tampered | Log; Ongoing; Open

Log; Ongoing; Open

When; October 23, evening/night
Rating; Ahhh... R? Anita has such a clean mouth, after all...
Characters; Anita Blake

browning_baby, open to others (accusers and jeering crowd now. Rescuers later?)
Summary; Anita's been labeled a witch. Is she? Only the crowd knows!
Log;
Anita had always been a bit of a modest person and it was obvious in the way she absently clutched the robe around her. She didn't pay attention to the material covering her, though. Her eyes were locked to the crowd in the square milling around the silver cage she was locked in. Several tries at the bars showed her that they weren't soft enough to tear open, and high enough silver content to leave her hands scorched and smoking. To add insult to injury, she'd been dunked not too long ago, and her hair hung in damp curls around her face, framing much lighter eyes then usual, and a deep scowl.

“What the hell are you all looking at? I'm no damn witch.”

She figured she was fine, as long as no one tried to poke her. Her time in college jogged her memory about how other trials were run and carried out, and she knew that if they still suspected her, they'd look for marks and see if the bled.

It didn't help that she was still covered in strategic bruises from a wild night with Richard...

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He was only in the crowd for now, keeping an eye out, face stoic as he watched the scene unfold. This...was not good. But for now, he would bide his time and wait. Planning was still happening, and they would figure this out. Besides, Doumeki wasn't quite ready to blow his cover yet, but if it came to that....

But he needed to have confidence in the Resistance. Now was the time to watch, and wait.

Ky's always been a quiet person, but his ability to command was what had made him a commander at sixteen and captain of a police force at twenty.

"Anita Blake," he announced, loudly enough to be heard, "Convicted of witchcraft, necromancy, and associating with the devil. We will hear witnesses and evidence now."

He lifted a hand, a signal for the trial to proceed.

Wolf-gold eyes turned to stare down at Ky, almost daring him to continue with this stupidity.

"I've told you again and again. I'm no witch and I can promise you I'm a lot more faithful that I look."

The eyes didn't bother Ky. He merely stood, and pointed out, "You failed the dunk test, Anita. You survived. Clearly, we have an issue. Confess, and it will be simple. Make us work for it, and it will only be painful."

Truth be told, she was having a hard time keeping her beasts at bay. Her temper being tested so close to the full moon wasn't helping her.

"Don't be an idiot. Human bodies FLOAT, or didn't you know that?"

Ky sighed. It was a common tactic - the use of logic, when clearly this was a realm outside logic, all in all. Magic held only mystery.

"Miss Blake. I'm begging you. Confess, and it's over. My fellow inquisitors are not as patient, kind, or forgiving as I. They will not hesitate to force a confession from you."

A soft growl trickled from her throat as her hands curled around the bars of her cage. Smoke and the smell of burning flesh trickled from the contact as she pressed closer to the bars, almost resting her cheeks against them.

"They couldn't force anything from me, and neither can you."

Ky reached into the cage, his gloves lined in silver - necessary evil, something he would confess to later - and took one of Anita's hands.

Crack

The sound of bone snapping rang through the square. "Confess." he whispered, urgently, before taking another finger. "It is too late for you, and almost too late for Richard..." crack! "...but it is not too late for Severus Snape, or Asher. It is not too late for them."

The gloves burned even deeper into her skin and the first finger to snap made her flinch in open pain, but the whispered words were the things that caught her attention. The second snap was followed by a muffled cry, the other hand reaching through the bars to try and free her hand so she could make a grab for Ky, intent on freeing her damaged hand so she could try and snap his neck for threatening her loved ones... her friends.

"No... you're lying. You're his friend. You wouldn't hurt him!"

He gripped her wrist in his hand and nodded. "All I need is the word from you, Anita. Confess, and this goes away. Confess...and your men will be safe."

With a scowl, she tugged at her hands, but after a close look at his face, she nodded curtly.

".... fine. I confess."

Good. It was good when they confessed.

He opened the cage, grabbing her with his strong hands and hauling her to the stake. He handed her to the two men who tied her, strongly, with rope designed to hold a witch.

Designed to hold anything.

"In nomine patre, fili, et espirtu santu..." Ky crossed himself, and gestured for them to begin.

Now that she had confessed - it was time to burn.

In the span of a few breaths, she was hauled from the cage and pressed to the stake, then tied down tightly. The ropes cut into her skin, but rope shouldn't be a problem for were strength.

Or so she thought.

The ropes didn't budge; didn't snap and the gold bled from her eyes, leaving them dark and wide with hidden fear. She aimed a vicious kick at the men, but it didn't connect as they lit the fire under her feet.

Immediately, her eyes scanned over the crowd, looking for any friendly, familiar face....

At Lady's very loud distraction, Asher rose into the air, a long knife bare in his hand and flew to the stake. He was counting on the others to cover him in this moment when he was going to be so exposed on the pyre.

First to part the ropes under the sharp blade he carried, offering quiet words for Anita. "We're here for you."

Between the smell of her feet starting to cook and the myriad smells a crowd gives off, she hadn't been able to pick out any of her friends or 'family', so she almost sagged in relief when she first noticed Asher approaching her.

As soon as she heard his him, she glanced around again, wincing a little. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can. All of us. They're after you and Severus and Richard... and they'll wnat anyone else that helped..."

As Asher flew forward, Snape stode forward through the crowd, ahead of Vivian, pulling his wand out and lashing out at the crowd, pushing them back on either side through invisible walls, cutting a clear path for Richard to get in and Asher and Anita to get out.

With alarm melting to anger Vivian meets the mob with squared shoulders, lodging herself between Snape and writhing shock humanity. She understood her role and the alpha would perform her duties with the greatest of pleasure.

Effortlessly ducking the first of many boorish swing of citizenry turned attackers, and gingerly snapped the nearest arm back like a brittle candy before plunking him from relative obscurity. Gripping his leg, Vivian swung the hapless man like Louisville slugger, creating a four-foot radius from the firing wizard before releasing mid-swing sending the flailing man careening back into the crowd.

Ky spun and saw the vampire; he narrowed his eyes and moved - fast, a trait that had been useful in the wars, his rosary in hand and his hands on the vampire's flesh.

"Release her," he whispered, softly, "Or burn with her."

He spun again, his hands still holding onto Asher.

This is what Richard had been waiting for. He didn't want to hurt his friend, but he wasn't about to let Ky hurt Asher or Anita. He lunged at the blond man, his preternatural speed and strength closing the distance in second.

"Let them go Ky!" he snarled, almost as much beast as man. He hadn't shifted yet but his beast was right below the surface, almost controlling him. It had been something he talked to Vivian about, letting the instincts of the animal do the fighting. He just hoped he could keep it under control.

Gloved hands grabbed on to Ky's wrists as he squeezed as hard as he could. Once again, Richard owed Snape, who had mentioned the silver bars on the cage and made Richard think to wear the gloves to avoid contact.

"I don't want to hurt you, but I will if I have to stop you from killing people."

It didn't seem like Lady was going anywhere soon, providing the distraction, the demon hunter was going to stick around. Leaving like this...it didn't seem at all right.

But not far from Richard, sliding Kalina Ann back onto her back, Lady kept a distance. Withdrawing one of her handguns -- she wouldn't kill humans -- but if she had to, shooting someone in the shoulder or the foot seemed like a good option.

"No one is going to die here today," she joined in, "You better stop now, you're well outnumbered!"

Asher turned his face away from Ky, a snarl twisting his visage as the rosary burned into his skin. Damn these men of faith.

With Richard there, he used the opportunity provided by the werewolf to try to jerk free of the zealot's hold. Ordinarily he would get well away from Ky, and certainly away from the fire, but with Anita in Julianna's place, he was not sane enough to have a sense of self-preservation.

He would stay. He would burn if he had to. He would face the cross and the pain of holy burning, but he would not let Anita burn.

Anita was almost free when she noticed the look on Asher's face. Another smell entered the mix, making her very aware of what was happening. With a loud growl, her power flared, hot under her skin, her still good hand curling, shifting until it was covered in mottled golden fur. Slim, wicked claws curved out of the fur and slapped away Ky's hand, trying to keep from scoring it too deeply.

Cat's eyes glared over Asher's shoulder at Ky as her lips parted in a vicious hiss.

"Don't make us kill you tonight..."

Keeping the crowd at bay with the help of Vivian and Lady, Snape walked as close as he dared to the blond man, striking a binding curse at anyone who even began to approach Richard or Anita.

"I suggest you do as they say. A werewolf is not to be trifled with." There was a slight tinge of irony in his tone, but his face was dead serious.

While Snape moved, Vivian brought up the rear seamlessly. She was dimly aware of the events unfolding behind her, but unable to take her eyes off the looming danger threatening to break free from her control.

"Amen to that," she murmured in agreement, hurling another in a series of devastating one-two-punches. And seizing a particularly aggressive human roughly by the scruff, she snarled, "Where do you think you're going, meatbag?" Shaking the some sense into wide-eyed man, she followed through with a fierce impromptu drop-kick flight skywards.

Beautiful distance on that one.

Ky's hand moved to his sword, and he swung it out, tilting it downwards, lightning crackling around him.

Anita has managed to crack only his wristguards, but nothing more. He said a quick Hail Mary, turned on his ankle, and three words escaped from his lips.

"Ride the lightning."

Electricity smashed through the the crowd around him, the orbs circling him as he moved, tossing those near him away.

Richard saw Ky release Asher's hand, knowing that's all that was needed. He trusted the vampire to do what was necessary to get Anita safe and the rest of them could get away.

Before that was even possible for Richard though, Ky drew his sword, a motion that sent the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Richard glanced at Ky's eyes and a shiver of a different kind went down his spine. He had never seen that expression on the face of his friend before.

Richard had enough time to turn himself half around before the lightning hit him. Pain shot through his body before for just a fraction of a second before it overwhelmed him and his world went black.

Watching in the back is a middle-aged man in grubby, brown police uniform, smoking and glaring ahead to Ky. He wasn't part of any resistance that he knew, but prepared to throw in his lot with one should things turn nasty.

Witch trials. Three days in this city and already he was disgusted. The woman...Anita? Didn't look anything like a witch. Didn't behave like one, either. This trial, he decided, was a joke before it had even started.

Witches, black magic, occult...the whole nine yards. The absolute motto of this place seemed to be "expect the unexpected". What happened to the simple reservations she held that some of these people were good? It seemed to have faded away -- it was stupid to hold people in high regards, depend on them. This was the example of it. She held a lot of respect for priests, but what Richard said -- this man was a friend? A FRIEND? There it was, it fortified Lady's personal distrust in absolutely everyone.

Though observing everything around her, hands clenched within the longer jacket she was wearing, blue and red eyes were scanning the surroundings, waiting to see what was being made of this mockery of a trial. Biting her lip, Lady felt a sudden rush of rage, but held her place. To rush off with the cannon strapped on her back would be costly. But then again...running up there seemed like a bad option.

Opting for a more coveted place to plot her distraction, the girl turned on a boot heal and swiftly walked into a more darker location, at least keeping an out out for Zeeman himself. Having one face to remember might have been a good thing, having never meeting this Snape prior.

Looking at it now, another faceless stare within this hated crowd, Vivian had to wonder if she wasn't sharing the very same view her father and pack-mates' killers had the night they set the houses ablaze. Her stomach dropped at the thought and the miasma of hellish imagery that swirled to mind.

So that was Richard's wife? The younger woman assessed the soaked battle-scarred creature and her current predicament. She wouldn't wish this fate upon her worst enemy. ~~Not even Astrid deserved this...~~ Scars, deep but softened with time's healing, bore silent testimony to a most impressive resume. Vivian felt an inkling of respect warm her heart. Good for you, she thought. But the young woman knew that those impressive things probably do more to hurt Anita more than help her this maddening night.

She'd forced back a sneered at the viciously gleaming sight- silver: an entire cage made of it- and shoved her hands into her pockets to hide the balled fists from showing. Even for the strongest of alphas, silver was the stuff from which nightmares were made. While Vivian had escaped that terrible day, forced to run a barbed wire cage maze laced with the vile material to freedom, the content level hadn't been nearly that high. A cold chill worked its away her her back with the realization that if she could sense the cage's near-fatal level of silver from here, what must Anita be feeling?

The young blond shared a knowing glance with a fellow co-conspirator. They'd find a way to rescue Anita and punish these bigots for their blatant mistreatment of Richard's mate.

Standing beside Vivian stands a fairly recognizable potions master, his arms crossed, watching the scene unfold moodily. The sooner the idiot Ky up front ceased his endless, pointless chatter, the sooner the rescue could begin.

He eyed Vivian with a calculated gaze, his wand tucked safely up his sleeve. She didn't look like much; would she be enough to provide cover while he kept the rest off of Richard and Asher? They'd have to wait and see.

His head turned, scanning the angry mob for any other familiar faces. Surely they weren't alone here?

She scanned the crowd, ignoring the rather tall and unpleasant looking man besides her. Richard had asked Vivian to work with him and for Richard’s sake she would... but she didn't think she'd like it. ~~Dirty trick, appealing to her better nature like that, how could she deny his request at a time like this?~~

Rather than confronting his direct appraisal in typical alpha fashion, Vivian’s hungrily swept the scene, looking for any vantage to exploit when wolvish eyes sharply stopped and fine brow arched. She found it.

Gently tugged his sleeve, a subtle gesture to gain his attention. "The light," she calmly whispered, the smaller young not bothering to wait for him to stoop to lend her his ear -she'd have it either way if she had to rip it off- "I wonder how well they can see in the dark..." she mused, a ghost a smile playing at the corners of her lips as she planted the seed of a plan in the strange man's mind.

Barely holding back an eyeroll at the woman pulling at his sleeve, he glanced over to observe what Vivian was speaking of. He glanced at the various lights, then looked back towards her.

"As a last resort" he conceeded. "You, Richard, and Asher wouldn't have trouble; I however would find myself unable to protect them and stand as much a chance at hitting them as anyone else should the lights go out. Only as we are exiting."

With that curt reply, his eyes searched the crowd, seeking out Asher and Richard, awaiting their signal.

He watched the proceedings from the corner of his eye as he stayed in the shadows of a stall, taking small bites out of an apple. He wore fingerless gloves to hide the runes imprinted on them and a cap to disguise his hair a little more.

Tossing the apple core to the side, he took the time to scan the crowd for familiar faces.

Not many.

Even less friendly ones.

He adjusted his blazer, feeling the solid weight of the pistol and the grenades he hid there. He needed to find a better position. And quietly.

X, hidden among the crowd, lost in the sea of faces, wasn't among those affected by the curse. Or at least he didn't think so. But he felt that there was just something right about calling for the torture and death of innocents. Or rather, evil. It was a good feeling.

And educational, too, he thought, watching the way Anita's hands burned against the silver.

When the trial finally began, the eliciting of confession from her, he beamed at the first snap of bone, pushing through the crowd to get a bit closer to the front for a better view.

There was little that Richard could do to hide his appearance, but cutting his hair and dying it blond would have to suffice for now. He didn't need the disguise to work forever, just long enough for them to get Anita free. Asher could move faster than anyone here and would whisk Anita way to an undisclosed location, one that not even Richard knew about. It was better that way just in case he was captured.

He had no doubts that Snape and Vivian would make it out. Richard had seen first hand one the wizard could do and Vivian wouldn't let anyone get close enough to incapacitate them. Lady would be fine, she was off a ways and knew how to get in and out of places like this. Richard would just have to do his best.

He glanced around a bit, looking for Asher. Once the vampire was in place, they could proceed.

[ooc: Just waiting for Asher, then the party can get started.]

Centuries of practice left the golden-haired vampire virtually invisible in the shadows.

He glared hatred at Ky on hearing the first crack of bone, making a promise to himself that the man would suffer, cursed or not.

He was ready. He was more than ready. His nerves and nerve were stretched and frayed. This was too close to losing Julianna. Too close to the night that he had lost everything - his human servant, his beauty, his lover - everything.

He glanced around, picking out the others from the meeting in the crowd. Let this end.

It was getting more dense, the crowds coming together, in some surreal image that was brought on by the history teacher's textbooks that didn't seem so long ago. It was ridiculous. Infuriating. Armed with more knowledge on what could happen, it was best not to waste anymore time with it. All of them, so muddled together -- surely they weren't going to notice her lugging around that huge weapon on her back.

Pulling the hood over her head (yeah, right, like no one was going to notice that), a few side steps, one hand went to the back, to Kalina Ann's first handle, near the blade, waiting on tense nerves, eyes boring into apart of the square. Swiftly swinging the large cannon, dropped at perfect level to which Lady slowly deduced it was going to hit apart of a building. Something. As long as it was going to make noise.

The first round was hitting close by, she was going to create as much of a ruckus as possible -- they should be grateful the girl didn't pull out fire this time. Two large sounds, two shots from Kalina Ann resonating from behind the crowd. Though she wasn't done yet.

Slamming the blade throughly in the ground, one swift kick from the back of the cannon -- Kalina Ann's hysteric furry, a few more explosions and Lady deemed it worthy to move. Quickly

"Come on, guys! There's you fuckin' cue!"

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Log; Ongoing; Open

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