile crossed her face. If she had to choose between dying in darkness or in bright light, the choice was an easy one. She looked around cautiously, her mind going in a thousand different directions at once. One thought stood out from all the others.

I wonder if there's an option where I don't die.

[ωΘĿƒ]

Still enjoying his happy time with all its nice, soft, cozy.... okay well he was on a floor shaped like a cat waiting for people to slip up so he could brutally mutilate them.

But hey, his cat form was comfy. Purring to himself, he rolled over again, then lolled back on his back, tail swishing in the air - waiting.

Aaaaand looks like they weren't trying this way. Coyle looked up, paws set lightly on the ground for this moment of curiosity. What he saw was a small group heading in the opposite direction. Towards the darkness, eh? He'd never have thought them so resourceful...

But it was the right decision. He'd said at the end of the tunnel. Which end? There were only two... And even though not all of them had got that little bit he'd given them, the smart ones made up for it - leading the whole pack into health and life.

Crap! Coyle sat up, white, soft fur raising as he let out a snarl.

"Right move. Wrong thing to do if you want to live..."

The cat, very daintily, began to prowl towards them, green eyes flashing. Coyle loved the dark. He could see straight through it, because unlike these creatures and their oddly light-based eyesight, he could see by existence.

Yes, the very fact that something aligned with this plane made it visible to him... So simple. So easily seen all the things of this world, and life was one of the big ones. He could see life very well...

So he plunged into the darkness, taking a quick look over at where they needed to go - an undisclosed location that he was sure they wouldn't find - then he began to slowly track their progress through the darkness.

"I'd suggest staying together..." the silvery voice crooned. "It's harder for me to pick off a group."

And with that, the hunt began. Who would win? The kids in their hunt for the exit? Or him? Hehehe.... Well. We'd just have to see.

[reynard]

Reynard skidded to a halt at the cats voice. He should have known it wouldn't be so easy. Now what should he do next. He was sufficiently ahead of the rest of the group that he might be able to escape if the exit wasn't too far away. But he didn't want to rely on chance. Still could he really trust the cat's words?

However he had no choice and so he concentrated for a moment and soft glow emanated from him revealing the area for around twenty feet. "Here come to me." He called to the others. His light should help them gather and then see what the cat was doing. He could make it brighter but didn't want to waste his moonbeams since once they went outside of twenty feet he could no longer manipulate them.