World of Darkness World of Darkness: Attrition - Grim Remnants, Painful Truths

[Rorx]

"Ok, take care out there."

As Dec moves off on his scouting mission Moss shifts to his Dalu form, his bike leathers expanding with him as he grows some 6" and bulks out somewhat. His hair grows until it is several inches below his collar, and more hair appears on his face and the back of his hands.

Gesturing to the path ahead Moss starts down the main path.

With a gravelly, growwly voice he adds, "Adrian perhaps you should bring up the rear?"

[Adrian Moss]

Don't get between a werewolf and what it wants ... or were it wants to go. That should be an old Vampire addeage, if it wasn't already.

"Sure thing Moss," Adrian whispered back. He idled the car to let No Moss go ahead then followed once he was barely in sight ... keeping to the paved pathway. The Mekhet couldn't help but wonder how the Mages were getting along. Could they feel the dead stronger than he could.

What were their auras like and how did they interact with the will workers? Maybe he could get Morgan, or Graham to tell him about it some night.

[Astra D.]

Even during the day, cemeteries were faintly unsettling. They were visible reminders of the inevitable, of the end to one's physical trials and triumphs, and of the resolute passage of Time. At their best, they were solemn memorials to those who had gone before, quiet sanctuaries for remembrance and respect.

This place, though... This place was something far more frightening.

Every shadow, every snapping twig, and every hint of movement seemed threatening somehow in the stifling, oppressive atmosphere. Hands in her pockets, Morgan glanced about nervously as they made their way down the path. She tried not to think of the stories she'd heard about people disappearing here, or the strange things that had been seen beyond the gates. She tried not to notice the thick, syrupy feeling of the air as it slithered through her dark hair and tugged oh-so-softly at her clothes.

She failed miserably.

"What is he looking for?" she finally murmured, unable to bear the silence.

[Owns-The-Night]

He'd found it.

The first body lay not too far from the group moving along the path. It was a woman, partially devoured, her body already cooled by the night air, all heat escaped from the terrible wounds inflicted by jaws belonging to a sweet young woman... probably. He sniffed around a little, but the stench of blood and death-loosened bowel was too strong.

He cantered back to the car and the group, shifting up to Dalu as he stalked out of the mist up to Adrian's window. He leaned down. "One off that way." He said in a growling voice, pointing with one huge finger. "Thirty feet. A mess." he warned, then raised his voice slightly for everyone's benefit. "Found one. The other's are not far. No sign of any trouble waiting." He turned and darted back off into the mist, sprouting fur and muzzle once more.

He found the rest in a small clear area, candles and lamps burning low or burned out and blood splashed all over the place. The large dark wolf watched for a moment, faintly sorrowful for these poor human kids who had just been in the wrong place, wrong time. He lifted his head back and let loose a small bark for No-Moss's ears to get the party moving in the right direction, then turned back to head towards them himself.

He shifted back to human shape as he emerged from the fog, meeting them as they stepped off the path. "They're up ahead." He said soberly, the fog making the silver shine of his eyes strangely glimmer. "Three more." He looked at Morgan, his deep voice somber. "You might not want to see this."

[Astra D.]

"You might not want to see this."

The sobriety of Declan's expression, and the unhappy, rumbling undertone in his voice sent an anxious spasm through Morgan's stomach.

There was no one walking with him, which meant that whoever he'd found wasn't coming out. Which meant...

She could feel the bite of her nails as they dug into her palms, and realized dimly that she was trembling, but there was nothing she could do about it. An acrid, sour taste roiled up in the back of her throat, and tears sprang unbidden to her eyes. She didn't want to see, didn't want to be here. What she wanted to do was go to Lucien's, or Declan's, or even Graham's- anywhere away from here, from this place and what had happened. She wanted to turn on some music, loud enough to drown out her thoughts, and drink until all opportunity for thinking was lost.

But I can't, she thought bitterly. I have to know what happened. We have to know what happened... if it was really her.

She couldn't suppress a shudder, and it was audible in her voice when she finally replied.

"Can you tell if it was her? If she was here?"

Morgan still couldn't bring herself to say her roommate's name; not in conjunction with something like this.

[Owns-The-Night]

He stepped forward, his nakedness not an issue here, not with her so scared and sick-looking. Thick arms wrapped around her shoulders and he could feel Morgan's trembling under his hands as he pulled her gently into a hug against him.

"It was her." His voice was a quiet rumble. "No doubt about it. Her scent's everywhere." He looked down at her, still somber despite the gentleness of his voice. "You should stay here with Graham. Let Kid Dracula and the Big Bads handle this, okay?" He smiled reassuringly.

[Astra D.]

Instinctively, Morgan melted into the Rahu, seeking the comfort of his solidity and his scent. The feel of his skin was warm and familiar against her cheek, and as his arms moved around her, she closed her eyes, willing herself to believe that it would be okay. It didn't occur to her that it might be a little odd to be seen embracing a naked werewolf in a cemetery in the middle of the night; it just felt good, and it was a welcome distraction from her misery, however brief.

Then:

"...You should stay here with Graham. Let Kid Dracula and the Big Bads handle this, okay?"

The head nestled against his chest jerked suddenly upward, and the pretty, fretful face already stained with tears contorted into a mask of angry disbelief.

You arrogant, pig-headed son-of-a-

"Oh, now you want me to sit it out. 'Let the grown-ups take care of it,' is that it?" she snapped, eyes of liquid emerald hardening to crystalline brilliance in a matter of moments. "Don't patronize me, Dec. I'm not a little girl."

[Owns-The-Night]

For a moment, a growl nearly rumbled up from his chest. The stupid female would only harm herself, cause herself nightmares by witnessing this. She would... He stopped the chain of thought, still looking down at her, realising the truth of his reaction.

He was afraid, but not just for her. What if she saw... what one of his kind was responsible for and looked at him as capable of it? What if she judged him because he hadn't stopped this before. Well, what if she does? You deserve that much. And she's smarter than assuming all werewolves are the same.

"Okay then." He forced a smile, worry in his eyes. "But it's bad. Bad like 'worse than the Spider Queen' bad. I don't think you're a little girl, or weak. I just..." He let the words trail away unsaid, gently removing his arms from round her and taking her hand. "Some things nobody's ready for, y'know?" He looked at the others, not at all abashed at his honest emotion. "Let's go, then."

He led them into the mist.

[Rorx]

Moss nodded grimly to Dec and turned back to help Adrian get any bags or equipment he had in the car before following them to the man group of bodies.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian stopped the car. He went around to the trunk and tossed a tarp to him from the back. He then opened up another tarp in the trunk, covering its bottom.

"We'll carry the bodies inthe tarp and place them in the trunk."

... three more bodies ... Kid Dracula, when do I get my harem, Dec ... and then the smell of the blood hit him. His hunger rose and this revolted the small human shade that dwelled within, the majority of his existance long having gotten used to the nature of his own survival.

"No Moss, we'll have to put the third body, with your tarp, in the back seat. Well have to carry the fourth body ourselves and put it on top of the others."

He looked over the troupe.

"I can carry three uncomfortably in the front seat. That means some of you guys are walking home."

While they were thinking that out, Adrian motioned No Moss to follow. With his heightened senses, once pointed in the right direction it was Child's Play to follow.

The girl lay broken, shattered on the ground. With his longer experience with blood pools and the human physical condition, he could tell were some of those missing pieces had gone. That only added to the chill of their surroundings, and the urgency of their mission.

They slipped the girl over onto the tarp. Picking her up, she was tragically light to carry as they brought her back to the car. Words did not come to Adrian's mind to describe the hollowness he was feeling.

"Were are the other three?"

[Rorx]

The smell had already hit Moss as they approached the first site, but it was the first time he had seen a body so mutilated. He had gotten over the sight and smell of death during a few months as a morgue porter some years before hand, and the blood no longer worried him since his Change, but the thought that one of the People had done this was deeply unsettling. As they silently picked the parts of the poor girls body up and onto the tarp, Moss, still in his Dalu form, sniffed at the ground around the body and especially at any footprints left by her Garou form attacker to get its scent.

Moss answered Adrian's last question with a nod as he carried the other end of the tarp on the way back to the car, "They are over that way from what Dec said."

Each lost in there own thoughts they put the body into the car until Moss addressed Adrian's earlier point, "If you let me know where you are going I'll make my own way and meet you there to help with the unloading."