Damien sigh softly, running a hand through his newly somewhat short hair. He had gone out and gotten himself a haircut. He always had the shaggy, long hair look that made him look innocent, but he wanted to be thought of as more mature and grown up, not being a teenage brat. He would forever remained stuck in his 18 year old body, it was how old he was in his human year when he was turned.

He stuck his hands in his pockets, keeping his gaze straight ahead of him as he turned down a alleyway that lead out to the street where his townhouse was. He didn't know if Marcus was home yet from work, normally the man was home by this time and wanted to surprise him with his new look.

He stopped and stared at the dark figure that had effectively cut his exit way out of here. He didn't know who this person was, but they weren't human. He could sense the magic emitting from the being and knew it had to been a witch. He didn't care much for them, mainly because they could actually use their magic as a influence over him. Normally his telepathy had made him immune to mind control and other mental control, but still even a witch could essentially still do something to him by casting a spell.

"What do you want?" He asked the person, but really seeing their face that was shrouded with darkness by a long violet coat.

"Your power..." The man said with a smirk in his voice. Before Damien could take any action, a voice was suddenly in his head and he couldn't move on his own. Damien's blue eyes widen at this, he was....under control by this strange witch...what was going to happen?

Your nature ability is simply divine....I want to bring this city to ruins and your power is the best way to go about it because it could simply look like a bad tornado...or maybe even a earth quake filled with fires spreading had hit this place like a work of god himself. The man said in his head.

Damien tried resisting the mans hold, but heard a chant from the witch and now there was no use in resisting. Good boy....now how about we get the peoples attention with a little earth quake... He said. Damien dropped to his knees, touching the ground with the palms of his hand. A very huge shock wave was sent through the ground, causing the buildings nearby to shake violently and the people who were walking stopped where they were walking, some screamed with how more violent the shaking was becoming and humans were falling over while others came out from their homes, holding onto the door frame for support as everyone was trying to wrap their minds around what was going on because a earthquake was unheard of.

Marcus had been busy at work lately. It was a good thing though, it meant they were making money and he enjoyed keeping busy. As it was, he was grooming someone else to step in and lead his company for a while so he could spend more time with Damien. Despite living with his lover, Marcus felt like they barely saw each other anymore. He certainly almost never saw Alec or Amelita anymore since they were never home at the same time.

The only one Marcus felt like he saw enough of out of all his "family members" was Arya, and that was only because she was his problem solver at work. Deals needed to be written out or worked out? She was the person to call. Negotiations were stalled? Arya was called. Whenever there was a problem, people always called her to sort it out and she did. Swiftly and efficiently, which was why she'd been nicknamed a fixer at the company.

That day he'd left early. He wanted to take Damien out for drinks just to spend some time with his lover without trying to get him naked. Which was how he came to pass by Damien and a stranger in his car right as Damien used his geomancy powers to create an earthquake. Knowing full well that they weren't native to the area, Marcus was quick to pull his car over and walk up to Damien.

Not giving a damn about the stranger at the moment, he grabbed his lover by the shoulders and pulled him to his feet. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, almost sounding incredulous. Damien had never been so careless before. Turning his gaze to the stranger, Marcus's lip curled to the beginnings of a snarl before he punched the person square in the jaw. "Why do people never learn? Undo whatever you did or I'll just kill you right here."

A few people who were walking immediately took shelter, they didn't understand what was going on and then it just stopped. Everyone was confused by this but the reason why it stopped was because Marcus had approached them. Damien eyes looked empty, their was nothing in them that signal that his true self was even visible anymore. He just looked past as Marcus brought him to his knees and the stranger just chuckled evily before he was knocked into the wall.

"Go ahead...you won't get far." The stranger said, removing his hood. Underneath was a puppet, the jaw of the talking puppet was missing and in pieces around the puppets feet."The real conjurer isn't here and you won't be.able to find him.for theirs no scent to go on...plus you've pissed of alot of witchs in the past so try to figure out who I really am." He added and.laughed before crumpling into a heap.

Damiens eyes blinked a.few times before having to catch himself on the wall. He grabbed his head, feeling a tremendous headache suddenly come upon him.

It pissed Marcus off to no end that someone would come after Damien like that. What were people thinking? Didn't they know that he would destroy them if they hurt Damien? He was sure word had gotten out about David's attempt on Damien and how that had ended with the witch's imprisonment once he was caught. No vampire had certainly tried since Talbot was punished so severely. It really didn't help much to find out that the stranger was merely a puppet controlled from somewhere else.

Pulling out his phone when the creature crumbled up, he was about to text Gale when he saw the text from Arya telling him to keep the young ones close at hand because someone might try to kill them simply for being young and vampires. This time, he did actually snarl before he replied that a witch was already coming after Damien and that he had to get to the bottom of that as well. He would just have to let the conjurer walk this time as he wasn't so sure anyone would be pleased with him if he lost either Alec or Gale to a hunter because he was trying to save Damien.

Putting his phone away again, he walked back to Damien and wrapped an around around his waist to support him. Kissing him chastely on the cheek, he sighed softly. "I'm taking you home and you just have to stay in for a while until I figure this out. I need you to look after Alec for a few days as well." He wouldn't give Damien any more details at the moment and just pulled him close into a hug instead. If he couldn't use his best tracker on her own, he just had to go with her and take his chances that no one would try anything with Damien again that day.

Damien didn't really remember much what had happened till he looked over and saw the remains of the so calles witch. Did marMarcus kill the witch? He heard voice in his head then. Im still alive.... It whispered, making Damien almost jump out of his skin. No one had ever into his mind lie this, it honestly scared him.

He looked back to Marcus then, hearing what the man said."Why.....what happened to me.....someone's in my head.....I can hear them....." He said softly, laying his head on Marcus shoulder. Whoever this w was, he could still feel their presence....like him and this witch were now connected.

Once they were home, he laid down in the bed looking very tired and could still hear the voice taking to him, he gripped his hair."Make it stop talking to me..." He begged.

Marcus didn't like that someone had managed to control Damien like that. It never been occurred in the past due to Damien's telepathy. How could someone have gotten around that now? This was why he preferred to have a witch on staff, but as it was his favorite witch had been sent away to work with Gabriel. He was all out of favors to ask of the older vampire now and really didn't want to end up owing Gabriel a favor.

When they got to Damien's, Marcus put his lover to bed and sat on the bed next to him. He hated seeing Damien in pain, even more when he begged for it to stop like that. "This is personal, Damien, somehow you got caught in the middle. I'll have Alec keep you company while I take Gale out to look for a solution." He didn't get more affectionate at this point than to pull a hand through Damien's hair and smile slightly at him.

"Don't leave the house, and don't let Alec leave. I'll be back when I can." Placing a chaste kiss on Damien's cheek, he sighed softly. "Just hang in there and try to ignore whatever the witch is telling you." With that he got up and went to look for the hybrid and Gale. He found the former hunter in her room making a mixtape of some kind and told her to suit up and wait for him in the living room. Then he went to knock on Alec's door.

Damien wanted them to stop taking whoever they are. He listen to what Marcus said, wanting to grab the man's hand but he stopped. He watched as Marcus told him to try and ignore this before leaving. Damien turned on his side, trying to ignore this person but it was hard, especially when they were right in his mind like this.

Alec wasn't home at the moment, he felt a earthquake and wondered what that was about. Earthquakes were unheard of in Bitter Springs. He had thought of visiting Casey and wondered if he should head home.

Marcus knew it was difficult for Damien to have someone in his head like that, but he couldn't really do anything about it if he were to sit around and just wait. He needed to be out there, looking for the witch. There was really no way around it. If all else failed, he would have to ask Equilibrium for help with Damien. Sure, his lover had been hesitant to help them, but they owed him a favor. Marcus honestly couldn't think of a time when Damien might need a favor more than now.

When Alec didn't respond, Marcus opened the door to his room to see if he were home. Upon learning that the hybrid wasn't home, Marcus picked up his phone and texted Alec, telling him to get home right away for his own safety. Someone was after him and it wasn't safe to be out on his own. He had a choice to make; go out and find whoever was hurting Damien, or go out and find Alec. There would be hell to pay no matter which of his loved ones he failed to help. It was almost enough to make him wonder if things hadn't been easier way back when it had only been him and Arya, no one had dared to pull stunts like this back then.

Grabbing Gale on the way out, he was pleased to see that she had taken his order seriously and had put on her old hunting gear, her trusted bow on her back with various arrows at her disposal. "We're bringing Alec home and then we're going witch hunting."

~*~

This town was just so much different from the places he'd operated out of in the past. Until recently he'd been rather good at disposing of his kills, but somehow one of his victims had ended up with a rather persistent medical examiner who seemed to have found a way to keep the police off his back. It was clear that whoever this doctor was that he or she knew his victims weren't human or he would have been hunted by the police by now. What he did, if he was caught by the police, would expose the existence of the supernatural as he had proof of his own to use in the events of a trial.

William had thought of everything, he was rather clever that way. He'd left no physical evidence that would link him to the deaths, with the exception of his last victim that had managed to scratch him. After his first victim had landed with the medical examiner, he'd made a little game out of it. He wanted to know if the doctor would be able to catch him, or if the doctor would end up as one of his victims. Next on his list in this town was a witch, he knew he had to find some clever way to get at the young witch. Their powers were unnatural, linked with nature in a way that was a disgrace to mother nature herself. That, and they were extremely rude.

He was wearing casual clothing, blending in perfectly with the average 20-something year old people living in the town. If anyone asked, he had just moved to town and was looking for work. Which was what he had actually been doing when his reverie had been interrupted by a sudden earthquake that certainly didn't belong there. Witches, he thought bitterly and walked towards where it seemed to originate. What he didn't expect was to walk into a young boy heading the same direction as himself. "Hey, you a local? You have a lot of these random earthquakes around here?" He asked, making sure his tone of voice had just the right amount of curiosity for someone who'd recently relocated to the area. Something was off about the boy though, now he just needed to figure out what exactly.

Alec looked at his phone, seeing the text from Marcus and.wondered what was going on. He was getting ready to.reply back when he.heard someone voice ask him a question. He turned, seeing a male standing there."Yeah I'm a local....and no it's not really that common." He said with a smile. Without really realising it, he had accidentally let his fangs be seen. He then started walking towards the stranger but walked past him. "Well be careful the weather around here is weird." He said.

William had worked with someone a long time ago that had made him resent not only what he was but everything supernatural. It really had pushed him to perfect his sedative to work on all kinds of supernaturals. He needed to keep them down after all so they didn't get away once he'd nabbed them, he also needed something that worked on himself if he needed to knock himself out for a longer period of time to hide without being noticed. It was a special mixture that contained substances that would knock out even a vampire for a longer period of time, but it also contained sedatives that were strong enough to knock out werewolves, witches and superhumans. There was only one person who knew what was in the mixture; the person who'd made him the monster that he was.

Once the strange boy talked to him, Will had his suspicions confirmed. The boy was supernatural. It wasn't time for a vampire just yet, but he knew his old friend the M.E. was expecting him to go after a witch next. Catching up to the boy, he sighed slightly. Pulling a syringe out of his jacket pocket, William very quietly and carefully stalked up close to Alec and pushed the needle into his neck, injecting the boy with the sedative. Covering the boy's mouth, he whispered quietly: "I'm sorry about this, it's not your fault you were made into this," before he picked the boy up and carried him to his car before he drove off to current living space, right outside of town.

~*~

Gale had been leading Marcus around town before she stopped so abruptly Marcus actually walked into her and had to catch her so she wouldn't fall. "It stops here. I can't track him further," she said quietly. It worried her that she couldn't find a trail to follow anywhere. It was almost as if he'd just dropped off the face of the earth. She knew she'd find some way of finding a lead again, but they decided to see if they could find anything on the witch that was haunting Damien to see if they could stop that.

When they couldn't find a lead on the witch either, Marcus brought Amelita with him out of town and to the Equilibrium headquarters. Imagine his surprise when he ran into Arya on her way in as well.

He heard the stranger come up behind him and before he could turn around, he felt something stab his neck. He then felt tired and passed out immediately. Alechad no idea what had happen or why he was taken. When he woke up, he honestly thought this wad someone who had wanted to make a pet out of him, but something told him that this man wasn't here to collect pets.

Damien felt something was wrong and heard the witch continue to talk to him, even hinting that Alec had been taking. He tried getting up but once more he couldn't move or even think.

Due to his past relations with a vampiress, back when he had still been human, William had been approached by a witch with a grudge against vampires in general. He didn't particularly like the witch any more than he liked the vampiress after learning how she'd been lying to him and using him. What he did see with the witch was an opportunity to get even with the woman that had lied to him repeatedly. So he used the witch, learned of a way to incapacitate a vampire without killing them. What he hadn't planned for was to be turned into one of those monsters himself.

Bringing Alec to his residence had been really easy after sedating him. He'd easily enough carried the boy into his vehicle and driven them to an abandoned house he had claimed for himself. One of the good thing about his past good relations with witches was that he had some charmed items meant to restrain any kinds of supernaturals. He'd been quick to slip cuffs on Alec when he brought the boy inside, to make sure the kid didn't get away. Sure, it was a bit premature to grab a vampire before the witch, but he'd take what he needed when he came across it in this town full of supernaturals.

"You can scream all you want to, boy, there's no one around to hear you." He said when the boy was coming to again. "Or I could just sedate you until it's your time. It's your choice really." He'd taken the boy two days too early. He'd always operated on multiples of three. Then again, it was only very recently that he'd added the witches onto his list of people to hunt down and that disrupted his whole pattern anyway. "I've gotten away with this for over a century already, don't think I won't get away with it for years to come."

~*~

Marcus really hadn't expected to see Arya at the Order. Then again, she barely had time to say hello or get mad about what was happening to Damien or Alec. She'd passed right by him and Gale after a very brief greeting and disappeared with Alexis. That left him and the pink haired vampiress to find themselves a witch to bring home. After alerting the order to this puppeteer and having them agree to look into matters on their end, he finally managed to convince a witch to come home with them to Damien to try to break the connection, even if it was just for a little while.

Returning home to Damien, Marcus brought the witch with him to where he'd last seen Damien and let her talk to the younger vampire.

---
I was thinking you could control the witch since the original witch was your idea ;)

Alec was terrified and looked up at the man who.had taken him."What do you want.....I didn't do anything to you." He said softly and looked ready to cry."Damien...Marcus....Casey....someone please help me." He thought loudly, feeling a tear run down his face.

Damien was still beinf tormented by the witch, the witch even said.that Alecwas going to be killed. He was trying to resist the voice when he heard someone and saw a female witch. "Marcus.....the witch said that Alec is going to be killed." He said softly. He then screamed and cluntched the sides of his head, turning.on his side at the sudden pain that surged through his head.

Marcus just shook his head at what Damien said about Alec. "Well you can thank that cowardly witch for stating the obvious. There's a reason I wanted you to watch Alec and that was so this wouldn't happen. You're weak, Damien, and you keep making it very easy to be upset with you." He knew he was being harsh, but he also knew that Damien's mind wasn't his own at the moment and Marcus couldn't risk telling Damien anything right now. He'd apologize and explain later.

"Until you stop listening to the intruder or you get rid of him, I'll be utterly unavailable to you. If you need me, try reaching out through your fledgling." With that, Marcus dragged Gale out of Damien's room and left him at the mercy of Tessa, the witch he's acquired from Equilibrium.

Tessa watched what unfolded between the vampires before she got to work. Dragging Damien out of bed, she placed him in a chair and tied him to it. Placing her hands on Damien's temples, she whispered softly to the vampire: "This is going to hurt, but hopefully it will help dull your senses." Then she started chanting her spell. Hopefully it would help weaken the connection between Damien and the other witch.

~*~
William couldn't help but snarl slightly at the response he got from the boy. "You're a pitiful creature, doomed to walk the earth for eternity. Hunting you down isn't personal, it's business. Right now it's a game I play with an M.E. I'm not going to kill you just yet though." Kicking the boy in his side, he chuckled before he threw a blood bag at the boy and left him alone. He had business elsewhere to attend to, like scouting for his witch. He needed to know who to grab when the time was right.

Marcus words were harsh and he wanted to say something back, but he could only lay there and let the witch doo what she needed to do. He felt alittle hurt that Marcus had said those things, even calling him weak. The connection started to weaken now and then he expelled the witch's hold once it was weaken enough. He had a killer headache, but now he was just pissed off at Marcus.

Alec felt even smaller, not knowing what he did and yelped at the kick to the side. He started crying softly, wanting to get out of here. He screamed and pulled at the restraints, he wondered if maybe using his wolf side could help with breaking his restraints.