The battle of power....or at least squabble of fathers (Kait)

It had been a fun night. Blue Fire gave Chloe a lapdance while talking about her doctorate thesis. The blue-scaled stripper was a graduate student in her world, and she was here to learn more about human behavior - what better way to learn about human nature than to work at a strip club?

Chloe could think of at least ten better ways off the top of her head, but hey, Blue was working off of limited information. Plus, she had an in with Chloe's dad, and travelling to Earth from where Blue was from wasn't an easy task.

Chloe was walking home by herself. She was giving her familiar Arach a few days off (Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, spider lady) so she didn't have anyone to chauffer her around. But hey, most of the criminal types on this island knew better to mess with her or her dad, so it should be fine... right?

There was a spooky guy standing around on the side of the road. Bright green hair, jet black eyes. He had sort of an edgy, punk rock kind of vibe to him. Chloe nodded at him as she approached, her tail swinging back and forth idly behind her. "I like your style," she told him, disinterested.

He tripped her. She knew that he was tripping her, and when she flipped onto her back to look at him, he was leaning over her.

His faux worry made her mad.

She kipped up - an acrobatic feat made easier by her unusual feet, and glared at him. "I'm fine. But if you make a habit of introducing yourself like that, you won't be." Her voice was cold, even, and matter-of-fact. She turned and walked on her way, a little faster this time.

He was following her and muttering to himself. She could hear the muttering, though she couldn't tell what he was saying, and she could hear his footsteps. It was starting to creep her out.

She swung around and looked him dead in the eyes. "Okay, guy, can I help you?" Her tone indicated that she would very much like to help him fling himself from the nearest rooftop, perhaps, but not with much else.

Chloe could feel him.

She could feel him inside her head. Probing. Looking. She panicked a bit at first. She tried to mount a defense but her thoughts were too scrambled, she couldn't immediately put herself into the right mindset.

Cylthic seemed to find what he was looking for. Something about...

Oh no. It was something about her father.

She had just failed her father, hadn't she? He was going to send her to hell for all eternity, because one of his enemies had just used her to find out something valuable about him. Wasn't he?

Her breathing sped up. She began to tremble and shake.

That's when the voices started.

'You are useless to him.' 'He will cast you aside.' 'Follow the emerald boy.' 'All others will fall.'

She could feel the voices, too. They were in her head. Trying to intrude, worm their tendrils into her, control her. They encircled her mind, pushing in from all sides, trying to crush her will. And they almost did - but Chloe realized that a fate far worse than death lay in store for her if she gave in.

Her breathing slowed. Her eyes fell shut. She took a deep breath in, and she pictured the voices, little dark figures on the landscape of her mind, laying siege to her inner sanctum. She exhaled and she was a hurricane, a tornado, a tidal wave, an earthquake; the dark figures washed away, vanquished.

She opened her eyes, her head clear. This was the emerald boy, and he had been trying to enslave her.

And now he would pay for his hubris. What would she learn if she pretended it had worked?

"Master..." she addressed him weakly, then gave a drawn-out curtsy. "What is your will for me?"

"Chloe Black, my lord," she answered. "Do you have a name that you prefer I call you?"

Chloe looked to the nearest shadows. If what he said was true - if his father existed in all shadows, if he was even more powerful than her own father - then she was playing a very dangerous game right now. She wondered how safe her father's realm would be from this creature. Could she even get that far?

Nonsense. A creature powerful enough to be that threatening to such a small piece as her would have no need for a mortal cult. And she was his first - this was some upstart. Small change compared to her own father.

With any luck he would reveal more of his secrets to her now. It was lucky enough that he had already explained this much without realizing the truth.