2.26: Wishful thinking

                                                         warning: language/gore

     I know you're aware of this already, but I've never been a particularly nice sim..

     In addition I smoke, I drink to much, I cheat, I carelessly lie and I'll steal anything that isn't nailed down. I've casually stepped over corpses of sims I've know for years. Some I've killed myself, the rest are dead because of me. The killing bothered me once, but it's surprising how quick one stop caring. They were necessary deaths, to help a bigger cause. Well, actually just my cause, but the first sounded better don't you think?

      See, I've already lied again; I'd steal stuff even if it was nailed down. Not that I get why, it's not like I've ever lacked anything. I just get bored really easily, so I started drinking at a very young age. And I was a pretty decentlooking young man, so I got to have a lot of sex. Nothing wrong about any of that ofcourse, but it's just that after I grew up I realized I might have done those things for the wrong reasons. Sex and drinking is perfectly fine, but maybe not so much when you feel you're lacking something.
 Anyway, the stealing is kind of how I ended up getting involved in this.

     I stole a lot of stuff and usually sold it or pawned it illegally. The local criminals knew of me ofcourse, but ofcourse I got caught in the end.Someone probably noticed me in all my astonishing friendly charm... yeah...
     Anya eventually got a hold of me, and that's really how it started. As you know I can be quite charming when I want to... I just rarely want to.... But I worked Anya the best I could and she probably felt sorry for me or something. She took the liberty of mentioning it to her husband Milo... yeah, he's involved in this to.
     But as it turned out, the mayor in town had an interesting idea that he'd shared with Milo earlier, and it turned out I'd be just perfect for it.

     Let me first admit that I have no idea how all the politics worked. But they had a problem with MorcuCorp. They were infiltrating and influencing the politicians, and we don't want them in our lovely city. Even I don't. They would've turned this place into a corrupt hole, filled it with dirty simoleons, smuggling and who- knows- what. In general they would have gained control over  the entire city and held all real political and economical power. 
     As many flaws our system has, we don't want a secret dictatorship do we? A free market is the perfect sign of democracy after all... Or someone says that atleast, what the fuck do I know?

     As it turned out, MorcuCorp was already involved with the criminals in town, getting their assistance at gaining power. And that's where I came in. 
     The mayor hired me into his office, which I excelled at with my ehrm... charming manners and such... But since the criminals in town already knew me, I started selling them information. They used it as a source for the whole Morcorp thing. Ofcourse what information got sold was decided by the mayor and Milo. I'm not sure what they were hoping for, other than that way they atleast had a shot at predicting the Morcus next move. And probably other things to, but I really wasn't that interested.

     It turned out later that the criminals got something from the Morcus in return. They used their labs and simoleons trying to bring some long dead guy back from the dead, to get access to eternal life or some shit like that. Never really got that part, and it wasn't my problem either way. But they were all so greedy that even something that stupid seemed like a good idea to them. And if Rowena insisted it was real; well, no one in their right mind questioned her. Just trust me on that part.. Rowena... Rowena's brutal.

      Despite that, Rowenas hold on power still diminished. This idiotic idea about dead vampires and eternal life made the others doubt her abilities. They wanted simoleons, not bad fairytales and she wouldn't have lasted a lot longer there. Ofcourse getting crazier by the minute didn't help either.     
     Your brother was a thorn in their side. He's a cop, and had started terrorizing the syndicates underlings. However he was also a valuable source for them, as he got them information about the police. So Rowena decided it was a good idea to send thugs to get him to Riverwiev where we where at that time. What a shithole that place it.
     Marco is a dangerous guy with connections within the lawdepartment. So either she could get him to join the criminals and prove to the others that he was legit; which she was convinced he was. That way she could have turned it into some oldfashioned mobster syndicate. Ofcourse she still wanted to play it safe with the others, hence the imprisonment. 
      But the others weren't to thrilled to have a cop, that also had a history of beating them senseless, and stuffing them in jail, running around there. And when the Morcus threatened to stop their scientist reviving the dead guy, she found an even better use for him:
     What better way to show the Morcus and her own just how tough she actually was, than to have a highranking cop executed. And a member of her own family at that? It is actually quite brilliant, and she'd also show the underlings that she took their concerns into consideration.
     Lucky for us that she didn't stop to think about how inexperienced the thugs actually was, or she just underestimated me. I can do things to, you know. I know, I know... I shouldn't be proud of that.

     The funny thing is that whilst I was feeding the criminals information from the mayor office, that they gave the Morcus; we also had an informant within MorcuCorp. Never wondered why Christine was at my office that often? You didn't find it a bit strange that I hung around my ex that much? What other reason would I have for doing that?
     The Morcus and criminals just never understood, because they knew I was a cheating bastard anyway. And Christine willingly gave us information in exchange for some really good opportunities to set up businesses. 
     Not that I cheated on you mind you, I've never done that to you. But you were really cute, and kind of funny when you though I was. Where the hell did you get that idea anyway?
     Really, it was all deals and information between Christine and me. Or politics, if you preffer.

     You can't really be surprised that Milo was so highly involved in this? Think about it: His wife is a cop, and he was next in line to be mayor. Why wouldn't they talk about this stuff? 
     But it took so damned long, and I honestly believe it got to complicated for the mayors office in the end. It's one of those incidents where everyone knew a little, but no one really knew the entire picture. In addition there were internal powerfights within all the fractions. Unfortunately that one between MorcuCorp and Vera wasn't one I knew anything of. If I' known I'd have them "relocated" a long time ago. Makes you wonder what happened to her, right? Other than you torching her that is.   
     It probably would have been different if Milo had started it instead of that ancient mayor, but by the time he was in full control it had gotten out of hands for us. We didn't see any other choice than to keep going. Even if we'd never get rid of the Morcus we'd do our best to stall them. Not that this survived for long after the mayor died though. That man got old beyond belief.

     I don't know... Milo would probably have been a better choice for this than me. But he had to be protected, and so did Anya. She was a favourite for becoming chief of police. If someone had suspected the two of them beeing involved in something like this, Jericho would have lost investors, companies, jobs and things would have fell into a dump again. 
     We were really just trying to save the city from financial ruin, and since MorcuCorp technically is a legal company we couldn't get rid of them in a legal manner. I don't think Anyas boss knew to much either, she just wanted to get rid of the gangs in Jericho that got to powerful to quickly. And she just couldn't figure out why. Probably because I kept feeding them false information.

     It was going well enough on those premises, but then that gorilla brother of yours started looking into it. I swear that guy can smell these things. And he just doesn't let things go either! Why couldn't he just let it go? He's like a bloodhound, if he smells something he doesn't stop until he finds it. Do you have any idea how much he slowed down the process? 
    You see, the policestation had decided that it was a great idea to pretend your brother was a dirty cop. Mainly because he had quite a reputation already. But ofcourse, his boss is obliged to inform the mayors office, so we knew it was a game. But the mayor couldn't stop it either, because.... well, you know.. corruption is kind of illegal. So I sat there with Rowena and saw her start trusting him, and knew it was bullshit, but I couldn't say anything. Normally I would've just killed the guy. But he's a policeofficer, your brother and Rowenas cousin so... you know... I got a bit of a problem there. And since he's your brother, Milo would probably have run me out of town himself if I did anything.

     We spent so much time trying to get him off out backs, that we were getting desperate. The easiest would probably have been just using Milo. But as I've mentioned already, he had to be protected. Can you imagine what would have happened if your brother had figured that out? Because he suspected I wasn't the power behind it all the way to the end.
     Milos got a good head on him, and he'd be a good mayor to the town if they'd gotten over the werewolf part. And I'll admit I sometimes, or maybe most of the times... okay fine; all the time; kept him in the dark about how I actually worked, and how many I had to get out of the way. Good contracts usually are like that. The previous mayor was an extremely ruthless man, I'll give him that. And, well, Milo isn't, so I never told him.

     I accidentally ran into your brother that day at the winterfair. Just couldn't keep my big mouth shut, had to open it and say a lot of things I wasn't supposed to. I just wanted to figure out how much he actually knew. Milo and the mayor wasn't happy with me as usual, but since I first had to open my big mouth, the mayor figured we could do the best we could: Try to get Marco looking into me instead of the syndicate and politicians. Maybe we could prove he was incompetent and get him demoted to a pure deskjob, or something.
     For the record, I told the mayor it wouldn't work, as I knew your brother pretty well in my youth. He's really a smart guy even if I like calling him an idiot. And it didn't work either, did it? But I had a lot of fun making him angry. I like making your brother angry, it's entertaining. And that just made him more insistent and his boss ended up giving him the assingment of pretending to be a dirty cop, which just got him even more involved.

     Then you showed up at snowflake day, trying to pretend everything was fine. You have a terrible pokerface, I've always liked that about you. I kind of started reading your blog, to keep you safe. You were really to generous with information about yourself.      After that I might have talked Milo into letting me try to get information about what your brother knew, through you. And maybe I managed to twist it such a way that Milo thought it was his idea? And that he'd be doing me a massive favour? And that you'd be a very good influence on me?
     That was a tough battle, he didn't want me anywhere near you. But eventually he caved, even himself suggested to you that we meet up. Though I'll admit I have no idea what he told you so you'd agree to meet up with me. I kind of assumed he'd promised you simoleons and half the city or something, since I'm kind of, you know... gross..

     I wasn't planning on anything happening. I just wanted to see yo. I kept forgetting to ask about your brother to, you're quite distracting to be around. I just wanted to see you smile and hear you talk. You were so sweet and innocent, and completely naive. It was so nice beeing around you, when everything else was lies. You're so sweet, and think everyone else is just as sweet and honest as you are. And I'm really am not sweet, honest or particularly nice in any way. It actually took me a while to realize that you had an interest in me all along.

     Then those idiots at the syndicate made that damned bomb, which I knew all about ofcourse but "forgot" to tell Milo. I just made sure that he wasn't there for a few days to be on the safe side. But they also "forgot" to inform me that they would make it go off during my workhourse. I think they were out to get me, and it was probably for the best, or it would have gotten off at a lot busier hour. Or they just didn't care that I was there, or both. What? I told you I'm not a good guy, didn't I? 
     At that point I had stopped caring. I was already aware that I was outstaying my welcome.

     Nothing was supposed to happen between us. I just wanted to meet you again and again, thinking it would get easier if I just met you one more time.     
     But then you met up at my house wearing practically nothing, and seriously... no bra? I'm just a man for crying out loud. You seemed so upset, and I really just wanted to comfort you. But your skin was really soft, and your legs very long. And come on... no bra? Not that I was complaining.

      
     I knew you were interested at that point, ofcourse. And I also knew it was a bad idea kissing you, and I shouldn't have done it to begin with. Everything I worked for, what I worked with... just a horrible idea really. 
     You seemed a bit hesitant at first so I hesitated to, but when you relaxed I just ignored the sensible voices that went on in my head. I do that most of the time anyway.

      I'm really sorry I couldn't give you a proper wedding, but I lied to Milo about the dating and the pregnancy. Poor sod even believed me for some reason, you would think he'd learned by then right? But you told him and Anya, ofcourse you did. They're your best friends. Turned out that little softhearted blondie has a temper after all; he was furious. I was sure he was going to kill me, for real. 
    I get why he reacted that way now ofcourse, or I did back then to but I just chose to ignore it. That's why they stayed away from you, you know. To keep you safe. Everyone just wanted you to be safe. You are kind of a walking disaster after all.

     The criminals made a terrible mistake that night. A memeber of MorcuCorp and parts of the criminals tried taking over the business. They had planned it for a while, but with the old Morculady dead, and the storage burning, they jumped ahead and decided to take advantage of the chaos. Or atleast that was the idea.
     There was a reason why your family was supposed to be left alone, and it's not because you were related to the crime- boss. It was because of Meave. She wasn't what you thought she was. Atleast the little I knew of. You see, the army can be a good place to work, but sometimes the members quit and goes into so- called overseas security businesses. Most of them are legit, hard working sims. And some or them are not legit, and doesn't work in very legal manners. 
     Let's just say that Meave belonged to that group that wasn't very legit. I'm a bit surprised that none of you noticed a difference in how she worked.... you know she tended to walk around armed right? That's not legal, atleast not when not in uniform. And most armysims don't do that anyway.

      Meaves co- workers wasn't happy about her execution. Because when the law looked into her death, there's a chance they found out what she worked with. 
     Worst scenario that would have happened with the criminals was some years in prison, and having to start from scratch. The Morcus would have taken a harder toll, but they'd survive. Illegal businesses in legal ones and so one, you know. 
     But that didn't matter when Meaves co- workers decided to avenge her death. It had gotten out of hands for all parts involved, and they put a pretty brutal ending to it. A very brutal ending to it actually. They found Rowenas molested body near a dumpster, and not even the Morcus got away. Well, atleast they will stay away from Jericho now right?     
     Am I a bad sim for saying that I'm happy Meaves friends didn't figure out I was a part of it? But it is such a pointless turn of events right? All those years of work, so many lives destroyed and all it took was for Meave to die? I'm not going to think about what I would've done if I'd known that.

     I've lied to you for as long as we've been together, and for our daughter to. She looks like me, but luckily she takes after you. She is so much like you... And even if I lied so much I need you to understand something. I've made so many grown men cry that I've lost count a long time ago, and so many lives and families have been ruined. Just the share sight of me is enough to destroy most sims day, and if I say the right things to them: most wish they hadn't been born at all.

     But I've always been bad at saying the things I should say: I wanted to keep both of you safe and happy, but I failed. I wish I hadn't lied but it did it to keep you safe, and because I was so selfish I didn't want you to leave me. And even if I've never told you before; I love you. Both of you. 
     I am so sorry, and I know you'll never know how sorry I am for everything.

     He just wish he'd told her while she was still alive                             
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poses:fanaskher, imho, ag, k2m1too, clover and someone else that I forgot.

I decided from letting Bashir keep the burn on his face, I liked him better without (that, and I'm trying to clean out my packagefiles of unneccessary things). And yes, Oriana is dead, all dead and fully "not coming back" dead and Bashir is the newest member of the household keeping up the rolls. Atleast now I don't have to stop her and Joe from flirting all the time. Because they did, all the damn time.

Explanations, explanations:
Anticlimax, I know. It was supposed to be to, but honestly not this much.

So there were certain things that got screwed up. When my computer broke down I lost everything exept one save from when the kids were toddlers. So all saved sims were gone to. Florian was supposed to be a part of the story, though not directly. But I needed his face as a startup for generation three, and would've needed him there to. Unfortunately I just wasn't able to recreate him. So I had to improvise quite a bit. I'm sure everyone has already gotten that the whole "dreamstuff" isn't actually dreams, but I wasn't able to finish it since I needed Florians face for that. (Not that he was coming back from the dead or anyhting like that for the record.) I'll try to improvise something for generation three on that part, but it might be to funky to use. So no promises there.
Ofcourse Marco was supposed to take out Rowena, but if I decide to go with the funky idea this was a better fit. Atleast all that were supposed to die, died. Except Rye, turned out he was the only one from both families, so I didn't want to end that family line :D

And I know first person talking is a really cheap way of doing it, but I figured it was easiest to make it understandable. If there's something I left out or that has changed, I appologize already, but as mentioned earlier it got a bit difficult beeing in the middle of a story when things and important sims disappeared. Hopefully it didn't get to bad.

Thanks for reading

p.s: If you see some of the thugs or others running around in the game, don't be alarmed. It's not them, but they have enormous families and for some reason they've started looking the same. Or maybe it's just me that think they do. 

2.25 Níðreising

   
     He often found himself triggered by smell. It was something about it that just never went away. That's why he liked Meave. She smelled different; like oil and gunpowder, that scent just was impossible to get rid of. Or maybe it was just in his head. Meave was in there. The others were in there, but it didn't even cross his mind. His son was going to die, and he was to terrified to do anything. He was so terrified, that he didn't even feel scared.
      Dad... something tugged at his shirt, but it was probably the wind. It wasn't the first time he'd imagined things that weren't there.... dad.... dad... open your eyes...

     Dad... it was still tugging at his shirt. Maybe if he kept his eyes closed a bit longer, he'd wake up and find it to be a dream. That happened sometimes, even if he felt the chill in the air and the sound of the nearby river: Dad, get a grip on yourself! Maybe it was just a dream. After all, why would anyone want to gun them down? They weren't anyone important, and Efraim was just an innocent little boy.

     Effie let go of his fathers hand, he wasn't responding to his voice. A lot of sims froze when in danger but that wasn't anything Effie had ever heard of. He had decided to panick later, that guy was going to kill dad. And if mum was alright there was no way he'd be standing there to begin with. He could hear his own heartbeat, pushing against the wish to make a run for it. Because he wanted to run! But he just couldn't. What had happened to the others?
     Joe didn't have any of the problems his son had. He wasn't really sure where he was: Dad! Look dad, LOOK!!

     Even outside shots are loud, no matter if a silencer was used. Because Effie had seen the weapon, but he'd admit he had no idea how the guy look. Someone had to call the police now right, someone had to have heard it. Or maybe it wasn't that loud at all, maybe it just seemed like it to Efraims heightened senses. But the sound that came from Mahdis appearing out of nowwhere was something he'd never hear her make before. How could he just shoot her? She was stubborn and liked biting, but completely harmless.

     It was a unicorn, she ate grass and hay. How could he just shoot her? What was even the point? Efraim had more than enough to do from keeping dad running up to her. They should probably have run away, but they couldn't let her die for them either. Could they? Shaking the thoughts off Efraim did his best to keep dad keeping away. Dad was strong, and Effie really wasn't a grownup even if he wanted think he was. Where had she even come from? There was just a flash of light, and there she was.

     He heard his dad whispering her name, but for now he were to busy wondering what was going on. What was she doing? Why wasn't she falling? Ofcourse the shots that were meant for the two of them wouldn't be enough to instantly kill an animal of that size, unless you had a lucky shot.

     Dad rambled about something Effie couldn't decipher but atleast he didn't have to hold him back anymore. They were both to slow of mind looking at whatever was going on at the moment. He'd never see her do anything but getting a few twigs growing up from under her hoofs. Other than that she usually did horse- stuff. Like kicking, biting, eating and running. Still Efraim couldn't shake the feeling that this really was something he didn't want to see. Unfortunately he could still hear the sounds and the screams coming from the man, and ended up looking.

     As the skin started peeling of the mans body, Efraim wished he hadn't looked. So he looked away again, so not to see the rest of it. By the time the mans grunty screams stopped, Mahdis started toppling over and eventually couldn't keep herself up anymore. Sick to his stomach, he let dad go and sit with the unicorn. He knew nothing about unicorn- anatomy or weapons, but somethings one just doesn't need to have seen before to recognize. Mahdis dark eyes were getting foggy; she was dying.
     Dad, as sad as it was they still had more pressing matters: Dad, we need to help the others... He couldn't do it alone, and if they acted quickly they could call a vet and save Mahdis to, right?

     Kneeling down without beeing able to fully avoid the blood, Efraim tried getting contact with his dad again. Petting her and tugging at Joe at the same time he still didn't give up: dad please... Dad was going back to the loonie- bin, and Mahdis was dying. The others needed him, and he had no idea what to do. Feeling tears press themself out he did his best to blink them away. Big boys didn't cry. Atleast not now! Instead he stroked Mahdis again and again, slowly feeling her breath getting weaker and more shallow: please dad, we have to do something...

      The sour smell from the river got replaced by wet grass and cold dirt. That just felt plain out wrong, and Efraim was pretty sure someone twisted his brain around for the fun of it. Barely noticing Mahdis falling over heaving for her last breath, Effie rubbed his temples as his trousers got soaked through by the wet ground. He had such a headache it was hard to see clear, but he though Mahdis scared neighs stopped when dad patted her ears.    
      What had just happened? It didn't matter, Effie was going to take care of everything. As soon as he could see clearly that was, and his head hurt a bit less.

     Efraims sight came back just in time to see Mahdis chest move slower before finally stopping. And then she was gone in a flash of light, leaving him at some unknown place with a massive headache and a crazy dad. Atleast he sat in one spot babbling to himself so there wasn't an immideate danger of anything happening.   
     Swallowing another set of tears, Effie pushed away all thoughts and worries. Focusing on the only task at hand. Mahdis was already gone, he had to figure out what to do with the rest. Thinking would have been so much easier without a headache! Think!!! His phone! He had a phone! Why hadn't he thought about that earlier? He was such an idiot! Uncle Marco was terrified that scary men and women would contact them on the simsweb, so they were a big no- no. But mum and aunt Oriana had let him have one just in case. And he knew just who to phone.

     With trembling hands, he dialed an all familiar number, a man answering at the other end. Effie presented himself with full name: There's a man that had a gun at my house.... no he's dead. If he killed himself? What was he going to tell the policeofficer, that a man had died by unicorn? They'd never believe him: I'm not sure, my dad wouldn't let me look. No, no dad hasn't shot anyone. He's here with me, we ran away. No, dad doesn't have a gun.... No he's crazy so you can't talk to him.
 

     Taking a deep breath Effie tried not getting upset at the man at the other end: What?! No, he's here with me! I already told you he hasn't shot anyone, he's not crazy like that!!! It's a real diagnose, but he's harmless!! He's just mumbling and staring into the air... For the love of... what was wrong with these cops: No don't put me over to loonie- ward!! There's been a shooting at my house!!! His voice kept changing between falsetto and basse as he got increasingly agitated: No it's not dad or me! Don't tell me to calm down, you're not listening to me!!! He was screaming at the stupid grown- up now, usually he wouldn't scream but he was worried damnit! And stressed out!

     Taking a deep breath, to get his voice under controle, he also did his best making the stupid grown- up understanding what he meant. His hands were shaking so badly from the adrenaline that he nearly lost hold of the phone: There's a dead man outside my house! He wanted to shoot me and my dad, but we got away! I don't know what killed him, but it wasn't dad! You're supposed to send police there to investigate! There's supposed to be several adults inside, but the place was dead quiet. He wasn't troubled by the poor choice of word.

     And it was to quiet, my aunt talks all the time! There's supposed to be five there, my mum, aunt and three friends of them. I've never seen the guy that attacked us before. No, I don't know if there's more, how many it is or if any are armed. I'm not tall enough to look into the windows.. How old I am? Old enough to recognize when something's wrong!!! His voice kept changing between deep and falsetto, carrying far into the distance. He wanted to sit down and cry next to dad by now, why didn't he listen: It's not a prank! Does it sound like I'm joking?!!! He shouted into the phone to the rude police officer: If uncle Marco hadn't been missing, you'd be over there in a second!

     Yes, I live at Marco's house! Finally! The stupid idiot on the other end gave him all this trouble, and all he needed was a namedrop? How unfair for other sims that ended in situations like this: Yes, the missing policeofficer! There's already a unit sent out there? That's great! Eeehhh.... I don't think the guy needs an ambulance no, he's pretty dead, ..... Yes, I'm sure he's dead, it's very easy to see, he's extremely dead. Probably deader than anything anyone has seen before... Thank you.... No, I'm not going to stay on the phone, I need to take care of dad. I'm not sure were we are...
    Efraim just hung up on the man at the other end. The police was already on it's way. That was great, not that he was any more relaxed at that. He hadn't even needed to give the adresse.

     Finally hearing an all familiar snort, Effie turned around. So that's why Mahdis had taken them to this place.

     Skuld wondered why they kept hiding, she didn't see the point of it anyway. Something exciting was happening with the adults and she had to stay on the floor like she was an ordinary sim? She even heard the bitchfairies sugarly sweet voice giggling happily between some screams and lots of odd noises. Kind of reminded her of sounds she'd heard in those gory movies they sometimes snuck around to see.

     She just got up, why shouldn't she? She wasn't a coward like the rest of them. And why was ugly Sunniva clawing herself to the floor anyway? She was a grown- up, they weren't supposed to be afraid of anything. Walking towards the door, the so- called grown up was so scared she didn't even notice. From the other side of the door, Skuld heard Rikards deep voice growling something, proving that he was in werewolf form. Ofcourse Skuld knew he was a werewolf, she was smart, unlike the rest of them.

     Wolf was delightfully quiet, not to mention clean. But so was "what's his name". The only thing about him was how he kept moving his hands whilst twinkly little stars flew around them. Oh, so he was supposed to be a witch, right. Now she got it! Whatever. Witches weren't real supernaturals anyway so.... Little twinklestars wasn't very impressive, but atleast it was twinklepink. Skuld liked pink, it was the best colour ever and she looked so good in it. Dad said all princesses wore pink, even if they weren't as pretty as her.

     Oh okay... it was a bit cool seeing babyface- witchboy shooting fire from his hands... Not that Skuld would ever admit it. Witches were so lame, supernaturals were lame in general. The only one that was good for anything was her. The once clean and pretty livingroom was covered with corpses, but a few still tried to cling on to life. Like most kids she didn't even wonder why there were fighting there to begin with. She completely agreed that supernaturals needed to die. So why not try right? Though by the looks of things the resitance must have been tougher than anticipated.

     Taking the opportunity to look at one of them as life finally passed away from her, a guttural sound leaving the throat as the last ounce of air left. In not to long the corpse would start to get redish- violet spots, the bodytemperature sink. And when the decomposition started, the temperature would rise again. Skuld knew quite a bit about the prosess after death. It was a fascinating subject, even if many found it a bit morbid. Though, how quickly it would start wasn't easy to know. Maybe death- by- supernatural whatnots worked differently.
     She wouldn't excately call it a thrill, seeing life leaving the woman, but it gave an odd sensation. Almost leaving her feeling powerful at the sight.

     The sound of a heavy thud, as the father of all nerds dropped his lifeless victim to the ground, made Skulds gaze wonder upwards again. It seemed like the fight was over. Smelling of sulfur, burnt flesh and death the livingroom stood as a little novelty over a good fight. But it was all over now. What a bummer; Skuld felt a bit sorry for herself, she usually did when she missed out on the good stuff.
     Heaving for breath, Rikards face and clothes was covered in gore, as he said: You take care of the rest Wolf?

     Already clean, not even a droplet of blood or sweat of his face Wolf nodded gracefully. Whatever he had been doing to take the life of the lumps of flesh that scattered the floor around him, was not affecting his cleanliness. And then the genie simply clapped his hands... 

     Wow... Skuld was supposed to keep her mouth shut so the grown- ups wouldn't notice her. But witchesblasts and whatnots; getting an entire house and all the sims in it completely clean just by clapping his hands was to good to be true: I wish I could do that. Like, how awesome wouldn't it be when she had to clean her room.
     Five sets of heads whipped towards her. Not that it scared her ofcourse. Why should it? Sims loved having her around.

     That annoying old fairy came closer looking down at her: Well, if it isn't little blondie again. Weren't you told to stay away? Whatever threats she implied just sounded stupid to Skuld. She simply sounded to cute.
     Well, Sunniva didn't stop me. That wasn't really Skulds fault now was it?

     Merete! Rikard barked out at bitchfairy: Leave the kid alone. It doesn't matter what she says, no one will believe her anyway. He proceeded to transform into human form. His werewolf hair fell straight off onto the floor...gross.... "Just a kid"? Skuld didn't like Rikard at all. Or Merete for that matter, but that was obvious, she was a waste of life.
     Even Wolf, the stupid blue genie chipped in: Listen to Rikard, Merete. What is a little blonde girl with pigtails supposed to do? 
     The stupid witch "what's his name" talked to. He had a voice that sounded like he'd been drinking to much: Just another silly little girl with tall tales.... Having that voice with that babyface was just stupid.

     Skuld was not silly, she wasn't silly at all: What's your name? She hissed out without any emotions. Grinning unpleasently the witch answered: Shing. 
     Shing, she repeated: That's a stupid name for a witch.
     He just laughed, she didn't like him either. She really didn't like beeing laughed at.

     And just when she didn't think anything could get worse, even the idiot vampire started talking. Skuld didn't like vampires either, especially the nerdy ones: You know, Skuld was one of the norns, representing the future and a valkyrie. A little kid like you probably doesn't know what that is though...Albert, his name was Albert.

     Ofcourse I know, Skuld arrogantly interrupted the vampires unending tirade of nerdiness: I'm very smart... Valkyries decided who fell on the battlefield, and took their souls to Valhall. She touched her hair, not wanting to admit that the supernaturals were starting to make her a bit nervous. She didn't like beeing nervous.
     Well, she didn't decide in this matter, Merete laughed, and he started laughing with her.
Skuld didn't like him either. Merete. Rikard. Wolf. Shing. Albert. She really, really didn't like any of them.

     Oriana couldn't hear a lot anymore, the sounds were so dim and slow. Why did it take so long. She couldn't move either, but she had seen Vera run outside whilst covering her face. Fire, it had always been her brother that loved fire, not her. But when she thought about it, things had accidentally tended to burn down around her mother to. Maybe it ran in the family.
     She knew him, didn't she? That man the two new sims had dragged in with them? The one that was crying.

      What the hell is taking you so long? We need to get away!! She knew that man didn't she? The one that had come together with the new woman, the one that had dragged the last guy in with him? Adam, that was his name.      She did something!! She did something to Vera!! A woman said.
    Oriana didn't care that Jonny fell over, it probably made a sound, but she didn't care about that either. It was all good now, she felt so at peace and careless. Whatever happened, didn't bother her.

     More sims arrived, but who they were... she didn't know them did she? Or maybe she did? One of them yelled something several times, but the ones that had gotten there first didn't listen. Then Adam shot the one that surrendered in the back for some reason.

     PUT IT DOWN! PUT IT DOWN!!! I'LL COUNT TO ONE!!!  Why did they yell so loudly all the time? It was pretty much the only thing she could hear that wasn't dimmed down.      ONE! Another blast and Adam fell back. It didn't matter to her anyway.

    
     Linn and Lori had gone in, not taken the chance of waiting for backup. If Marco hadn't phoned him, they would have waited. But he couldn't. He was as much a part of this as his partner was, and it had happened because of their choices. Dominic would have liked to say that he was taken by surprise that something actually was wrong at the house. But he'd been a cop long enough to understand that gut- feeling often were right. He just hoped it wasn't as bad as it could be.

     Dominic had no idea what was going on inside, but as he bent down to prevent beeing detected through the windows the original idea had been for him to enter through the backdoor and then scoure the house. Ambulance was already on it's way, so was the cavalry.
    But he knew that woman sitting there, shakingly touching her face, whimpering in pain as she did.
    Police, stay where  you are. Let me see your hands! He didn't shout, not wanting to warn potential others that they were there.

     Dominic saw her dropping the gun, tossing it towards him as he quickly bent to pick it up, not letting her out of his sight. He could even hear her crying, which had to make the pain worse. What had happened to her face? It looked like it was burned.
     It felt like forever before he recognized the now damaged face: she was a friend of the family wasn't she? But she wasn't an innocent victim, he recognized the guilty when he saw them. What was her name again?

     Vera, he remembered and she even reacted. He remembered now, she lived with another of his co- workers, and she constantly kept hitting on Marco, who just wasn't interested. Vera, she was one of Marcos sisters best friends. He rememberd now.
     She actually smiled, a twisted grin in all the pain: I can't believe this.... she whimpered out: I can't believe this. None of them jumped as they heard some shooting from the inside, then Linn shouting out something.

     Finally straightening up, she didn't take the chance of looking at him: It's tough playing with the big ones.....
     Some sims just weren't cut out for this life, she and Adam was supposed to make sure there were no loose ends when they took over business: I'm unarmed, she said. Then she jumped the fence and made a run for it, well aware that he couldn't just shoot someone that was unarmed.

     Dominic set after her, it didn't matter if she'd finished the job, or if she'd completely failed. She was a traitor, and he just couldn't let her get away. He might be as corrupt as they come, but he liked to think he was the right kind of corrupt, and misused his authority in the right way. But this was personal, this wasn't misuse of anything. It was the right thing to do. Maybe he should have thought about his partner inside the house, but they knew how to handle things.

     The chase ended quickly as he caught up to her at the beach. Vera looked like someone that was exhausted, and there weren't enough adrenalin to keep her going for longer. The burn had to be incrediby painful to, and he suspected it was other places on her body. Not that he understood how it could be possible without destroying the clothes. But if Marcos sister was anything like him, it wasn't good to know what she was capable of.

     Water, he liked water. It was the perfect element. Vera had one of those irritating little voices that made him want to slap her: I surrender. She said, her body hunched over with exhaustion: I surrender. She threw her arms up as to convince more.
      Dominic heard her, but he knew there was only one thing to do. Marco would have done if for him. As he buttoned up his shirt, Vera looked up at him and said: Really? I didn't think you were that type, then she laughed a tired little laughter that never really got there.

     I can assure you, he said: Whatever you believe I am going to do to you, you are wrong. Then he grabbed her, pulling her out into the water after him as she did her best trying to get away from his grasp.

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poses: traelia, AG, VKG, sea, clarisse, k2m1too, simsimi, imho etc etc.......

As much I don't strive to keep things realistic in the sims, I had to let Albert loose his nerdglasses in the fight. Not to let anyone see his face (it's not worth looking at), but because those monsterglasses HAD to have fallen off

Give it a rest Albert, you're not scary or tough no matter how hard you try. You're a nerdy vampire that loves the heat. And with those glasses, we all know your blind as a bat right now.
I have no idea why the moondial thingy shows the wrong moon- cycle. I've checked several times. Maybe it's just an illusion or something. And lets pretend no one noticed the police also using surpressors on their weapons. I had someone without, but lost them somehow. (And to lazy to find new)
Sum up in next chapter! (and a long AN for those "what" questions. Kind of need that every generation, but atleast this time I have a good reason)

thanks for reading