Night's Omen

 When Mya awoke, she had no idea what time it was. She had no idea what anything was, more importantly. She groaned, drawing her knees up to her chest. Had she been in the parking lot all this time? The dim light suggested she had, since she'd parked away from the street light. She wasn't as cold as she would have assumed she'd been for passing out in the freezing morning air, since all she'd had on was a pair of yoga pants and a t-shirt over whatever she'd been wearing before (presumably lingerie, given her routine). She reached around for her car keys and purse, and when she put her hand down, the pavement felt smooth, not rough and full of gravel from where the cement had come loose.

Mya sat up quickly, a regrettable event, and put a hand to her head. There was no bruise, but it was still a little tender, and she felt like if she moved too fast, she'd vomit. What had happened? She remembered running out of the club, and then everything went dark. Where the hell was she? She moved more slowly this time, paying careful attention to how she felt, and balanced to a squatting position, and finally to a standing one. She was in a room of some kind, from what she could tell. Her eyes focused on a row of thick iron bars peeking out from the shadows, and she made a desperate gasping noise.

No, no, oh God, no, this can't be happening. No, I'm in jail, that's where I am. Oh God, no, I can't be, because jail cells don't look like this. Oh God, oh God, oh God..

Her face cracked as she rushed to the bars, giving them a good shake. She was afraid to call out, because she didn't want anyone to hear her. She hoped they forgot about her, and just left her there alone. She could die alone and isolated, but not - not cut to bits or burned or any of the other things that they did. She had a good idea that Midnight was like those Hostel movies, which it could be - but the prospect of making a Phasi dependent and adoring of one single person went against their nature on a genetic level, and Mya would rather imagine being chopped to pieces or left to starve to death than that. Anything but that.

Verity had just come down to check on her newest acquisition when she heard shuffling in the cell. She turned back to Kronos and smiled. "Fetch me Taran, my love," she instructed, her voice like silk. He nodded and vanished up the corridor, leaving Verity to her business. As she came into view of the Phasi, she adjusted a rich burgundy wrap around her lightly tanned shoulders, noting that the air in the dungeons was a bit damp. She'd need to have that corrected. Couldn't have their lovelies catching colds, now, could she?

"God, my princess, has nothing to do with this equation, and I respectfully ask that you leave him out of it," she said, smiling at Mya as she watched her struggle against the bars. She sighed a little, as though she were longing for something, and took another step closer, speaking almost coyly.

"You have no idea how excited I am that you could join us," she informed the Phasi, tilting her head, a cascade of rich espresso-hued hair falling from her shoulders. She studied the bird, those silver eyes almost illuminated by the low lights of the area, and her smile became almost sad. "So excited indeed - but alas, I have not collected you for my own menagerie," she added.

She turned back as she heard voices echoing down the stairs, and then looked back at Mya, her smile now more of a grin. Her expression held a sort of anticipation to it, as though she were waiting for something good to happen, and the thing on the stairs was that good thing. She spoke sidelong to the Phasi, and her voice went from indulgent richness to acrid poison with but a lowering of her pitch.

"You won't enjoy this as much as I will."

Nobody was going to enjoy this as much as Taran, but he had no idea about any of that when Taran went to get him.  He was one of the few guards that was going to be sent out to help in war on Bruja, and frankly, he wasn't so sure what he thought of that.  He was a bird, which made him easier to kill than a lot of the people they were after.  When you were messing with hunters and their families, you sometimes ran into a hunter themselves, or someone trained by one.  Taran liked knives and he liked hurting people, but his fighting skills were very rough around the edges and gained through trial and error (with a hell of a lot of error in there).  The biggest thing he had in his favor was that he really was mostly crazy, and crazy went a long way.  That, and he could heal.

He was definitely thinking that he'd prefer to take on Bruja single-handedly than be in trouble with Verity and Niall, though.  As soon as Kronos appeared to 'fetch' him, he made up his mind about that and wondered if even Pandora could corrupt that wish enough to make him prefer the alternative.  He didn't think so.  He also considered bolting, as was his usual first instinct when fighting seemed utterly retarded of him, but he refrained.  He didn't think he'd done anything to piss off Verity and Niall, so he should be safe.  Right?

Yeah, whatever.  He really liked Verity, so as long as it was just her, he figured he'd be fine.  She wasn't unfair, and she'd never been unkind to him.  This would be a sucky time for her to change her tune, but he didn't think so.  Kronos still put him on edge because the guy could tear his limbs off in about 30 seconds flat, but the predator didn't demand that he lose his knives, which was a good sign.  He just asked Taran to go with him, that Verity was requesting his presence in the dungeons.  Unsettling, but he'd go.  With any luck, he hadn't caught the dumb.

Upon arrival, he immediately turned his eyes from the back of Kronos' head (dude was tall, and would have required a very fast flying leap to incapacitate if Taran had to), to Verity, to the cell behind her.  Then, to...really?  His nerves and confusion at Verity's summons evaporated when his pale eyes fell on Mya's face, a twisted smile crossing his own features.  If this was what he thought it was, then it might as well have been Christmas.

"You called, milady?" he prompted, suddenly incredibly interested in what she had in mind.

Verity turned as Taran approached, reaching up to place a hand at the back of Kronos' neck, right at the base of his thick, glossy black hair so that she could feel it between her fingers. She smiled to the cat, and then removed her hand as he nodded and took his departure. There was something in his black eyes as he passed Taran, not nodding to him as well, but just glancing his way, a glimmer of light reflecting off of the inky black iris. It was almost like eyeshine, something that Kronos' eyes did occasionally when he was closer to Jaguar than man. He was gone, down the hall and out of sight, and Taran was alone with Verity and guest.

"Hello, love," she greeted warmly, her full lips alight with a sweet smile not echoing the situation that plus one was being faced with. She stretched her arm in his direction, motioning for him to come closer and stand next to her. She had him as close as a lovebird, standing against him in such a way it appeared as though his sole purpose in life had suddenly been designed to become her accessory for warmth; a funny notion considering this was Taran we're talking about.

"See what I've gotten especially just for you?" she asked, flicking her gaze to the cage where Mya was kept. "She's as fragile as glass, I regret to inform you, but since your talent is more... hands-on... than mine is, I trust you will enjoy the time you have with her before she inevitably breaks," she said with a wistful little sigh. "She is pretty," she mused, almost to herself. "She thinks often of you. She thinks you're the bogeyman," she added, a laugh at her tongue.

"She's clearly not met my Niall."

It wasn't like Taran needed a nod or any kind of acknowledgement from Kronos, since he definitely didn't, but he had eye contact.  He held it, but not out of any need to meet a challenge or anything as stupid as that.  He held eye contact because he knew better than most that the eyes could give you away.  If Kronos was going to cut him down, he was going to see it coming.  As it was, Kronos passed with nothing more than an unpleasant look to his black eyes, and Taran was left with Verity and Mya.  He much preferred this company.

Verity stretching her arm out to him with her greeting was more tempting than the likes of him could resist, so if he was walking to his death, he would just have to accept it.  He wasn't refusing her, or the closeness with which she held him.  Once her arm was around him, she was pressed against him almost as though she belonged there, and of course, she did.  She belonged wherever she wished to be, and he would gladly offer it to her.  She was one of the few people he looked up to and liked in a way that didn't make him want to cut into them.  Her, he wouldn't have touched if he was given the opportunity, much like his sister.  Tanith would always hold much more of his vicious loyalty, but Verity was as close as anyone who wasn't his sister could be. 

This was just further proof. 

She was offering Mya to him, captured and practically gift-wrapped.  She was offering Mya to him, knowing what he was going to do to the Phasi and sounding as though she wouldn't have minded having her herself.  It made him almost hesitant to touch the other bird, knowing that Verity would want her.  He actually did laugh when Verity said that Mya thought he was the boogeyman, since that was a hell of a compliment to him.  There were so many people that wouldn't mind beating his brains in, it was nice to know that someone was afraid of him.  Of course, she would change her mind if she met Niall, just like Verity said.  Niall was the boogeyman, Taran firmly believed that, just like essentially anyone who met him.  Verity wasn't kidding.

"Clearly, she hasn't, but I'll do my best to live up to the title," he remarked, obviously pleased with the situation.  He did hesitate and glance sidelong at her.  His arm had slid around her to match the half-embrace she'd made, and would have been gone in a second if she suggested that she didn't like it.  He knew that she was the boss, regardless of gender or anything of the like.  He was just interested in pleasing her, because he genuinely liked her.  "Thank you, milady, but are you sure you don't want her?  I could...restrain myself, if you'd like."

There was that hesitation again.  Even crazy, Taran had that ability to hold back if he had to.  It was a good thing to be capable of, reining in your insanity out of necessity, and he could do it for Verity. 

 Verity laughed when Taran very nearly declined the gift that the lovely Phasi was. She tossed her head back and the sound came out, tinkling bells and venom disguised so sweetly you wouldn't know even at your last breath. "Don't be silly," she said. She turned to him, moving away from him as she did so, and folded her arms, nestling beneath that wrap that hung on her shoulders.

"I would prefer if you could keep her in tact, though," she said, peering beyond him to the bars where Mya was. "She's beautiful. We haven't had a Phasi in before that I can recall, and she is a bit... priceless. I'm confident that she has more severe areas of weakness, though. A Phasi is the antithesis of a good pet. I'm sure you can correct her; make an example of her? Just don't scar her," she warned. It was there that the difference between sultry insistence and a dangerous nuance became clear. Verity had issued an order, whether it sounded like it or not, that she was not to be disfigured in any way.

She smiled and gave him the tiniest kiss on the cheek. "I'm positive you can manage. You'll make certified trainers look like rubbish, I'm confident," she purred, laying praise heavily on Taran's ego, which she knew would appeal to him.

Honestly, Verity hadn't needed to give the order.  As soon as she'd said she'd 'prefer' if he could keep her intact, it was settled that he was going to be doing his best.  Being a shifter himself, he was well aware of just how much a bird's body could take without scarring.  If he hadn't been, Daphne had been sure to educate him on the matter.  He would wear those scars for the rest of his life, so he could certainly understand how not to inflict them.  Besides, this was what he did for fun. 

Order issued and noted, she went on to appeal to his ego, assuring him that she was confident that he'd make true trainers look incompetent, and that was an interesting line of thought.  She was offering him an opportunity here, he'd recognized that as soon as he grasped the situation, but she was nearly verbalizing that fact.  He was mortal, and mortals were never handed pets.  He'd never seen it happen before.  Certainly, some of the mortals roaming Midnight had people they were fond of on the outside, but that was an entirely different story.  Those people typically kept that quiet, but Taran was good at finding things out.  He knew about Xavier and Persephone's 'civilian friends' just as they knew about his sister.  It was understood that any attempts on those people could be dangerous, and Taran could personally say that where Tanith was concerned.  He would fillet and gut (slowly) anyone who dared touch her.  No, this was an actual pet, a true opportunity, and he was NOT going to fuck it up.

"I'll to my best, then," he agreed, returning her smile with one that almost looked sane.  Almost, considering he was definitely about to cut into that pretty little girl in the cell.  Could he really look sane right before doing that?  Perhaps, especially with Verity was giving him a kiss on the cheek like she was, and fluffing his ego.  Yes, he could.  He wasn't going to disappoint.

Verity smiled as Taran responded. She could see that he comprehended what precisely it was that she was doing by handing this opportunity to him. She and Niall had never run Midnight in a traditional sense, but offering a mortal, despite the fact that he was a shifter and a member of their guard, a pet - it was unheard of. Perhaps Verity just wanted to make a point of some sort or another and was using Taran as an example to do so; it wouldn't have mattered if her reasoning was simply because she'd seen her shadow and had decided there'd be six more weeks of winter - what she said was law, and his compliance reflected that. Still, she did like it when they agreed with her. She worked very hard to be loved, but never went out of her way at the same time.

Niall just frightened them all.

"Good, darling, good." She placed her tanned hand on his face lightly at his jaw, lifting it up slightly. "I'll see you after a while. I must find my dear Niall and discuss future matters." She then blew him a kiss and whisked herself away from his presence, motions like a leaf gliding on a cool breeze as she, like Kronos, vanished into the darkness of the halls that surrounded them.

Mya had been half-crazed, listening to the dialogue as though she had not been present the entire time. She was too willful to break over a conversation that had been entirely referring to her in the third person despite her occupation of the same room as the other two parties, but given the matter had words like breaking and damage in it, referencing her.. It made her feel slightly the advantages of going cuckoo. Still, Verity had been correct: Phasi had other ways of breaking, ways that didn't always involve physical torture. Mya didn't even know what it would be that broke her, as she was bound and determined to resist - resist until she could find a way out, or a way to fall upon a knife by her own choosing.

But - no, suicide? Phasi were too vain for suicide. So what were her options? She sat as still and quiet as a church mouse in the cell, against the wall with her knees to her chest. Her hair was tousled but not mangy, and she'd healed whatever residual she'd been experiencing earlier. No, she was firing on all cylinders mentally and physically for the moment. She shook beneath the fabric of the soft pants she wore, knees quivering as she felt her heart rate rise. They were left alone. He frightened her. There was no more thrill now, just terror. He terrified her.

Clearly she had not met Niall, yet. Or Raphael, for that matter. Or... well, there were a lot worse things to be afraid of than Taran - but then again, Verity had given him this very girl to prove that he was just as deplorable as those that had come before him.