Raising a Monster

[X] Ice cold, calm rage. You're not sure why, but you feel calmer than you have in years. Oh you're angry. No doubt about that. But it's the calm kind of anger. The kind where you can think of nothing, but how to most efficiently destroy the bitch standing in front of you and her pet monster. (Belief Power: Tranquil Fury)

Hmm, you seem to have underestimated that Dullahan. You had thought that it's heavy armor meant it was slow, so it wouldn't be able to track your movements. Your original plan had been to get past it, take out the one it made the Pact with, and then get out. In your current form fighting them when they had a Pact and were in the same vicinity is not very smart.

Yet, here you, Anastasia Craft are, dangling from the hand of a Felknight. At first, you hadn't thought it that bad. Sure it was gripping your wrist rather tightly, and it's armored fingers were starting to chafe, but it wasn't that horrible. And, despite all of your attempts at escaping, it was quite clear you would need to work to get out of this. All of that however, was a minor annoyance at best.

And then the human female slapped you.

It didn't humble you if that was her intention.

Far from it.

It just made you...miffed.

Very miffed.

In fact, as of right now, transforming and letting about 75% of the neighborhood population die from insanity doesn't seem like that bad of thing right now. Right now, you just want to make her hurt.

You turn your head back towards her, narrowing your eyes and smiling to put her off her game. Your right cheek stings, but it's slowly dulling thanks to the annoyance slowly building up in your system. She's still got her eyes narrowed in fiery anger. Good. Then what you're about to do will be all the sweeter.

"You, my dear, have—"

"Excuse me, what do you think you're doing?"

You drop both your focus guided lividness in favour of wide eyed surprise. That sound like...but it couldn't of been. It had the undertone of your father's voice, but none of the warmth. Even when he's around people he can't stand, you've noticed the compassionate way he speaks to everyone he meets.

This voice...there's no compassion.

Just a cold hatred.

The Dullahan and her master have looked over to where your father still is, getting their attention away from you.

You wriggle in the Dullahan's still firm grip, moving your head to get a better look at—oh.

Oh my.

Your previously viscous smile returns when you see your father slowly making his way towards the three of you. He's smiling, but it isn't a friendly smile, no.

This is the smile of someone who is done playing around.

---

It's strange really.

When these two first showed up, you were panicked. Thousands of questions were flying through your head. How did they get here? Did someone send them? How do they know about Anastasia?

When they grabbed your daughter, you felt fear. Your mind shouted out pleas and bargains to get them to not hurt her.

Then, they did hurt her.

When they did that, you felt so mad. In fact, you felt a dozen emotions at once.

Sorrow, fear, uselessness, grief, anger, hate, wrath, fury, rage, rage, rage.

Then, for some reason, you just stopped. Your emotions quieted down. They stopped swirling around and around in your head, attempting to find an outlet for your rage. Now, you just feel serene.

Oh, you're still angry. No doubt about that. But, you don't see the point in raging about it. For in your frenzy, you would be unable to think clearly.

Specifically, to see clearly.

But now you do see.

You see exactly what you need to do to End these two.

On the outside, you're all smiles and politeness. You're hands are behind your back as you walk at a measured pace. Neither of the intruders have answered your previous question. Even though you're pretty sure the Dullahan can't talk, you didn't really expect an answer. It was mostly a distraction to get them to freeze for a few seconds so you could get close enough.

It worked.

"I'll ask again," you say as you close the distance. You're close enough that you can smell what you can only guess is the perfume the bitch brought with her before they came here. It smells of lilac and blueberries. Not a good combination.

The woman sneers at you, "I don't see why—"

Now.

At first, the armor on the Dullahan daunted you. You didn't think you had anything that would let you break through it. This close, you can see you don't have to break through. The arm that's holding Ana up in the air is too stretched out. That leaves a tiny opening in the armor just large enough for you to push four fingers into.

You're not sure what it is holding the armor up as you don't feel any flesh when you reach inside of the arm. The best way to describe what you feel is "strings of silk", if silk was so thin that you could pierce through it with one finger. Still though, your attack gets the job done, and whatever's holding that armor in place shatters the minute you strike.

With the first part of your plan complete, you move on to the next part. You see the knight start to reach for it's sword, but it moves too slowly. It had to move its head over to its left arm to cradle it so that it could hold Ana in its grasp. Now that grip was slowly weakening as it tried to respond to your first move. Your left foot comes up, taking advantage of the creature's weakened grip to knock the head high into the air. It's eyes are still closed, even as it tumbles towards the ceiling.

Just like you expected, the Dullahan's attention goes towards its currently flying head. It's right leg shifts slightly, but just enough for you to bring your foot down on the kneecap. It bends backwards, armor shrieking in protest. The Felknight starts to fall, so you turn your attention to its master.

Ah, she's trying to cast a spell or something. The movement of her lips gave that away. However, it's obvious that what you've done has unnerved her. Good, this means she's off balanced and unfocused. Which means….

The spell comes out, trailing a scent of decomposition and fertilizer as a purple energy ball streaks towards you. Just when it looks like it will hit your chest, you sidestep the attack. It hurtles past and hits the Dullahan straight in the chest. You weren't sure if this part of your plan would work, particularly because it was magic that came from the Dullahan. Thankfully, the attack hits the Dullahan squarely and forces it back with enough force to knock it into its own head. Both body and head fall to the ground in a heap.

The woman is shocked for about three seconds and that's all the time you need. You step into her guard, shattering a force field of some kind she put up around herself. It tingles as you burst through it, confident that nothing can or will stop you. She tries to bring her hand around to your face, purple energy crackling across the palm. You lift up your left arm and force it back. Your right hits her in the trachea with a swift palm strike.

Her pupils contract and expand, hands moving up to her neck with her air supply now temporarily cut off. A two swift strikes, one to the back of the neck and the other to the center of her chest, and she's out like a light. You let her body fall unceremoniously to the floor, while you hold out your right arm.

Your daughter falls across it a few seconds later, none the worse for wear. You bring her up to your chest in a hug, planning to never let her go again. You start to inspect her cheek where she'd been hit while saying, "Are you alright, sweetie? Should I get some ice? What about your wrist?" The place where the woman slapped Ana is red, but not bleeding. It should heal up in a few minutes.

You breath a sigh of relief and start checking over her wrist, when she grabs you by your cheek. She turns you to look at her, starry blue eyes serious, "I'm fine, father. It takes a lot more than that to cause me any real pain."

[Trust: 10]

Her mouth curls into a smile, and she pecks you on the forehead, "Thank you for worrying though."

You smile and just stand there with your daughter in your arms. Silently, you wish that you could just stay like this forever. You and your daughter embraced in perfect happiness.

In a perfect world, maybe.

But, as a moan from the unconscious person at your feet tells you, this is not a perfect world.

Your face becomes serious, but you smile at Anastasia as you lower her to the ground, "Give me a second, darling. Daddy needs to express some rage."

She nods, "I understand. I shall be standing nearby waiting for your next move." She confidently walks back into the kitchen, and seats herself with a clear view of the doorway.

You inwardly frown. You were kind of hoping that she didn't have to see what you're about to do. But then again, she isn't exactly a normal child. And you wouldn't want it any other way.

You look down upon the woman at your feet, keeping the Dullahan in your peripheral vision. Now, what to do with these two?

You could let them go. A quick check out one window shows that the cultist and news van have long gone. Whether the Dullahan did that, or they just up and left, you aren't sure. Still, it doesn't look like they would have too much trouble getting away.

Alternatively, you could kill them. You look down at the woman and really study her this time. She looks normal, peaceful even when she's sleeping. Hard to believe that she's the one that broke into your house and hurt your daughter. You could end her life here and justify it as self-defence. Still though, she is a human being. Can you really bring yourself to do that?

[]Let them off with a warning. You'll let them both go, but you'll make sure they understand to never ever come here again. (Decrease Notoriety)

[]Tell them to send a message. It's clear that the both of them are "in" with the supernatural community (if there is one), and that someone sent them here for Ana. Why else would they just attack your house in the middle of a rainstorm with no explanation? Sending them with a message could get whoever sent them off your back.
-[] If chosen, what is the message? (Possibly decrease Alarm and Notoriety depending on what is said)

[]Kill them both. You can't risk them coming back. You need to end them now. (No Change)

---

Deed done, you walk over to the kitchen and sit with your daughter. You breath out a sigh of relief. You feel tired for whatever reason.

Anastasia is staring you, mouth in a tight line. Worried, you ask her if something's wrong.

She waves her hand dismissively, "No. I'm just waiting for you to fall unconscious so I can give you medical attention. It should be happening...right...about..now."

Your raise an eyebrow when she gets to the last word. What does she me—ooooohhhhh god your head hurts! You grab your head with one hand and start to sway in your seat. You feel your eyes losing focus. You fall to the floor, room spinning in front of your eyes.

Ana rushes over and lifts your head up. You're eyes feel heavy. You think you're gonna go to sleep.

Yeah, sleep sounds good right about now.

The last thing you remember is Anastasia picking you up and moving you over to the couch.

She's such a sweet girl.

(Belief Power Gained: Tranquil Fury: Colder than a walking fridge. Cold as a gun. (When activated gain a +20 to Combat rolls! Chance to negate Magic!) You are Slightly Injured! No current Effect.))

---

The Rain has Stopped.

Days until Ana Matures: 3 Months

Your Actions: 2






Anastasia's Actions: 1

---

Edit: I feel I need to make the Spare/Kill choice a bit clearer.

For the most part all it will really do is determine how Howard deals with situations like these. Like how his Belief Power choice will have some effect on his personality, this will too.

Mostly, it will determine what choice he normally goes for first:

Letting enemies go with no consequences.

Letting people go, but making sure they don't get off scott free.

Or just going for the quick and easy solution.