The Aftermath (Michelle) - Emily's Home

Emily and Sarah woke up in the early afternoon. They had the promised pancake breakfast and they stayed I'm the hotel room and watched movies mostly. When it started to get late, Sarah got restless and so Emily bought a little swimsuit from the store in the hotel and let Sarah play in the pool.

They had a late dinner and as they were wrapping up the sun set. Emily was washing the dishes that Sarah bright over from the table one by one. Sarah had a serious expression on her face as she did it, determined to not break any dishes.

Sarah was still in her swimsuit. Surprisingly, many of her bruises were gone, just the worst of them remained. Emily was in a new set of shorts and a t-shirt, also purchased from the store. Though if Michele checked on what Emily bought that day, she would find that her new cloths weren't on there.

A soft knocking upon the other side of the connecting door of the room, sounded her awakening. She slowly opened the door, to peak her head in. A big smile on her face, as she did. "Anyone here?" She knew damned well, they were there.

She stepped more fully into the room, her hair a bit of a mess. The hoodie had be left off, so jeans and a black form fitting tanktop. No shoes, no socks.

She shut the door softly behind herself, gazing happily between the two girl. "Hello, ladies. How was your day?"

"Shell!" Sarah said setting a plate down and running over to Michelle with her arms out.

"Hey sleepy head." Emily said laughing. She walked over and grabed the last plate and gave it a rinse and put it in the dishwasher. She closed it and wiped her hands on a towel before coming over.

Michelle giggled a bit, and happily scooped the little girl up."Hello, sweetheart! Did you have fun, today?" she asked, setting the girl on her hip and giving her a big hug. "Did you get that breakfast, you were after? I hope it was delicious." she grinned, walking towards the kitching, with the girl on her hip.

"Everything been going alright?" the question more aimed at Emily, but she absently lightly poked Sarah in a lightly tickling manner.

Sarah giggled and squirmed, trying to tickle Michelle back. "I swam in the pool!" Sarah announced loudly.

Emily laughed. "Yes, we watched movies, had that big pancake breakfast and swam in the pool. It was wonderful. Something I think we both needed, right Sarah?" Emily asked Sarah with her own tickle attack.

The girl screamed in laughter.

Michelle laughed, as the little girl squeeled out. "Wonderful!" she said, rather pleased. "What movies did you guys watch? Anything interesting?" she grinned at the pair of them, then sat Sarah down on the kitchen bench, after placing a soft kiss to her forhead. Appearances must be kept, for the sake of the little girl, so she headed to the fridge, opening and glancing through it casually...soon the door was shut again, and she turned to look at the pair once more. Hand slipped up to her hair, attempting to comb it with fingers, back into a controlled state.

"How do you girls feel about heading out, tomorrow evening, for a bit of shopping? I think we can all use some new clothes... yeah? Maybe pick up some toys... whatever you think you might like or need." sweet and soft smile on her lips.

"Watched totaro! I wanna ride the cat bus." Emily declared then ran off into the living room, where she had a couple simple coloring books that came with those crayon packs with the dismal color selection. She didn't seem to mind though and happily plopped down and started coloring and humming to herself.

"Shopping would be great. I hardly have anything at the place I'm staying at anyway. Didn't get much of a chance with the fire and such." Emily went into the bedroom and came back out with one of those terrible travel brushes that fold up and handed it to Michelle.

"I already went through that bit of trouble." She gestured to her long hair.

She laughed, softly, taking the brush with a soft. "Thanks."

She moved from the kitching, giving the woman a soft hug and kiss on the cheek, in passing, then slipped past and took a seat at the dining room table. Flip. Up went the brush, and attempts began to sort the mess of her hair out. The damned brush really was cheap, and she seemed to just be making more of a mess of things. "So yeah.. tomorrow evening, then. Will pick up a laptop, for you, too, so you can do whatever. Shop online, start sorting out furnishings for the location we get for the shelter.. whatever you want to do." she smiled brightly.

"Best to create all new emails, tho, and accounts. Use my name. Should allow us to completely bypass anyone who might be looking for you." She didnt directly talk about a bad man, while Sarah was in the room. Such should be understood... happy stuff only.

Emily hugged her back as she passed by and grabbed aglass of water before joining her at the table.

"Sounds like a plan! I feel bad spending your money though. You sure it's ok?" She said outloud in a cheery voice.

In Michelle's mind however she heard, "All they need is your name. That's all I need to find someone. Names are incredibly powerful things to my kind. So please, be careful who you give your real name to."

"It's a good idea to do what you say though, because his minions won't be able to track me in the same way. So using dummy accounts and such will likely twart them. But if he really wanted to find me, he could. I doubt I merit his full attention though, so we should be good for a good while."

"Also, I did what I could to heal Sarah, but I'm not the best at healing yet. I'm fresh out of the darkness as it were."

"Are you kidding? Have you -seen- my car? I have more money than I know what to do with!" she laughed, handing the woman the comb. "Please?" with playful puppy dog eyes.

~"Hello? Is this thing on? If you can hear me... here goes.."~

She cleared her throat, and repositioned herself to be a touch closer to Emily. Really was hoping she would sort her hair for her, most definitely missing her big fancy brush, at home. "Spending the money, is nothing, Your happiness, is everything. You and Sarah." she said sweetly.

~"I am ignorant about how all this... Fallen... stuff works. Not a single clue, but I can take a guess at something. I am guessing, that it is not just you that fears the Abyss. I am guessing angel and demon alike. It hungers for life, indescriminately. If this asshole shows his face... I will have some pretty nasty surprises, in store for him. But... with that said, we absolutely must take every step we can to avoid his detection. The police reports, from last night, worry me... it is a potential trail, and not much I can do about it."~

Emily happily obliged and set up her chair behind Michelle's long pretty hair and started working at it gently, taking care not to tug it and hurt her scalp.

"You're so generous. I'll do my best to make the place nice. Sarah will help won't you Sarah?" Emily asked the girl.

"Help?" Sarah asked confused. She hadn't been listening.

"If you slay his vessel, he can hop into another body. The key is to kill the vessel and insure he cannot find a new host quickly, the abyss will reclaim him in that case. It is a hungry thing."

"Help me buy stuff for our new home." Emily clarified.

"Ya! I want a princess bed." Sarah said.

Emily laughed at her simple request.

"I think you can kill him. That is why I put my faith in you. He's still incredibly dangerous though and I agree avoiding him all together for now is best."

She giggled, at Sarah, nodding while her hair was brushed, carefully .. of course. "You got it, kiddo!" she said without hesitation.

~"I dont think that I personally, can kill it. But I think the abyss can. My mother.. she will be coming, soon, to train me in the more mystical properties of Abyssal Magic. I am sure we can find a solution, from it. That.. and I will need to know absolutely everything we can find, about your kind... everything you can teach me. Knowledge is power."~

She softly shut her eyes, as the girl combed through her hair, lightly relaxing into the caress. "It is not generousity, darling. You .. Sarah.. you are both family, with me, now. I take care of family."

~"What were you doing, in the graveyard, last night? A terrible place to be, if you wish to stay safe."~

Sarah got up and came over the the women, coloring book in hand, she lifted it up so they could see what she had done.

"Look what I drew!" Sarah said.

"Beautiful honey!" Emily said enthusiatically.

"This Abyssal magic is most interesting. I wonder how it works exactly. I wonder if you could free my kind or banish them with it...To tell you the truth I was heavily damaged by my time in the Abyss. I barely remember anything. I hadn't even realized what I was when I took over Emily's body and likely would have continued on thinking I was her if I hadn't been rescued by a fellow demon."

"That's something I want to make clear. I may strive to be good and may look angelic, but I am not in the grace of God. I guess you could say I'm a demon, but I don't like that word. We all betrayed God's word for the right reasons, but in the abyss, some of us became twisted by their hate and pain. They forgot their purpose. There is no love and grace in them. These horrible creatures must be sent back to their prison."

Emily struggled to keep the strong emotions she was feeling off her face.

"I will remember more as I continue to heal from what happened to me. I will regian my strength and my powers."

"I was walking by the graveyard when I heard Sarah's cries. I think I'm unconciously drawn to people in distress. It was my purpose after all. I wander the streets to be among my flock. It's soothing to watch them, see that they are ok. It's frusterating that I can't watch them all at once."

Michelle gasped at the drawing. "That is very good! You will have to teach me how to draw that good, sometime." she said brightly. It is a true story, tho.. she is terrible at drawing.

"You about ready for bed, kiddo? It is getting pretty late. Got a big day and night ahead of you, tomorrow."

~" The magic... can be.. dangrous. I am not of the full understanding of it, yet... but, from what I have seen.. it is not simply calling bits and pieces of he abyss, like my family of Kindred can do... it is actually dealing with the abyss itself. Drawing forth creatures, from the darkness. Nocturne... Hungering Shades... calling upon the Abyss, itself, to serve. There is always a cost.. and I am told it can be very dangerous.. but.. I think it is entirely necissary to fight fire with fire, sometimes."~

~" And.. I dont care if you call yourself a demon, or an angel.. or what others think of you. I see a wondeful creature, full of love and compassion. To find something so good, is rare.. and even more rare, amongst those touched by the abyss. I will love you for who and what you are, not what you are not."~

A hand came up, momentarily lacing fingers with the hand that was brushing her hair... giving a soft squeeze, then her other hand reached out and pulled Sarah into her lap. "Did you have a good time, today?"

"I don' wanna go to bed. I'm not sleepy." Sarah said even as she rubbed her eyes and pouted. She easily slide onto Michelle's lap. "Ya, today was fun. Daddy never took me swimming."

"I'm afraid I don't know much about your kind or your magics. I do know that I could feel the disturbance when you did whatever you did to the cop. If I concentrate I can feel distant echoes of supernatural powers being used. If might be a useful skill for us."

"Thank you for taking me as I am. I don't know why I was so scared of you finding out what I was. I thought you'd kill me on sight just for being what I am. Here I am telling you to judge each of my kind individually and I was lumping all vampires together myself!"

"You should listen to Michelle, sweety. We got a lot of stuff to pick out and you're my assistant! It's a very important job." Emily said as she finished sorting out Michelle's hair.

"There, all untangled for now." She declared.

"That's what you get for sleeping in a closet." Emily said in Michelle's mind witha joking tone.

Michelle pointedly, did not discuss the father. No no no. None of that. "I am glad you had a good time, sweetheart. I am sure Emily will make sure you both have a fun time during the day. When I come in the evening, we will all head out to go do a bit more shopping. But for now..." she hoisted the little girl up in her arms, wrapping her in a big but gentle hug. "Its about time for bed." A kiss placed on her forehead, then sat her down to stand on her own feet. "Let's get you ready to sleep, yeah?"

~"You were right, to be afraid, Mihr. Kindred are not trustworthy creatures. Chances are... if it was anyone but myself, they might have attacked you. We must be very very careful to not expose your true nature. I do not believe you will be met with open arms, by others of my kind. Not even my 'mother'. You must not even let on that you have any understanding of supernaturals. It will raise red flags, an they will start to get nosey."~

~"And as for sleeping in the closet... bite me. Sunlight hurts my kind, but it realy REALLY hurts me. Better safe, than sorry. Besides.. sleeping alone in a small closet is better than sleeping alone in a large bed. (mental laugh)"~

"Then it was truly fate that we met. Perhaps God has not forgotten this wayward child compeltely. I will be very careful in the future. I was told your kind could sense what I was just by being around. Is that true?"

Sarah groaned, "Fine." She said with a very adult little huff, which was ridiculously cute when a kid did it. She hopped down. "They only have grown-up tooth paste." She said rather proudly, like it was a treat, then ran to the bathroom.

"I assume you have a different sleeping arrangment when you are at home. I'm sorry you couldn't get back home in time. So sunlight is really that bad huh?"

Emily put the chair back around the table then followed Sarah. "You brush those pearly whites, good, ok?"

~"I am sure some of them can, but I cannot. The only thing I can sense, is darkness, and ghosts... oh.. and where there is a good bargain to be had."~ Another soft mental laugh.

~"Sunlight is the worst. For most Kindred, it really reall hurts. For me, is is pretty much instant death, due to the Abyss that resides within. And as for sleeping arrangements, I could have made it back home, had I wanted to. Its not really home... staying with a woman. Another kindred. Temporary, until the house gets sorted and made up. Until then, home is with you girls."~

She stretched softly, her form accented as she did such, and moved over to Emily's bed, flopping down onto it... picking up the remote and idly flipping through the channels on the television.

"All done!" Sarah declared and came out in a set of pink pajamas with the tags still on them.

"Oh honey, here." Emily said kneeling down and removing the tags. "They went and found these for me, isn't that crazy?" She said not used to the kind of service the expensive hotels provided.

"Ghosts, now that's an interesting ability...So vampires have different families, kinda like us Fallen. I suppose that makes sense. Your Mother, was she your birth mother or did she, uh..make you a vampire? Will I get to meet her?"

"Ok, off to bed." She patted Sarah on the butt.

Sarah ran off and hopped into bed, wiggling under the blankets. "Bed time story!" She demanded.

"That sunlight thing must be aweful. I'm sorry God placed such a heavy curse on you. More than the rest of Man."

Michelle giggled, having rolled over to see the small girl. "Cute PJs!" she nodded. Eyes floated to Emily. "Not crazy, at all. I payed for top service. I would have had to go down and kick some butt, had they not done so!" she grinned, but was she joking? Probably not.

~"The ghost thing... is not native, to my blood. I payed a heavy price, to learn it.. but it has proven pretty useful. It was why I was in the graveyard. Was looking to find one to talk to, perhaps get some information. Gotta be careful, with them, however. Some ghosts.. you dont wanna draw to you."~

"Bedtime story? BEDTIME STORY?!" she grinned and slipped off the bed, moving to lay next to Sarah, helping her pull the covers up. "I think I might know a story or two. But you have to promise, as soon as it is done.. you go to sleep, okay?" she held up her pinky, for the every powerful pinky swear.

~"My mother... no, not my birth mother. Not in life, that is. She is the one who introduced me to the world of Kindred. I think she is a fabulous woman, however.. I am not sure how she would react, to you. Honestly, I dont think there would be an issue.. but I can almost guarentee she would know what you are, the moment she came close. She knows many things, that I do not yet... has gained much information, from the Abyss."~ because.. what knowledge is taken, during life, is returned to the darkness, in death. One need only understand how to extract it from the shadows... something.. she wasnt understanding of, nor ready to do, just yet.

~"HSunlight, isnt the problem. The problem.. is my lack of reflection. But it bothers me, not... after all.. I chose, this curse..."~ chew on that!

"I pinky swear." Sarah said gravely and entered the unbreakable pinky agreement. Then got settled in to hear her story.

"I wanna hear too." Emily said, sitting at the foot of the bed, giving Michelle a wink.

"Maybe it's safest not to meet her then. It's too bad, she sounds like an amazing person. But if she gains knowlege from the abyss, then she most certainly knows of my and my kind. Those things you say you summon, they might be minor celectials, twisted and diminished by the darkness." There was a sad glimmer in her eye.

"Lack of reflection? You don't have a relection? How strange indeed! I'm glad this was a burden you chose. Both your vampire curse and whatever you paid to speak to ghosts. I of all people know about paying prices for things. I gave it all up to give Man what I thought he needed. If I had the choice, I'd do it all over again."

"We both make due with what God left us. It is the resiliance of the human spirit at work.

~"To be continued..."~

She looked to Ems, then back to Sarah. "I will tell you -my- story." Though obviously, it was as much for Mihf, as it was for Sarah.

"When I was a little girl, which seems like so very long ago... my family brought me to America, from Italy. My mother, my grandmother, and my sister. We lived way up north, in Chicago." she curled softly around the small girl, a hand coming up to idly and slowly play with a strand of the girl's hair.

"Back then, times were really hard. There was barely enough food to eat, and sometimes.. no food at all. We were always crowded, always cold, and finding work was really really hard." Such a great beginning, to this story. "But.. one day, a very beautiful lady came to see me. She told me, that she could take all my pain and suffering away. She could help my family. A Spanish woman, named Beta." Michelle likely smiled, as she spoke of her mother.

"But there was a price. In order for it all to happen, I would have to leave my mother, my grandmother, and my sister.. and travel a long long ways away, with Beta."

Yes.. great start.

"I accepted. I accepted, because of the love I shared, for my sister.. my mother.. my grandmother. You see, they were all very sick, as was I. So... I decided that no matter whre I was in the world, the love I had for them would never fade. Sure, time would come between us.. but I would see them again, some day.. healthy.. and we could be reunited, for a short time, happy and full of life."

There was more to the story, but she paused.

"Your mommy got sick? My mommy's sick too." Sarah said sadly. "Your mommy got better?"

Emily sat quiet, listening, enjoying the story so far.

"She did, Sarah. She got better, for a while." no need to go any further than that. Adults could understand what 'for a while' actually ment.

"Beta was a nice lady. She took me in.. cleaned me up.. got me into great schools, helping me make some good friends, along the way. She made me healthy again, strong. She taught me how to be strong, not only for myself, but for my family." she continued toying with the little girl's hair. "She helped me discover that I really love to read, especially old stories of knights and dragons." aka, the Dark Ages. "She taught me to be happy with myself, and proud of who I was, no matter what other people may say or think. She became my second mother, and I still talk to her, to this day." Michelle smiled.

"Sometimes. I sit and think.. did I make the right decision? Could things have turned out better, but in a different way? THen I stop and realize.. I wouldnt change a thing. I especially realize this, now." she leaned in and kissed the girl on the forehead. "You see.. if I had done anything differently.. I might not have met you. Might not have met Emily. And that, my love, is a very sad thought. Because now that I have the pair of you in my life, I could never imagine being without you." her eyes shifted to Emily. "Either of you."

"The moral of this story, love, is sometimes.. things are hard, but with determination, you can push through the hard times and find truly great times, beyond them. Never question what you dont have, or you may not even realize what you DO have. And finally...I will be here for you, Always, and forever."

Emily made a little face like she might cry. It was such a sweet story. A perfect message and highly appropriate on many levels.

"Now it's bed, little one." Emily said, getting up and kissing Sarah on the forehead. "Michelle is much better at telling stories than me isn't she? I think we might designate her, the story teller from now on." She said giving Michelle a wink.

Sarah nodded, but said, "I'm not sleepy though..." She looked over at Michelle warily. Expecting her to invoke her pinky swear rights.

"You may be of the abyss and cursed and all that, but no one with a stitch of evil in their heart could tell such a great story."