Waiting to Die

*Eve follows Lilith, as she brought a knife to a shootout*
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*Tirea trails slightly behind Astarte, keeping a look out for any monsters or police*

*As far as they can tell, nothing is in the darkness, though they are far away from a working street light. The only apparent security is a dog that starts barking as Astarte pokes around. Nobody would leave their doors open because there's still snow crunching below her feet.*
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*Schreiber steps back, gasping & observing her stomach, but in the low light they can't really see what's going on.*
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*Meanwhile, Grimm runs out of ammo, & realizes that he has searing pains throughout his back.*

Tirea:<(Maybe we should choose a house without a dog.>
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*Waiting and watching*

Astarte nodded, and moved on to a few houses over to scope out the same way.

Grimm groaned and slumped sideways, grasping around for his knife.

*As they do so, they approach a working (albeit flickering) street light, which they see a heavily shadowed person standing below, just staring in their general direction. They look to be about 5 feet tall, wearing baggy clothes that shift slightly in the breeze. They have an indistinct, round head, possibly wearing a hoodie.*
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*As Grimm shifts around, the closet appears completely empty, as if Ira just disappeared into the shadows.*
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L"Is it over?"

V"Are you okay?!"

Schreiber<Never mind that. Ira's surely long gone, so we need to take care of the priest & that thing before the cops show up.>

*She points to the white corpse they're laying beside, oozing thick, vicous brownish-green fluid all over them. Then she limps to the door, hand holding her side & gun trained on the general area where Grimm is. Lilith briefly tries lifting the corpse to use as cover, but it's so heavy & strong when it starts spazzing out that its motions hurl her into the wall, so she gives up on that plan. Instead, she just gingerly rises to her feet & follows a few feet behind Schreiber, weapons drawn, squishing & sticking noises coming from where her shoes touch the creature's innards.*

*Tirea grabs Astarte's shoulder, pointing at the figure*
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*Eve trails behind Lilith*

Astarte shook her head roughly and turned to run in the other direction.

Grimm tried to rise to his feet with a knife in hand, groaning loudly before speaking, "Do you expect some last revelation from me?"

*Grimm is not paralyzed, however the sheer pain & loss of blood makes it difficult for him to even get to his knees, & it's unlikely he'd be able to stand for any length of time. Schreiber trains the gun on him as she looks to see if he has a phone or a cell phone charger in his bedroom. But he will notice the red seeping from between the fingers on her side, as well as her sweaty, furrowed brow.*

Schreiber<I never expected you to have anything worth hearing, & if you did, Ira would have killed you by now.>

V"You're--you're not going to--?"

Schreiber<There is no point in killing a dead man walking. Or rather kneeling. I just need to make sure he won't interfere while we dispose of the beast. What I need YOU to do is go look for fuel.>

*Perhaps surprisingly, it is not Vanessa but rather Lilith who heads back into the house to search, picking up her flashlight before making a beeline for the kitchen. Of course, she swings her flashlight to & fro just to make sure she isn't going to be ambushed. Once she gets there, she opens the fridge, searching for booze.*
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*As Tirea has not turned yet, she will notice the figure taking a step forward. There does not seem to be anything more back the way they came, though they can see lights moving inside of the church.*

*Eve follows Lilith, keeping a lookout for any monsters or police officers, along with anything that might be useful (phone charger, cell phone, flashlight, money etc). Once in the kitchen, she starts looking for flour or something else flammable*
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*Tirea runs after Astarte, turning back to look at the figure occasionally*

Astarte gets back to the road and stoops, heading back in the direction of Grimm's house.

Grimm isn't a boozer, it's empty, "So what do you think the purpose of luring you in here to find me was? Where do you suppose he just went?"

*Assuming that Tirea is following Astarte since she never answered me, the road is quiet & empty when they get back to Grimm's street. From this distance, they can't see anything different about the house.*
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*Presumably Grimm has jars of things like sugar, flour, etc. Lilith searches the cupboards for any kind of cleaner that might contain alcohol. By this point, Vanessa has headed off to the bathroom, looking for the same kind of thing.*
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Schreiber<This situation is getting out of hand, the monster is surely angry with Ira for failing to eliminate us for so long now. An anger it will take out on you as well, & when that time comes, you'll wish I used this on you.>

*She waves her nail gun.*

Schreiber<Ira will be in hiding, trying to think of a way to save his own pathetic hide, some offering he can use to regain favor in the eyeless gaze of the beast.>

"And what will you do?" Grimm asked, pointing the knife vaguely at Schreiber. "If that thing you call the 'monster' is capable of anger, it should be most angry with you. Can you keep running from it in that condition?"

His dish, laundry and hand cleaners are all generic brands.

Astarte squatted down and peered at the house from a distance, "I wonder if they even went in?"

OOC: I did edit my post, I just forgot to message you on Skype.

*Eve grabs the flour and sugar, then starts heading back towards the beast*
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Tirea:<(Let's get a little closer, or we'll be wondering all night.)>

*As Grimm apparently has no peroxide or surface cleaners, Lilith & Vanessa look for any free cushions or wooden furniture they can easily break.*
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*Grimm falls flat on his face, landing in what by this point is a puddle of his own blood.*

Schreiber<That is not your concern. And it looks as if very soon you won't have any concerns. If you're lucky.>

Those are readily available. Grimm burbled up from the floor, "We have the same concern. With God."
He cut into his jugular with the tip of his knife, groaning.

Astarte crept towards the house with Tirea presumably.

*Creeping*
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*Eve heads back to the monster's body, probably in time to see Grimm kill himself*

*As they get closer, they can see more shadowy figures converging on the house, to the point where the darkness itself seems to seethe towards it. When the dark beings get close enough, they seep into the foundations & any other cracks in the house.*
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*Grimm & the monster are not in the same room, so no. She does, however, see some shadowy human shapes slithering into that room. As do Vanessa & Lilith when they come up with splintered wood & ripped up cushions. Schreiber emerges soon afterwards.*

<Feasting on the priest won't occupy the demon for very long, so hurry!>
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*Shadows move across the ground, pulsing over Grimm, who feels the sensation of being grabbed & dragged by dozens of burning hands. The shadows group together, part of them billowing out in front of him to form a shape with a porkpie hat. The lights flicker &, suddenly, Grimm & all of the shadows are gone. Schreiber holsters the gun & withdraws the nail gun, turning to limp out of the room.*

"Okay, so it looks like we absolutely can't go in there," Astarte stopped again, checking back over her shoulder to make sure the hooded figure wasn't following.

Tirea:<I think they are in there though, or at least they were...>
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*Eve looks slightly sick to her stomach at the sound of that. She approaches the monster, throwing flour into the air. Eve is ready to jump back at the first sign that she is in trouble*

*Schreiber waves flour out of her face as she limps her way through, stepping carefully so as not to excite the dead beast's reflexes. Lilith & Eve throw their shit over the monster in a loose pile, some of it trailing out into the hall. Then everyone steps back, Schreiber motioning to Vanessa to use her taser as she continues to limp along.*

Schreiber<This place will go up very quickly & we need to be far away very fast when it does.>

*With that, Vanessa points the taser at the kindling & shit & fires.*
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*Seeing as it WAS one of the shadows, it's gone now. They do hear some rustling & muffled noises, as if someone in the semi-forest near the house is down but can't speak.*

*Eve high tails it out of there with the others*
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Tirea:<(Astarte, you hear that?)>

Astarte nodded, but the look on her face said clearly that she didn't want to go check it out.

*Upon being hit by the taser, the corpse thrashes around, scratching up the walls. Eventually, a spark ignites in the air & forms a fireball, which gets the fluff from the cushions burning. Very slowly, the fire creeps through the hall.*

V"Will that be good enough?"

Schreiber<We'll just have to hope it is, we can't stay here anymore.>

*Vanessa helps her limp to the living room. Outside, Tirea & Astarte finally see the door fly open, Lilith & Eve running about, followed almost a minute later by a limping Schreiber & Vanessa.*

Astarte grabbed Tirea by the elbow and put a finger to her lips to whisper, "Don't move yet, let's see what they're running from."

*Tirea dips her head in agreement*
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*Eve continues running with Lilith*