A Stone, A Glass House

"Turning into bats? How insane, how unbelievable...but I do have a 'living' shadow that defends me so I suppose I have already joined the ranks of such supernatural forces" thought Bazel in surprise.

Picking up Zaira by the scruff of her neck he walked over and entered the room once more, taking careful note of the carnage that had been left in the wake of just two attacks by Tiernan. He took careful notice of the palm sized indents that had been left in the wall opposite to where Tiernan had been standing, which caused a slight chill to run alongside as he realized...

"You were holding back when fighting me," analyzed Bazel with a raised brow,"Why?"

Tiernan turned around from staring at the grate, glancing over Zaira onceover to make sure that she was fine, and answered Bazel with an air of benevolence.

"That is the right of the strong, to go easy on an opponent or to have mercy on a defeated foe. As for the specific reason, that is because of the duty of those who lead. I am of the noble house McGrath, and while we are not all true leaders..." said Tiernan with a quick flash of frustration flashing across his face but it dissipated as fast as it had come, "I still aspire to the ideal of one of my station: To lead by example, to allow those under him to flourish by my rule. As one who aspires to such high ideals, I must act according them."

The clear demeanor of one who leads many was apparent in the way Tiernan spoke and carried himself, which confused Bazel as the one who was being carried like a kitten by him was so different from her older brother. Unable to make sense of the contrast, Bazel elected to just forget about it and go back to the original discussion.

"I require reparations for what your little sister did to my own. First and foremost, everyone involved in her kidnapping and the fake job she was assigned to must be turned over."

Tiernan nodded at this but countered with, "But I will need my adorable sister returned to me unharmed."

This brought another bought of confusion to Bazel, as he realized that he had not yet killed her despite having the desire to do so not too long ago. Ordering his hand that was on the back of her neck to squeeze and snuff out her life, he felt an instinctual rejection to such an act the moment he tried to.

"What is with today? Now my own body is not listening to me... she must pay for her sins..."

Noticing the internal struggle going on within his opponent during this negotiation, Tiernan decided to nudge Bazel into the direction he wished for.

"While Zaira is the root cause of everything, I do not imagine that she expressly meant for everything to happen the way that they did. She was famous for starting something and having things spiral out of control back at home, not to mention there are plenty of bad actors that may try to frame her for various things. I did leave a rather capable individual to watch over her...but mistakes can happe-" began Tiernan but he quickly jumped from one plan of attack to the other when he noticed the twisting features of Bazel, "How about we discuss this with your younger sister, as she was the party most affected. Surely she should have the right to demand what type of justice should be had for her. She is her own person, correct? And while us older brothers surely have the right and duty to care and guide them, at the end of the day they must learn to make their own choices and decisions."

Upon hearing the mention of Lily, Bazel's attitude took a visible 180 as his features softened and a look of intelligence took hold on his brow. The change surprised Tiernan, as his negotiation partner turned from an emotion driven beast to a semi-cognizant man.

"That...that makes sense. But until then Zaira will remain with me, of course you can as well if you wish to make sure nothing untoward were to happen to her."

Having reached an accord Tiernan reached out his hand to shake, which took Bazel more than a moment to recall what he wanted by doing so, but eventually he remembered and shook his hand.

"While you make the necessary calls, we can wait here as my sister...Lily is her name, is already being escorted by the most reliable men I know. You met them before, the ones who fought those branch members of yours."

Recognition lit up in Tiernan's eyes and he said with almost merchant like guile, "Oh yes I remember those impressive men, I am actually quite interested in meeting them now that I think about it. If they are willing I would even like to discuss with their leader of having them come under my wing as a new branch family. In all my years, it has been a long time since I have seen commoner's who are as powerful as they are. They could go far you know, especially considering the danger that this town is in, joining me might be their best bet."

"Danger?" began Bazel, "What kind of danger?"

"You were a rogue before this, but from what I caught of your conversation with Zaira it seems you are a pure one through and through...not having any understanding of the truth behind this world. Putting it lightly, this town has turned into a bright beacon in my world that will be attracting more, if not all, of the noble houses. You see, an artifa-"

Tiernan was cut off by the door slamming open from the outside and a clearly distressed Neto running in at full speed.

He saw Bazel and opened his mouth to speak, but when he saw Tiernan he immediately drew his sidearm and machete and took aim at Tiernan.

"Stand down Neto," ordered Bazel in a commanding voice.

With just a hair's breadth left of room for the trigger to be fully pulled, Neto stopped the moment he heard Bazel. Looking at him demanding an answer, Bazel simply responded with, "We have come to an agreement, they will stay here while Lily is brought over."

Neto nodded on reaction but when he heard the last half of what Bazel said he completely locked up, even shaking slightly. Slowly holstering his weapon with extreme difficulty, he looked at Bazel with an expression that looked like he was about to say that the world was ending.

Bazel felt like a hand had gripped his heart, although he did not know why but he was struggling to not fear the worst...putting two and two together he asked, "Neto, what happened? Did something happen to Lily?" His voice was hoarse and quiet, thinly concealing the volcano that was about to erupt from deep within.

Trying his best to formulate any kind of response, Neto tried speaking again and again but failed to do so each time. He grabbed the sheath of his machete, maybe hoping that he could just slice apart all of his troubles. Understanding that what must be said had to eventually come out, Neto took a deep breathe and spoke the unspeakable.

"I just got word from the men I sent to pick up Lily. They arrived and started to transport her, alongside the four officers that were already there with my order, but they ended up being attacked while on the road. I do not know all the details, but my men could barely keep whatever was attacking back so they let Lily run with the four officers away. The moment they made this decision however, all the enemies burst into shadows and escaped somehow.

They were tricked, and when they caught up with Lily she was being taken away by the very same things that attacked them on the road. They tried their best to get her back, even killing one of the demons, but they still escaped in the end. I panic'd when I heard this and immediately ordered a search, even requisitioning surveillance footage from the entire area, and the search is now ongoing. Alas...she is still gone for now and taken by god knows what."

Neto opened his eyes, as he had closed them so he did not have to see the anguish on his friends face, but when he did all he saw was a blank and neutral look that greeted him.

Little did he know that he had not simply thrown a stone onto a glass house with his words, but rather threw a hefty boulder the size of a car.