terror and chaos / .

Berker Güven as Iskender in "Alev Alev"

"As long as August remained alive, few things would have dissuaded me from my loyalties," she admits, hoping that even in his anger he would notice the past tense on her sentence. Remained. Would Have. August is dead, and with it the last living being she is loyal to. All she has left is her loyalty to the memories of who are gone, and in that case, Erik's desires supersedes all else. "I do believe, however, that Erik would be thankful for your attempts, as few as they were. He was rather adamant about destroying the book himself."

"Do you know how long I have spent without Pythia? When they, and their other followers, were captured, destroyed, killed." He waved his hand at her, for he did not expect an answer to his questions. "When Pythia returned, I did not immediately run to them. I did not throw myself at their mercy and take my place once more within the Asphodel. I remained with my own coven, my family. I imagine it was from that moment, the inkling of doubt was created." His gaze settled on her, and a moment of guilt, of regret slipped into his features. "I should have done more to keep you from its clutches. Erik wouldn't have wanted this for you." Nor would he have wanted it for August, but there had been little that Kaan could have done for him. Or so he thought. "I'm sorry that I didn't try harder."

Once upon a time in his life, he'd been a familiar to Kaan. It was a long time ago now, but it had been a stretch of time where he'd actually been summoned by a witch for the first time. He'd met Andruil then, too. That had been part of the reason why their bond had been severed. Alvaro had been too distraught to stay in this realm and was sent back to the Inferno with the promise that the witch would call upon him again. But it had never happened. The demon didn't really hold any resentment towards Kaan for it, but the two of them were always just passing ships in the night now. Their reunion had been unexpected though. Yet Alvaro had been happy about another person he'd come to care about re-entering his life. Unfortunately, circumstances had lead them here. To the probably deaths of the man Kaan loved and the man he'd grown to care for as a son. Alvaro still hadn't been able to process it, but he'd said what he needed to say to Efigenia to keep her moving. That was all he could do, wasn't it? So why was he down here? As he met the witch's eyes, he wasn't sure what he wanted to say. "Kaan."

Through it all, from the loss of the coven that had been his family, to the new one that he had built stronger, Jianyu had been there. And now, because Kaan had believed himself to be untouchable by Pythia, he had lost him. So if he had still held even a fraction of his magic, he may have caused the air to be stripped from the druid's lungs as she presented such a question to him. "I watched my husband and my son be sacrificed to the Necronomicon, and you want to know whether we have met before?" A cold gaze shifted to her, "If we had, you did not leave enough of an impression to be remembered."

The risk of corruption was an inevitable, one could not turn to the dark arts of necromancy and remain unalloyed by the darkness. "You said my decision would not change us, but you sit here and toss accusations as if I do not still bear the mark of Narcissus." Her words were clear cut and stern, borderline venomous as though currently incapable of restraint. "I am your family, your friend; the same courtesy extends to Jian. There is nothing I would not do to protect them," not unless the book had something to say upon the contrary but Efigenia would only hope that Kaan had half the mind to purge her mind of the Necronomicon's corruption if it ever dared to turn her against them. A pained look flared in her eyes, the subtle inclination towards what she truly felt in this moment, "I will not let her come between us, even if one of us must suffer from what she may inflict as a result." Corruption of her soul was inevitable, but Efigenia had never once figured that the corruption of her familial binds to Kaan and Jianyu would be tampered with, too. Weeks in and already Jian and Raffaele were a victim of Kaan's deflection and her ascension.

Had Kaan not already done this with Efigenia, perhaps he would not have been able to keep his anger in check when Caradoc approached him. Though, the sight of the familiar was enough. For if the demon were still here, then that meant Raffaele was still alive. Unharmed, however, was still a very real worry within his mind. Not to mention that Jian had also been taken. "I did not do anything," he bit out, but he knew that was not entirely the truth. For Kaan had made the decision to separate himself from the Asphodel, to keep the information well hidden from nearly everyone. "No, they do not. But please, be my guest and tell them all about it," he sneered, before he took a deep sigh. He needed to watch his anger. "I am doing everything possible to find them, to get them back."

His anger, pointed directly at her in all it's fury, only allowed Efigenia's carapace of dispassionate restraint to be solidified. It burned her to the core, allowed her own jaw to flex in anguish and ire, but she summoned a smirk, nodding grimly. "You would think so little of me? To be an accomplice in their disappearance?" Her jaw tensed, subtle inflections of her hurt; where normally the Narcissus Watcher would advocate for leaving no stone unturned, Efigenia now stayed quiet. She would search for Jian and Raffaele herself and hope not to come up empty handed.

There had been no reason to direct his anger at Efigenia, but Kaan was not in the right headspace to step back and dictate where it landed. Not when his husband and son could be in danger. "I would think that the book could blur your judgement, could make you an accomplice without your say," he stated, though he inhaled sharply, if only to regulate the anger that simmered within him. Kaan had been connected to the book for thousands of years, Efigenia barely a handful of weeks. He had always known what the Necronomicon, and Pythia, were capable of. What they could make one do for their own selfish gain. "I do not believe that you would let harm come to them, but I am a traitor to the book. To Pythia. And I think they would do anything to remind me of where I stand." He had not spoken these words to Efigenia before, had not voiced what he had done to more than a select few. But it seemed that if Pythia had Jian and Raffaele, then it was known that Kaan had further distanced himself from the Asphodel coven.

The time would be upon them soon, and any such talk of battle strategy would be in vain. Even in that moment, he could feel the draw of the Necronomicon, could hear the calling of the book in the flow of his blood. His gaze shifted to Vivianne as he almost wondered what she thought, of their recent conversation, of his being there, in that room. Kaan was still a Sovereign, however, with a coven of blood magic witches who were at the ready. Rome was their home, just as much as it was for Vivianne's coven, or Hazal's coven. And they too would go down fighting to ensure its survival. His gaze shifted once more to Virgil, as the words of strategy seeped into his conscious. Much of what they decided upon would be dependent upon so many factors, and in the end, nothing of what they decided could come to fruition. It was a game of hopefulness, but Kaan would not run. No longer would he consider his own survival, not when he had Raffaele and Efigenia, and the rest of his coven to think about. "Anything to do with Necromanteion, you leave to me. I will do what is necessary to get them here," even if that put him within Pythia's playing field. "And then what? After we have sealed their magic, we what? Leave them to their own devices? Lock them away?" He considered August in the moment, Yurena who had found herself tangled with the book, and Efigenia, who had only recently made the sacrifice.

To go. The thought was such a simple one, as if Kaan were simply moving to another city. As if his life were as normal as finding a new job elsewhere, or something of the sort that would mark him as mortal as a human. Alas, the notion was far greater than that, and with the choices that Kaan had made, to go could be as far as the Underworld. His very life would be on the line, given how his connection to the book would likely be severed once Pythia discovered what he had done. Determined him to be the traitor that she had likely thought him. The atmosphere around them seemed to shift and change, a visual representation of both of them it seemed. For too long, Kaan had only ever cared for himself, and then Jianyu. The Asphodel had once been his coven, his source of great power, but it had hardly felt like a home, much less a family. The Narcissus had changed that for Kaan, had become something far more for him. "The battle is not long off now, and much to my dismay, some of the younger coven members wish to fight. I need your help to ensure no harm comes to them." Or rather, that they make it through with their lives. "And to watch over them after."

To go. The thought was such a simple one, as if Kaan were simply moving to another city. As if his life were as normal as finding a new job elsewhere, or something of the sort that would mark him as mortal as a human. Alas, the notion was far greater than that, and with the choices that Kaan had made, to go could be as far as the Underworld. His very life would be on the line, given how his connection to the book would likely be severed once Pythia discovered what he had done. Determined him to be the traitor that she had likely thought him. The atmosphere around them seemed to shift and change, a visual representation of both of them it seemed. For too long, Kaan had only ever cared for himself, and then Jianyu. The Asphodel had once been his coven, his source of great power, but it had hardly felt like a home, much less a family. The Narcissus had changed that for Kaan, had become something far more for him. "The battle is not long off now, and much to my dismay, some of the younger coven members wish to fight. I need your help to ensure no harm comes to them." Or rather, that they make it through with their lives. "And to watch over them after."