Cowley

Rae considers Andrei from the corner of her eye before answering. "I don't know, honestly. Something that I think all of us should be worried about. Whatever happened, I still can't think very clearly. But we can talk about it tomorrow, what did you want to tell me?"

"I'm asking about it now, Rae,"  Aubrey's voice comes back through, at once commanding but still with the melodic hum to it that it usually bears, "Tell me what happened. Was it like, the same thing from last week? Is it still there? What did it look like? Are you hurt?"

Rae's brow furrows, afraid that she is upsetting Aubrey by being evasive yet aware of the delicacy with which she needs to speak in this moment for Andrei's sake. "It wasn't the same thing as last week." An idea then comes to Rae's befuddled mind. It was a huge raven made of whirling shadows with horrible yellow eyes. I barely got away." Rae then looks to Andrei as she covers the phone's receiver with her hand and whispers. "Lord of the Rings, we watch it all the time. We name certain kinds of people after monsters."

"Okay, pui," Andrei tells Rae placatively, pushing himself to his feet with a heave. "You want talk, you know where to find Andrei."

Rae pauses as Andrei stands. "Actually, I'd like your advice. Can we talk once I'm off the phone?"

Aubrey's eyes widen at the description and her eyes flash back behind her once more to the building she'd just stepped from.   "Hold that thought... hard to hear you luv, one sec."   (Continued back in Brasenose ...)

(Continued from Brasenose) Reaching the door to Andrei's room, Rae knocks lightly.  "Andrei? Would you still have a moment to chat?"

Rae can hear bolts scrape back and a chain being removed on the other side of the door, which cracks open slightly to reveal Andrei holding his phone between ear and shoulder. " Așteptați o secundă," he tells the person on the other end. "What is it pui?"

Rae takes a step back when she sees that Andrei is on the phone. "I was hoping that we could have a quick chat, but we can talk tomorrow if you're occupied for the evening."

"Five minutes." Andrei tells Rae holding up his open hand.

Rae nods silently and sits down beside his closed door. Beneath the waves of static that currently separate her thoughts, she can feel a riptide of fear and panic that extends beyond the attack of the large shadow bird. The current will pull her down the first change it has, but for now, she needs to hold onto the thought that feels more important than anything else right now.

A few minutes later, Andrei emerges, discreetly closing the door behind him. "What you want to talk, pui?"

Rae remains seated, looking up at Andrei. "Yes, I wanted to ask for your advice." There is a prolonged silence as she brings all of her faculties to bear in order keep her thoughts whole for just a few minutes. "The way that I live...the life that I want for myself. It isn't something that I could share with my family, it isn't something that I would want to inflict onto them. It would be so much worse if I stayed with them, so I need to find a way to say goodbye. Forever." Her voice breaks a bit as she looks into Andrei's eyes. "How do I do that in a way that won't tear them apart?"

Once more, Andrei lowers himself down to sit alongside Rae. "Slowly," he tells her solemnly. "People, how you say, 'drift apart' all time. In few years, they say 'oh, so sad that we not so close with Rae anymore', but it happen. No big drama. Bigger in your head. Go slow and they only notice after they already let you go."

"Even my parents? They've loved me so much, I've been so lucky to have them. They must deserve more than that. Something to let them know that I'm ok, that their daughter is making it out there on her own." As she says the words, an idea comes to Rae. The thought of a far-off trip in a few years, somewhere distant and remote. The kind of place where people just disappear.

Andrei shrugs. "You asked, pui. If you care that much, why you so keen to leave them behind?"

Rae straightens up, releasing a physically unnecessary exhalation out of emotional reflex.  "You're right. I'm sorry. Leaving them would be best for all of us. It won't be tomorrow, but there will come a day when its unavoidable. Have you ever felt something similar?"

"Perhaps," Andrei concedes, "but was always bad idea. People like to decide for themselves."

"Yeah, I wish I had another option." Rae stands and immediately needs to lean against the wall to steady herself. "Thank you, Andrei. I didn't really have anyone to talk to about this."

"Any time, pui," Andrei tells Rae, turning to her and opening his arms for her to embrace him.

Rae pauses for a split second, fearful that her deathly cold embrace will give her away to Andrei. The memory of having taken on the blush of life comes back to her, and she almost chuckles at herself, for Andrei would have noticed far sooner if it hadn't been active. After giving her flatmate a brief hug, she bids him good night and heads back into her room for a much-needed day's sleep.

Rae awakens on the evening of the 15th, and there are merciful seconds after the inky darkness of daysleep gives way to her bedroom in which she is blissfully unaware of herself. When all that had transpired in the previous evening does crawl itself to the forefront of her mind, she sits up and looks over to her thoroughly blacked out bedroom window. The challenges and threats before her feel insurmountable, as her thoughts move from Gabriel to Aubrey to the Strix. At this final memory, she thinks back to her research on the various creatures and histories of the hidden world of Kindred. She finds her thoughts to be blessedly unimpeded by the supernatural violations endured the night before. As the image of the Strix takes center stage in her mind; facts, stories, fears, and figures take shape in the tidy symphony of knowledge that she has so thoroughly honed over the course of her life. She is now properly able to feel the abject terror owed to the race of beings who have stalked foreboding shadows since humanity still dwelled in caves. The beings who seek to punish the Kindred for living what they see as a lie. The malign spirits who can possess bodies dead and living, wishing for nothing more than to sink their talons deep into the myriad agonies that Kindred and kine can feel and bring the dredged up suffering to their mouths to consume with a singularly unique relish. These are the creatures that Rae had prayed never to encounter.   And then there is the matter of this new gift for shadows that had so utterly changed her, which she had been unable to find any writings on in her personal collection. In the wake of the many revelations of the previous night, Rae is disturbed to find that something has been altered, left deformed and ill-functioning. The encounter with the Strix ruptured something in her psyche, and all can focus on as she lies still in her bed is how calm and controlled the last five years had been. The intoxicating joy of discovering lost secrets and attaining ancient understandings, the reverie and reassurance of her blood amplifying her favored traits, and her trust in her covenant and Eve.  And now, in just a week, nearly everything had lost its order and left her unlife near beyond recognition to what it once was. She thought she was going to have to kill Gabriel, and she’s still not out of the woods as far as he’s concerned. For the killing on Brasenose grounds she would likely be severely punished by the Concord, if she isn’t brought to her end by the Circle first. The word of a narcissistic Daeva starlet that “things would be alright” strains credulity, particularly while under the influence of her Majesty. Rae had told her so much. And she hated to realize that part of her enjoyed it, enjoyed letting the bulwark come down to tell someone, anyone, that she’d been losing her mind over the last week. She feels almost thankful that the Strix had rendered her a near invalid, as it kept her from spilling any other secrets to Aubrey during their call. It hardly seems like a coincidence that it appeared just moments after her shadowy gifts manifested. Perhaps it had taken insult to her awakening to the dark. Or maybe there are many of them already here at Oxford, and one just happened to take notice. Either way, these mistakes could not continue. Before she moves forward into the dangerous nights that fall upon Oxford’s present, she would have to rectify what she’d done.  ”If I want to survive, I need to be better. I… Eve. ”  Pulling out her phone, she quickly types out a message. Many things happened last night. Will send an email with details. But I was attacked by a Strix last night, and others could be at Oxford. Please be careful, trust no one. Going to set things right tonight. Thank you for everything, Genevieve. I love you. She then pulls out her laptop to send an email, addressed to both Eve and Professor McFarlane.  Good Evening, I bear unfortunate news. A member of the inquisitive party, Aubrey Knight, used her gifts on me to get me to confess everything to her. They now know that I’m the one they’re looking for, and that the both of you knew of what I’d done. Please do what is needed in order to stay safe.  Beyond this, I’m sorry to report that I was attacked by a Strix last night that rendered me profoundly disoriented and unable to access my greater faculties for the remainder of the evening. This is deeply troubling and I hope to spread the word of this as quickly and loudly as I can. I demonstrated new gifts last night that seem to be connected to them somehow.  Lastly, I will do what is right to prevent further bedlam tonight. I shall relinquish myself into the hands of my pursuers. None of this negates the service that I owe you for your assistance, Professor McFarlane, and it shall be honored if I retain a presence here at Oxford. Thank you both for all the ways in which you have helped me. Sincerely, Raziel Andrews Closing her laptop, she grabs her things and looks to Lotus before setting out for Brasenose. “It’s been an honor, Lotus. While I have no idea just who or what the bloody hell you are, I thank you for the time that you’ve spent with me.”

(Continued from Christ Church) Thursday morning in between classes Merric approaches the house he saw from his scrying with the letter in hand and begins to knock on the door.

Merric waits for a few minutes after knocking, but there is no answer. The house is quiet.

Well that's a downer. Merric takes his envelope labeled "To: The lady who could use a drink and a friend. From: M.G. A friend who knows" and slips it into the mail slot of the building. I hope she sees this before anything bad happens . Merric then returns to campus to focus on studying, distracted by his constant checking of the phone to see if he got a message.

Rae had already taken two steps past the mail slot before registering that a letter protruded pointedly from it. Snatching it up, the thought occurs to her to look to the sky and listen for the sound of wings; greater horrors than Kindred now stalk the streets. Slowly stepping back to her doorstep, she reads the front of the envelope several times as her shoulders sag. "You can't be serious..." Walking back through her front door and locking it behind her, she removes the letter and reads it quickly. Portentous declarations of what she'd done and a stated desire to "clear the air" leave her more confused than frustrated. Hell itself might yawn open to drag her in, at this rate. If only she'd been this popular in school. Pulling out her phone and inputting the number given in the letter, she begins speaking the moment the line is picked up. "I don't have time for this, so I'm going to ask you to be brief. Who are you and how do I get you to bugger off?"

Tapping at his desk as he tries to read through his textbook he's interrupted by a vibration on the desk. His phone rings to an unfamiliar number, It might be her. I thought I said to text first though. Merric takes a deep breath before answering Ok game time. He answers the phone and is greeted in not the friendliest of ways. Bummer. "Oh hey. Glad to hear from you so soon. Apologies for my methodology. It was the only way I could safely get in touch. The name's Merric. I'm a mage, and I know what happened that night with Matthew, what really happened. I know you're being investigated and I want to help. You may be a vampire but that night, you weren't planning on getting yourself into your current situation."

"A mage? Are you a friend of Khalid, then?" The questions fly through her mind, and she wishes this mage had just approached her in person so that she could read what she wished to know. "And why do you want to help me? If you know what really happened that night then you must be aware that the parties pursuing me have found me and could rain down upon me at any moment. So I'm going to face the consequences tonight, whatever they may be."  Trusting a mage stranger who dropped one or two details about her with this info was the magnitude of impetuous that she often chided her brother for. But what does she have to lose at this point.  

"Khalid? I'm unaware of a Khalid. That may be a Shadow name, essentially an alias." Merric thinks for a moment about all the evidence he's acquired and his instinct begins to gnaw at him to find out what really happened.  "I want to help because I want the truth. I can tell by your composure in giving yourself in that you aren't a crazed murderer. You're frightened of the parties in play and just want to end the suffering it's caused you. I want to get to the truth of what really happened that night, which means I need your side of the story. I don't believe you killed Matthew on purpose. You looked scared that night. I believe it was an accident. So before you turn yourself in, let me at least get the record straight. Then maybe I can help lessen this punishment." On one side Merric believes what he said, he genuinely wants proper justice for this creature of the night but on the other, he knows the powers that be here are too powerful and this will all be for naught.

Though she resists it, Rae feels sincere relief as the mage states his purpose. She's sure that there is an ulterior motive beneath the desire to be a good Samaritan of the night, but that won't be difficult to uncover. She's silent for a handful of seconds as she considers what lies before her.  "...You're right, it was an accident. One that I have been paying for and shall likely continue to. I do what I do now to set things right, for those I care about as well as myself. I don't know how much the Circle is going to listen to a mage stranger that suddenly appears to corroborate my story, but I thank you for the willingness to try."  She slowly draws air into her frozen lungs, a vestigial calming reflex, before continuing. "As you already have my address, you have 45 minutes to get here before I'm gone. And I understand mages to have specialties  in terms of their magics, could you please share the nature of yours?"  

Merric hesitates at the ultimatum. Meeting in person seems dangerous . "Death. Death is my specialty. I'll be there as soon as I can. I take it under good faith that neither of us will try anything funny."  Merric immediately begins emailing Prof. Cragg.  Dear Prof Cragg, I have made contact with her. I'm going to meet her tonight to get her story. I'm having a real "Interview with the Vampire" moment.  This is her address. (address). If I don't report back by midnight tonight something has happened. Sincerely, Merric Grimm

Death. Fascination grips Rae, nearly distracting her from the grim matter of the hour. "I see. That's how you were able to uncover so much about what happened that night, I'd guess? I look forward to our meeting, and I give you my word that no harm will come to you by my hand."  Death. If Khalid's blood was unbound life in all its splendor, then the mysteries of this Merric's blood were far too enticing to ignore. Heading back into her room, she sits in contemplation of what is to come. 

Merric quickly gets his things ready to leave. He double-checks the security around his grimoire and leaves his room to meet the mysterious vampire he has been investigating for the past week. He grabs the bottle Matthew is in and places it in his satchel, now we'll see if my radar spell actually worked. A few minutes later he is under the bus stop in front of her home. He pulls out the bottle from the bag to check and sees it point and pulls him towards the door. A smirk of pride comes across Merric's face, looks like it actually worked, that's great.  He puts the bottle back and takes a deep breath to blow away the nerves he was feeling. I got this.  He approaches the door and knocks.

The gentle rapping at her front door brings her out of her thoughts as she stared at the dark corners of her space, and she sits up off of her bed and heads to answer it. The well-dressed young man waiting on the other side is unexpected, as she envisioned a death mage as someone with a little more Sweeny Todd to them. Smiling, she holds out her hand to shake. "Good evening, I'm Raziel Andrews." She stifles the immediate urge to search the catacombs of his mind. For now. 

The door opens to reveal the person he's been searching for from afar. She's more eloquent in her demeanor than he imagined. The thought of how similar of presence she gives off to the old-school nobility of Lestat gives him an inner chuckle. He smiles and holds out his hand, "Merric, Merric Grimm. It's a pleasure to finally meet."  He lets go and gestures, "May I come in?"  He lets out a chuckle, "It's funny. I'm the one acting like the stereotypical Dracula."

Rae sounds a jovial, polite laugh, beckoning the man inside. "Yes, it's quite funny. I've heard rumors about Dracula being a member of every clan under the moon, but few concrete facts. Please, follow me."  As she leads Merric through the flat to her room, she looses the Beast in its new umbral glory to search his mind. She waits expectantly for the visions to wash over her and....nothing. Indicating to a seat at her desk as she sits on her bed, she does her best to hide her vexation. The idea that this young man has nothing to hide is unlikely to say the least, perhaps her abilities are continuing to recover from the previous night.  Once again, she smiles casually at the death mage in a way that does not reach her eyes. "So, I suppose you're ready to take my deposition? Though I also have a small favor to ask of you in return."

Merric senses a distinct smell of sulfur in the air as the vampire attempts to do something supernatural as she escorts him to a chair. He gives a smirk and takes his seat. "You know, I can understand your sense of paranoia, but it's a bit tactless to try something on someone you just met. You won't make many friends that way."  He gives a brief pause to make sure she registers that he knows she tried something. "Moving forward, what is this favor you want to ask of me? "  He says as he takes his notebook and pen out of his satchel.

Raziel's smile is now sincere as her eyes widen in delighted shock. "You felt me reach for your thoughts? You grow more interesting by the second, Mr. Grimm. Normally, only Kindred of my own persuasion are able to do that." Leaning forward, she regards the mage with an expression between desire and determination. "I wish to learn as much as I can of magic. A mage friend of mine, whose focus is the energies of life I believe, consented to allowing me to feed on him. His blood showed me incredible visions and briefly bolstered my constitution. I would like to feed on you, to understand the heart of your magic, as well as to observe its effects on me." She sits back and rests her hands at her sides. "I promise you that it feels like nothing you've experienced before. And I won't take very much."

He writes down in his notebook in shorthand about Rae's mind-reading ability and that only her "ilk" should be able to recognize it. I wonder if she saw anything . Remembering what he saw through Matthew's eyes that night and every rational thought in the back of his head he resists the urge to agree out of curiosity. "You know after what happened to Matthew that night, call me crazy about being cautious towards your self-restraint. Tell you what, how about we get to your deposition first, and I'll even answer your questions about magic. Then, we'll see about maybe pouring a 'wine' glass for yourself. I hear it's a good vintage."  He gives a slight chuckle and he watches for the vampire's response.

Rae's smile fades and she purses her lips as she looks to Lotus on the bed beside her. Looking back to Merric, she nods. "That's reasonable. As you understand, what happened to Matthew was an unfortunate accident at the end of a very unfortunate night. And before I begin, I must apologize, as there are parts of this story that contain highly sensitive information about Oxford's Kindred society, thus I will be censoring certain details." Rae reaches back and begins petting Lotus and giving him scritches behind his ears, seeming to give equal attention to the cat as she does her own tale.  "Last week, during a ball, rumors spread of some activity taking place in the catacombs beneath Oxford. My sire and myself had been asked to perform reconnaissance, and several acquaintances joined us. What we discovered were eminent and powerful Kindred leaders lying in torpor with stakes in them and Sanskrit writing on their coffins with directions not to wake them or drink of them. Upon waking one of them, chaos broke out and we ran to protect ourselves.  Upon returning to the scene later that evening, our path through the catacombs was impeded by magic. Specifically, the magic of mages. When we finally reached the area we'd visited, all traces of the elders were gone, and a sigil had been drawn on the floor. This sigil was used by hooded mages to summon an eldritch abomination that my group barely escaped from. An elder in our group was injured, and unfortunately lost himself to Wassail.  The frenzying elder attacked me and would've brought me to the Final Death had my associates not intervened and brought him to torpor themselves. Then I limped to that party where Matthew  was, no doubt, on the verge of assaulting someone when he decided to turn his attention to me. I was on the verge of frenzy myself, and needed to feed. I sank my teeth into him in the middle of the dancefloor, and he dropped dead in my arms after I'd hardly had any of him.  I wasn't in a rational state of mind, and I was holding a corpse in the middle of a crowded mortal party. I panicked. As I described to a rather insufferable person just yesterday evening, I hid the body like a teenager with a porno mag."  Rae finally pauses to allow the story to settle for a moment. "...it was an accident. And it put the Master of Brasenose and all of the Circle of the Crone's acolytes on the hunt for me. And last night they found me."

Merric quickly scribbles down as much detail as he can, trying his hardest to ignore the questions in his head about what she said and just trying to get it all down. "Whew, that's a lot."  He takes a pause to skim through his notes to see if anything jumps out to him as he rereads. "You said a sigil was drawn on the floor. You wouldn't have happened to remember and be able to recreate it, would you?"  He said barely looking up from his notes. "Yes, I can understand your panic, I believe poor old Matthew was anemic. He probably would've passed out to a paper cut let alone a feeding." He says that as he shifts the bottle in his satchel over. "You mentioned the Master of Brasenose and the Circle of the Crone found you. Can you tell me more about that? Did it involve your brother?"

"Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to recreate the sigil. We had a changeling with us who observed the room through unique methods. Perhaps he could recreate it for you. Or my mage friend, potentially. I think you both should meet anyway, you'd make quite the pair. Anemic? Funny considering he was almost twice my size. My brother? How did you...?" Rae sighs deeply and moves on. "My brother was not involved, thankfully. My brother is just another example of God's new hobby of shitting on my doorstep every chance He gets. My brother discerned that I was Kindred through goddamn online forums. Demanded that I turn him. He's being handled. As for the Circle, they are a covenant that works closely with my own. I am a member of the Pythia Concord. I'm not sure how much you know of Kindred society, but covenants function as the formal organizations within our nights. Each has certain goals and their methods of achieving them. The Circle of the Crone are a powerful covenant capable of blood magics that only they possess. A member of the Circle sniffed me out, as apparently they'd been looking for me nonstop since last week. I've been hiding and obfuscating myself to the point of minor mania."

He continues to note down all the information. "Sounds like it's been a hellish week for you."  He jots down another sentence, "You mentioned a Changeling and a mage friend, would you mind sharing their information with me? I assure you I will do nothing to hurt them."  He leans in, "I'm sorry I don't mean to pry about family matters, but a sleeper learning about our world seems like an important topic. Do you know what forum he was a part of? Would you also mind telling me how you are 'dealing' with him?  You seem like a nice woman and  I'd hate to think you 'took care' of him if you know what I mean."  He thinks a moment about blood magic and his own journey in searching for her. "You say the Circle has been using Blood Magic to search for you for days. It didn't take me very long to find you once I had a lead. I doubt that a powerful circle of blood mages struggled that much. Was something or someone else helping you hide?"  He inquisitively points at Rae with his pen and then places his pen on paper as he waits to write down her answer.

Before she begins forming answers to the mage's questions, Rae appreciates the acuity of Merric's perception. He's looking to all the dark places to uncover what is hidden, asking questions that she herself had been too caught up to consider.  "I say this with complete sincerity, Mr. Grimm, I very much appreciate your mind and acumen for investigation. I can provide you with their contact information, feel free to mention me, hopefully that gets them to trust you more quickly.  As for my brother, he didn't give me a chance to ask about details. My brother is, in the biblical sense of the word, a moron. But he is currently being detained by a professor of Keble College who will erase his memory of all events relating to Kindred once I fulfill a request that he has asked of me. Before his memory is erased, we could ask him just how he came to understand that I was Kindred. Lastly, you have a good eye. My Life mage friend performed a ritual that would mask my presence here. And every time I leave, I mask myself in cognitive obfuscation that even hides my predatory nature."

He leans back in appreciation of the compliment as he writes down the contact information. "I appreciate the appreciation, heh, it's helped me get quite far."  He gives a chuckle at the 'moron' comment and leans in again to press for info, "You said a Keble professor had him and would clear his mind? Hmm, memory erasure and costly services, he doesn't seem like the friendly type. Might have to skip on asking him myself."   Another time this Life mage has been brought up and has associated himself with a vampire, something seems strange about that.   "This Life mage you mention seems rather helpful. All the Shamans I've met in my life tend to shy away from the dead, especially the corporeal dead, and especially the undead. What's your relationship with this mage, no offense but, he seems rather too helpful to be just an acquaintance?"

Rae nods her head at the comment about the Keble professor. "Indeed. The professor is a Ventrue. I've never been a particular fan of how they conduct their business. Both literally and figuratively. Supernatural CEO sociopaths. But I digress, I'll get the information out of my brother and get it back to you. And yes, he's been very helpful. You all call people of his focus Shamans? I'll remember that. But he was with us for most of the night that ended with Matthew's death. Even held me down while I frenzied at one point so that I didn't harm anyone. I guess you could say that we're 'trauma bonded'. He'd deny it, but I'd say that I owe him a debt for what he's done for me. Oh and we found the Mabinogion that night as well, it had spells on Space and Time written in Old Welsh and High Atlantean in it. My Shaman friend looked it over and found it unsettling."

He writes down more about this Keble professor. "I'd appreciate that." "Yes, Shaman is the general name for those under that tower. If I'm to be more specific he might even be an Ecstatic. Want to guess what they call me?"  A smirk comes from his playful suggestion. "Did you say the Mabinogion?"  he quickly jots down that name and the details Rae has provided. "Where is it now?"

"An Ecstatic? That's intense. Do they call those under the Death Arcana Reapers or something edgy?" Rae laughs before continuing, feeling lighter than she has in awhile. "Speaking of which, was your last name always Grimm, or did you change it to Grimm once you chose Death as your focus? It's not uncommon for Gangrel to chose new names after their Embrace, from what I understand." "And I am not at liberty to disclose that at the moment. The spell book may have to be a discussion for another time." Rae gives an overly-dramatized, coy roll of the shoulder as she pretends to look away bashfully, before relaxing and laughing once more.  "So, you have the account of that night, then several events that spot the subsequent days. Add to the mix a mind-rending fear of both your own destruction and the destruction of any who assist you, and you'll be all caught up....actually, that isn't quite true. Do you know what a Strix is?"

He chuckles, "Yes it does sound quite intense. But no Reapers are another thing entirely and very dangerous. They call my ilk Alchemists, but more specifically Necromancer." Trying to dance around the topic of his lineage he answers her curiosity, "I didn't know that about Gangrel. But no, I've always been named Grimm, It's just a funny coincidence where my talents lay. We mages do have a thing called Shadow names, like aliases that represent our awoken selves." A look of worry and confusion comes over Merric's face as he responds to Kindred's question, "We should most definitely have a discussion on that book. Hopefully, there will be a next time."  He takes a pause to process, "Did you say, Strix, like the ancient vampiric shadow creatures? That Strix? Are you saying you hand a run-in with these beings?"

Rae nods appreciatively, "Ah, yes. Necromancers, perfectly sensible. And I'm familiar with the concept of Shadow Names, I believe Khalid is the Shadow Name of my mage friend, who also goes by the name Akil. I'd also be interested in finding out exactly what Reapers are someday, then."  Her eyebrows rise in somewhat relieved surprise as Merric demonstrates his knowledge. "I'm glad that you're familiar, you must understand the gravity of such a sighting here at Oxford. Yes, the primordial omens of doom capable of possessing corpses, Kindred, and even the living and doing unspeakable things in their new bodies, usually to the detriment of both Kindred and Kine. I was attacked and left incapacitated last night after demonstrating a strange new ability that I haven't been able to find any writings on."  She considers the dark corner she'd been eyeing before Merric's arrival, but thinks the better of a demonstration right away. "I was drawn into the shadows of this very room and remade in both body and soul by them. The shadows even suffused and transformed my Beast. It wasn't simply a matter of hiding, I became incorporeal. Have you heard of such a thing?"