... (itendsinfire) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-09-06 12:14:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, caius, caius x reagan, reagan |
Who: Reagan and Caius
Where: Out
When: Late night, Tuesday June 19
Warning: Death
Status: Complete
Reagan wasn’t sure what time it was when she woke up. The room was still dark, moonlight hidden by the drawn curtains. Still, Reagan could see just fine despite the lack of light and she slid out of bed, moving instantly to the bedroom door to slip out. It was time again and she felt Westin’s presence inside her head, guiding her down the stairs.
Her promise to tell Caius the next time she felt the urge to leave was forgotten. Caius himself wasn’t even a blip in her mind as her focus was on one thing and one thing alone. All that she could think and feel was magic. It was winding through her body, promising even more power. To Reagan, it was like she was drifting through a dream, handing over the reins of her body to another, someone much more powerful than she was.
Caius hadn’t been sure it would work when he instructed the Obscurities to wake him if Reagan left their bedroom in the middle of the night. He was still working out how well their memories worked. But this command seemed to stick, and he was pulled right out of dreams and into the waking world with a jolt. Caius sat up, disoriented for a few seconds, then realized Reagan’s side of the bed was empty and the bedroom door was open. He scrambled out of bed and rushed to pull on a pair of joggers and a t-shirt he’d left within easy reach, just in case.
“Reagan?” he called as he thumped down the stairs. “Rea?” Caius caught up to her just as she reached the front door. Her eyes were open and she looked awake, but she didn’t even look at him when he stepped up beside her. He put a firm hand on her arm and said her name again.
Reagan heard the voice in a distant sort of way, but it didn't deter her. Her hand was already on the doorknob and she was unlocking it when she felt a hand on her arm. Glancing at it, she blinked and looked up at Caius. There was perhaps a flicker of recognition in her eyes but it faded quickly as she pulled away from him and opened the door to step outside. She couldn't be distracted by anything, or anyone. Reagan had somewhere to be and she needed to be home before the sun rose.
Her eyes were pretty blank when she looked at him, and it gave Caius an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It didn’t really look like sleepwalking or that Reagan was in a trance, more like she just wasn’t really the one driving. He knew that it was happening again, but Caius still hesitated for a couple of heartbeats before he followed her out onto the front porch and grabbed her arm again, with a tighter grip this time. “Reagan, wake up,” he said sharply. He supposed he had the moral obligation to at least try to intervene, just in case this night turned into murder again. “Stop.”
Caius's voice once again sounded like it was so far away from her, even though he was so close in proximity. Reagan ignored him until the hand was on her arm again and his intention was clear. He wanted to stop her. Her focus was on one thing and one thing only and it seemed incomprehensible to her that anyone would dare get in her way. Rage swirled around in her gut and temper flashed in her otherwise dull eyes as she grabbed his hand, her magic, her fire surging through her fingertips to burn his skin. If he didn't let her go she would have to hurt him in a much more painful way than this. The burn was merely a warning. "Let go," she demanded darkly.
There was something both terrifying and incredibly sexy about the way she looked at him, but Caius didn’t have much time to admire it before pain was shooting up his arm. It wasn’t bad, but it was startling -- Reagan had never burned him on purpose before. He let out a hiss and pulled his hand back, shaking it a bit as he gave her an indignant frown. She really was committed to this when she was in the middle of it, wasn’t she? Caius looked at his palm to make sure it wasn’t blistering or anything. At least he’d made an attempt, right? No one could say he didn’t try to prevent a death ... he couldn’t very well let Reagan set him on fire, could he?
He didn't attempt to grab her again so Reagan left him there, walking across the yard in her bare feet. He could follow or stay home where it would be safe. Either way, she was continuing. Reagan knew where she needed to go and yet the distance didn't bother her. Before she knew it, she would be home and back in her bed, a new source of magic merging with the rest. Caius would be proud of her - it didn't quite register that she had just burned him. He understood better than anyone that sometimes unpleasant things had to happen in order to meet a goal.
Caius wasn’t completely opposed to what she was doing. It was powerful and fascinating and if he was being honest, he wanted to see it. Experience that shift of magical power himself. He turned and jogged back into the house, stuffing his feet into a pair of sneakers that were handy close to the door. Caius tugged the front door shut on his way back out and ran to catch up with his wife. His steps slowed as he reached her, panting lightly and glancing around them. It was the dead of night, there didn’t seem to be anyone else outside. As he fell into step beside Reagan, Caius turned on his Obscurities vision just to keep a better eye out. He looked over at her, tempted to try to talk to her again, but already aware how fruitless that would be. He just had to witness now. Witness and protect her if she needed it and clean up afterward. “I’m with you,” he murmured after a moment. Useless or not, he wanted to say it. “I just had to try, but I’m with you.”
Reagan became aware of Caius's presence again, but he wisely kept his hands to himself this time. Looking over at him as he spoke, she could feel his support through the haze of not quite being in control of herself. If he wanted to watch, he could watch. In fact, the idea of Caius witnessing what she could do was thrilling in a dulled sort of way. But her thoughts were overwhelmed again by reaching her destination and she looked away from him again to watch the street ahead of them. It took a good twenty minutes before they reached the right neighborhood. The street was quiet and Reagan looked up at the street lamps that lined the road. Lifting her hand, she squeezed her fingers into a fist, causing the glass of three of the lamps to shatter, plunging part of the street into darkness. The house she headed for was dark as well and Reagan knew Westin would have made sure no one inside would be awake to surprise her when she entered. As Reagan stepped up onto the porch of the home, she reached for the door and then looked over at Caius again. "You can leave if you want to. You don't have to see this."
He stayed right at her side, making note of where they were going. Caius had to smile faintly at her trick with the streetlights, mildly impressed by the attention to detail while she was possessed or tranced out or whatever was happening. His main concern was protecting her from being seen, so he appreciated the darkness as they approached the house. Caius didn’t know who it belonged to, but he knew he would remember the address. He stopped on the top step as Reagan spoke to him again. Her voice was her own, but she still didn’t quite sound like herself, it was a bit unnerving. He shook his head a little. “If I didn’t want to see it, I wouldn’t have come,” he said simply. He was there to help her, but he knew she didn’t need his help for this part, so he didn’t say so. Caius was taking on a supporting role for once, and he was finding it more exciting than he would’ve thought. He just hoped that Reagan would be able to remember that he was on her side once it all started, and not drain him.
Reagan left it at that and opened the door to the quiet home. As soon as she stepped inside, she forgot about Caius tagging along to witness what was about to happen. Instead, she headed for the stairs, moving with a quiet grace that seemed almost unnatural. Things went dark in her mind like she was falling asleep even as she moved. Slipping into the third bedroom down the hall, Reagan padded across the carpeted floor to the foot of the bed where a female form was sleeping. Lifting her hands abruptly, Reagan yanked the blankets down, startling the woman beneath them awake.
There was no time for her to scream, or to even tap into her own magic to protect herself or fight back. Reagan's eyes turned white, her fingers curling into fists much as they had to destroy the lights outside. The temperature in the room rose, becoming stifling hot to everyone but Reagan. Even as she was thrust back against the mattress, the woman grabbed at her mouth, where blood began to seep through her fingers. Magic swirled between them and Reagan closed her eyes, lifting her fists up higher and prompting the woman to arch unnaturally, hands falling away from her mouth. Blood and teeth fell from between her lips, her own eyes as pale and white as Reagan's. Reagan's strength lifted her from the bed and the stolen magic began to burn inside of her, merging with her power.
Her eyes flashed with fire before returning to normal. The woman's body fell to the mattress with a dull thud, the blank, white eyes open, staring at nothing. Blood was already drying on her lips and Reagan moved silently to the bed, gathering the discarded teeth in one swipe of her hand. The heat in the room faded and Reagan began to walk away from the bed, towards the bedroom door and the hall leading to the stairs. Fire swirled in her gut, desperate to project and find relief. But she held it in, aware that setting fire to the house would draw attention before she was ready for it.
Caius had followed Reagan into the house and up the stairs of the quiet house, watching his wife move through the space like a ghost. He stopped in the bedroom doorway to watch what she did with wide, awed eyes. The instant she began, goosebumps rushed all over his body and the hair on his arms rose. The power in the room grew and grew, giving Caius shivers down his spine and tingles in his extremities. Inside of him, the Obscurities swirled and bubbled and got excited, but Caius kept them in check -- this didn’t need to be any more complicated than it already was.
Watching Reagan take that magic into herself was the closest thing to a spiritual experience that Caius had ever had. By the time it was over, his heart was thundering in his chest and every nerve felt extra sensitive and alive. He was even half hard when he stepped out of Reagan’s way as she exited the bedroom, though that didn’t feel at all important at the moment. Caius could already sense the way her magic had amplified, shifted. He didn’t try to speak to her, just started following her again. She still had that blank, distant look, and he wasn’t sure she was even aware that he was still there.
Reagan had no sense of Caius's presence until she had stepped out onto the porch. It was his magic that caught her attention, dark and compelling. And something else. Entities living inside of him, controlled by his power. Reagan whirled around to face him, staring blankly into his face. The bloody teeth in her palm bit into her skin as she tightened her fist around them. The temptation to take those entities into herself, to draw the darkness into her, was great. It would be orgasmic in a way that she hadn't experienced before. But deep in her gut, Reagan knew it wasn't time yet. She needed to retreat, return home and let the magic she had taken find its new home in her blood. So she stepped back from him and turned to walk down the steps of the porch, walking across the lawn to the sidewalk.
"It was fire," Reagan murmured to him, as her mind began to settle. "I feel like I could burn this entire town to the ground if I wanted to."
The look that Reagan pinned him with gave Caius a chill, and for a moment he was sure that his teeth were going to join the set gripped in Reagan’s hand. It was a surprisingly erotic feeling, colored with the kind of fear that he very rarely felt. Then she seemed to change her mind, and Caius followed her off of the porch and into the front yard. He stayed close enough to hear her quiet words, and nodded a little at what she said. Caius could sense the fiery power radiating off of her, and he was sure it was taking work to keep it contained. “I’m sure you could,” he murmured back, not sure if she even cared for a response or not. He wasn’t going to be condescending and ask her not to, but Caius did hope that she didn’t decide to go through with it. They didn’t need that sort of trouble on their hands.
"Maybe I will one day," she said, almost as an afterthought. Without this magic, she would have been a little chilly, walking along the street this late in her pajamas. But with the extra fire, she felt nothing but heat. Reagan could have stripped naked and been warm. Inhaling the fresh air, a smile played at her lips, but she said nothing more. Power meant sacrifice. Caius knew that. And Reagan understood it now too. She would be his equal, at least for a little while. It wasn't until they had neared Black Cove that Reagan's mind seemed to clear and Westin's presence faded to nothing more than a distant thought. She exhaled and looked over at Caius before opening her palm to see the teeth. "You came with me," she said, bringing her gaze up to her husband again. He hadn't stopped her. The teeth were proof of that.
Maybe Reagan would burn the town down someday. If she did, Caius hoped that he would be right there by her side, his considerable magic intact. He walked with her silently until they were close to home and Reagan spoke again. Caius looked over with one thick brow raised, and realized that she looked more like his wife again. His gaze ticked down to the small bits of white on her palm before coming back up to her face. He nodded slightly. “I did,” Caius murmured softly. “And I’m going to take care of the mess, once you’re settled at home.” Now was the perfect time to test the enchantment he’d put on Adrian Moretti, to see if he’d woven the magic right to have his own personal clean up crew. He hadn’t expected to have to use the wendigo so soon, but this wasn’t the sort of thing one could plan for, he supposed. Since Reagan seemed to be herself again, he reached out to lay his hand gently on her arm. “How are you feeling?”
Reagan slowed and turned toward Caius. "I feel okay," she said after a moment of thought. "A little sluggish, mentally. I remember a lot more of this one than I do the first." She took a deep breath and glanced towards their house. "I just want to go to sleep. What are you going to do?" He said he was going to take care of the mess, but now she worried about him. What if he was caught, or someone saw him around the house? Reagan supposed she ought to know what Caius had up his sleeve, but she was starting to feel groggy and desperate for rest now that it was growing difficult to think properly. Not to mention she wanted to get rid of the teeth in her hand.
He could see her energy fading before his eyes, in spite of the way her magic was still glowing, and Caius leaned in to kiss her temple. “I’m going to use the wendigo,” he murmured to her. “So she’ll just disappear.” He had told her how he’d bound Adrian, but he couldn’t blame her for not remembering right off hand. She had been through a lot. Caius peered at her face again. “Do you want me to come in with you? Or think you’re okay?” he asked quietly. He would be happy to tuck her in and make sure she was comfortable, but this body did need to be taken care of quickly, and he didn’t know how long it would take Adrian to reach the house.
Oh, right. The wendigo. Reagan wanted to push through the impending exhaustion and go back with Caius to watch the man under her husband's thumb. But she knew she didn’t have the energy for it, not tonight. “I’ll be okay,” Reagan murmured. “I need to take a shower and then sleep. Will you be okay?” She didn’t doubt that Caius could handle himself, or the wendigo, but it was impossible not to worry that something could go wrong, or that someone might see them.
“Of course I will,” Caius told her with a smile that held all the confidence in the world. He didn’t even have to get too close to the house when he went back. He could call Adrian to him, give him his assignment, then watch from a safe distance -- or just through the Obscurities -- to make sure the job got done. Easy. At least in theory. But if something went wrong, Caius would take care of it, as always. He dipped in closer to press a soft kiss against her lips. “I’ll be back soon, love. Get some rest.”
Reagan nodded, her empty hand gripping his waist for a moment before she let him go. As tired as she was, she didn't think she would be able to truly rest until Caius was home and she knew he was all right. That was more important to her than covering up her crime. Crime. The word swirled around in her head, along with so many other thoughts, but she had no desire to sit and truly think on any of them at the moment. She just wanted to climb into a hot shower, wash this night from her body, and slip into her bed. "I love you," she said, bringing her hand up to cup his cheek briefly. "Be safe."
“I love you too,” Caius said, covering her hand with his own while it was there. He smiled at her, and it felt genuine. The night had contained the premature death of another witch, but it still felt like they had accomplished something great. Well, that Reagan had accomplished something great. Caius was just going to take care of the back end of it for her. He kissed his powerful, gorgeous wife once more, then turned to walk away, back in the direction they had come from, his mind turning toward what he had to do next to call his bound monster to him.