And its at that point time resumes for the Kadie. She can feel her heart pound in her chest and the blood rush in her ears. She feels so alive; everything smells so alive. And right now all she can see before her is an enemy. At least she thinks its an enemy in her slightly foggy state of mind. A strange dragon-like creature staring at her in calm defiance; it raises its left hand and gestures for it to begin

Amelia licks her lips, and then lunges forward with a barking laugh at the transformed Olivia!

Trembling somewhere within the dragon's shadowy form, Olivia thinks quickly, So maybe this wasn't the best idea I've ever had… ! Then almost without realizing what she's doing, she moves fluidly to one side and raises her own arm to block any blow that might be coming – minding the horns on Amelia's elbows, of course. And the talons!

The Kadie turns out to be a lot stronger than expected when she impacts into Olivia. Olivia's own feet and claws scrape the stone as she slides backwards, pushed by the sheer rage before her. Up close, Olivia can quickly tell there's no look of recognition in Amelia's blood-red eyes. "Is rage all that you are?" Olivia actually hears herself ask Amelia; her 'companion' asserting itself for the moment.

The blood-red Kadie blinks, and replies, "No! I also want to gnaw on your bones and suck out the marrow." Then she licks the dragon-Skeek's nose with a too-long, forked tongue.

The Skeek-dragon winces as she tries holding the Bloodfur back – and then suddenly knows that she doesn't have to do it. So she uses Amelia's pushing motion against her by grabbing her forearms and pulling her forward while stepping out of the way. And hoping that it works…

This time Olivia has the upper hand! Before the Kadie knows it, she's face-first into the wall! It doesn't hurt particularly; but it does give her opponent time to regroup and she knows it. It also seems to give her a moment's pause … as if for a moment calm takes over. "You may carry rage, but it is your choice to let it control your actions," the dragon-skeek says somewhere behind her.

"But. but… it feels so gooood," Amelia purrs, rolling to her side along the wall until she's facing back out again. "I want to paint the world in beautiful, glistening red!" she coos. "Just… let loose and have some real fun!" She then drops to all fours and starts to circle her opponent, her giant tail flicking to and fro as an intended distraction.

"Do you truly feel that way, Amelia?" Olivia finds herself asking. "Harness the power, do not be devoured by it."

Okay, this is better – try using her strength and haste against her, Olivia thinks, taking in the lesson of this quickly. She's still pretty scared, though, and it shows in the tenseness of her face, but she doesn't back down. She just watches the Bloodfur for signs of her next attack.

"It's hard!" Amy chitters. "Do you remember when I danced with the Gorts, Olivia?" she suddenly asks. "Wasn't it beautiful? And Valicross! Ohhhhh, if I could have faced him like this… what a battle!" The Kadie then darts to the right before zig-zagging left to try and flank Olivia.

Olivia backs up quickly, trying to keep her eyes on the Bloodfur's scurrying form. "Your 'dance' with the Gorts was impressive, I'll grant you that, but only because you were in control, Amelia," Olivia counters. "It's was precise, using only what you needed to get the job done. Not this… this… scattering of mind and energy!"

Amelia pauses, and stares with narrowed, red eyes at Olivia. "Are you saying that I'm not beautiful in my attacks now?" she growls. "That my dance is ugly?"

Taking a deep breath, Olivia looks right into Amelia's bright-red eyes. "I don't find anything beautiful in the messy, wasteful slaughter of one's enemies and everything around them. Nor do I find anything attractive in an opponent who is focused on killing to the exclusion of all else."

The growl deepens in the demon-squirrel's chest. "What do you know about beauty!" Amelia snaps, and scrapes her talons against the stone floor. "I can make you truly beautiful!" she claims, and makes another leaping-lunge at the Skeek.

Since the Bloodfur is taking the time to leap at her now, Olivia hopes that she has enough of a chance to simply move to one side and away, out of reach.

It's extremely close; raw power versus calm control … yet Olivia (with some help from her 'companion') glides, then spins. Amelia only glances against her and with the spin … finds herself simply shrugged off and sliding across the stone floor on her stomach. "What of Zahnrad? Do you remember how you felt when you saw him injured?" Olivia fins herself suddenly asking, "Or perhaps Elsa? Would either find your dance beautiful now?"

"Zahn… ?" Amelia asks, sounding a bit more like herself as she spins around to face Olivia again. "Mmmm… Sex!" she suddenly declares, and sits back on her haunches with a blissed-out look on her face.

Involuntarily, the Skeek-dragon's nose wrinkles. "And thank you so much, the both of you, for bringing that mental image to my mind! Gah, I don't talk publicly about what Djivan and I do in private… !"

"Djivan!" Amelia shouts, getting a scary grin. At least she's distracted from attacking for now. She breaks out into laughter and even rolls on her back. "Ah! Call him down! Call him down! I'll go get him!"

"Would Zahn appreciate this new dance?" Olivia finds herself asking involuntarily, "He does not revel in blood and chaos. He creates, not destroys. He sees order and structure. Would you sacrifice him just to drink in this power?"

At that, Olivia feels the fear and anger rising within her, but in a tightly-controlled voice of her own she declares, "And I am not bringing in Djivan. I'm your opponent now, not him."

"No!" Amy declares, remaining on her back. She then points straight up at the ceiling with one outstretched arm, and says, "Maybe Clover though. Art is never appreciated though, and I am an artist of death!"

"See my brush?" Amy says, wiggling her big tail at Olivia. "Want to be my canvas?"

"Not really, no," Olivia answers. "And you're distracting yourself from the point of all this. You have to learn to control your birthright. Because right now, it doesn't look like you're even trying."

"Grrrr!" Amy complains, tugging at her ears. "Control? CONTROL!" she yells. "Can't control a storm! Can't control a flood! Can only build dams! But it's broken! THEY broke it when they lured Lili! It's their fault! I have to kill them!"

"You're not a storm or a flood!" Olivia counters yet again. "You're a person with great physical power and the mind to direct it to its best use! And how do you know that we have to kill the ones who hurt Lili? We haven't even met them yet. Once we know them, another form of punishment might be better."

"Kill them slowly then," Amy growls, getting back to her feet. "Gotta track them! Can't hear down here. Can't smell. I want to go out! Out Out Out!"

The dragon interjects itself again. "You cannot control air either, and yet your friend Zahnrad tries to. How may times has he failed and yet he still hasn't given up?" The dragon that's currently part of Olivia asks. "He doesn't give up, nor does he quit. For a time it was because he was stubborn … but now I think its because someone else believes in him. Just as Olivia believes in you now. You are stronger than rage; you can harness the power, not be consumed by it. You are stronger than the true monsters that have walked these lands Amelia. Bloodfur may be your birthright, but it does not mean it is your soul."

"Then attack me!" Amelia shouts. "Attack me so I can have control!"

Olivia looks into the Bloodfur's eyes again and nods shortly. "Then let's test both your abilities and mine." She sweeps one arm back and while holding the image of a ball of light in her mind, she tries to make the light take form and throw it at Amelia.

Olivia finds that controlling a ball of light is far more difficult than Natasha has ever made it appear. Its like trying to hold onto a water balloon without … well, the balloon part. Its cool and feels as though it will simply dissolve at any moment. The act is by no means graceful, but Amelia does now have a cannonball sized glowing mass heading right towards her!

It looks like Amelia wants to charge at the ball, but instead tries to dodge at the last moment!

Amelia can feel the raw energy as it goes streaking past her cheek as she steps aside.

After this little light-display, Olivia simply stands and watches for Amelia's next reaction. Will she charge headlong at her again or wait to see what comes next?

"Ah! Good!" Amelia says, clinging to the side of the chamber wall with her talons. "Keep attacking!"

Olivia now wonders if several smaller balls of light would be easier to manage than one really huge one, so she tries to call those into being. In case she fails utterly, she looks around the chamber for likely throwables.

Summoning smaller ones seems a lot easier. The best way Olivia could describe it is almost like bowing bubbles. Delicate spheres that dance and float in the air around her. And like bubbles, all it takes it the right 'gust of wind' so to speak to send them flying.

Once again, Amelia seems to visibly restrain herself from attacking the bubbles, and goes into one of her acrobatic, twist-through-the-air sort of flips to try and avoid them.

The number of bubbles makes Amelia's attempt fail in a rather spectacular way. The first one catches her foot, which spins her head over heels. The next several land in various places, making her twist and roll in the air in an odd contortion. It can't quite be described as painful when she hits the ground … more like the places where she was struck feel cold and slightly numb.

"Aaargh," comes the muffled cry from the demon-Kadie, who just sits still for the moment. "Better," she finally says, before trying to get back up to her feet.

Even though she'd like to when Amelia lands hard on the floor, Olivia does not back away from her. She merely watches her again for any signs of what she might do next. Will she attack or ask for another go at this?

Amelia's tail lashes about, but the Kadie doesn't attack, despite her twitching limbs clearing signaling that she wants to. Then she reaches up and grabs the two curved horns on her forehead and tries to break them off!

The Skeek-dragon looks taken aback. "Why are you trying to pull out your horns?" she asks, alarmed.

Alas, the horns prove to be really strong. All Amelia ends up doing is jerking her own head around.

Growling, Amelia says, "Don't want them! I'm not a demon! I can do this without 'em!" She keeps trying, even though it eventually leads to her rolling around on the floor as if wrestling with herself. "Pull them back!" she seems to argue with herself.

Olivia lets out a slow breath as she watches her friend do this. There's actually some pain behind her eyes. "Perhaps you should concentrate less on pulling them physically and more on withdrawing them mentally?" she suggests softly.

"Yes, but I like a lot of things," Amelia argues with herself. Taking Olivia's advice, she tries to sit in a meditative position. "I can fight fine without talons and… monster bits. I don't need that part of the demon," she recites. "I need its senses. That's all. Hear me?"

Sensing that this part is important for Amelia to do on her own, Olivia doesn't interfere anymore. She just watches, warily on guard, but concerned for her friend.

After a moment, Amy opens her eyes and takes a deep breath. She doesn't look any different though; still demonic. But her attitude is back to her usual, not-quite-as-violent self. "Okay… feeling less euphoric I guess, but… myself," she notes.

Olivia nods again, more slowly this time. "Do you feel enough in control to test yourself against my new form physically, or should I go back to the, er, bubbles?"

"What?" Amelia asks Olivia. "Oh… uh… you mean fight?" she asks. "I was just having you attack me because the demon doesn't know anything about defense, so I had to take over."

Olivia actually smiles a little at this. "It's not like I want to fight you, of course," she says wryly. "Even with Natasha's spirit-familiar helping me, I'm certainly not a trained warrior. So… what do you want to try now? Anything else?"

"Ya kin try makin' out," Djivan calls out as he pokes his head around the doorway. "Hot demon action! Man, it be like one o' me dreams!"

"The moment's passed, Djivan," Amelia notes. "And do you still want to go after Olivia's but when it's half-scaly?"

"You may want to take that back before she gets you, Djivan," Olivia calls in return. "Amelia might get riled up again and trust me, you do not want her demon-spirit attacking you!"

"Sure! No dat much different vhen Olivia all wet and squirmy inna bathtub!" Djivan quips. "Ooo, squirmy… "

"Anyway… " Amelia says, turning back to Olivia. "Next I want to go outside while I still have all of my demon-senses available, and see if I can pick up any trace of the hunters."

Olivia actually turns her back on Amelia for a moment and spins on the gypsy. "Then again, you don't want me attacking you in this form, either," she growls. At the Kadie's suggestion, however, she agrees, "All right, let's do that. I have to admit, I'm curious as to what you might sense."

"Ow, hey!" Djivan suddenly complains as his head disappears. One ear is briefly seen being gripped by a certain Eeee's claws.

"Oh no, Lili's up!" Amy says. "She'll point and laugh at how we look now!" she says loudly and in a somewhat stilted tone of voice.

Olivia laughs as she looks at Natasha now. "I suppose it's time to give you back what I've borrowed?" she asks.

Natasha merely shrugs slightly at that. The next thing Olivia notices is that she suddenly feels like she's peeling off wet clothing as the dragon pulls away from her body with a rather wet-sounding slurp, leaving her normal. Or well, what passes for normal for Olivia! The dragon glances aside to Amelia as it asks, "Do you still hate me?"

Olivia also feels somewhat tired when the spirit leaves her; also from the exertions and bout of nervousness she's just been through. She totters over to one wall and leans against it while Amelia and the spirit talk, resting.

"Don't make me think too hard about that," Amelia replies to the familiar. "You're useful, if a bit rude, after all."

"Learning necessitates pressing," the dragon points out, "Look at yourself. You have harnessed it, without being consumed by it." It even reaches over and runs its ethereal claw along the spur that juts from the back of Amelia's jaw. "And it is not such a bad look, at that. Most likely a fire dragon spirit, were I to guess. Like your river dragons, for lack of a better reference. Probably born in the fury of a volcanic vent. When the vent died, it found a new home in your family line. A guess, of course, but the color and rage is indicative. You should consider researching your line further."

Amelia doesn't flinch from the touch, and seems to consider the advice about learning more about her family origins. "I'll think about it. I don't plan on using this very often, after all," she notes, and heads out of the chamber. "C'mon, Olivia. Time to see if any of this is useful for something other than bait."

The dragon dissolves back to nothingness. Natasha looks at Amelia with mild curiosity before asking her as she passes, "Will you show your lover?"

"He's freaked out enough right now," Amy notes. "Although I might play with fur color… err… maybe not. Focus! Gotta go listen for that lure if they're still using it."

"It is never good to hide things from the one closest to you," Natasha observes as she goes and helps Olivia off the wall and walk back up through the house. "And for what it is worth, I'm proud of you. You have shown considerable control for one who has had little formal teaching."

"Oh, you had someone teach you how not to be a monster then?" Amy can't help but rib Natasha, although once in the house she becomes very nervous. "I don't know that I want Isolde to see me like this."

"No, I had someone teach me how not to give into the lure of power. Ability without control leads to creatures like Valicross," Natasha remarks and gives Amelia a slightly sharp look. "And why do you worry? I expect she already knew what you would become."

"It's still embarrassing," Amelia replies. "I mean, she set the first wards on me when I was old enough. And it's the reason I couldn't become a witch! Well… not a proper witch."

The Kadie girl is extra careful not to scratch the floor with her toe-talons.

"Well, you can now … more or less. It would be more like the magic my familiar can do alone. And the offer still stands should you wish to learn from me," Natasha comments.

"I suppose I'd better take you up on that then," Amelia says with a sigh. "I need to learn monster magic if I'm going to control myself."

Olivia agrees tiredly, "You should try, Amelia. The training would probably help you defend the town better, for a start."

"Don't sound so thrilled," Natasha remarks. "Olivia can tell you I don't make it a habit to beat my apprentices … much. And perhaps I should craft a ward-charm for you to wear when you want to suppress everything."

"Hey, that would be handy!" Amelia says, perking back up. "Oh, it's not that I don't want to learn from you, Natasha, it's just… well… it's not witchcraft. It'd be… sorcery… wouldn't it?"

"It would be lessons developed with Isolde's input. I do not wish to stray too much beyond your town traditions. Think of yourself, I suppose, as the champion of your town spirit. Not bound to it as a witch, but its protector," Natasha notes. "Ultimately I have to adapt things as for someone like you … the art will simply have to be different. I imagine we will both learn much."

Soon enough the group have made their way up and out of the crazy maze that exists beneath the tree. The fresh air is quite welcome; as is the feeling of not being so confined. To the group's surprise, Liliana is sitting on the pouch, looking tired and weak, but at least relaxed. Her brow arches a bit above her gray-blue eyes when she sees Amelia. The Eeee quickly covers her mouth.

"You'll be a War Witch," Isolde comments, somehow having overheard the conversation even though she's been on the porch with Liliana. "You get a special hat."

"I've never heard of a War Witch," Amelia notes.

"It woul' haf to be t' fit dos pointy bits on 'er head," Liliana comments quietly.

Olivia turns to Lili and makes shushing gestures with her hands. "Behave, you," she says, although gently.

"The last of them were killed off by the Necromancer Lords in the first war," Isolde points out, and then casts Liliana a sharp look. "Hmmm, and if things go well, you will be having to deal with hat issues again too, now won't you?"

"Ve no talkin' about me head," Liliana comments and pulls her ears down. "And it no like it happen often anyways."

"Except we do not know quite what will happen when you are rejoined," Natasha comments, "You could shift … permanently."

Amelia heads out into the yard, away from the others, so that she can listen to her demon-senses without distraction.

"Ey', it not be nice to tease me. I had a hard few days," Liliana complains and crosses her arms. The smile that fights to play on her lips, though, seems to betray that she's glad to be around to be picked on.

The one thing Amelia can feel without even trying is the strong presence behind her radiating from he Gnarly tree itself and the surrounding land. Amelia has never been more acutely aware of how potent the town spirit actually is.

Olivia gently disengages herself from Natasha and goes to sit on the floor of the porch, at Liliana's feet. She leans companionably against her legs. "Speaking of that, feeling any better now?"

"Just so long as you and Amelia don't go gallivanting about in your demon forms," Isolde notes, shaking her head. "It's bad enough that Gunther Kettenrad sees invading hordes all the time without giving him something to really go crazy over."

Amy finds the presence very… reassuring. But of course she then has to try and tune it out, since it overwhelms the spiritual geography.

"Wrists an' ankles hur' a lot," Liliana admits, "An I feel odd inside. It like … best way t' describe it is I feel … less. How woul' you feel if vou woke up one day an foun' you couldn't create anymore, Olivia? I t'ink it be kinda like dat."

Olivia leans a little more against the Eeee. "Less… yeah, I think I can comprehend that." There's a pause, then she adds, "We're going to do our best to get your spirit back. And to find out what these humans wanted with it in the first place."

One thing that helps Amelia filter out the presence near her is the familiarity she has with it. The next several minutes are a completely knew experience for Amelia, though. She feels everything around her, down to even the weak energy in the ordinary trees. Not to mention the formidable force of Natasha and Isolde sitting back on the porch. The trick is going to be how to pick out something that is different. If she only had a reference…

Amy stops what she's doing, and goes back to the porch to… sniff Liliana's wounded wrists.

"Vell … mebbe dey just tryin' t' kill evil monsters," Liliana quietly and looks at her own hands. The sniffing from Amelia earns the Kadie a rather odd look, too.

"I need something that's… not from around here," Amy explains to Lili. "Your blood should have traces of your spirit still, if I understood what Buffy was talking about before."

Olivia glances up at Liliana. "You may be close to the truth, perhaps. If they live near Bosch, they're trying to hold back the magic gone awry there and they may think demon-energy is the way to do it. But that doesn't mean they should take such spirits from those who aren't harming anyone with them. Look what happens," she says quietly, indicating the Eeee's poor condition.

Up close, Liliana's wrists smell terrible. Its acrid and burning to Amelia's nostrils. It also seems … crude, for lack of a better word. Natasha and Isolde, though different, exude a sort of flowing grace in their auras. What was used to bound Liliana lacks any sort of grace. "Vait, vou vant t' bite me? Ve haven't even had a date," Liliana jokes half-heartedly.

Yeah, vell, lots in the world would tell yas Eeee are evil monsters anyway an it be no loss," Liliana mutters.

"Ugh… do I smell like that?" Amelia asks, and forces herself to not rub her nose. She goes back out into the yard, and tries to focus on finding that acrid sensation. Surely, some of Lili's blood had to have gotten onto her captors, she reasons.

"And those are precisely the ones who don't know any Eeees," Olivia counters, with a small half-smile.

"You're smelling the wards used on Liliana, not Liliana," Natasha observes at Amelia's comment. "yOu need blood from an un-warded part of her if you want just her scent… "

"Hmm, but I want to find the wards, right?" Amy asks. "So I'm still looking for that unpleasant-to-demons scent."

"You can try. It will depend on which is stronger," Natasha notes.

Mustering a bit of courage, Liliana tries to smile to Isolde and joke, "I promis' not to go cavorti' in public as a demon with Amy. Ve'll only cavort in private. In a soundproofed room… "

"Better Amy than me," Olivia says under her breath, leaning back again to rest and watch the Kadie girl at work.

Scenting Liliana seems to have helped, as it turns out. She can smell something on the 'wind' as it were, though Natasha would explain it as sensing the flow in the fluctuations of magic in an area. Her nose twitches and seems to be telling her that a similar crude scent is 'blowing' in northwest of town.

"I still smell the… uh… magic… from the direction we found Lili in," Amelia reports.

"You could be scenting the cave they kept her in," Natasha notes. "Not a great starting lead, but it does show you can smell their work. It must be your body reacting to something that would be considered vile to it."

"Is it anywhere else?" Olivia asks.

Amy tries to pick up the 'scent' from any other direction. "Any way to wipe out the stench of that cave?" she asks Natasha.

"Inverted form cancellation," Natasha says, "Where you deliberately undo a spell or ward by casting the exact inverse upon it. That requires knowing how the original was cast."

"I should rephrase that then: is there any way we could wipe it out?" Amelia asks. "Unless you want to come chasing through the woods with us, Madame Natasha?" She gives a sly grin after the latter question – must be some demonic sense of humor still lingering.

"Did you think you could prevent me from coming in the first place? Someone hurt one of mine; that will not go unanswered," Natasha remarks simply, "And whatever Gods they pray to had best be listening and have mercy, for I will have little."

"Does that mean you'll let me tear them up afterall?" Amy asks eagerly.

"Was she always so violent?" Natasha asks Isolde.

Olivia looks off into the distance as she murmurs, "I'm not saying that the ones who did this to Liliana shouldn't be punished… but if we try to kill them without learning their reasons for such acts first, I think we'll be doing ourselves a great disservice."

"Yes," Isolde notes. "Although she's mellowed out since she took up with the militia."

"Yeah, Olivia's right," Amy says, smacking fist-into-palm. "We need to know if there are more of them! And who they work for!"

"So you can tear them up too?" Natasha asks.

"Maybe," Amelia replies guardedly. "If Olivia says I can. She's the Skeek, after all."

A small smile flutters across Olivia's face. "Believe me, if they don't seem to be worth saving, giving them to Amelia and Djivan for five minutes will be punishment enough. It's just that I think we're only getting part of the picture for now. We need the other part, and soon."