In Which Lavelia Gives a Lesson

Carmen wandered into the tavern and stared around. With a soft sigh she sat down at a table and simply waited for the Bartender or a Waitress to come up to her. She stated in a very soft, gentle voice, “Whiskey on the rocks, Hamburger and Fries with a Soda Please,” and then sat back to wait for it to be done all the while glancing around at the various customers that seemed to make this place a regular stop-gap on their ways home. She watched as a young red-head stormed in, demanding (to the Bartender it seemed) that he fix the hole…where ever said hole was. Carmen couldn’t SEE a hole. However, perhaps it was elsewhere in the building. The Bartender simply nodded and waved her off with a, “I’ll get right on it Lavelia.”

The young woman watched the red-head wander (storm) off and sighed as her order arrived. Running a hand through her Red, Violet, and Orange died hair she slammed the Whiskey first and then began eating, leaving the Soda for last. Her eyes widened at the taste of the food and she thought to herself, ‘wow, definitely not what I expected from a Vamp run bar,’ and continued eating even as she watched the goings on with some small amusement. She finished off her meal rapidly then drank her soda up, called the waitress over and made one last request, “Ice water, please.”

The waitress left and returned swiftly with the large glass that was already sweating from the condensation. Carmen smiled her thanks, took a deep drink then sat the glass down. She pushed back her chair a bit and lifted a case up from where she’d positioned it beneath the table. It was rather long, and curved around in odd places. She doubted most people here would recognize it for what it was, considering that she was new to this realm. She opened the case and pulled out her guitar, it wasn’t the normal one…this one had twelve strings and was pearl white. She had saved and saved for it. It was her pride and joy and the ONLY thing she owned anymore.

Her hands caressed the wooden surface lovingly and she pulled the strap over her shoulder, pulled out the pick, and strummed. Carefully she listened to the even tones, a small smile curling her lips upward even as she began to sing, “I’ll be your dream, I’ll be your wish, I’ll be your fantasy,” and people around her began to quiet as her voice filled the air and brought all attention to her…without her even noticing.

Her eyes stared off into a distant past as she sang, “I want to lay like this forever, until the sky falls down on me,” the silence in the Tavern had become profound as her voice rose softly, creating a spell that needed no power or presence to be. As her voice wrapped around the individuals in the tavern a group entered, loud and obnoxious, garnering looks of outrage from the other patrons and a particularly distasteful look from the Bartender himself.

As she segued into the next song, “I still hear your voice when you sleep next to me,” her voice became haunted and sad, “I still feel your touch in my dreams. Forgive me my weakness but I don’t know why. Without you it’s hard to survive. Cuzz every time we touch I get this feeling. And every time we kiss I swear I can fly. Cant you feel my heart beat fast, I want this to last! Need you by my side. Cuzz every time we touch I feel the static and every time we kiss I reach for the sky. Cant you feel my heart beat slow, I cant let you go, want you in my life. Your arms are my castle,” her voice broke here softly, “your heart is my sky. They wipe away tears that I cry. Oh the good and the bad times, we’ve been through them all. You make me rise when I fall,” her voice broke here as well and the laughter from the obnoxious men who just entered ricocheted around the room glaringly, breaking the soft spell her voice had woven.

One of the men approached her, taking her guitar from her hands and stated coarsely, “Well, well, well. Looks like I’ve got a new Toy boys! You don’t MIND do you girlie?” He leered at her drunkenly and it was obvious that this tavern wasn’t his first stop at all. He started swinging it around his head and he misjudged the distance between his body and the wall causing the wooden instrument to slam into the wall with a loud ‘CRASH’ and it broke into pieces.

Carmen could only stare in shock as her precious guitar, the one she had bought with not only her hard saved money but with the allowance her children had saved up and even some money her belated husband had pitched in, broke into pieces upon impact. Tears she had been holding back began to well up at the sight of the pieces drifting to the ground. The neck still held in the oaf’s hand and the twelve strings hanging onto a section of the front was the only part still suspended in the air and the man laughed and shouted out to his friends, “Yo! Dudes! Guess I picked the wrong kind of toy tonight!”

She didn’t notice when the red-head wandered up and gripped the man by the throat. She didn’t notice anything but that broken piece now falling from the man’s hands. Her eyes tracked the neck’s progress as it fell and she flinched as it hit the ground, laying among the other broken pieces. Up until this point she’d still had something left of them. She’d had it with her at a gig when it had happened. The fire that ate her life away, took everything that she loved, left her with only this one gift from them. Gone. Now…nothing remained. Her face slowly crumbled until it was nothing but a mass of devastation, and yet, she still did not cry loudly or openly. Simple tears coursed a path down her cheeks as she stared at the mass of debris.

MEANWHILE

Lavelia held the drunken man’s throat as he gasped out, “I-I wa-was only play…ing,” she sneered at him and stated firmly, “You drunk asses. Come into MY tavern. Assault one of MY customers. Disobey MY rules,” her face took on a cruel cast, “but now, you get to feel MY justice. And…MY justice is,” she paused dramatically as the other customers who knew her started laughing, “harsher than even you realize. You see,” her voice went sweet and gentle, almost childlike, “if you destroy something precious in MY world…then you LOSE something equally precious,” her voice went harsh, “and since all men seem to find THIS,” her hand gripped his family jewels so hard he screeched, “as most precious…I think I’ll,” she began to pull and he screamed again, louder, “TAKE IT FROM YOU,” and with a yank she simply separated his testes and penis from his body and let him fall. She stated sweetly, “Now justice has been done,” she glanced to his friends who were staring in shock and stated, “When you cause harm in MY realm, expect equal harm back. Only expect it on an exponentially worse scale. Because. My realm is MINE and I say what’s equivalent.”

MEANWHILE

Carmen silently knelt down next to her shattered guitar. She reached into her case and pulled out an odd object. Most from her realm would know what it was with a single glance however. No one here recognized the metallic object. She raised it to her head, and pulled the trigger. The loud BANG echoed around the tavern, causing a deep silence to grow as her body fell slowly to the side, the gun falling from her nerveless fingers. Oddly enough her body fell into the debris of the guitar joining the two small pictures that had fallen out from within the instrument. One was a picture of two laughing blond hair and blue eyed children. The other was of a man smiling gently towards the camera. Love shone from his blue eyes as he stared forward, laughter dancing upon his face. Her head landed next to both photos, the body already growing cold. The frozen expression on her face was one of despair and desolation.

Lavelia spun around at the oddly loud sound and watched as the woman’s body fell down onto the debris. Her emerald green eyes widened. The offender was still screaming in pain when she whirled around, “remember when I said,” her voice was a sweet whisper, “that in MY realm there is equivalent justice? Well,” she said firmly, “three worthless lives,” the other two men were edging towards the door, “for the price of one GOOD life. Oh and,” she grinned as she noted that two of her Kiss’s Elders had moved to block the door, essentially cutting off their escape, “there’s no escaping here. We’re in lockdown now until Justice is served. Today I am judge, and I am jury. And this is MY court. My beloved would not approve much I’m sure however. I will not allow behavior like yours to lead as an example. I cant stand stupidity. And YOU two are at fault for NOT stopping him,” she pointed to the man writhing on the floor, “you proclaim him to be your friend and even laughed as he performed his act of stupidity.”

The men were backed against the wall quivering in terror. Both were grabbed. A button was pressed. Shackles came out from hidden alcoves in the wall…three sets to be precise. There were more however, three were what were called for and three would do fine. The two shrieked as they were shackled into place just off the ground. Two men grabbed the third one who was laying oddly limp now, not dead but not much alive either. The pool of blood beneath his fat body was rather large and dark. Another slim Vampire came out carrying an oddly shaped metal object that glowed very brightly. He waltzed over to the now limp man and simply pressed the glowing metal against the bloody torn flesh, earning a searing sizzle of metal meeting skin and a long loud shriek of agony from the now conscious man.

He joined his friends, after the injury was cauterized, to hang upon the wall like a gruesome piece of artwork. The small red-head wandered up to the trio and stated, “Today you,” smirked, “stand before MY court accused of conspiracy to commit an act of assisted suicide and a unilateral act of stupidity which ended in the ending of a GOOD life. Plus of course, there is the fact that NOW my tavern is dirtied with the blood of an idiot. And yet again, there is also the matter of damage of personal property of another customer. And of course…blood is SO difficult to get out of these floors. Not to mention the fact that I had a wonderful performance interrupted and ended rather rudely. So now I will commence with Justice.”

She stepped forward, pulled out a dagger, and began to slide it just beneath the first layer of skin on the first man. This particular dagger was very thin, the blade would lie flat against skin even as it peeled the flesh, almost like skinning a fish. His shrieks echoed through the tavern and his friend was whimpering rather loudly as he watched what was happening. She let the skin fall and smiled happily at the white layer that was now clearly visible. It had taken quite some time, especially when she’d gotten to his feet but, she was meticulous and especially careful and so the skinning had been even and damned near perfectly executed.

She glanced over at the whimpering male and stated, “Don’t worry. I have other plans for you,” she chuckled, “well, once I’m finished meeting out justice here that is.” She then turned back to her current subject and pulled out a second knife, the first was currently being cleaned by another member of her Kiss; after all, it wouldn’t do for that particular blade to be stained.

The second knife was a bit thicker and somewhat curved and serrated. She began by slipping it beneath the layer of ‘white’ gooey stuff that was now exposed to the air and slid the blade down, making sure to cut into the dark red flesh beneath it. His screams echoed around and even the other customers were wincing now. Some couldn’t stand the sight and were now staring everywhere but at the offenders. A few glanced over to the woman and sighed. She’d had such a beautiful voice. It was such a shame that she was gone. With that reminder, they looked back at the ones being punished with renewed respect for the Justice system that Lavelia held so dear.

So far she hadn’t actually hit any blood vessels and she was rather proud of that fact. The knife was so wonderfully sharp that it slid easily through the layers of fat. The serrated edge left nice torn ridges in the flesh beneath. It also kept her vict---erm…subject awake and in some manner aware. “Shit,” she muttered as blood began to slip down past her blade, “give me the cauterizor please,” she accepted the odd glowing metal and slid it to the vessel and a small sizzling could be heard even as the blood stop flowing, “better.”

She then tossed the metal object over her shoulder and continued with her work. After some time she got rather bored with it, stood up, staring at the now lined and scored red flesh, “now I think that we are going to end this,” and slipped the blade across the man’s throat…well not really a man anymore. She glanced to the third unmarred man, walked over, leaned up and released him. She stated, “Two lives, gone. One life remains. Live better and more responsibly. Else your fate becomes worse than your two former friend’s,” she then gestured and had two of her Kiss members escort him to her portal stating firmly as he was walked out the door, “you’re banished from this world. If I see you again, your life is forfeit.”

She stared at the original offender as he stared dazedly forward. She walked over to him and simply grasped his chin and with a sickening ‘SNAP’ broke his neck. “I do not allow an animal to suffer needlessly. His punishment has been meted out and should be taken to heart. The loss of ONE good life is the equivalent of losing TWO or THREE worthless ones. Though all life is sacred,” she turned and met the eyes of all in the tavern, “ones who heartlessly disregard the compassion that all beings are born with naturally to perform careless, thoughtless acts that cause another being here harm will find a long slow death after a quick tribunal where I am the judge, jury, and executioner.”

Her words echoed around the tavern and the people within it stared and she watched as the reality of the words she’s spoken begin to hit them. Their eyes widen, breath is sucked in and held. Slowly they nod, the lesson learned and taken to heart. She smiled softly, “I am a fair individual. However. Compassion is a basic right that all should practice and answer to. Because. When compassion towards another individual is disregarded,” she pointed towards the body of the dead woman, “then death comes, slowly, swiftly, either way it comes. Because when you throw out compassion…you’re throwing out a person’s heart and treating them as less than you, yourself are. Lesser. Death comes then. To the heart of the individual you’ve placed as ‘lesser’ and it can come to others when that ‘lesser’ individual realizes that if their life is so worthless, than so is everyone else’s.”

She paced a bit and continued for a moment, “I refuse to allow my people to become individuals that turn aside basic compassion for greater greed and superior attitudes. I’ve seen with my own eyes what it leads to and will not allow my people to fall that way. They,” she gestured to the hanging corpses, “put aside compassion. And in so doing, caused the loss of a life that had meaning,” she turned away from them for a moment, meeting the eyes of all of her Kiss, “ALL life is precious. None is wasted. None is ‘LESSER’. All here in my realm will live a compassionate existence, understand?”

Slowly each of her Kiss nodded as did the individuals sitting in the seats of her tavern. She turned and gestured, “Take them away. Bury them with dignity. Bury her,” she pointed to the body of the woman, “and place a beautiful Headstone to mark the gravesite so that all may know, as they pass by, that a life of talent lived, and was removed. Let the inscription read : Here lies a woman who died when compassion was forgotten and life was treated as less than human. : Make sure it can be clearly read when it is passed by,” with that she walked out of the tavern and made her way to the portal, keyed in a sequence that would bring her out into her mate’s meditation garden.

She stepped through, walked over to the cherry tree and sat down, closed her eyes and sighed softly. The faint hope flickering through her mind being that she hoped her words and actions would be taken to heart by all of her people; Vampire, shifter, and human alike.