Gathering the shards

"Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyy~!" Tony called out when he spotted the group, his hand waving as he ran over to them. "You're that group from yesterday, the ones who saved my friend. Did ya'll stay at that crazy ladies house last night? She's a real bitch right." The boy had a ball in his hand, looking like he had just come from playing.

Roel chuckled at the boys cursing, "Hey now, don't call an older woman that." He then leaned down and whispered to him, "but she really is."

Arianna laughed at the two boys, they really had no shame. She looked up at Tony and pulled her knees to her chest, resting her arms on them lazily "So what do you know about this ~mystery~ monster, Kiddo?" She asked, her interest in this subject apparent by her tone.

"WEll, let me tell you." He sat his ball down and stood ready to tell his tale, "It started about three months ago. This monster started coming every night and taking someone away. We tried to hunt it down or fight it but no use there. That dog is strong, he's eat all the soldiers. chomp chomp chomp! Anyways, after that the cold bitch lady came down, claiming that maybe if we left the demon an offering it would stop killing people. So all the adults pitched in, my mom even gave them my allowance, how lame is that. But the beast hasn't killed anyone since. but the strange thing is that lately its behavior has change. I've seen it several times and it seems more wild now, like its losing control. And just this last few weeks it seems like its been hunting V down. Which is really scary. Why would that thing be hunting a little brat like her?"

"Heck yeah I am!" Tony eached back and pulled a slingshot off his belt, "I just got this today! My buddy said it'll be good for breaking windows!"

"haha supporting vandalism now are we?" Roel chuckled at Arianna.

Arianna held her hands up "Hey now!" She laughed "I just asked if he had an idea" She brushed her hair back over her shoulder with a slight flip "But you know, I'm never against any fun."

"Alright. We have a plan now go get to work kid." Roel told the little kid who was all to happy to scamper off, waving the sling shot excitedly over his head and yelling out what he quessed to be war cries. "Let's get going then. We'll have to sneak in, just so she doesn't know we are snooping around."

June hung behind the group as they started back to the house. This whole thing didn't sit right with her. She jogged to catch up with the group, stopping to walk beside Roel. She rung her hands nervously infront of her "Is this...Is this really okay for us to do?" she asked, keeping her gaze forward

He looked down at her, "hm, its not like we're going to steal anything. Just snoop around a bit. We won't get caught. If your worried you could play the watcher. Keep an eye out for us."

June nodded, that seemed like more her pace. Although the woman seemingly deserved everything coming to her, June's conscious was too guilty to let her get away with any snooping. She looked up at Roel and smiled "I'll do that."

As soon as they arrived at the mansion a loud crash rang out followed by the horrid scream of a woman. Roel could see Tony's small boy running off and his high pitched giggles. "I think its time to sneak in. Everyone train in the art of theiving? We need profesionals here."

A long string of curses escaped from Cassandra's mouth as she chased the little twerp her daughter continued to associate with. "Come back here! Piece of shit."

Arianna could hardly stand still, she had been waiting for this trip to become interesting. "Yeeah, lets get too it!" She cheered as she made her way towards the back entrance of the house.

Cassandra chased after the boy. A long sting of curses escaping from mouth. "You little twerp!" How did Vivienne demand to associate with such a low life.

Arianna could hardly stand still, she had been waiting for the trip to become interesting and lets face it. She always loved snooping in people's private belongings. She entered through the back door. She found herself in the kitchen. Such a boring place to start she thought as she picked up a left out spoon just to let it slip out of her fingers with a metallic clatter. Despite liking to snoop, she did not have a sneaky bone in her body.

June stood outside the house, what a boring job she had. Despite the woman's attitude and her dislike for her it still felt wrong to be digging through her things. She was especially worried about ruining Vivienne's trust. Alas, she was outnumbered and she stood awkwardly outside hoping it would take Cassandra awhile to return.

Tony laughed as he ran from the woman, leading her through the garden that sat outside the mansion. He made sure to keep just barely in site so the hag didn't think she had lost him and that she might possibly stand a chance of catching him. But of course that was never going to happen. If there was one thing he was good at it was running away and getting out of trouble. If he could just lead the wailing woman out into the streets he would be able to keep her busy for at least an hour or two. That should give the group enough time to poke around, if they acted quickly.

“Arianna.” Roel whispered harshly over to the girl, he motioned for her to come to him with a wave of his hand. The woman was out of the house but he wasn’t sure who all would be running around, they needed to be stealthy and by the way Arianna practically marched over to him worried him. He gave Shaheen a look that told him he would be the babysitter. Hopefully he would be able to keep her quit on their search. The otter gave him an annoyed look but jumped onto the girls shoulders as she got close. “I don’t think we are going to find anything about a beast in the kitchen. We should look for a study, or library, or even the woman’s bedroom. Places people would hide things.”

Cassandra made sure to stay on the boy. If she couldn't catch him she would definitely be visiting his mother tonight.

Arianna rolled her eyes at the otter's suggestion "I know that." She groaned "This was just the nearest door." In all honesty she was hoping to maybe score some fruit or something. Skipping breakfast was not going to be a mistake she made again. "We should split up. I'll go check the bedroom with this guy I guess." She pointed to the otter who rested on her shoulders and with that suggestion she started out on her own.

It took peeking into multiple doors to finally reach the master bedroom. It was spacious and seemed like another living room, except for the giant king sized bed. It's canopy was a rich silk and it touched the ground. The bedding was a similar fabric and Arianna bobbed her head as she moved closer to it, looking for any possible hints. "I'd be so nervous to sleep on such nice sheets" she whispered to the otter.

Tony ran around a corner and quickly ducked into an open door and found himself in someones living room. A woman's voice echoed its way towards him and he rushed through the kitchen and through the back door. HA! That woman won't find him now.

"Why?" Shaheen didn't understand about sheets and beds, last night was the first time he had really slept in one. He guessed it was nice, but no where near as soft as the clouds he usually rested on after a long flight.

Cassandra stopped at the door and banged on it waiting for the resident to come out. She was just met by another angry woman who initiated a screaming match with the already tired woman.

"Because silly. Why pay so much for something so trivial. What if you got a stain on them?" Arianna moved to the night stand and began pushing things around in the drawers. It was hard to snoop when you don't know what to look for. "Get off my shoulder and help lazy"

Tony celebrated his small victory as he ran back towards the mansion. He would have to warn the group that medusa would be returning home soon. And not in a good mood.

Shaheen stretched and hopped down onto the bed. As soon as his small paws hit the gentle fabric he knew why they bought them. He suddenly found himself wanting to roll on the plush comforter, and what god didnt give into their own desires. Flopping back, all feet in the air he squirmed around, "why do we sleeping the ground when we could be sleeping on this?"

Arianna glanced back at him and laughed "We don't sleep on that because your little buddy doesn't want to pay for luxury." She said curtly. Ari picked up a necklace and held it up to the light that trickled in from outside and with a wistful sigh she murmured "I wish I could live like this."

Underneath the otter's feet there was a slight shift in the fabric accompanied by a soft groan. Arianna quickly dropped the delicate chain necklace she was holding and whipped her head around quickly. "Was that you, Shaheen?" She whispered harshly, the panic rising in her voice. 

There was another soft groan and it became very apparent that it was not coming from the otter. "C-cassandra?" a raspy voice called out.

Shaheen was back on the girls shoulder in a flash. Not cuz he was scared of course. Just surprised. "That is not a little girl sound." He looked over the bed, all the cushion made it hard to see a form underneath. "Let's get out of here."

"Cassie, dear" the raspy voice strained out before pushing away a mass of covers from his face finally revealing the older man who lay snuggled underneath. He had a thick peppered beard and small beady eyes which struggled to make out the two forms in front of him.

Ari's body tensed and she stood immobile as his eyes fell on her "oh no! I'm just the maid!" She chimed cheerily and pretended to dust off the dresser.

Shaheen stretched himself around her neck, hoping to play off as a scarf.

Roel had searched through several rooms but found nothing. He decided to go round up arianna and see if she had found anything.

The man nodded, he was too tired and out of it to begin to dispute the fact. "Is my wife around?" He murmured as his eyes darted across the room.

"Uh, no. She went out to...run..some errands!" Ari nodded enthusiastically but stopped and paused when the man motioned her over. She hesitantly stepped closer him.

"Come here, girl" once she stood before him he motioned her closer down and she obliged but made sure to keep enough distance from him.

The man groaned as he twisted more onto his side and quickly snatched out and grabbed her shirt and jerked her face close to his. Startled, Ari cried out. "You need to stop my wife" He spoke quietly and dangerously his grip tightened on Arianna's shirt as she struggled to pull back. "Almost every night she leaves our bed" he seethed through clenched teeth, pain shot up through his side. The wound that he had received from the beast had split open again and he reached to clutch the quickly moistening bandages.

Ari stumbled back and crossed her arms over her chest "I-I'll send a nurse!" she stammered her voice strained with fear and she turned quickly and sprinted out of the room. 


Cassandra was quickly making her way back home. She was irritated, no livid that she had let that little brat of a boy get away with shattering her window. He had absolutely no respect and she would make absolutely sure that Vivienne would have no further contact with the wretch. She lifted her dress and groaned at the tattered hem of it. Oh, he would pay.

Shaheen had perched up as Ari ran away from the door, watching the door that they had just flew through. Had the injured human been scared as he spoke about his wife? It seemed their search had only brought up more questions for the little otter.

Roel was shocked as Arianna barreled into his chest. He grabbed her shoulders to keep her steady and looked down at her worried, "Whoa. What happened?"

Tony made it to the mansion and waved as he saw June standing outside. "Heey! Better round up your buddies! The witch is coming back!"

Arianna flinched when Roel grabbed her shoulders, she peeked one amethyst eye up at him before fully meeting his gaze. "Oh Roel!" She exclaimed and rested her hands on his arms. "It's definitely Cassandra!" She frowned and looked down, trying to figure out what to tell him next. Her gaze shot back and capturing his more intensely this time. "We just met vivienne's father." She swallowed hard and shook her head, her orange waves falling about. "He was hurt really bad roel." She loosened her grip on him and pulled back and motioned down the full length of her side. "He had a giant wound. At least this big" She looked to the otter to confirm her story. She looked back to roel with a more somber expression and clasped her hands together woefully "and he was really scared too...terrified even"

June pushed herself from the wall once she spotted tony running towards them. "Right." She nodded as she hurried towards the house. "Thanks again for the help! Well be seeing you soon again I'm sure!" She waved and disappeared into the house. Searching for her small group.

"Whoa what?" The girl had been speaking so quickly in her terror that he wasn't sure what she was talking about. "What is definitely Cassandra?" The girl had found something but it didn't look like it was going to be good news.

"She's the demon?" Shaheen asked Arianna and told Roel at the same time. He wasn't sure of it himself but by how scared the man was of her wife it seemed the only answer. "but how could a human gain such powers? She is not a demon, I would have been able to sense that. So something is turning her into one."

"Right!" Tony watched as the girl went in after her friends and a dark smile spread across his small features before he dissapeared into the gardens.