Demon Blood II

Chapter 8: Mission Debriefing

Chapter 8: MISSION DEBRIEFING

Kelly entered the servatns' quarters, revisting what had just happened, and still trying to grasp the idea that she's the general of the vampire army. She reached for the handle to her room, but stopped short as she heard crying coming from the room across from hers. She looked at the door, curiously. She knew the room belonged to Ceri. She pressed her ear to the door to see if she heard correct. The sobs grew louder with her ear against the wood.

"Ceri?" Kelly called in a gentle voice, giving a few light taps to the door with her knuckles.

"Go away," Ceri called back.

"Ceri, are you alright?" Kelly asked, not moving from her position.

"I'm fine, now go away," she repeated, though Kelly could here the sobs in her voice.

"Do you want to talk?" Kelly asked, still trying to get the small child to open up to her. Ceri didn't respond, and the cries ended. "Ceri?" Kelly called.

The door slowly creaked open to reveal Ceri standing on the other side. Without a word, she turned and moved to sit on her bed, in the same position she sat while she was in the slave pen, burrying her hands under her covers. Kelly slowly walked in, closing the door behind her, and sat at the edge of the bed.

"Hey," she greeted Ceri, who didn't respond. "Are you okay?" she asked after a moment of silence. Another moment of silence stood still between them. "Tell you what," Kelly tried a different approach. "Why don't we start with something simple to get to know each other, first? How old are you?"

Ceri slowly lifted her head to look at Kelly, her long bangs falling over her face. Her eyes seemed to be hollow holes, haunted with horrors a child should never see. "They're dead," she breathed, before returning her attention to the bed in front of her.

Kelly knitted her eyebrows together. "Who's dead?" she asked.

"All of them," was her only reply.

"Ceri," Kelly said, reaching out to place her hand on her shoulder. Ceri jerked away from her touch, causing Kelly return her hand to her lap. "Ceri," she repeated, "who's all of them."

"They were trying to help," she continued, as if not even noticing Kelly was in the room, anymore. "They were just trying to help, and now they're dead. It's my fault."

"Ceri, I'm sure it's not your fault," Kelly tried again to comfort her.

"I killed them," she continued. "All of them." Ceri quickly lifted tear-filled eyes towards Kelly. "You have to go," she she stated. "I don't want to hurt you, too."

"Ceri-"

"Go," she yelled.

"Ceri, you can talk to me, nothing will happen-"

"Why aren't you leaving?" she shouted.

"Ceri," Kelly tried again.

A bright light began to shine from Ceri's eyes, as an invisible force swept her hair backwards, as if wind was hurtling around her. "I said go," she screamed loudly. With that, the door swung open, and an invisible force threw Kelly out of it, with enough force to knock her through the door to her own room.

The light and wind that came from Ceri disappeared as she stared, horrified at Kelly. The ruckuss of the scene brought many eyes peeking from their rooms, to get a glance at the unknown scene. A few came to attempt to help Kelly from the floor, and destroyed wood that was once a door.

"I'm fine," she assured them rising to her feet, and looking back at the girl that had somehow thrown her without lifting a finger.

Ceri stood and slowly approached the door, slamming it closed before running and jumping back onto her bed, hiding under her covers.

"Please tell me you found something," Masterson pleaded, storming into Jordan's office.

"I found something," Jordan replied casually.

"Oh, thank god," Masterson breathed, dropping his head back to stare at the heavens.

Jordan raised an eyebrow. "You told me tell you I found something, you never said it had to be true," he stated. And getting the look on Masterson's face he wanted, he added, "But it is."

"Do you really get a kick out of being such an ass?" Masterson asked, rolling his eyes.

Jordan shrugged. "It has it's rewards." After sobering himself, he continued. "Now, I managed to get a lead on where the spychic I told you about is hiding, but you're not going to like it."

Masterson raised an eyebrow. "If you say Michigan, I'm going to be really pissed," he stated.

Jordan shrugged. "Then I won't say it. But yeah. Detroit, to be exact."

"Fuck," Masterson sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Welcome back," Jason greeted Kelly as she entered his study, once again. "Sorry to hear about your door. I was going to have you moved to the main house, anyway."

"What did you want, Jason?" she demanded.

"Well, it appears the easiest way to get to and defeat Walter Praze is if we possess a super weapon."

"And what is this super weapon?"

"Well, that's just thing. I don't know what it looks like, how big it is, or how it's supposed to help. It's called the Catalyst. The only thing I do know is where to to look for it."

"And where is that?"

"That's the bad news. It's somewhere in Michigan."

Kelly furrowed her brow. "How is it that bad news?"

Jason shook his head. "Where have you been the last few years?"

"Out."

"Well, Michigan was the only state that didn't suffer many losses during The Purge," he began. "This is because of the high number of supernatural creatures that occupy it. They managed to fight and stand an actual threat against the government, and even maintain control over itself. Since then, the state had been taken over by supernatural forces, and the government relenquished all claim on it, leaving it to the supernaruals. However, this also made things hectic, tons of riots, murders, and not very friendly characters. So, naturally, the supernaturals decided to form a government of their own. It's based on power and fear. They're extremely hostile, and don't take kindly to outsiders. Especially not as powerful as me."

"And, would I be correct to assume this is where I come in?" Kelly asked.

Jason nodded. "That you would. If I go, I'll likely be either captured or killed. Us and my men are the only ones that know you're under my command. Not even the Elder Council is aware."

"And what am I supposed to do?" she demanded.

"We need you to proccure the Catalyst. I don't know where it is, exactly, but we know somebody that  can locate it for us."

"And you want me to find this person?" Kelly assumed.

"Actually, I've already found her." He handed her a piece of paper. "You should find her here. Talk to her and get her tell you the location of the Catalyst. The trick is to be able to understand her. She speaks in riddles."

Kelly smiled. "Great."

"One more thing," Jason added. He pulled a key from his pocket. "You wouldn't be very useful with this thing on." He grabbed her wrist and shoved the key into her bracer. As he unlocked it, both the key and the bracer disolved. "Every bracer has it's own key," he stated. "Yours was the only one I risked getting my hands on."

"Thanks," Kelly said before turning and exiting the study.