Welcome To My Nightmare

Lenna smiled back.

Maybe she is alright.

“I am the same. I suck in small talk as well, but when it comes to facts, myth and lores I feel safe to talk.”

Lenna touched the book careful and breathing in the smell of the book. It is silly how safe she felt as soon she had books around her, but that’s the way it was.

“Hey what about Black Dog’s, Chupacabra, Ghouls or maybe even a Rugaru.”

Danila sat at the bar, watching the various younger forms move about the club. Why he'd trailed that kid here he had no idea - some kind of feeling that h shouldn't go out alone, probably. But no matter, now he was flirting with some woman. As usual.

Danila kept his head down when the younger man came to the bar and ordered some pitifully womanly drink - what was that, watered down vodka? Danila almost literally gagged as the other man downed his drink, but kept his cool and merely took a sip from his own glass. At least the vodka here was better than that crap in the dirt town he'd met the team in. . .

He downed his glass and ordered another, leaning back in his chair as he downed this one. It felt good to rest, but he couldn't wait to get back on the heels of some monster. . . or person, really; but this group seemed predisposed to only fighting monsters.

Shame, really. Humans made such entertaining pleas as they were killed. . . oh, well. Monsters still bled, anyways.

Two in the morning couldn't come fast enough, although it did come pretty fast.

He thought he saw Danila once or twice in the crowd, but if it was the grizzled old Russian, he didn't want to be seen, and Rome couldn't ever pinpoint him exactly. Not that he wanted to be associated with a guy who was twice the age of the entire club put together, so Rome didn't pursue the possibility. He checked his phone one last time for messages--if Rawson had been around, his box would have been full of them--in fact he was surprised not to have any especially since Rawson was gone--and laid it on the table. He ordered another round of the appalling cocktail special, more to rehydrate himself than an attempt at inebriation, because it literally contained that much water-to-alcohol ratio.

As the club began clearing out at a quarter til, guys and gals alike heading towards the local 24-hour McDonalds to sober up before heading home to their parents, Rome got up from the table and took up a post standing against a wall, James Dean sans cigarette, waiting patiently for Miss Jockey.

She looked up and spotted him almost on accident, and cocked her head to one side, as if marginally surprised to see him there still waiting for her. So, he decided with a smirk, like all women, she didn't realize how freaking perfect she is and is surprised I'd wait for her, Rome thought. She probably thinks she's fat or something and does amazing tricks with her mouth to "make up for that."

One of the great challenges in life was finding hot chicks who didn't know they were hot. Chicks who knew they were hot didn't even try, and rarely worked out like the movies.

Plus, how was he going to help her feel better about herself if she already thought she was perfect? No, better to tackle the universal problem of female insecurity head-on and better the world: one man, his libido, and the-morning-after-smile-of-contentment of one woman at a time. It was a beautiful thing. Someone should really make a TV show about him. If, you know, he didn't have a hunting job and a price on his head. Still, a man could dream.

Rome turned to the tables and began stacking glasses as the bouncer looked in his direction--can't tell him to leave if he looked like one of the bartenders--a classic confidence scheme, one that had gotten him another round on the house and an extra twenty minutes in the back room with the hot bartender when she thought he was the new guy who worked the upstairs bar--awesome! This bouncer fell for it, of course, too, and turned to pester some drunken kids who were still loitering, and Rome set the glasses down immediately and turned to Miss J again. He smiled and nodded at her, and she curled a finger at him before she slipped behind a curtain. Rome glanced around to make sure the bouncer was still occupied elsewhere before he darted across the floor to the curtain and joined her behind it.

She practically attacked him once he was behind the curtain with her, forceful enough that he almost went into actual fight mode, but stopped himself as their lips mashed together. "Whoa, baby, easy," he grinned after their lips parted, "you never sneak up on an Ex-Marine like that."

"Why don't I take you home and you tell me some war stories?" she asked, biting her lip as if it contained all of her powers of seduction and she was trying to rein them in--and, you know, not succeeding: playing him right back in the usual exchange. Damn, she was good!

"Well, I didn't wait around here all night to go home with Tiny the bouncer, now, did I?" he replied, without a hint of excitement, only purpose.

As she turned around, taking his hand and leading him out a back exit to her car, Rome felt the usual signs of an oncoming vision. A spike of pain in the middle of his forehead, a flash of white, a sh*t, not now!, and then:

Glowing blue eyes. A chick with tattoos covering her body.

He saw himself falling asleep, closing his eyes as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and then immediately his face went pale, gray, ashen, dead. Dead from falling asleep.

Flash! And then he was back.

"You okay?" he heard.

Rome looked around him. Apparently it hadn't been that bad this time: he hadn't even doubled over. Knuckles pressing into his forehead, another hand seeking support from the alley wall. But other than that, nothing. Maybe they weren't hitting him quite so hard these days?

"Uh, yeah," he said. "Just got a little headache, that's all."

She looked disappointed and unsure.

"Hey, it's all right," he said, taking her hands in his and pressing her between his body and her car. He kissed her, and then whispered in her ear, "I have a pretty good cure for a headache in mind..."

((OOC: As you may or may not have noticed, Rome did not collect his phone from the table before exiting the building. ))

Lenna had to admit the researching with Lily started to be fun. They were throwing names and ideas of what they were hunting at each other. But none of it was really right. They started to be sure they weren’t fighting vampires, and also no Black Dog’s, Chupacabra, Ghouls or a Rugaru.

I wonder if Rome has as much fun as I have. At least I hope he is okay, he always get into trouble. After all, the last time we let him go out alone he ended in FBI custody.

“Hey Lily, I have an unusual idea to find out what we are hunting.” Lenna looked at the other girl and lowered her voice she wasn’t sure she should really mention this. This could be dangerous to mention this to stranger hunters.

“We could try to have a glimpse at the aura of the monster. And maybe this will help us to find out in a safe way what it is. I think I know how to do that. Or we can try to librate whatever it is with a pure rock crystal, a map of Chicago and the right spell. Oh no wait we would need something personal from the monster. It does work with people that share a special bond; I used this with Rome to find Rawson once after all they are brothers.” Lenna looked unsure at Lily.

Damn that was a bad idea; I can’t tell stranger what I can do. I didn’t even told Rome and Raws what powers I have. A really bad idea.

Lily looked a little surprised. “Okay, we try to check out the aura. You know how to do it?”

Lenna looked surprised at Lily. “Um yes I know how to do it. I have everything here.”

Lenna got the black and white candles, altar cloth, a small bowl and some mysterious herbs out of her bag. She placed the altar cloth on the floor, next to all the missing files. She placed the bowl filled with the herbs on it. The black and white candles are placed alternating and equal in number around the perimeter of the cloth. She lit all the candles, took a last deep breath and recites the spell.

“Erde unter uns, Luft die uns umgibt, Feuer das in uns brennt, Wasser Quelle des Lebens und Aether das sie vereint, ich rufe euch zeigt mir die Aura des Bösen hier.”

To finish the incantation she pinches a tiny amount of frankincense, sandalwood, and cinnamon powder over one of the candle flames. Blue flames shot up in the air which let Lenna jump back in surprise. She didn’t expect the flames act like this. Blue lighting shot out of the flames at hit Lily, they didn’t seem to be dangerous. But something happened.


((OOC: Earth beneath us, air around us, fire that burns within us, water the source of life and aether that combines all, I call you show me the aura of evil.))

Danila watched from the corner of his eye as Rome disappeared behind a curtain. And never came back out. Sneaky of the boy. . . Danila smirked slightly. The kid was wily, he'd give him that. Though he was of course still a womanizer, and immature as a teenager.

. . .as was evidenced by the phone on one of the tables. Danila walked quickly to the table and picked up the phone, looking through the contacts; he soon decided that nobody but Rome could have contacts like those. . . "Crazy FBI Chick"? "Sexy Mystery Jockey"? "Barbie"? Danila shook his head as he closed the contact list. Nobody else could be quite that tacky in nicknaming schemes. . .

Just then he felt a large hand tapping on his shoulder. "Hey, buddy, club's closed," he heard a thick, deep voice say. Danila turned quickly and smiled, holding up the phone for the bouncer to see. "Just grabbing my cell before I leave, man," he said in an American accent, flashing the bouncer a slight smile before leaving the club.

--------------------------------------------------------

Danila entered the room just as flames were leaping from some candles in the middle of the floor, with Lily and Lenna girls sitting next to it. He almost jumped in to stop the fire, but then realized it seemed controlled. Some religious or spiritual ritual, perhaps?

Danila decided he'd just watch for now, and ask his questions when they were done. Whatever it was, he had a feeling those two would be rather upset if he interrupted. . . He leaned against the wall and watched as Lenna uttered some words in an odd language - what was that, Latin? - and the two girls joined hands. This could turn out to be an interesting morning, after all. . .

((OOC: As Incendiary and Maeglin suggested Lily gets hit by the lighting and gets knocked out. I hope that is okay with you Katilan if not give me a shout))


Lenna stared at the now normally burning candles and waited. Waited for something to happen, but nothing happened. Lenna looked disappointed. She rerun the ritual in her head and knew she did everything right.

Damn it another failure once again. That is not fair, this happens to often.

“I think that doesn’t work the way it was supposed to do.”

Lenna blow out the candles and looked up and saw Danila leaning against the wall.

“Oh hey Danila, where have you been? You missed all the fun research, that doesn’t help at all.”

Lenna smiled at the older hunter.

“So it didn’t work. What now? I know I did everything right. Any bright ideas, Lily?” Lenna looked at Lily, but the hope disappeared as soon she saw Lily’s expression. Lily looked as if she was far away, actually she looked a lot like Rome when he had his visions, but that couldn’t be. It was just a moment before Lily fell unconscious.


Lily wasn't sure what to expect with the ritual- she'd never done anything like this before, but she wasn't averse to it. It simply wasn't something she'd done.

Nor would she choose to do it by herself, because she knew where her talents lay, and this was not one of them.

Elenna stopped speaking, and the air lay heavy. Just as Lily was about to give up the battle for patience and ask if it had worked or not, strands of blue lightning streaked out of the flames, heading right for her. Before Lily could react, other than to flinch, they struck her forehead, and she found the boundaries of her reality wavering out.

Glowing blue eyes. A chick with tattoos covering her body.

Rome falling asleep, closing his eyes as if nothing was out of the ordinary, and then immediately his face went pale, gray, ashen, dead. Dead from falling asleep.

Lily opened her eyes with a jerk, instantly regretting the movement. That had been clearer than most of her visions- she simply wasn't a strong clairvoyant. The only thing she had going for her was her control, really. The cost to it being that strong, however, was the mother of all migraines.

And she felt like all the moisture had been sucked out of her mouth by that freak lightning.

"Water." She managed to croak the word out, and didn't notice who handed her a flimsy little hotel cup full of tap water from the bathroom.

After a few sips, she managed to speak a bit better. "I think Rome's in trouble. There's a girl with blue eyes and weird tattoos. I think she's the one responsible for the deaths. Disappearances. Whatever you want to call them. And I think she has Rome. Besides that? I have no clue. This was clearer than most, but it didn't really come with a lot of background information, you know? And when they're that clear, for me, they're that much harder to figure out what exactly they mean."

"What?" Lenna jumped up realizing that running of and looking for Rome would not help. She sat back down and did the only thing she could think of. Search in her book to find the creature with blue glowing eyes and weird tattoos.

Danila started slightly, seeming to recall something. What was this Lily was dreaming about? And that description. . .

Girl with blue eyes and tattoos. . . hauntingly familiar. . .

Danila shook his head, looking from the two girls sitting by the candles to the others, a questioning look on his face. "If somebody wouldn't mind telling an old man what is happening here. . ." he began to speak, slightly startled at such an. . . odd turn of events.

Lenna looked unsure from Danila to the others. As normally she didn’t think about what the other would say about her using magic, an uncommon way of hunting.

Oops I am in trouble, damn it I forgot what Pam told me. She always told me not to show off my powers.

“Um we were doing. Er I just thought; the whole research didn’t get us really far. I mean we know, that we are not hunting vampires but that’s it. So I thought we could try to have a glimpse at the aura of the creature. It might help to find out what it is. But I didn’t expect Lily having a vision of Rome being in danger, again. I don’t know what this girl is and I don’t know how to kill her, or find her. I have no answers.”

Lenna spoke faster with each word, before she sighed and looked defeated at her book. She didn’t know to read them all and find the answer fast and at the same time defend the ritual.

Please don’t be mad at me. Don’t be like Rawson and think I am a witch. Please. Damn it why is Rome always gone and in danger, when I need a little back up. And why the hell does he always get attacked be creatures I am not 100% familiar with.

Lenna didn’t dare to look up, but she was ready to run just in case the witch-hunt would start or she burst into tears, both both ware in the same way horrifying.

Maybe I find something in my files on my laptop, at least I can search on it easier.

((OOC: This is just how Caleb sees the situation - because of being a Werewolf, he's assuming the best in Lily and Elenna. He's also jumping to conclusions, but in the opposite direction to the way a normal Hunter would ))

Caleb ignored the babble and the ritual in general - it wasn't his forte. Tex found things, he struck like a guided missile. Elenna didn't get her power from Demons or anything. Lily didn't either. They hadn't sold her souls for their magic. It was just natural ability. Or that's how it looked to him anyway. They were just kids. Their ages finished with teen, for God's sake. And it wasn't like he was in any kind of position to jump up, point fingers and scream for them to be shot in the head, either. If he tried any of that bull, he may as well clip himself immediately afterwards. He knew Danila was every bit as experienced with guns as he was, probably more. He couldn't hide going for a weapon from him. He sat still and waited to see how Danila would respond to this.

"Don't jump to any conclusions Danila. We don't need a good guy on the bodycount," Caleb pleaded inside his own head.

"Blue eyes and tattoos ..." Caleb trailed off, "What has blue eyes and tattoos? About half the blue-eyed girls in Chicago. We could always try what my old DI used to call "the Shotgun Technique". Sling enough buckshot at something and some of it's bound to hit."

Caleb sighed at the blank stares his metaphor received.

"What I mean to say is, try and get the broadest spectrum of lethal equipment possible. That's our buckshot. You know, it's hard to miss when you're throwing out a dozen-odd pellets. So we need something that can decapitate in the event that that'll kill it. Silver, in the event that that'll kill it. If fire does the trick, we can load up on molotovs and ... I dunno, bless the gasoline," Caleb elaborated, "See what I mean? Throw out enough firepower that it's almost impossible to miss!"

As Caleb rattled off his lines (they felt rehearsed and robotic to him), he stood and lifted his bag to the table, lifting out some of his preferred Vampire Hunting gear. Two kukris, at the larger end of the practical range (roughly 15" blades), two bolo knives, a Chinese broadsword, and of course, two machetes. All wrapped in their own towel so they wouldn't rattle around in transport. He unwrapped the weapons and lay them out.

"Ladies and gentlemen. All of these are folded steel with silver cores and silver edges. I took them from a coven of demon-worshiping witches after clearing them out with Tex. There's enough silver in these to kill anything sensetive to silver, but there's enough steel in them that they're capable of decapitating Vampires. I've got two sealed bags of dead men's blood too," Caleb stated, "And the usual guns all down in the truck."


((OOC: Clickies for the bladed weapons:

• Kukri
  
• Bolo
  
• Chinese Broadsword (Dadao)
  
• Machete

))

Danila nodded to the others. "I also have a good deal of weapons - both blades and guns - in my bags; we may use them as well."

He would have recounted the different assortment of weapons, but his mind was somewhere else. That description of a girl. . . sounded so familiar. . .

“Guys I know you wanna help, but I don’t think it works when we attack with every weapon we have. Like I said we are not hunting a vampire, but that is all we found out. But give me a moment and I’ll know what we are hunting. But we also need to find out where the hell Rome is.”

Lenna looked up and her view crossed with Georgie’s. Georgie looked sceptical at her, and Lenna knew it was possible that Georgie as one of the few long time hunters good be the one that gave her a hard time. Even though the séance was really a ritual everyone could perform. And until she knew what Georgie thought about her powers she would be careful to use them around her, and also Lily and Caleb. Those three were the hunters that could put her into the witch category.

Aly leaned forward on the couch suddenly feeling a rise in the tension of the room. What did she care if the kids used some kind of hocus-pocus? She was about to deride them for their silly superstions when the new girl collapsed.

"Give her space. Look, this hocus pocus gave you a face. Caleb has a point even if the arsenal is a little extreme. want to find out what it is you're hunting you're going to have to do some good old fashioned detective work."

She hesitated getting up as a sharp pain arched through her side. Caleb's hands steadied her before she could react.

"I'm fine, thanks." She shrugged him off. Sure she was grateful for the concern, but that was the extent of it.

She lowered herself down by the girls slowly.

"Alright, what do we know about these murders? Where did they occur. Then you search for motive--I know you're dealing with a creature of the night, but they have motivation too. That should give you at least an idea of what you're after. Then we cross reference with Lenna's research."

It mildly disturbed her that this group was so eager to kill in the most vile manner when they didn't have the facts.

"I have a few cures of my own." Adara replied with a teasing smile. He groaned softly before kissing her again and then releasing her. She smiled to herself as she slid behind the wheel of the car. A successful hunt was always satisfying.

The drive was quiet and uneventful save for the occasional lust-laden glance exchanged between hunter and prey. The car sped down alleys and empty streets till at last, Adara slowed and drove down into an old parking garage of a large industrial building. The Prey gave her an odd look.

"Interesting place you live in."

"I know it is." She laughed melodically. "But the rent is very cheap, and I have absolutely no neighbors."

Adara grinned wickedly as she climbed from the car. The Prey followed her eagerly down several flights of stairs to the part of the basement she occupied. She unlocked a heavy metal door and pushed it open. Inside, the room was brightly decorated. The drab concrete walls were covered with brightly woven tapestries. Colorful fabric hung from the ceiling giving the room an almost tent-like feeling. In one corner, was the bed. It was simply a mattress on the floor covered in all manner of pillows, but the quality of the mattress itself and the bedding made it look rich and inviting.

The Prey looked almost startled by all the colors. "This makes me feel at home." Adara said in a low voice, running a hand over one of the tapestries. She grabbed The Prey's hand and pulled him towards the bed. He pulled her into his arms and leaned into to kiss her, but Adara placed a single finger on his lips.

"I need a moment. I will be right back though. You get comfortable. I will not be long." She smiled enchantingly before disappearing out the door.

Georgina has never been a person who was really enthusiastic about any kind of rituals or stuff like that. Of course, as a hunter, she has seen and read about it but she preferred to avoid that kind of magic if possible. On one hand she was impressed by Elenna's amazing powers, but on the other hand she was highly suspicious because magic could easily turn into black magic, even if the person who was pursuing it didn't want it to turn out that way. Georgina watched the others quietly. After Aly mentioned that creatures of night have certain motives, she remembered one conversation she had with her uncle when she was very little. She wanted to know why these creatures killed random people, but her uncle explained to her that they usually didn't choose just 'random' people. They always have their reasons, Georgie, he had told her. And one has to understand their reasons in order to be able to destroy them...
He was right. They had to find out the reason for this creature's actions.

Lenna pouted and looked surprised at Aly. She was not an idiot, she knew what to do. She knew how to do research, even when it was right now a little slow or her method where not the most effective ones. But the boys had never questioned her. Damn it and here is this new hunter and she wants to tell her how to do the job?

Who the hell does she think she is? Damn it I hate when I have to let other people help me with the research that is my thing.

Lenna tossed the files over to Aly. “That is all we know.”

Lenna stuffed the candles, and all the other things back in her duffel.

Take a deep breath and then do in what you are best, just forget what the other do. Forget they are there, it is just me and the books.

Lenna ignored the others; she wasn’t even listening to their conversation or paying attention to the time passing by. She just read through her books and mythology files on her Laptop while she went through her encyclopedia in her mind. Blue lightning, blue eyes and tattoos…

“Fire, hold on there is smokeless fire that is blue and… guys I’ll be right back I need a book from my car.”

Lenna jumped up and run to the Mustang, searched in the trunk for the book and didn’t care for once all the guns in it. She was in a hurry.

“Damn it where is it, really Rome one day you have to do the research and safe me for a change.”

She returned smiling and already reading in the new book to the room.

“Okay here it is guys. According of the Qu'ran the Djinn were created by Allah from a smokeless fire. And this smokeless fire is blue. And they seem to like ruins, usually –- the bigger, the better. More places to hide. It says here that they are normally killed with a silver knife dipped into lamb’s blood. We are hunting a djinn.”

Lenna looked up and well she didn’t expect them to start clapping but she hoped for some kind of compliment.

Okay, so Rome had his blind spots. And they all seemed to have boobs.

But he wasn't stupid. A middle-eastern-themed boudoir dedicated to the worship of sexual intercourse was awesome, but it was in a warehouse in the middle of nowhere. Even Rome picked up on the slight gloating in her voice when she said she had no neighbors for miles. How classic was that? I mean, why not come right out and introduce yourself as Vlad Tepis?

He forced a vacant smile as she excused herself, then blinked and looked around him.

There wasn't even a kitchen in this place! Or, like, a bathroom or anything. Some weird machinery lined the walls, but that was it. And it smelled like barbecue.

Okay, majorly weird. The warning lights were going off in his head, admittedly a bit late, but better late than never. How long did he have before she came back? Long enough to find a weapon--since he'd brought none--stellar move, there, man--somewhere in the warehouse? Long enough to run?

Rome stood up from where he had sat down on the bed, his hand going to his hip pocket for his phone. But before he could find it, the room did this weird in-out-warp thing, like he was making an FTL jump on Battlestar Galactica.

"Whoa," he said, and staggered back.

But the room was still spinning, warping, weird, until he was seeing everything in double, quadruple.

Had she drugged him, somehow? While it helped his ego that a super-strong vampire deigned him dangerous enough to drug, the thought didn't really help his situation. How the hell had this happened, anyway? A good-night-kiss, like Saffron in Firefly?

Maybe it wasn't even a vampire? Where the hell was his geek-girl when he needed her?

Rome fumbled again for his phone as he felt himself falling irrevocably towards the kind of unconsciousness that left you with a killer headache when you woke up, but forgot what he was looking for before he found it, and dropped like a load of bricks just beside the bed.

"I thought this was odd." The Russian held up Rome's phone. Lenna glared daggers at him.

"Take it easy, kid--he had no reason to think Rome was in any trouble. Lenna, you know the password on this thing?" She tossed the phone to Lenna who typed in a few numbers.

"Let's see here, new entries under...Barbie, Pops, Leonard, Riddick, Scully--seriously, I feel more like Mulder, and here it is." She smirked. "and here's our douchebag's score for the evening: Sexy Mystery Jocky, even set his alarm so he wouldn't be late for his booty call."

Danillia's eyes, which had been closed in deep thought till that point, flashed open. "Zat's it!" he exclaimed, turning his head toward her. "Ze disc jockey at the club." he added in a less excited tone, "and, as Rome would put it, rather sexy."

Aly smiled to cover her wince, then she grabbed the computer and hacked the FBI database. After that it was easy to tell the service provider.

"I made myself a back door, just in case anything ever happened to me. Alright, the cell number is a local service plan."

She picked up Caleb's phone because it was on the table near her and typed in the service provider.

"Hello, this is special agent Allison Clark from the FBI. I need to speak with your supervisor. Oh, he isn't there. Damn. No, it's alright. I just have this number and it's my only lead in a serial murder--warrant is only an hour out--and I really, really need this number traced."

She rolled her eyes as the operator who never got out of his cubicle found his thrills in the words serial murder. People were sick.

"Oh you can trace the GPS? And give me the access code? Thank you. You have served your country well. You have a good night too."

She pressed the button with a smile.

"No magic required. Gotcha, I dream of Genie."

Lily gave Lenna a small smile. "Good job, Research Gal." Then Aly worked her magic on the phone- Lily had to suppress a snort at the thought of how Aly would react to being told that she "worked magic"- and they had more info to go off of.
 
"Do we have any silver blades marinated in lamb's blood, or are we going to need to find a butcher shop and by some lambchops?"

Lenna looked back at in the book; she was blushing and tried to hide it. She did hoped for some kind of compliment, but she felt still weird about it. She mumbled a quiet thanks to Lily not sure if she wanted the other girl to hear it.

“I don’t have any lamb blood, but it shouldn’t be too hard to get some. Hey Lily you are okay, right? I am sorry I didn’t think the ritual could be dangerous for you.”

Lenna was unsure what to do now, she had done her job did the research but what now?

“Hey guys, um anything else I can do?” Lenna looked shy at the others.

Georgina glanced into Lenna's direction. "Does anybody where the closest butcher is located? We need to get hold of the lamb's blood to coat the silver knives as soon as possible."

"Well, you could ask somebody on the street, an old lady perhaps, if she knows a butcher by any chance who has some spare lamb's blood", Elenna replied with a sarcastic smile. "If there's no butcher in town, just do it yourself."

"Excuse me?"

"What? You can kill any lamb with the heels of your Prada shoes."

Georgina made a face at her, but couldn't avoid a brief smile. "This is Chicago after all. There will be a butcher somwhere. I'm going to look for one."

Aly sat back down on the couch, feeling a little less useless. Then her mind had to go and ruin it.

"Um guys--I don't get it. Aren't genies supposed to be good--three wishes, Aladdin and all that? Isn't Rome probably in Hue Hefner's mansion with all the fancy cars and money he wants? We go barging in there with our knives and such--I know I'd be pissed--not that I'd ever wish to be in Hefner's mansion."

Her cheeks flushed as she noticed the gaping jaws.

"Just saying maybe he doesn't want to be disturbed."

She folded her arms across her chest and nodded her head to the side with a wink like the main character in I Dream of Genie. No one laughed.

What if the djinn was good, Rome deserves some happy wishes fulfilled, hell we all do.

“Djinns are Supernatural creatures, it is said that they live in a parallel world to the human world. They can change their shape. The Qur’ān also says that there are only two creations that have a free will; humans and djinns. And like every human with a free will djinns also can be good, evil or neutrally. Let’s say for a moment it is true and they can grant you three wishes, those wishes mean power. And even the Genie in Aladdin said there are three provisos to those wishes, he couldn’t kill, raise the dead or make the feeling of true love. This genie was just a version for children, so I guess real djinns have also provisos. I am not saying Rome would use this new power for evil, but even when you have good ambitions you can to the wrong thing. So no matter if we might interrupt Rome’s perfect time with some Playboy bunnies, it is not the right order. Humans are not supposed to get their wishes granted, that cause just chaos and trouble. Imagine how the world would look when we all get what we want. Yes some wishes might be good, people that died are back or never died in the first place but what with the wishes that aren’t good? Djinns are supernatural; they have powers that can be dangerous when they are out of control. And trust me as soon Rome wakes up from his wish he would say the same. He saw what can happen when someone gets what she wants without thinking about the prize. We need to kill the djinn, sooner than later!”

Lenna didn’t like to destroy the hope of good djinn; she would have some thinks she would wish for herself. But that was just not how the job was done. There are no shades of grey. Well at least not when it comes to creatures that can grant wishes.

"The thing about wish-granting. That's what you could call reality warping. According to the knowledge I built up as a closet Comic Book Club member, that's cosmic-scale power. And you know what people say about power corrupting. That's why the "benevolent" genies in stories tend to be Grade A jerk-offs who you have to watch your tongue around," Caleb answered, raising an eyebrow at the pose the Fed struck, "Consider this could be one such genie. What happens if Rome's skull-f***ed drunk, opens up to her and says something like living on the run sucks, sometimes I wish I was dead? The genie might not be able to wish him dead. But what's to say she can't cut his brake lines? Make his gun jam? Something that can alter reality's gotta be a little more inventive than just pulling the life out of a human being with a fly fishing rod. If Tattoos-And-Baby-Blues turns out to be an asshole genie, she's gotta take the chop."

Lily joined in. "I read a story- and I know it's just a story- about a genie granting the wish for one million dollars- but that money had to come from somewhere. So the main character was wanted- and eventually got caught and went to jail- for stealing that million dollars from a bank. Genies are not people. They are not gonna be nice. And they will look to twist whatever someone says, for maximum entertainment value."
 
She shrugged. "At least, that's my impression of them."

Aly bit her lip. She had been both confused and trying to lighten the mood. Now she felt like a first year academy student who had been trying to impress the teacher and came to the wrong conclusion. So she did the only thing she could do--sit back and wait for something she could do.

A lump formed in her throat as she drew her knees up. She was an adult--an adult with a career--and here she was, curled up on the couch like a child needing a good cry. She swallowed it though, sat back, and waited in silence.