[TheSpooks] A conversation in daylight. A restaurant set somewhere in High Society England. The voice of an imposing man discusses with another. He wipes his mouth with a beige serviette and places it down upon a table. His pinky is embroidered with a gold ring, a ring engraved with the letter "M." -- "I take it that things are running according to plan?" "Yes, professor. The undertaking should be occuring as we speak." A young man in navy blue coat with a white cravat sat facing away from him, juxtaposed by another table. +\par 10:48:17 [TheSpooks] Elsewhere, in North London, at St. James Park. A procession is being led underway. There are guards in typical English fashion lining the street leading up to the winter-powdered turf. Caskets are carried by the myriad toward the park grounds. They are drawn to honour the dead. Women veiled in black follow with their offspring, perhaps the widows of of the departed. The procession makes way into the park. At the Eastern-central end, between a grove of Orme trees is a burial space. A crank is readied with diggers to lower them inside the grave.\par 10:53:37 WalterElric followed the sombre march towards the burial grounds, his own livery as bleak as the sky and as dark as the thoughts of the weeping widows, orphans and loved ones. He moved steadily onward, the bruising of his broken nose and black eye a shade better, though still rather visible and he moved all the more stiffly from his healing ribs, which was not as pleasant an experience with his hobbled leg. Still, his can supported him rather well, and he moved along with the mourners with his usual straight-backed dignity. He was here to pay his respects to a friend, after all, and he'd stay around to pay his respects personally.\par 11:04:58 [Elsie] Was no stranger to mourning. Her attire black, not just because of the current situation but due to her own. Her husband\rquote s death had been a shocking situation and was still less than a year old. Though that date was soon coming. The sombre regalia of those who also followed the grief-stricken were matched to her own. Her dress fit perfectly, the style and cut obvious that she was one of money. The tall top hat upon her neatly piled raven hair, with a black veil of that hung over the front, transparent, yet hiding the features of her face, save for ruby lips that were naturally colored. Her slender form seemed almost delicate, yet the was a decided strength to the figure who moved along side Walter. Soft leather gloves, equally black covered her hand, while she used the cane at her side as she walked. It was a time for inner solace and pain that had --\par 11:05:04 [Elsie] filled her, with the subtle reminders of this -- this happening to herself. Though, she\rquote d come along way since the time of her husband\rquote s death. She felt stronger for having suffered the loss. There were little words to be said, knowing those that were being buried were part of the ongoing war between the Walpurgists and the rest of the World. Victims in a time where life was already dangerous enough without adding the seedy darkness that lay hide behind the wall of secrecy. For a moment, her eyes flittered to the park - The Primrose Garden, known only to the Society, an underground bunker hidden from the sight of the Mundane. . It was here that the vampires were specifically dealt with, removed. Killed. Tortured. Whatever was necessary to gather and learn more about them. A shiver rippled down her spine, recalling her husband at his time of change. But she quickly brushed the thoughts aside, and focused on the situation at hand.\par 11:14:40 [Murray] Daylight. It was the most unpleasant feeling, the burn that irritated her hands and face. She tilted her umbrella in the sun\rquote s direction and took refuge in a dress shop around the corner. \ldblquote How may I help you, dear,\rdblquote called the shop owner as the bell settled to a stop. The angry red that scarred her hands was still fading when Mina turned to address the woman. The familiar tightness of a fake smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. \ldblquote I think I\rquote ll just have a look around,\rdblquote she replied sweetly. The elder woman grinned back at her pretty customer, \ldblquote Alright love, let me know if you need anything.\rdblquote Mina turned and the smile disappeared instantaneously. She faced the street, feigning interest in a pair of shoes in the store window. A funeral procession marched through the square. There were a few choice \ldblquote celebrities\rdblquote in the crowd \endash or at least they were (some of them) known to her kind.\par 11:14:44 [Murray] \ldblquote Ouch!\rdblquote The old woman had cried from behind the counter. Mina swallowed hard and turned to hide her face. In a few moments they would be gone, and she could be on her way, but the scent of blood. She felt her tongue grow thick in her mouth. Eyes rolled back and fangs slid loose. Gripping the corner of a shelf of linen shirts, Mina\rquote s knuckles turned stark at the failing attempt at curbing her appetite. The shop owner seemed to notice. \ldblquote Dear? Are you alright?\rdblquote She could hear the woman moving out from behind the counter to approach. \ldblquote I\rquote m fine, miss,\rdblquote she hissed through sharp canines, \ldblquote Just having a bit of lady troubles. It will pass.\rdblquote Mina hoped that the woman might give her space, but she wasn\rquote t going to count on it\'85\par 11:23:37 [Roderick_Bain] Death is a fact of life, one with which Roderick contends with on an almost daily basis. It is fitting that he be chosen to lead the procession, and perhaps fortunate, as well. Beneath the drawn caskets are souls he could not reach in time, souls tainted and blackened by darkness he has no cure for now. Grimly does Roderick proceed, marching to a dirge only he hears. There is something else, though, something of which he is alerted by the part of him he tries to keep separate from his own identity. There are damned souls here. It is knowledge that pains and worries him. As the procession halts at the park, Roderick turns to face the mourners, his stony expression seeming to reflect the current mood of the mourners. 'For as much as it has pleased almighty God of His great mercy to take unto Himself the souls of the departed, we therefore commit their bodies to the earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.' He speaks the words with a particular feeling, not as a man +\par 11:24:02 [Roderick_Bain] performing a rote ritual, but as someone having a very real and urgent need for those words to be true. As each casket is lowered into the ground, he watches in grim silence, walking to stand behind each grave as he does so. Secretly, he marks the dirt behind certain graves with his feet that he might easily find them again at need. Why? For...reasons.\par 11:37:33 [TheSpooks] Below the second story of the Parisian-style building was a newsboy out in the cold. He used a gatsby cap with ear flaps sown in beneath to keep him from the cold. He held up a newspaper to those who passed by. "Hot off the press! Mid-day procession led for those mourning the loss of loved ones! Rumours of further victims of The Spooks abound! Hot off the press! - Ah. Th-thank you, sir. That'll be five pence. Yes sir. Thank you sir." The boy exchanged paper for coin with the passing gentleman, unfolded another stack of paper from beneath his arm and held up the folds. "Extra, extra!" +\par 11:37:43 [TheSpooks] Above, in the Parisian building, a classy restaurant for High Class Englishfolk and those of the gentry classes, the professor continued in a small soliloquy. "Soon the world will know what it means to face a faceless enemy. In passing, the very traitors to the cause could be mother, father, brother, sister, and for what? For the transcendence of the retrograde social class system. For the inevitable economic exchange of an antequated order for the new. I can hear the drums of destiny, my friends." The professor smiled. "It began with that little dwarf Napolean and the French, and that is why we gather here. For what began in France continues here, in the greatest empire the world has ever seen, in mother England. Soon, it will go to Germany, and to Russia, and I daresay to the new world in America as well." +\par 11:37:54 [TheSpooks] "And we, my faithful friends, shall be there to line our pockets and play the game for what it is: chess; we shall recline in our armchairs in the safety of our homes and know that the world belongs in the hands of those game masters who've rightly deserved to own it all along." He raised a chesspiece, a pawn. And smiled. "Thank you." Applause. +\par 11:40:31 [TheSpooks] A ways away, a Vicar led procession into the park. Workers lower with pulley and rope the caskets into the ground. Unseen by the crowd, there is a tunnel waiting for each one below as it is lowered into the dark. Drawn from the shafts of light below into the shadows, those in the caskets begin to rise. An ultimate affront to the living above. The Spooks have brought the loved ones of those above, of Walter, of Elsie, back to life. They proceed, with others, down the line towards a wall. On the other end of the wall, a hidden hall, and there at the end of that, a bunker. Above ground, what the mourning do not see is that the children of the widows do not weep. No, they do not weep, but their finely stitched, monstrous and puppet like faces contort into sickly smiles. Upsetting the Vicar's sermon, they begin a song: "Ring around the rosie, pocket full of posies. Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down!" The children attack their mothers.\par 11:48:15 WalterElric stood before the graves, attended by Roderick. He made a sign of the cross himself, removing his hat before doing so. \ldblquote O God, by Whose mercy the faithful departed find rest, send Your holy angel to watch over this grave, through Christ our Lord. Amen.\rdblquote His wandering gaze flickered towards the other gathered folk; noted friends and acquaintances, colleagues. When he placed his hat back atop his head, he gave Elsie he barest of nods and one to Roderick as well. But it was the children that had his attention. He hadn't seen their faces clearly, what with their hats on or other things that concealed their faces. As they began to sing in unison, however, his instincts began to scream at him instead of niggling at the back of his mind.\par 11:48:19 WalterElric twisted the top of his cane, the spring loaded steel popping up for him to draw the two feet of blessed silver, the 'sheathe' solid steel that he gripped in his free hand. Cursing his lack of proper armaments, he shuffled along quickly towards his superior officer, hacking at any of the children that got in his way or attacked any nearby civilians.\par 12:04:05 [Elsie] Instinct alone had given her warning, deep within the gut that something would happen. Despite her visions of what \ldblquote was to be\rdblquote , there was something very unsettling about the scene as things began to slowly unfold. Her eyes on the caskets, that venerable pull toward protection, fight. React hurtled her into action. From the moment the children began to attack their mothers, she reached toward her own cane, which in turn as she twisted the knob she removed a small lady\rquote s pistol made specifically for her. Cane remaining in one hand to use as one weapon, the gun was held within the other with the bullets of silver marked for those who were deserving of such a death. But these children were not Vampires - no. They were something else. Risen dead, Ghouls. Magically raised, and far from a mindless zombie. The Mothers were screaming and tried to run. In the chaos, Elsie used it to her advantage as her lips began to move behind the veil that --\par 12:04:15 [Elsie] covered her face. The cane in her hand began to shiver, the silver of which soon began to heat, and from the neck of the cane held just below her hand did she press a small button. From the bottom of the case, a flame was lit as she motioned through the crowd toward the children. Elric was well on his way to beating many of them, but they needed to be contained in some manner so that Elsie\rquote s spell of containment would work. Using the cane, she prodded it against ech of the ghouls, aiming directly to literally \ldblquote herd\rdblquote them into a position within the park. From below, within the bunker of Primrose Garden, other Walpurgists began to arrive, while in the distance, Scotland Yard was on it\rquote s way. All as such, Lady Buchanan\rquote s lips were ever reciting the words of a spell learned so very long ago.\par 12:18:57 Roderick_Bain continues his surreptitious marking of certain graves - the very ones the Spooks intend to defile - up to the point where the children begin their eerie song and reveal themselves for the monsters that they are. Unlike the others, though, Roderick is armed with naught but his faith...and a dirty little secret. You could end this, you know. They're all sinners. That voice in his mind is not his own. 'Almighty God, I pray You spare us from evil,' he says aloud, seemingly not worried for his own safety among the ghouls. Why beg like a sheep? You're the shepherd. That much is true; others look to him for protection from these threats. Letting the others handle the ersatz children, Roderick continues marking the graves of the tainted corpses - information holy warriors like these would likely want to know. You should be with them. Are you not a soldier for God? Roderick shakes his head to clear his mind. It is entirely true that Roderick is not helpless, but now is decidedly +\par 12:19:25 [Roderick_Bain] not the time to demonstrate that, not while other capable warriors are on the scene.\par 12:20:24 [Murray] The old woman\rquote s steps didn\rquote t falter or change direction; they merely slowed to a comforting creep toward the girl. \ldblquote My dear, you should have a rest. I\rquote ll make you a cup of tea an-\rdblquote Mina cut her off before she could finish, raising a hand to stop her, \ldblquote Please, I just need a moment.\rdblquote The shop owner held a breath and pursed her lips, \ldblquote Alright.\rdblquote She sighed and turned away, \ldblquote Let me know if you change your mind, love.\rdblquote Mina opened her eyes slowly, tongue darting out to wet her lips. She shook as she stood, gulping down the urge to turn and maul the woman like a wild animal. Instead, she brushed her dress with her hands and turned to leave. Her umbrella popped open quickly, and she made to escape the boutique prison. Little did she know, a horde of ghoulish children were on a murderous rampage against the Walpurgists and their loved ones. No spook would be able to roam the city freely ever again.\par 12:35:10 [TheSpooks] The children fought with menacing speed and agility. They had attacked like little acrobats, puppets on strings. They darted in, dove, slashed with elongated fingernails. Slowly, their mauled their mothers -- but were pulled off. The crowd had dispersed, leaving the Walpurgists to battle the undead. It was odd to note that the children kept free of the priest. Something about him, something, kept them at bay, leaving a wide girth of space to him. One child that Elric had managed to boot down near to Roderick's feet turned to look up at him with a snarl. Uncertainty instantly crossed its face. It keened, then turned back to embattle the others once again. Was this the power of Holy God? +\par 12:35:38 [TheSpooks] Elsie's silver bullets blew holes into the bodies of the ghouls, causing entire regions of their forms to grow inneffective. Flame scorched them beyond death, stripping shrill screams from their childlike lungs. High pitch cries rolled about the park. Children tried to scratch Elric and Elsie, to bite them, and they perhaps only found themselves slightly more effective against the hobbling ex-soldier rather than the witch. Fire, it seemed, drew a deep terror within them, slowly coralling them together. They backed away, now together, as a group. +\par 12:35:38 [TheSpooks] Elsie's silver bullets blew holes into the bodies of the ghouls, causing entire regions of their forms to grow inneffective. Flame scorched them beyond death, stripping shrill screams from their childlike lungs. High pitch cries rolled about the park. Children tried to scratch Elric and Elsie, to bite them, and they perhaps only found themselves slightly more effective against the hobbling ex-soldier rather than the witch. Fire, it seemed, drew a deep terror within them, slowly coralling them together. They backed away, now together, as a group. +\par 12:37:03 [TheSpooks] St. Augustine proposed that there were two cities, both under siege of dark forces. One had been a visible city, and the other invisible. Likewise, below, another war was being waged. The tunnel shook the ground as a dynamite stick blew open the passage into the hidden Primrose Garden of the Walpurgist. Ghouls and vampires, the living dead, charged in and began to slaughter guards and workers who had been caught unawares. One or two agents had been there, and fought back, but the larger numbers hadn't been there to battle them... No. Lumbering behind, the workers who'd dug the tombs came in carrying an entire crate full of dynamite sticks. A handsome Englishman slashed down one of the vampires with a blessed sword. He peered forth and saw what the workers had been carrying. He looked back at a bewildered, traumatized set of doctors. "RUN!" He screamed. A ghoul jumped upon him and bit his shoulder. He grunted in agony. Would it be too late?\par 12:44:34 WalterElric cursed aloud at the nimble wretched creatures that danced around him. He knew his injury made him less effective in combating them but it hardly stopped him. \ldblquote Madame!\rdblquote Walter lifted an arm, shielding himself from the wave of heat that came from one of Elsie's fiery blasts, the stench of burning flesh and fresh blood filling his nose. \ldblquote The graves! Herd them into the graves!\rdblquote A sharp pain dug itself into his bad leg as a tiny hand, clawed and strong, dug nails into it. With a series of rabif, vicious blows, Walter hammered the steel rod of his cane against the things face once, twice, thrice until bone began to break. Pain was beginning to catch him, and his broken ribs screamed in agony, his breathing very labored. It seemed that wash of adrenaline was beginning to wear off. Face pale and bloody, he limped painfully towards Elsie and Roderick.\par 12:54:17 [Elsie] Specifically created for he, with her own ideas and suggestions, her cane was a veritable weapon against the supernatural in a number of ways. Taking the way of lighting Gas Lamps as lamp lighters did at night, the flame was enough to scare the Ghouls into a cornered crevice of the Graves using he binding spell she recited to effectively hold them in place. At first, they were a something to deal with \ldblquote later\rdblquote though quickly the realization that the Ghouls were merely a front soon came to mind. A cover for something far bigger that the Spooks had planned. \ldblquote Damned Klaus!\rdblquote she muttered between her lips as she glanced toward Elric and others who were running (hobbling) from the hidden bunker. Primrose had been discovered. But How!? it had been hidden for centuries and as all Gardens, they were only known to Walpurgists, and those entailed by secrecy with the Society. There was only one way this could --\par 12:54:23 [Elsie] have happened and the thought deep inside her riveted her with guilt. A Mole. Perhaps a certain husband who everyone believed dead, yet, lingered out there now as one of the undead? Had Lord Buchanan sold the Walpurgists to Klaus and his spooks? Or had he disappeared as she truly believed he had. Regardless, she would have to face the guilt later, while this situation occurred. The explosion was earth moving as dirt, steel and other elements were shot into the air by the dynamite that had been planted. There wasn\rquote t enough time or enough of them to save Primrose, or the good men that had worked there. Pain shifted through her as if a part of her own being was sliced away from her. Her ears near burst with the sound that resonated through the air, the force of impact knocking her forward while she tried to make her way toward Roderick and Elric. Crying out, she landed firmly on the ground several feet away, the blast ---\par 12:54:34 [Elsie] having come from behind her. The Ghouls were all effectively killed by this point, the explosion occurring where they had been held. Her eyes closed, the wind was knocked out of her and for a moment, the world went simply black.. Scotland Yard and the good men of the Metropolitan police force had arrived on the scene and were trying to get through the chaos, bodies lay strewn in the massacre that had occurred, the Police having no idea about the Supernatural or who may have caused such destruction. Crowds were gathering while ambulances were being drawn by horses, those who could help moving in to those that were affected by the explosion and more. It was a scene no one would forget. Not for a long time to come.\par 13:18:39 Roderick_Bain is aware only of the battle before him, one that is won, at least for the moment, by fire and blood. The old priest pays careful attention to the two figures who approach him, showing signs of wounds from the creatures. 'I thank God you were here,' offers the old man to the two of them, 'is there ought I can do to assist? I've little skill in medicine, but I can fetch someone to treat those awful wounds....' Why not heal them yourself? Why withhold the gift that God has granted you? Of course there is a reason why Roderick withholds his gift. He looks around, to the arrival of Scotland Yard, surveying the devastation. Such defilement. A holy place, tainted and corrupted. Surely, you will avenge this? Roderick shivers, as if from fright.\par 13:23:33 [TheSpooks] The police come in, along with doctors and cart-pulled crew. Medics run to examine the harmed, officers to subdue the wicked, and inspectors rush in to find clues. It is Roderick alone who stands out oddly before Elsie and Walter. None other purvey the scene. Officers come with blankets and water for the three survivers. They make mention that they will need to come in for questioning. Those who survive are too traumatized to speak. And those who speak, are written off as too traumatized to testify. Children, killing their mothers? Unlikely. As for the explosion - there was no mention of underground passageways - it must have been a bomb that went off and horrified everyone.\par 13:45:59 [Elsie] The pain in her body continued while they were all being cared for. Her mind was still unconscious to the events around her, a voice echoing in her mind from the past comforted her, solace and grief that would hit her when she woke. Those who were injured, including Walter and Elsie would be brought to the Rose Garden - the main stay of the Walpurgist Society but again, only known to those in the society. To anyone else, the main “office” was simply two townhouses next to each other. Rather than one building which was housed within. There in beds in the medical section, Doctors with the Society would be called in to check on their wounds. Roderick, being a known “other” would be invited if he so wished, to be looked upon for injury. Though the Walpurgist’s that were there to help the Police “clean up” the area and situation were reluctant to give the Priest too much information. The Crowds eventually would dissipate, but all those of --- 13:46:48 [Elsie] the Society knew they had been betrayed. This emotion, this feeling lingered with them as they continued to work, arriving on scene to do what they could and investigate. Elsie, placed in a bed beside Walter, would remain unconscious for the time being, though she was sure to wake soon. Word was being spread from one Garden to another. On high alert. Each area being studied meticulisouly for infiltration and the like. They were not going to take any chances.