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Barsoom Tales II: Romance, Revolution and BLOODY REVENGE!!! -- COMPLETE
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<blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 4565408" data-attributes="member: 812"><p><strong>What A Woman's Got To Do: 17</strong></p><p></p><p>"What's going to happen?"</p><p></p><p>Isaac spoke with a degree of nervousness he was unable to conceal. Madame Yuek's offhand response did little to comfort him.</p><p></p><p>"I'm not sure, actually. I've never tried this before."</p><p></p><p>The Saijadani and Etienne stood before the statuesque vampire beneath the great open pagoda of the Blood Council sanctuary. The polished marble floor stretched away on all sides, forming a great square a spearcast or more across, raised up a man's height from the lawn of the Sanctuary. Two opposite sides of the square were open, vast arches that gave on to the rest of the grounds and the ruined city beyond. The other two sides were long arched porticos between rows of sturdy oak pillars. Overhead, the pagoda rose up as a hollow tower, open on the sides and echoing with the moans of the great cloud of souls that whirled over the ruins of Zuyang.</p><p></p><p>Arrafin, her hands drenched in Elena's blood, her face numb with shock, stood next to her lover, barely visible against the Lohanese vampire's outrageous garb. Nevid stood in the shadows of the pillars, still staring down at the ground.</p><p></p><p>Madame Yuek smiled at the two men before her.</p><p></p><p>"But we can assume Shang will come equipped to annhiliate you, so that he will have a clear shot at me."</p><p></p><p>"Do we have to assume that?"</p><p></p><p>"Silence. I'm intoning your doom melodramatically. Now. Hold still."</p><p></p><p>She appeared to do nothing at all, just stand very still. Her hands rose slightly at her sides, and then a nimbus of black energy surged out from her body and slammed into Etienne. It looked to Isaac as though Etienne had suddenly drawn a cloud of black steam into his body. The half-Kishak reeled, fell to his knees and vomited on the marble.</p><p></p><p>"Uh, maybe I don't--"</p><p></p><p>Isaac choked as a black radiance surrounded him and then <em>penetrated</em> his body, sending violent convulsions through him and he found himself on his kness as well, shaking and retching.</p><p></p><p>Energy surged through his limbs. His heart thundered in his chest.</p><p></p><p>"Oh f**k. What have you done to us?"</p><p></p><p>"Interesting. You're not dead. Well, it should still work. I have transferred a portion of my power into your bodies. That should tie your souls more tightly to your bodies, making you harder to kill. There may be some other side effects, as well."</p><p></p><p>"You were willing to kill us?"</p><p></p><p>Madame Yuek laughed, clapping her hands together in girlish delight.</p><p></p><p>"Of course I'm willing to kill you. I'd <em>enjoy</em> killing you. Enough with such foolish questions. You are not invulnerable, but you should be able to withstand a great deal of punishment. Arrafin, darling. We must begin the ritual."</p><p></p><p>Staggering, Isaac and Etienne stepped away from the two women as they joined hands. From behind them the dozen individuals (the "civilians" as Isaac thought of them) who carried the Blood Mother's soul came forward and, together with Nevid, formed a circle around Madame Yuek and Arrafin.</p><p></p><p>After a few steps, Etienne stopped and stared at himself.</p><p></p><p>"I feel good suddenly. Kind of..."</p><p></p><p>"Invincible."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah. I think I can see better. Or react faster. Everything seems to be happening more slowly."</p><p></p><p>"Yeah. I feel..."</p><p></p><p>"Bad-ass."</p><p></p><p>"Absolutely."</p><p></p><p>"Cool. What are we supposed to do?"</p><p></p><p>Isaac shrugged in response to Etienne's question, and turned in a circle, looking for evidence of Shang's impending wrath, almost hoping for something to fight with this new-found power. At first he saw nothing, then stopped.</p><p></p><p>"Maybe you should ask your girlfriend."</p><p></p><p>"Which-- oh. Hi, Sister Torokan."</p><p></p><p>The Blood Sister stood among the pillars alongside the elderly Sister they'd rescued in Luc'Davarionne. Isaac kept his mouth shut as Kimiko and Etienne stared at each other.</p><p></p><p>She spoke first.</p><p></p><p>"You're really going through with this."</p><p></p><p>"Well, yeah. You want the Blood Mother back, right?"</p><p></p><p>Isaac let Etienne and Kimiko talk as his eye was caught by a curious staff in the hands of the older Sister, Morikage. It was an ornate ebony artifact tipped with an enormous emerald.</p><p></p><p>Something about that staff twigged at his memory. Isaac shook his head, unable to place it.</p><p></p><p>"Etienne. Whatever happens, please, stay out of the way. There's nothing you can do here. This is too big."</p><p></p><p>"Boy am I getting tired of hearing that. You know, Matai Shang shows up, I'm going to kick his ass just because everyone's told me how I can't possibly hurt him."</p><p></p><p>"I'm sure your bravado will render you immune to searing flame and acid. Not to mention a vampire's hunger."</p><p></p><p>Etienne snapped just a little.</p><p></p><p>"At least she's trying to do something. As long as I've known you you've skulked around in the shadows. Now this person, who has every reason in the world to be hopeless and insane and just destroy everything, and SHE'S trying to help. Maybe you should stay out of the way, Kimiko. It seems to be all you're good at."</p><p></p><p>The Lohanese woman stared long and hard at Etienne.</p><p></p><p>"I asked you to stay out of the way, Etienne, because of what we once had. But this is bigger than any of us, and what must be done must be done. If you get in the way, I'll cut you down as surely as anyone else."</p><p></p><p>"What the hell does that mean?"</p><p></p><p>The Blood Sisters strode back to the pillars, watching the ritual taking place in the middle of the pagoda floor.</p><p></p><p>Long tendrils of shadowy essence drifted around the circle, filaments reaching into the heads of the assembled civilians. Arrafin and Madame Yuek stared at each other, the still center around which a burgeoning wheel of Shadow began to revolve. At times Isaac thought he could see patterns forming in the inky traceries, but the organizational structures evaporated before he could fully grasp them.</p><p></p><p>Something tremendous was taking place. His body began to shiver, and all his hair rose up from his skin as the Shadow began to concentrate, take form. Now from within Madame Yuek a great black flower opened up, complex petals scintillating with dark radiance, intersecting with the spinning wheel and writhing, twisting, undulating in some unfathomable rhythm Isaac couldn't begin to comprehend.</p><p></p><p>The civilians all stood, shaking, their eyes rolled back in their heads, seemingly supported by shadowy tendrils slipping up and down their bodies and drawing now from their heads a glitter of colour, sapphire gleams in the midst of blackness. Like thousands of gems the sparkling blue nuggets whirled inwards with the motion of the still-spinning wheel, aligning themselves with the flower that now become as sort of web hovering above Madame Yuek.</p><p></p><p>"What. The."</p><p></p><p>Isaac looked on the vampire's face and saw total focus, utter concentration, and he realised she was doing this consciously, manipulating the tremendous network of Shadow and whatever those blue things were, the connections to each of the civilians and the slowly-contracting web of shimmering blue above her.</p><p></p><p>He'd never seen her work hard before, he mused. He wondered how often she ever had to.</p><p></p><p>Slowly the sapphires came together and their brilliance grew as the Shadow began to recede. There was a flash, and suddenly an elderly Lohanese woman was standing beside Madame Yuek and Arrafin.</p><p></p><p>She reached up with a gnarled old hand and stroked the vampire's cheek. She whispered something in Lohanese and Madame Yuek smiled sadly, fondly.</p><p></p><p>And then all hell broke loose.</p><p></p><p>From within the pillars a savage blast of green energy tore across the pagoda, blasting two of the civilians to bloody pieces and slamming into Madame Yuek's chest. The vampire screamed as she was hurled backwards, knocking aside the heavy Hinsuan man who'd tried to stand up to Elena the other night. He crashed face-first into the marble and lay still in a sudden pool of blood. Madame Yuek flew back across the pagoda and slammed into a pillar on the far side, splintering the heavy oak.</p><p></p><p>Like a hose with too much water, the green arc of energy stayed pinned to her torso, writhing and snapping across the breadth of the pagoda to where Kimiko Torokan stood, both feet braced, holding the emerald-tipped staff in front of her. The magic gave off a hideous shrieking, almost drowning out the screams of everyone else in the place.</p><p></p><p>At the same time, at the very moment the strange green power struck the vampire, Isaac reeled as suddenly all the sorcerous power he'd been filled with evaporated, drawn out from him faster than an exhaled breath. His sudden return to his normal state left him feeling weakened, vulnerable. Afraid.</p><p></p><p>And also at the same moment, even as Madame Yuek's invulnerable body pulverised three feet of solid oak, even as that Hinsuan guy whose name only Elena had known died in some foreign place he'd never heard of, even as Arrafin began screaming for the second time in twenty minutes, over all the noise and chaos and terror, Isaac heard laughter.</p><p></p><p>Mocking, savage laughter.</p><p></p><p>Right behind him.</p><p></p><p>He spun to find himself staring up through the arachnid limbs of a mechanical nightmare. In the midst of which sat a hideous laughing madman.</p><p></p><p>Matai Shang had arrived.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="barsoomcore, post: 4565408, member: 812"] [b]What A Woman's Got To Do: 17[/b] "What's going to happen?" Isaac spoke with a degree of nervousness he was unable to conceal. Madame Yuek's offhand response did little to comfort him. "I'm not sure, actually. I've never tried this before." The Saijadani and Etienne stood before the statuesque vampire beneath the great open pagoda of the Blood Council sanctuary. The polished marble floor stretched away on all sides, forming a great square a spearcast or more across, raised up a man's height from the lawn of the Sanctuary. Two opposite sides of the square were open, vast arches that gave on to the rest of the grounds and the ruined city beyond. The other two sides were long arched porticos between rows of sturdy oak pillars. Overhead, the pagoda rose up as a hollow tower, open on the sides and echoing with the moans of the great cloud of souls that whirled over the ruins of Zuyang. Arrafin, her hands drenched in Elena's blood, her face numb with shock, stood next to her lover, barely visible against the Lohanese vampire's outrageous garb. Nevid stood in the shadows of the pillars, still staring down at the ground. Madame Yuek smiled at the two men before her. "But we can assume Shang will come equipped to annhiliate you, so that he will have a clear shot at me." "Do we have to assume that?" "Silence. I'm intoning your doom melodramatically. Now. Hold still." She appeared to do nothing at all, just stand very still. Her hands rose slightly at her sides, and then a nimbus of black energy surged out from her body and slammed into Etienne. It looked to Isaac as though Etienne had suddenly drawn a cloud of black steam into his body. The half-Kishak reeled, fell to his knees and vomited on the marble. "Uh, maybe I don't--" Isaac choked as a black radiance surrounded him and then [i]penetrated[/i] his body, sending violent convulsions through him and he found himself on his kness as well, shaking and retching. Energy surged through his limbs. His heart thundered in his chest. "Oh f**k. What have you done to us?" "Interesting. You're not dead. Well, it should still work. I have transferred a portion of my power into your bodies. That should tie your souls more tightly to your bodies, making you harder to kill. There may be some other side effects, as well." "You were willing to kill us?" Madame Yuek laughed, clapping her hands together in girlish delight. "Of course I'm willing to kill you. I'd [i]enjoy[/i] killing you. Enough with such foolish questions. You are not invulnerable, but you should be able to withstand a great deal of punishment. Arrafin, darling. We must begin the ritual." Staggering, Isaac and Etienne stepped away from the two women as they joined hands. From behind them the dozen individuals (the "civilians" as Isaac thought of them) who carried the Blood Mother's soul came forward and, together with Nevid, formed a circle around Madame Yuek and Arrafin. After a few steps, Etienne stopped and stared at himself. "I feel good suddenly. Kind of..." "Invincible." "Yeah. I think I can see better. Or react faster. Everything seems to be happening more slowly." "Yeah. I feel..." "Bad-ass." "Absolutely." "Cool. What are we supposed to do?" Isaac shrugged in response to Etienne's question, and turned in a circle, looking for evidence of Shang's impending wrath, almost hoping for something to fight with this new-found power. At first he saw nothing, then stopped. "Maybe you should ask your girlfriend." "Which-- oh. Hi, Sister Torokan." The Blood Sister stood among the pillars alongside the elderly Sister they'd rescued in Luc'Davarionne. Isaac kept his mouth shut as Kimiko and Etienne stared at each other. She spoke first. "You're really going through with this." "Well, yeah. You want the Blood Mother back, right?" Isaac let Etienne and Kimiko talk as his eye was caught by a curious staff in the hands of the older Sister, Morikage. It was an ornate ebony artifact tipped with an enormous emerald. Something about that staff twigged at his memory. Isaac shook his head, unable to place it. "Etienne. Whatever happens, please, stay out of the way. There's nothing you can do here. This is too big." "Boy am I getting tired of hearing that. You know, Matai Shang shows up, I'm going to kick his ass just because everyone's told me how I can't possibly hurt him." "I'm sure your bravado will render you immune to searing flame and acid. Not to mention a vampire's hunger." Etienne snapped just a little. "At least she's trying to do something. As long as I've known you you've skulked around in the shadows. Now this person, who has every reason in the world to be hopeless and insane and just destroy everything, and SHE'S trying to help. Maybe you should stay out of the way, Kimiko. It seems to be all you're good at." The Lohanese woman stared long and hard at Etienne. "I asked you to stay out of the way, Etienne, because of what we once had. But this is bigger than any of us, and what must be done must be done. If you get in the way, I'll cut you down as surely as anyone else." "What the hell does that mean?" The Blood Sisters strode back to the pillars, watching the ritual taking place in the middle of the pagoda floor. Long tendrils of shadowy essence drifted around the circle, filaments reaching into the heads of the assembled civilians. Arrafin and Madame Yuek stared at each other, the still center around which a burgeoning wheel of Shadow began to revolve. At times Isaac thought he could see patterns forming in the inky traceries, but the organizational structures evaporated before he could fully grasp them. Something tremendous was taking place. His body began to shiver, and all his hair rose up from his skin as the Shadow began to concentrate, take form. Now from within Madame Yuek a great black flower opened up, complex petals scintillating with dark radiance, intersecting with the spinning wheel and writhing, twisting, undulating in some unfathomable rhythm Isaac couldn't begin to comprehend. The civilians all stood, shaking, their eyes rolled back in their heads, seemingly supported by shadowy tendrils slipping up and down their bodies and drawing now from their heads a glitter of colour, sapphire gleams in the midst of blackness. Like thousands of gems the sparkling blue nuggets whirled inwards with the motion of the still-spinning wheel, aligning themselves with the flower that now become as sort of web hovering above Madame Yuek. "What. The." Isaac looked on the vampire's face and saw total focus, utter concentration, and he realised she was doing this consciously, manipulating the tremendous network of Shadow and whatever those blue things were, the connections to each of the civilians and the slowly-contracting web of shimmering blue above her. He'd never seen her work hard before, he mused. He wondered how often she ever had to. Slowly the sapphires came together and their brilliance grew as the Shadow began to recede. There was a flash, and suddenly an elderly Lohanese woman was standing beside Madame Yuek and Arrafin. She reached up with a gnarled old hand and stroked the vampire's cheek. She whispered something in Lohanese and Madame Yuek smiled sadly, fondly. And then all hell broke loose. From within the pillars a savage blast of green energy tore across the pagoda, blasting two of the civilians to bloody pieces and slamming into Madame Yuek's chest. The vampire screamed as she was hurled backwards, knocking aside the heavy Hinsuan man who'd tried to stand up to Elena the other night. He crashed face-first into the marble and lay still in a sudden pool of blood. Madame Yuek flew back across the pagoda and slammed into a pillar on the far side, splintering the heavy oak. Like a hose with too much water, the green arc of energy stayed pinned to her torso, writhing and snapping across the breadth of the pagoda to where Kimiko Torokan stood, both feet braced, holding the emerald-tipped staff in front of her. The magic gave off a hideous shrieking, almost drowning out the screams of everyone else in the place. At the same time, at the very moment the strange green power struck the vampire, Isaac reeled as suddenly all the sorcerous power he'd been filled with evaporated, drawn out from him faster than an exhaled breath. His sudden return to his normal state left him feeling weakened, vulnerable. Afraid. And also at the same moment, even as Madame Yuek's invulnerable body pulverised three feet of solid oak, even as that Hinsuan guy whose name only Elena had known died in some foreign place he'd never heard of, even as Arrafin began screaming for the second time in twenty minutes, over all the noise and chaos and terror, Isaac heard laughter. Mocking, savage laughter. Right behind him. He spun to find himself staring up through the arachnid limbs of a mechanical nightmare. In the midst of which sat a hideous laughing madman. Matai Shang had arrived. [/QUOTE]
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