BROKEN ANGEL (Audio Drama)
SCENE 1. LOTHANASI HQ INTERROGATION ROOM – NIGHT
JANUS: (V.O.)
Lothanasi Case File 00-4112. Subject: Isri Fallon, Succubus. Reporting Agent: Janus Starson, Regional Field Commander, Metamor City.
On the night of March 17th, at approximately 11 PM local time, Lothanasi agents arrested and detained the succubus known as Isri Fallon (Permanent Residency License #967-Alpha-Gamma-27). The arrest was made on suspicion of kidnapping and slaying an unidentified celestial. Fallon was found at the scene of the death and did not resist arrest.
Ms Fallon is being held until I can question her personally. Detective Lt. Kathryn Kitaen of the Metamor City Police Department has been granted permission to attend the interrogation in the exercise of her duties in Magic Affairs.
Note: Det. Kitaen is a tenant of the Serenity Arms Apartment Complex, of which Ms Fallon is the proprietress. Their friendship has been an object of interest for the Lothanasi for some time - see Case File 99-98374. While Det. Kitaen will be allowed access to the suspect at the request of her department, she will not be treated as an unbiased witness.
/OUR SCENE OPENS WITH MS FALLON SITTING IN A CHAIR IN THE ROOM. A HEAVY DOOR OPENS (SFX) AND WE HEAR THE FOOTSTEPS (SFX) OF JANUS AND KATE AS THEY ENTER THE ROOM./
MS FALLON:
(WITH FALSE GOOD HUMOR) Ah, Agent Starson. What a pleasure to see you again. I trust that whatever it is that has kept you occupied in the four hours since my detainment has been resolved to your satisfaction?
JANUS:
Ms Fallon, have your rights been explained to you?
MS FALLON:
I believe that Agent Connor gave an adequate summary while his knee was pressing into my back.
JANUS:
Then you're aware that anything you say here may be used in a hearing to revoke your resident status?
MS FALLON:
(SHOWING SOME IRRITATION) Yes, thank you, Agent Starson. I believe I have a clear picture of the situation. (WARMLY, TO KATE) Hello, Kate. Thank you for coming. I'm sorry to have inconvenienced you.
KATE:
(A LITTLE STRAINED) No trouble. I - think I need to hear this.
/SFX: JANUS DRAGS OVER A COUPLE OF CHAIRS, WHICH SCREECH ACROSS THE FLOOR./
JANUS:
Please have a seat, Detective Kitaen.
KATE:
Thank you.
/SFX: PAPERS RUSTLE AS JANUS OPENS MS FALLON'S FILE./
JANUS:
I've been looking at your file, Ms Fallon. It says here that you were found in a bedroom at the Kobayashi Motel with - (PAUSE, THEN AS IF QUOTING) "-the shriveled body of a girl lying on the bed. The victim appeared to be ten to twelve years of age. Subsequent analysis of the body revealed that the girl was a deva, a warrior celestial. A brand had been seared onto her forehead in the shape of a daedric glyph, meaning and origin unknown." (PAUSE) Any comment so far, Ms Fallon?
MS FALLON:
Not at present. Please continue; I'm sure you must find the sound of your own voice enthralling.
KATE:
Ms Fallon, I don't think the sarcasm is a good idea here.
MS FALLON:
(A BIT CAUSTICALLY) Perhaps you're right - but I'm afraid that four hours of Lightbringer hospitality has loosened my grip on the social niceties. Agent Starson, that raid could not have happened without your express authorization. I know where I was, and you know where I was. So, apart from vanity, what purpose is served by this endless litany of facts?
JANUS:
(SMILING COLDLY) Just making sure that we're all on the same page here, ma'am. Do you have anything to add to the description I just read? Any minor details that might explain what you were doing in that room with a dead child?
MS FALLON:
I do have a few salient details your people missed, yes.
JANUS:
Do tell.
MS FALLON:
First, the creature in question was no longer a celestial. Second, I acted in the defense of others. And third, that brand on her forehead was the mark of the Lady of Sorrows, the warlord from whose army I deserted more than two hundred years ago.
KATE:
"No longer a celestial"? How do you stop being an angel? And why would she be wearing your old boss's logo?
MS FALLON:
All I can tell you is what I witnessed.
JANUS:
In that case, Ms Fallon, why don't you tell us how met that girl? I'd be very interested to hear how killing a child was in the defense of others.
MS FALLON:
She was no mere child, Agent Starson, and the danger was all too real. I myself discovered it only a few weeks ago.
CUT TO:
SCENE 2. MS FALLON'S OFFICE (FLASHBACK, 3/10/2000)
/MS FALLON IS SITTING BEHIND THE DESK IN HER OFFICE. KATE AND DAVID ARE IN FRONT OF THE DESK./
/SFX: MUSIC PLAYING IN THE BACKGROUND. SOMETHING LOW AND SULTRY, WITH SAXOPHONE./
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
My first hint of the trouble came when Detective Kitaen and her partner, Detective Silverleaf, came to my office last week.
KATE:
We've had some pretty weird incidents showing up on the Street lately. I wanted to see if you could shed any light on what's going on.
/SFX: MANILA FOLDER OPENING, PAPERS BEING SPREAD OUT/
MS FALLON:
(QUIETLY SHOCKED) By the Mother. These bodies look as if they've been … mummified. Who were they?
KATE:
We don't know. Daedra or half-fiends of some kind, to judge by the horns and fangs and such.
MS FALLON:
No ID cards?
DAVID:
If they had any, they were taken from the scene before the police arrived. Dental records came up negative, as well.
KATE:
We've put in a research request with the Lothanasi, but I don't think it's very high on their to-do list.
MS FALLON:
(SNORTS) No, I doubt Janus is overly concerned with protecting daedra. Especially transient ones. How did you come to be involved?
KATE:
Hotel manager found this body in one of his rooms and wants to know who did it. I guess he does a lot of business with Fringe types. A guy getting whacked always sends the rats running for cover, even if he's a demon. (PAUSE) You got any idea what happened to 'em?
MS FALLON:
Their Essence was drained, from the look of it. Probably drawn off and consumed by something stronger than they were.
KATE:
Their Essence? Isn't that like their soul or something?
MS FALLON:
After a fashion. Our Essence is our personality, our spirit, our magic, everything that we are. Even this flesh and blood is made out of Essence. Incubi and succubae have mortal souls, as well, because one of our parents is always human - but most daedra are composed entirely of Essence.
DAVID:
If that's the case, then why is there anything left at all?
MS FALLON:
Once our Essence has been shaped into matter, it resists changing back. Bodily fluids change readily enough, but bones, skin and the like would resist the transformation - especially if it were being forced on them by another creature.
KATE:
So all the squishy bits got turned back into Essence and eaten, and this is what's left.
MS FALLON:
I believe so, yes.
DAVID:
What sort of creature could do this?
MS FALLON:
(WEARILY) I don't know. A daedra noble could do it, or one of the nephilim. If they were here in the City, though, you would know already. The Lords of Hell-in-Exile are rarely subtle.
KATE:
No kidding. The Lightbringers would've called in the army by now.
MS FALLON:
There are the daedra lords themselves, of course - but they wouldn't have any trouble absorbing all of the victim's Essence. The only reason to do this would be to send a message.
KATE:
So … what? Are we dealing with something new here?
MS FALLON:
(UNEASILY) It is possible, yes. Where did you say these were taken?
/QUIET RUSTLING OF PAPER (SFX) AS KATE PULLS OUT A NOTEPAD./
KATE:
The addresses are all here.
MS FALLON:
Thank you. When did you say these … incidents took place?
KATE:
I'll email you the details. Think you've got a lead on the perp?
CUT TO:
SCENE 3. MS FALLON'S INVESTIGATION (FLASHBACK)
/SFX: "SO EASY", BY BUDHA BUILDING/
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
I didn't know for certain who was responsible, but I knew the neighborhoods where the deaths had happened. None of them strayed into my territory - the sector of the Street that I protect from gangs and predators - but they were all close enough that I knew the owners of the establishments. It didn't take long for a pattern to present itself.
HOTEL MANAGER #1:
Yeah, I saw the guy. Came in with a dame on his arm. Smokin' hot little thing, too-
HOTEL MANAGER #2:
(PICKING UP IN MID-SENTENCE) -with eyes that said she'd done every dirty, perverted thing a man's twisted little mind could think of - and liked it!
HOTEL MANAGER #3:
She hung on the guy like she couldn't wait to get him upstairs and rip those clothes off him. I never seen a gal look that hungry before.
HOTEL MANAGER #1:
I mean, she looked like she was gonna eat 'im up with a spoon.
HOTEL MANAGER #2:
Unstoppable.
HOTEL MANAGER #3:
Insatiable!
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
I asked them if they'd seen her leave the hotel rooms afterwards.
HOTEL MANAGER #1:
No, and that was the freakiest part about it.
HOTEL MANAGER #2:
I mean, everybody's got security cameras down here, you know?
HOTEL MANAGER #3:
But when I went to wake them up after they missed their checkout time-
HOTEL MANAGER #1:
-there's the guy, all dried up like beef jerky-
HOTEL MANAGER #2:
-and there's no sign of the girl anywhere.
HOTEL MANAGERS 1, 2 & 3: (unison)
Creepy as hell.
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
The descriptions of the woman varied considerably-
HOTEL MANAGER #1:
Real pale skin, with dark eyes and this incredible black hair down to her ass.
HOTEL MANAGER #2:
A redhead with these cute little freckles on her nose.
HOTEL MANAGER #3:
Gorgeous dark skin, almost blue-black, but with these amazing yellow eyes.
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
-but that didn't matter. The victims had all had their Essence consumed after being lured into acts of passion, and that could only mean one thing: a succubus had started feeding on her fellow daedra.
(END FLASHBACK)
CUT TO:
SCENE 4. LOTHANASI HQ INTERROGATION ROOM.
JANUS:
(WITH GRIM AMUSEMENT) A daedra eating her own? I can't say I'm surprised.
MS FALLON:
(AFFRONTED) You should be. Such a thing goes against every principle of our society!
JANUS:
You'll forgive me if I don't put much stock in the succubus idea of principles.
KATE:
Stop it, Janus. Ms Fallon, how rare is this? Have you ever heard of a succubus feeding on daedra before?
MS FALLON:
Not like that, no. We feed our children by taking from our own Essence, until they're old enough to feed for themselves. Celestials do the same, as I understand it. Sometimes a more powerful daedra might take Essence from a weaker one to establish dominance - and the warlords have been known to consume those who failed them. But a succubus just deciding to hunt other daedra? It isn't done.
KATE:
What does this have to do with the dead angel? Or, ex-angel?
MS FALLON:
Patience, dear. I'm getting there.
As it turned out, the killer revealed herself by her pattern. While the deaths all took place outside my territory, they surrounded it on all sides. Whoever she was, she had deliberately stayed out of my way - and sadly, that pointed to a guest in my own house.
CUT TO:
SCENE 5. SERENITY ARMS. (FLASHBACK)
/BREIALYN AND MS FALLON IN THE PARLOR AT SERENITY ARMS APARTMENT COMPLEX./
/SFX: "GAZA STRIP MALL", BY AMANDA MONACO/
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
Her name was Breialyn - or at least that is the one she gave me. She came to us shortly after the Winter Solstice, claiming to be a refugee from the war in the Dreamlands, where the warlords of the aedra and daedra have continued their endless struggle after being exiled from the Heavens and Hells. It is a senseless conflict, perpetuated by mutual hatred and the boundless egotism of the warlords themselves. I myself deserted the war after my mother's death in battle, so I never turn away a refugee who needs my help.
BREIALYN:
Thank you for your hospitality, my lady. I swear by my Name that I will do no harm to you or anyone under your protection.
MS FALLON:
And I swear that none here shall harm you, so long as you keep that oath. Serenity Arms will be your home for as long as you wish to stay here.
If I may ask, dear - how did you come by that brand on your forehead?
BREIALYN:
(PAUSE) I … it was a punishment from the Lady of Sorrows. A reminder that I belonged to her.
MS FALLON:
So, you have tried to escape before this.
BREIALYN:
(HAUNTED) Every chance I could. Her officers beat me, branded me - even burned off my wings. I still kept trying. Finally the base where they held me fell under attack, and my cell broke open. I escaped in the chaos, fell through a portal, ended up here.
MS FALLON:
Well, don't worry, child. There's no need to run any longer. You're safe here.
CUT TO:
SCENE 6. LOTHANASI HQ INTERROGATION ROOM
KATE:
Wait a minute. This is the same Breialyn I met after I came back from solstice vacation, right? The one with the yellow eyes, little horns, and a tail?
MS FALLON:
The same.
KATE:
And she had the same brand as the angel you - oh, gods. You aren't saying that dead angel was-
MS FALLON:
I'm afraid so, my dear.
KATE:
But Breialyn was a grown woman! And also, pretty obviously a daedra.
MS FALLON:
Indeed she was, Kate - by the time you saw her. But as is now obvious, what she was is not what she had been.
CUT TO:
SCENE 7. CONFRONTING BREIALYN (FLASHBACK).
MS FALLON: (V.O.)
After you and Detective Silverleaf brought the killings to my attention, I began tracking Breialyn's comings and goings. I knew she was going beyond my territory to feed, but I assumed she was only having sex with mortals, as all our kind must do. When I discovered that she was luring in other daedra and consuming their Essence, I confronted her.
BREIALYN:
Ms Fallon, what are you doing here?
MS FALLON:
Let that man go, Breialyn.
DAEDRA:
(WEAKLY) Help me … please! She's crazy!
BREIALYN:
(TO MS FALLON) Why? This isn't a man. He's a monster! Nobody's going to miss him.
MS FALLON:
(APPALLED) He's no more a monster than you or I. And this thing you're doing - it's a perversion, blasphemy!
BREIALYN:
(IRRITATED) Strange words, coming from a daedra!
(A BEAT)
MS FALLON:
(HORRIFIED, SOTTO VOCE) I've made a terrible mistake. I don't know what you are, but I never should have welcomed you into my house.
BREIALYN:
(DEFIANTLY) I'm what I was made to be. If you don't like it, why don't you blame the woman who did this to me?
MS FALLON:
You … speak wisely, child.
/SFX - SOMETHING OMINOUS AND ETHEREAL, AS MS FALLON CALLS UP HER AURA./
BREIALYN:
What - wait a minute, you're calling up your aura. Why?
MS FALLON:
Because you were right. I cannot blame you for what you are. I can only correct the error before anyone else is harmed.
BREIALYN:
Wait - stop! Let go, you're hurting me!
MS FALLON:
(SADLY) I know.
BREIALYN:
What are you doing? It - uunh! It feels like my insides are turning out!
MS FALLON:
That is the Essence leaving you. This is what your victims felt, Breialyn.
BREIALYN:
Aaagh! Stop it! Ms Fallon, you - uunh! You said you wouldn't hurt me! You swore by your Name!
MS FALLON:
Indeed I did. And the kindest thing I can do for you now is to reverse the harm that was done to you.
BREIALYN:
AAAGH! No, please! Let go!
MS FALLON:
Your Essence has been poisoned, Breialyn. You're part killer and part seducer, and each part is twisting the other. No true succubus would do what you have done, and no celestial would do it either. So I'm doing the only thing I can to help you: taking back the daedric Essence inside you.
BREIALYN:
(WEAK, PLEADING) No, please … I need it. The Lady of Sorrows, she … she took so much, left me so weak … if you take it back, I'll die!
MS FALLON:
(SADLY) You might, indeed. And still it would be kinder than leaving you as you are. (PAUSE) Here, child. This needn't be so hard on you. Let me ease your pain, like … this.
BREIALYN:
(BREATHILY) Oh! Ohh … that feels good.
MS FALLON:
This is how my kind were meant to feed. Not tearing it away from you, but gently, tenderly-
(BREIALYN MOANS)
MS FALLON:
- engaging the pleasure centers of the body-
BREIALYN:
(WEAKLY) No … please…
MS FALLON:
-drinking up your life, one sweet, slow draft at a time.
BREIALYN:
Ahh! Oh, please don't stop!
MS FALLON:
I won't, child. Not until the very end.
CUT TO:
SCENE 8. LOTHANASI HQ INTERROGATION ROOM
KATE:
You … ate her?
MS FALLON:
(GENTLY) Don't look so shocked, my dear. It's what my kind were made to do. We may have learned to be more civilized, to feed in tiny nibbles that will cause no lasting harm - but we are capable of much more, when the need arises.
JANUS:
Which is why we take such pains to watch you. You may have convinced the rest of the world that you're harmless, but the Lothanasi know better.
MS FALLON:
(TIREDLY) Yes, Agent Starson. I am far from harmless. If I were harmless, I would be unable to protect the mortals who come to me for shelter. You of all people should understand that. We are both predators, you and I - the sheepdogs who keep the flock safe from the wolves.
JANUS:
(SCOFFS) A "sheepdog"? You're a vigilante and a subversive.
MS FALLON:
And you're a bully and an autocrat. We all have our hobbies.
KATE:
(EXASPERATED) If I can interrupt your foreplay for a minute-
JANUS:
Lieutenant!
MS FALLON:
Ugh.
KATE:
(TALKING OVER THEM) I'd just like to point out that you got me out of bed for this! I have to be back at the station in five hours, and you really don't want to see me when I haven't gotten enough sleep. Ms Fallon, stop needling him. Janus, either charge her with something or cut her loose. I don't have time to indulge your bickering.
(A BEAT.)
MS FALLON:
My apologies, Kate.
KATE:
We'll talk later. Janus, this whole mess is outside my jurisdiction. Has she broken the terms of her license or not?
JANUS:
Assuming she has told us the truth - no, it appears not. Killing a transient outsider in defense of others is … permissible. But we will need to investigate her claims, of course.
KATE:
Fine. So check her story, and put a geas ("GAYSH") on her so she doesn't skip town in the meantime. But there's no reason to keep her locked in this rat-hole.
JANUS:
Lt. Kitaen, I remind you that Ms Fallon is not a citizen of the Empire. She can be detained indefinitely if I judge her to be a sufficient threat.
KATE:
And what's gonna happen to her territory when the gangers find out that Ms Fallon's behind bars? You know what she does to keep the peace down there. That's my home, Janus. If you screw it up for the sake of this pissing match, you're gonna regret it.
JANUS:
(PAUSE, SIGH) Very well. Ms Fallon, if you will accept a geas to remain within the city limits until this case is settled, I'll have you released pending further questioning.
MS FALLON:
I accept, Agent Starson. Bring in your wizard of record and let's put an end to this.
CUT TO:
SCENE 9. KATE'S SKIMMER.
/SFX: SKIMMER HUM. OCCASIONAL "WHOOSH" OF OTHER SKIMMERS PASSING OUTSIDE./
MS FALLON:
Thank you for the ride home, Kate - and for everything else. I am in your debt.
KATE:
Don't thank me yet. I want some answers, Isri.
MS FALLON:
(PAUSE) I - of course. What do you want to know?
KATE:
The real story. You danced all around it with Janus, but I know you. You'd never hesitate to kill an outsider if you thought they were a threat to the people you cared about. But Breialyn comes along, and suddenly you're all angst and tenderness? What gives?
MS FALLON:
(HESITANTLY) Kate, she was my guest. I swore by my Name not to harm her-
KATE:
-as long as she kept up her end. Yeah, I know - and obviously you didn't break your oath, at least not in spirit. Otherwise you'd be twitching and helpless on the floor right now. Wizard over here - I do know a few things about Names. But it's more than that, isn't it?
MS FALLON:
(PAUSE) Yes.
KATE:
(MORE GENTLY) So. What's the deal? Who was Breialyn to you?
MS FALLON:
(SLOWLY AT FIRST - THIS IS HARD FOR HER.) I … I found Breialyn while I was out on patrol. It was the solstice - you know how thin the veils are during the Long Night. All sorts of things can come through.
KATE:
Don't I know it. There's a reason I prefer to be out of town for the holidays.
MS FALLON:
Just so. (PAUSE) I found her in the steam tunnels - a wretched, broken thing, tortured to the brink of death. The Lady's officers had burned her wings down to stumps; it was a miracle she survived her escape at all. She was obviously a child, but I could smell what she was - and a part of me screamed for me to kill her…
KATE:
Why?
MS FALLON:
(SNORTS) You wouldn't ask that if you had served in the war, my dear. A deva may look beautiful to mortal eyes, but it's a soulless killing machine, implacable and pitiless. We succubae replenish our Essence through sex; devas gain it through battle, and slaughter. They were created to kill daedra, and they do it very … efficiently. Down to the smallest child.
KATE:
Then … why didn't you kill her?
MS FALLON:
(SIGHS) Because I thought I could rehabilitate her. I thought that if I took her under my wing, nursed her back to health, showed her kindness, that I could make her into something … better. Something that wouldn't need to kill in order to feed.
KATE:
Gods - you gave her your Essence, didn't you? It wasn't the Lady of Sorrows who turned her into some kind of half-succubus hybrid - that was you!
MS FALLON:
(ASHAMED) Yes. I thought, with my compassion and my own Essence inside her, that I could remake her in my image. I didn't realize how much the drive to hunt and kill was still inside her. More fool, I.
KATE:
Couldn't she have been taught to resist it? I mean, there's always a choice, right?
MS FALLON:
Yes, there's always a choice - if you have the free will to choose it, and a conscience to discern right from wrong. You're a mortal, with a mortal soul; you have that power. I'm a succubus, half daedra and half human, so I have it, too. But Breialyn didn't have a soul; she was a creature of pure Essence, a slave to her nature. And no matter how much of myself I poured into her, I couldn't give her the one part that really mattered.
(A BEAT)
KATE:
Wow. I … I guess I've known you for so long that I just figured all outsiders were like you. Able to choose between right and wrong. What do you think it is about mortal souls that makes us so different?
MS FALLON:
I have no idea, my dear. But you should embrace that remarkable power - even when the struggle to do what is right causes you terrible pain. I believe it is the greatest gift that the Creator has given you.
KATE:
(PAUSE) Yeah. Yeah, I think maybe you're right.
END