Footsteps in the halls

Someone finally remembered I was alive..
I tried very hard to be mean and uncooperative. The conversation didn't last long of course, and then I blacked out for what seemed like a long time.
The interviewer came back, asked the same questions, pressed a little harder. I felt violently ill, but I managed to hold my ground. Blacked out again. Shorter this time.
And repeat process, with a little more force.
And again.
and again
again


again


UGH. Just go away. I hear footsteps in the hall, it must be them again. I feel my resistance slipping away

slowly.. I am stronger than this. I must be. Who are you standing out there? I can feel you laughing! Come in here, show me what you've got!


I must have said that out loud. I didn't mean to. I woke up covered in blood and bruises. Not sure whose blood. I don't have that many cuts. Just bruises. Lots of bruises. I hope that asshole learned his lesson. Dont mess with me. I'm Eternity. I'm the Daughter of the Night I am strong not weak i will run escape kill


I'm losing it aren't I? I can hear laughter in the halls, or is it in my head? Can't tell the difference anymore.

More footsteps. Hypnos? That's the first time I've seen him since I got here. Still the same, same limp, same cane, same scars... He looks worn. Not so cocky any more. He says my boyfriend and I are giving him issues, says we need to re-think our position. He left, no chance for me to respond.


Blackout.

Three Months Later

I'm alive. I think I'm alive.

God damnit that hurt.

My head just doesn't feel the same anymore. I had a surprise run-in with one of Hypnos' guys. The airport guy, with the tattoos. I didn't know it was the same person. He knew all along. He was supposed to be my partner for a California mission. I should have known it was too good to be the truth...We were going to deliver a package of information to Hypnos regarding "Situation B."

And then, I saw him. Hawk. For a brief moment there he was, sitting in a chair drinking a cup of coffee...And then the world went dark. I heard Hawk scream, I heard laughter, I heard the man with the tattoos mocking me. Silly little girl, he says, did you really think you could pretend to be one of us? We were watching you all along. You played your part so well. Sleep now, helpless child.

Helpless child. That's what I feel like. This brick room is so dark and so cold. It doesn't even have bars, just a rickety door. I can open it, but my head starts screaming when I do. I don't know what happened to me when I was asleep. I don't even know what day it is. No one has come in yet, that I know of anyway. The footsteps don't even stop when they pass by..no pauses, nothing. It's like they forgot about me. At least I don't see Him anymore. You know, the Faceless bastard that this whole thing started over.

I hate Him for all of this. I wish I was still my old, ruthless, fucked-up, coldhearted self sometimes.

I knew they'd fuck it up eventually.

Idiots. I knew if we waited long enough, we'd hear something. Hawk's being held in California. Somewhere near his old house. That's a bit, no scratch that. A LOT fucked up. His latest post concerns me. So I'm ditching. Skan too, I think. I say I think because...I don't know what's gone on with her recently. She's not all here, if that makes sense. And I'm not honestly sure if she knows what sleep is anymore.

Says she saw the Rake prowling around outside yesterday. One of the other guys here saw it too, I guess. Flipped out about it and ran off...Haven't seen him since. He's been replaced, though, by a guy who claims to be some sort of airplane cargo worker. Dude's got Egyptian style tattoos running up and down his arms and half his face. Weirdo. Anyway.

I'm leaving in two days. Sorry this is so abrupt. I'm too preoccupied with plans to be worried about a blog anyway.

We're back.

So, I know, we haven't posted in a while. That's because things have gone horribly, horribly off track. We've been stuck here in Vegas. A two day job has turned into an operation of mass proportions. And neither Skan or I have had a moment to ourselves in over a month.
 To start it off, we got separated for weeks without warning. Woke me up at 3am and told me that I was being pulled off of the Vegas operation to do some off the wall thing in Nebraska of all places. Something with a farmer. I ended up finding the guy holed up in a shack in the middle of a corn field. I really didn't want to tell the bosses, but...I don't know. I felt like I had to. Hawk. I have to save him, this is all to save him.. I don't know what they did. I was on a plane the next day...moved around a lot. Saw a lot of things that...I don't want to talk about it right now. I made it back to Vegas, thankfully. And was 'granted' the 'right' to have Skan as my 'partner'.
And to top it all off...We haven't been allowed ANY time. Up until now, tonight. We've been here in Vegas, working...Doing...Things. For the other side. For HIM. Skan says that we can't think of it like that, but it's true isn't it?? These guys here, they work for him, some willingly and others not. But they do it. And if we're doing it for them, aren't we just doing it for Him? No. No, I can;t think that way. It's too much...
We're guarding our 'base of operations' now. First time they've let us have a moment quiet, to ourselves. I found an old iPhone in one of...I found an iPhone while working, and I'm going to use it to post and then destroy it.
I don't know how we're going to get out of here. We seem to be soundly stuck. Nowhere to go, no chance to run. But I can't run. I have to know..I have to find him.

Skan's poking me with a stick. Guess it's my turn to walk the rooms.

Vegas, anybody?

I have to be quick about this. Skan and I may not post for a while, but I'll get you the full story just as soon as I can.
First we visited the airport, which was very nearly a disaster. And then thanks to Skan's quick thinking and hidden knives, we found a proxy hideout. Our disguises worked, but now we're being sent to Las Vegas on some kind of mission. And this mission is not Hawk. I did find out that their next destination is California. They're boarding tomorrow. I'm going to do something stupid to say goodbye tonight, so Skan will let you know if I die. She tried talking me out of it, but, there's no hope, no use. I WILL let him know we're still here...
Okay, got to go. We're still alive, still kicking, and surrounded by the enemy. Wish us luck.

Yeah, I...

She's not a proxy, the girl I saw in the leg forest and the apartments. I found her YouTube channel by accident, whilst viewing uploads of my own. I'm kind of afraid for her, actually. I know someone's in that building, and I know they don't have good intentions. And I know there's a reason why she woke up 5 blocks from there in the middle of the night. I don't know if she knows, and I'm certainly not going to be the one to bring the knowledge crashing down too soon. All I can hope is that she takes heed from our little misunderstanding and watches her back a bit more carefully.

On to other things...Skan and I may have had a breakthrough. I'll let her tell you about it later.

Last Night

Last night, I went to the building mentioned at the bottom of the note. I waited for someone to open a door and slipped in behind them..for living in such a dangerous place, people really don't pay much attention. Anyway, I entered in the parking garage, and...it was the creepiest shit I have ever seen in a building. This place was made for proxies and torture and scaring the living fuck out of people. And there were operator symbols, and that screaming face drawn in graphite all over the walls next to the elevator. Oh yeah, and Him. I could swear I saw his...nonexistent face... And I felt terrified, but just for a moment. Then I saw her again.

That girl from the forest of legs. I turned from where I thought I saw Him when I heard footsteps...There she was. Is SHE the proxy?? No, can't be...Am I being played here?? Is this part of the game, you sick bastards?? I shouted at her and tried to catch her before she went through a door...it slammed in my face just as I got there.

Fuck...
Hawk...
I'm so sorry. I failed.

And that's when I heard Skan start cursing up a storm outside the door.

I found this.

Rotten, proxy jerk. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR NOT SHOWING UP.
I found your little bullshit note, though. Yeah. Trying to make me believe that you're winning Hawk over.
idonticantiwont.iwillfindyou.

 And then there was this attached to the back. I'll play your little game.

ETERNITY

didyoufindit

What the actual fuck.

Sorry it's been a while, Skan and I have been doing our little masquerade nonsense...It has taken us exactly nowhere. Until a day or so ago, that is. We know they're around because...this. This video I am about to show you. Skan wasn't there, she was on the other side of the park.
Here's the setup. Chicago, middle of the goddamn fucking city. I'm just walking hoping to attract attention, and what do I stumble upon but the creepiest park in the history of the fucking known universe.
Yeah, I talk to myself a lot, got a problem. Whoever you are, girl, you had best get the fuck away from this place as soon as you can. It's only a matter of time now.

Have I mentioned that Skan is insane?

If I haven't made this clear by now. I will clear it up once and for all. Skan is insane.
"Let's be Runners?" Woman, you have got to be kidding me. I am an..assassin, night stalker, I HIDE in shadows. Do I LOOK like BAIT to you? But that's the plan, pretty much the only one we could come up with that might yield any sort of result.
We. Are going to wander around the streets and buildings of Chicago pretending to be frightened, scared, and stupid Runners and see if we can't bait a proxy or two into coming after us. I don't see anything going wrong with this. Do you? No. What could possibly happen. It's perfectly safe.
 It's really the only shot we have right now, though. The map is useless, no results. We didn't find anything remotely useful in the burned out shack.
I'm also a bit worried about Skan. She keeps muttering something about Sekhmet, mostly while she's asleep, but sometimes I'll catch her grumbling to herself about it.
Speaking of otherworldly entities. HE showed up again, yesterday. I didn't say anything but...it was while we were locating our sleeping quarters for the night. I saw Him through an alley, but oddly His head was turned to the side, looking at something else. It seems stupid to say, but I guess we really aren't alone in this city.
One bonus to seeing Him, though, odd as that is. We know the general location of a likely scared-as-fuck Runner whom Slendershit MIGHT decide to send a Proxy after. I think, we have a place to start our little masquerade.

Adventure, anyone?

Holidays

Surprisingly quiet, and... uneventful. Which in itself worries me. I'm on edge, and incredibly pissed at myself.
I can't believe I let them get away with him. So close....so very close. Right within my grasp, and....
I guess our next location is a big city in Illinois...We followed the tracks to the road, and have been walking that way since. Skan and I have been deciding if it's worth it to try and hitchhike to get there faster, but.....Hypnos has a history of killing anyone who crosses paths with his plans. Not sure if a ride is worth potentially getting some unsuspecting person killed.
We did manage to pick up some more ammo for the shotgun, though. We were running a bit low for my tastes...So we bought some off of some old farmer who's probably been stockpiling since the invention of the shotgun. At least if the proxies get him, he'll only be out a few years. With the way he was coughing, he's likely been smoking tobacco since birth anyway.
No sign of the Rake for a while, either. Skan tells me that the clawed bastard has been tied up with a friend of hers (Faustus, I think..). Props to him for trying to end The Rake's shit....too bad it didn't work. Better luck next time, I suppose.

Shack.

Well. We found the shack......By pure, unholy luck. After nearly three whole fucking WEEKS of fruitless searching, dead ends, proxy phone-napping, and the Rake on our heels everywhere we look.

This morning around 6am, I awoke to the very strong smell of smoke. Rising from the forest about a half mile to the west was a thick column of black smoke. I shook Skan awake (which, for future reference to anyone who might come across a similar situation, is a bad idea..it will earn you a gun butt to the face) and, after holding my face in pain for a few moments, pointed at the smoke.
     "There is no way that's a coincidence, Skan. It's out in the middle of the godforsaken forest. There's no town there, right?"
 She stared at me blankly for a few moments, then her eyes got wide. "Our luck can't be that good. Can it?"
We took off in the direction of the smoke, as quickly and quietly as possible. The closer we got, the more....wrong.... the air felt. By the time the dilapidated (and now, burning) thing came into view, I wanted to throw myself on the ground and be sick. I heard shotgun shots from behind me...I spun to find Skan alternating between glaring daggers and popping off shells at a tree 30 yards away. The Rake. AGAIN. FUCKER.
I drew my sword and ran for the building. If Hawk was in there.......I had to get him. Had to. No choice. Those proxy fuckers better NOT have set him on fire.
I got closer and heard yelling and the screeching of car tires, but I couldn't see the front of the shack due to the amount of black smoke. It was so choking, I had to drop to my hands and knees to keep going. I felt Skan drop in behind me, trying to stifle a cough.
 We rounded the corner just in time to see a black bundle roughly thrown into the backseat of a black truck. It was moving and making angry muffled noises, until Hypnos hit it with his cane.
 They saw Skan and I then. Three proxies came running at us, faces half covered with bandannas to protect them from the smoke. Hypnos yelled something, and a woman with a screaming face mask (It's me, stupid little girl. Your detective skills are so poorly lacking. I thought you did this for a living?) jumped in the driver's seat. Squealing the tires, they took off with the bulk of their 'army'. And my Hawk. 
Howling in rage, I jumped at the three proxies. I cut one across the face before Skan grabbed me and said, "Eternity! No! They aren't worth it. Come on, if we stay here we're going to be crispy!" She pulled at my arm, desperately. I happened to notice the roof of the shack beginning to fall...With reluctance, I stumbled away with Skan pulling on me. It fell on one of the proxies. He screamed and went down among the rubble..the one I cut. He was grabbing his face when he fell.....
The other two ran.


And that's all I remember of that day. I woke up in a tent, with Skan sitting at the entrance, my sword on her lap and the gun right beside it. I got up and walked by her. Surprisingly she didn't stop me....I walked out to the camp perimeter and pulled out my knife. One long, slow cut. Another addition to the notebook.

Indiana

FRUSTRATING. That is what the last two weeks have been. Some....proxy idiot...Stole my mobile. Skan and I had to track him down to get it back. We finally found him on a playground hiding in one of those tunnel things..What a place to hide, dumbass. Seriously. Anyway, after a very heated exchange of words and a kick to the head from Skan, he dropped the thing and ran off in the direction of a soccer field.

And WHAT DO I SEE OFF ON THE GRASS?? Our favorite faceless freak. UGH. Skan still doesn't see him. I grabber her arm and pointed, but all she said was "Yes, Eternity, grass is in fact green. What's the problem?" Noticing my look, though, we took off at a quick pace back into town.

We're looking for a shack in the woods.  A tiny, tree-covered, shack. And in case you don't know anything about this part of the country, it is COVERED in woods. We've tried the map trick again to no avail. All we have to go on is a slight clue provided by that proxy. It's within 7 miles of the Ohio/Indiana border. Helpful. Yet not, at the same time. That is a lot of ground to cover.

To make matters even more interesting, the Rake is still following us. I have had to take the shotgun away from Skan so as to prevent her from wasting all of our rounds on him. It's difficult to not want to unload clips after clip at the damn thing, it really is. It still seems to be doing its herding trick. Gets just close enough to freak us out, then pulls back and we won't see it for hours. Dammit. There it is again.

NO SKAN. DAMMIT PUT DOWN THE CAR KEYS. Ugh. Gotta go...

Shenanigans

The Rake, the Rake, the fucking RAKE. I am SO TEMPTED to devote my life to the study of KILLING THE DAMN THING. Ever since it caught us outside the wards, it has been furiously patrolling, and attempting to cross over on a regular basis. It was patrolling after the attack, but not like this. This is just unholy. Every time it sees myself or Skan, it rears up and does that horrid screeching thing. Goddamn otherworldly noise...

To make it worse, it picks at the wards almost...every time we see it. Like, it is doing it on purpose just to fuck with us. Skan, in particular. It will claw furiously at trees, rear up and screech, or just sit there and watch..Then it slowly makes its way at a ward, as if testing its power. It's always been repelled, but....
ITS SO UNNERVING. To watch it, I mean. The same feeling every time. Will it make it by this time? Will the wards fail, will it get used to them, so many questions with no answers...

In other news, The Faceless hasn't shown up again. And I keep dreaming about Hawk tied up in a dark room with a chain on the door.

The woods

Skan and I started our hunt today. The first place the second beetle stopped on the map was just a few paces out into the woods, so that's where we decided to go first, just to see if they left clues behind.
This is the first time that I've put on all of my hunting equipment since Skan picked us up. I was reluctant at first...Images of an old life. But it's that old life that's going to help me get him back. So I put  on my black outfit, my boots, and strapped on my old, trusty swords. Both of them...Yes. I need to do this. I tucked the knives away, hid other miscellaneous gear, and stepped out into the living room to wait for Skan.

Oh, my god. The woman looks JUST like me, except in camo with a shotgun instead of swords. Well. All right then, let's do this.

We had also packed several pouches of rue, just in case we ran into the Rake. This is the first time in a while either of us had gone past the wards, and with the clawed one's recent feverish activity..Both of us are pretty paranoid people, which as an aside got me to thinking...What if we made a device that shot rue oil or something like it at the Rake...Sort of a destructive anti-Rake water gun apparatus? Hmm. Might have to consider that for later. When I have him back. Have to get him back.

The air changed on the other side of the wards...Out in the woods, things felt...oppressive. I think Skan felt it too. She looked as nervous as I did, if not more. We started in a clockwise direction and began a circuit of the house, eyes on the trees and the ground, searching for anything out of place. But the area seemed....It seemed TOO perfectly placed. No broken sticks, claw marks, displaced leaves, nothing.

Nothing until 4pm. That's when we stumbled across Hypnos' abandoned camp. It surprised me, actually. From the tracks and the layout lines, the camp was laid out in a typical military style, wasting no space..They had defenses set up as well. Stands in the trees, hidden holes..Did these people actually think we were going to attack them? Heh, I'm flattered Hypnos. Really, I am. I would have loved to.

And....wards? So that is how they kept the Rake at bay. They seemed to copy a lot of Skan's wardings, which slightly amused her, I think. They even hung up a few of our painted rock wards from the catapult after the assault. How touching. As we moved through the camp, Skan noticed a tent depression off in the far corner, barely inside the wards. The area bore little resemblance to the rest of the camp..Broken limbs, scratches in the trees, holes in the ground...  And a hastily buried piece of rope with a washer attached to the end. One from his necklace...So this is where they held him.

Oh shit. Is that...moving in the trees? Fuck it, we've been out too long. The Rake found us. Skan and I booked it back to the house, but it didn't seem interested in trying to rip our throats out this time. It was more like...Well, you know how a shepherd dog runs cattle? Like that. Strange. Discomforting, too, in a way.

The next spot on the map is a small town to the east. Skan says we can take a day or two trip with the car and check it out in a couple days.

The conversation went a little like this.

Skan: So..How you going to know where to go? You've never been around here before...
Me: I'll find him. I have to find him.
Skan: I could help. Let me come with you.
Me: Hell no. If something happened to you...I'd hate myself forever.
Skan: I think I can take care of myself. You need someone to watch your back, and he's my friend as well.
Me: I'm not hearing it, woman.
Skan: I will duct tape your ass to a chair and beat you with a hose until you agree.
Me: .............
Skan: Yeah. I'll start packing.

So, Skan and I are going Hawk hunting. I'm afraid of what she'd do to me if I tried to leave without her.... And...I'm grateful for the company. We make a good team, I have to say. 

Hawk, if you read this somehow, we're going to find you.

It's real, the dream, we've decided....Oh god I wanted it to be a dream. I had Skan come downstairs and re-trace the dream with me step by step. She looked way uncomfortable playing the part of that girl, heh. When we got to the part where my head got smashed into the glass, I lowered my head and said, "Check. Please. Wounds, dried blood, bruising, anything."
 So she did...And...Oh god...Right where I remember my head hitting the glass..Several cuts and a large bruise. Skan actually stepped back and gaped at me for a bit...Then ran to the phone. I don't know who she called. I don't know anything anymore.

And then there is the matter of how that girl even got in here in the first place. Skan and I...We think that she might have used Curtis' body as a lure. To get us to do exactly as we did, and bring the body on our side of the wards. And somehow she was able to use that as a connection to get over here. Skan could probably explain it better than me.
We did scrape that screaming face from the windowsill though...We weren't sure if it was just a mark of her victory, or if it somehow allowed her access through that part of the house. We aren't taking chances. We sucked it up and burned Curtis' body just on the outside of the wards, towards the wetlands. It smelled awful even from a distance, but...If that's the way she got in, then it had to go.

Gah, that smell...
Hawk, please be alive. Please.
I will find you, somehow. Some way, I will find you.
I promise.

Involving dreams

First of all, yes Skan you can come downstairs and your life will not be in danger. I promise, that brick I threw this morning was not because of you drugging my ass.
I'm trying to keep my humor up. Trying not to dwell on letting Hawk out from under my grasp. Literally. I fell asleep holding him that night. :( I...

I had a dream, that I am starting to wonder...if it really was a dream or not. I think that it might have been...me watching events sort of..half consciously somehow. I know I'm not making much sense right now, but..bear with me.

We were lying in bed, Hawk and I, hand in hand. I felt troubled, paranoid..Something compelled me to get up and go to the window. That's when I saw HIM. The Faceless inthetreesstaringjuststaring...He was intent on the house, looked like he was looking right back at the window. I cried out and stumbled back to bed, but...Hawk wasn't disturbed, so I decided not to wake him. That would have been cruel of me, yes?

And then she came into the room. The girl with no name, the one who nailed Curtis to the tree, that sadistic little bitch.. She knelt down at the bedside and whispered something into Hawk's ear, then caressed his face in some sort of shape...He woke up then. She smiled and stood up, held out her hand to him...I watched him take it and stand up, and follow her to the window.

Then...I stood up too, and tried to follow. She smiled again, more aggressively this time, and shook her head. "One at a time, plaything" she said. Next thing I knew, my head hit the window, twice. I fell to the floor, on my knees, leaning on the windowsill. Another smile. "A fitting place for you, little one, no more than you deserve. Sleep now."

I watched her lead Hawk by the hand out to the woods. I watched her take him to the trees, watched them both disappear. I woke up that morning with a hellish headache and..He was gone.

I'm going to go and check for real world wounds now...

FUCK. No. Nononono this isn't happening THIS IS NOT HAPPENING WHY. Hawk is gone, gonegoneI woke up this morning and he wasn't here and the window was broken...There was blood on the sill and blood on the ground below and ... Blood, HIS blood, Hawk....

I should have known Hypnos wouldn't give up Ishouldhaveknowntherewasanotherplan...I should have known when I saw HIM. The Faceless. I thought it was a dream but noitwasntadreamHEwasherelastnight.

No. I have to calm down. We'll find him, I'll find him, I have to find him. I'm going soon, I'm going to track them down, Hypnos YOU BASTARD YOU CANT HAVE HIM. YOU CANT HAVE HIM THE FACELESS CANT HAVE HIM HE IS MINE AND I WILL KILL YOU TO GET HIM BACK. 

I ran around the house this morning, hoping I was wrong. I woke Skan up in a panic after about 20 minutes of searching. We looked everywhere inside thehouse inside the wards. All we found was a mark on the window, HIS mark plus..something strange, something that looks like a screaming face...like this kind of ::O. I cantthinkcantfocusGIVE HIM BACK I WILL RIP YOUR THROAT OUT..

How did they get in here, how did they make him leave why wasnt there a struggle why didn't i wake up

urgh dear god im sleepy all of a