It had been easy...almost too easy and John Erik was more than pleased with the way that things were turning out. Even though the medium was fast asleep when he'd taken control of his body and mind, the killer had expected at least some kind of resistance considering how valiantly the man had fought on the last occasion they'd met. It was almost as if the man had lost his will to fight...more the pity for him...the better for John.

His mother had always called him her baby boy. She hadn't been ashamed when he'd brought home the carcasses of animals that he'd mutilated in his back yard fort. His mother had encouraged his talents, helped him hone them, told him what he must strive to become, what he was destined to become. She'd been taken from him so young, he'd only been fifteen. The youth homes he'd been made to fester in had been the perfect cover for his development though. Nobody cared about a ward of the state, and nobody had wanted to adopt or foster a child his age. It had been perfect. But it had all ended so soon...too soon. His great work hadn't even been half way completed. He'd been sloppy once, let his urges take control of him. His mother would have been ashamed of how he died...shot in the face as he rushed a police officer who'd caught him in the act. It didn't matter now though....he had another chance to make her proud...and he wouldn't fail.

The medium's body was smaller in stature but heavier than his had been in life. It took John a while to adjust to moving it, and part of it may have been exhaustion from earlier in the day. It didn't matter though, he was so thrilled with the energy of being alive again that he simply had to get out and give his new wheels a spin.

Central park was the perfect place to start...a woman jogging alone in that place was simply asking for whatever she got. She wanted it...the attention...the fame that came with being a victim. He was deep in the wooded paths now, and as the medium thought he snoozed in a deep slumber, John Erik made plans...devious plans and found a spot under a low hanging tree by a secluded little lake to watch and wait for who would eventually be the first in what was going to be a long string of victims necessary for him to finish his great work.

Today had been profitable. In the morning, Sara had managed an early morning crime spree. Nothing too big. Just jewelry. She had pocketed a fist full of rings, and necklaces, them pawned them at a local shop, where she had received 150 dollars. Not the most proud way of living, but it was more effective that walking from store to store asking for applications. Ha! Like Sara could work in fast food. Not that fast food was all that great, but she very much doubted a hair net would do any good against her shedding problems.

At least she had her ways of getting cash and she was selective. Like a true hunter, she didn’t go after everyone’s wallets. She was careful to pluck and steal from those who were generally, just not that bright, when it came to watching their income. Call it another for of natural selection.

There was a tight zip up hoody, that was doing it’s best to cover Sara’s feline face. The shoulders hugged the sides of her tank top tight. In the dark she planned on not running into anyone too important, so Sara hadn’t bothered putting on a longer coat to cover her tail. Just the scuffed black leather pants that allowed free movement. The wind was blowing down the trail. Telling her that no one was behind her, but also keeping her from knowing if anyone was waiting a head of her. So she stopped for a few seconds, trying to listen past the rustles of the leaves.

He was completely still, as a stalker must be in order to effectively catch his prey. Women jogging alone at night, in New York City might be asking for what they got, but they always felt the need to put up a cursory fight. It didn't matter though, it was all part of the game. A game that he would win because well...he always won. It was obviously his destiny, or he wouldn't have been given this second...even third chance to succeed at what he'd failed at the first time.

As he crouched in the shadows, John Erik watched, and waited until he heard the sound of footfalls on the jogging pat that was extremely close to his hiding spot. John Erik could feel his heart...their heart racing as he anticipated the hit and the kill.

Around the corner the runner came and as John Erik had expected it was a woman, she was in a jacket and some kind of lycra running pants that looked surprisingly like leather. As she approached, John Erik reached into his pocket and withdrew the knife he'd purchased earlier that night in a pawn shop before making his way to the park.

As she ran by, he stepped out of the shrubbery behind her and looped an arm around her neck, gently pushing the knife point into the small of her back, "Hi love..." He growled softly, "You're about to become part of something big..."

OOC - I hope this is okay...I did a tiny tiny bit of GM'ing...if it's not okay let me know and I'll change whatever you want. Also...feel free to kick a little ass, though I'd like to take this on a few posts if you don't mind too much.

(That’s fine. I’m all up for making the thread last a bit. )

Turning the corner, Sara caught Tarin’s sent. At least this smelled like him. She remembered him from the break out, Him and Lee, with that kid and Kami when the stalker attacked. She still had yet to know how him and Lee had beaten that thing. Not that Sara was really going to ask. In fact, she didn’t see the point to asking. She could stop to say hi but how would that look. She didn’t know what he thought of her and who knows. Now that they were out of camps, the man probably didn’t want a thing to do with some one who… looked like her. Probably no one.

Either way, him being here, meant that he was ok. Her being here, if he recognized her, told him that she was ok. So there was no reason to stop unless it was to be polite. Sara left that up to him. So Sara expected one of two things. He would either ignore her presence, witch was smart, or he would start a conversation. One can understand why Sara would be surprised by what actually happened.

"Hi love... You're about to become part of something big..."

It was awkward. Tarin was shorter than Sara. Well.. His body was, so having an arm looped around her neck from the back, feelt odd. This wasn’t the Tarin she had met during the break outs. The again she had only known him for what? 5? 6 minutes at most. He could have lied to her like so many others. Would he? Come on Sara. Of course he would. He’s standing here with a knife against your back. Gentle as it may be, it didn’t take a genius to tell someone holding a knife to your back meant you harm.

Sara’s hand rose to grasp Tarin’s wrist and pull it down. Stopping herself from completely flipping him over her shoulder. In stead, she only pulled his wrist down a couple of inches. “You’d think so, wouldn’t you.” Ha! Sara was already a part of something big. A part of many big things.

“I don’t know what is going on in your head, but you have 3 seconds to remove that knife from my back.”

This woman was obviously a mistake. First, the body he was currently occupying was several inches shorter than his body had been in life. This woman was definitely taller than he was and he had no leverage, not in this body. The woman had ahold of his wrist before he could do much of anything and she was warning him.

John Erik struggled to think on his feet. This had been a mistake, it was too soon...and that's when he felt it...a tail. This woman had a tail...she wouldn't work for his plans at all. Things had been so much easier ten years ago when mutants had been much more rare...at least where he'd lived. There was nothing else this woman could be useful for either...he didn't have the leverage to do away with her from this position though, so he would have to find a way to get his wrist back and kill her before she could run for help or alert anyone to his reemergence.

Moving the knife from it's position in the woman's back, John Erik didn't put it away but stuck his leg between the woman's and shoved her forward, hoping that she'd let go of his arm when she fell forward. "My mistake..." He said louder than the whispered comment before as he shoved. Then, to hopefully add insult to injury he jerked her tail with his free hand. "Hope you land on all four feet kitty."

Sara was pushed and then her tail was yanked. How dare he yank her tail! In her last few years while she was on the outside, her tail hadn’t been pulled and the experience was jarring. Both physically and emotionally. The tail was a natural part of her spine, so her entire frame of her body shuddered with the pull. The sensation taking her back years ago to what they use to do to her.

Sara stumbled down on one foot with one hand hitting the ground as well. The other instinctively tightened on Tarin’s hand and shoved the side of his wrist to the ground in front of her. In the same motion, her free foot swung out, hooking around the back of Tarin’s knee, since he did have a foot between her legs, and circled around.

“Hope you land on your ass, Tarin”

Sara wasn’t the type to scream out. If there was trouble for her, it wasn’t fair to drag others into her business. Even if they would come. So she would deal with this Tarin herself. She didn’t know what his problem was, but it might just have to end. One way or another.

Well, that wasn't how John Erik had planned things, not at all. And as his posterior end made contact with the ground and his wrist and inner arm scraped along the blacktop path. She was mouthy too, this one. Though one thing that she said made his eyes open and panic course through the body that wasn't his. She knew him.

Well...she knew the medium, John Erik knew his name, knew it well. It must have been the night of the raid on the camps. He hadn't gone there, the medium had been to in tune with the spirits around him. There was too much chance for him to be spotted, then all of his plans would have been ruined.

After that, things had gone more perfectly than he could have possibly imagined...this however, was a blip on the radar that he couldn't afford. For a brief moment he considered trying to play it off like he was playing, but a better idea surfaced and he looked up at the woman in front of him, wiping the blood from the scrape down his arm.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't recognize you..." He grasped at straws, looking for a suitable lie, "Uh...business is slow lately...trying to make ends meet...no honor among thieves I suppose...."

Again, things weren’t adding up with this Tarin. The man Sara had met at the break out, wasn’t someone who liked violence. He seemed to be hardly getting by, only keeping one thing on his mind to keep him going. Lee didn’t seem like the type to talk or look at a thief the way she did to him. Instinctively her ears flicked back. How far should she play along?

“Well I guess I could sympathize with that.” Sara released his arm and reached for her fifth pocket at the front of her shirt. You know, the extra pocket every female has… Yeah that’s the one… She withdrew the fist full of cash and ran her thumb over the edge. Letting a sly smile spread across her face and an inward tilt of her chin that suggested a sort of innocence. “I’ve ran into a bit of luck for myself this evening.”

She tucked the fist full of bills back inside the front of her shirt. “So hows that figure eight technique I taught you working out for times like this. You know. For your work outside of the shop?” The smile disappeared and she tilted her head the other way, giving her expression a coy look as her ears flicked forward.

The money didn't mean a damn thing to John Erik, he wasn't concerned with things like that, not at all. What he was concerned with was finding a way to slit this cat's throat before she could run off and tell someone about him. As time passed though it appeared to an increasing degree that throat cutting was something that wasn't going to happen.

John Erik was disappointed, seriously disappointed, he'd hoped to see blood dripping, spraying, running, something this night. Instead he'd made a humongous blunder and risked revealing himself so quickly after his return.

The cat lady reached down her shirt to pull out a wad of bills and John Erik nearly wrinkled his nose, women were disgusting creatures. Living free of sin as his mother had intended had taught John Erik to despise them and the constant seductions they tried to work on his sex. Women were good for one thing, and one thing only, getting him closer to his ultimate goal.

She seemed to be buying the story that he was simply trying to mug joggers in the middle of the park...in the middle of the night...with a knife pressed into the small of their back. Then she was asking him about something.

John Erik frowned from his position still on the ground the rose slowly, facing the woman full on now, moving the knife in front of him to push it closed with deliberate slowness. This was a test...some kind of weird test. The medium had only been in those camps for a few hours, some of which time he'd been completely unconcious...or that other thing had happened....the thing where he couldn't even locate the medium. John Erik had hated that. Could he have been there long enough to learn something from this woman?

"I'm not sure which one you're talking about. Did we have time to talk about technique that night? I honestly can't remember talking about that if we did."

There...he'd bit a little, but left the subject ambiguous enough that there was no way the woman could suspect anything too out of the ordinary. "But honestly, don't you know it's dangerous to run in the park at night...alone?"

He gave an answer that made Sara’s insides cringe in frustration. Ok so either he was telling the truth. He really couldn’t remember what all had gone on in that short, time they had met before, or he was trying to play it off, and avoid giving a full answer yes or no. Though Sara kept her face neutral, inside that frustration build up and Sara vented it out with her nervous twitch. Her right ear flicked as if moving her long hair out of it’s way. Given a few minutes, any experienced poker player would pick out the ear thing. Stupid ear has a mind of it’s own.

The point was, that things still didn’t add up. There was still something off and Sara wasn’t sure what it could be. She didn’t know the nature of Tarin. Only that Tarin had obviously had feeling for another mutant she had met in the camps. Lee. Sara didn’t even know Lee so why was she still standing here getting frustrated that things didn’t feel like they were adding up?

“Well I suppose it’s understandable. What with how many people were being dropped on their heads at all that day.” She replied watching the knife as it was brought slowly up. For a second or two she was distracted. Blinking at the reflections on the blade. The way they danced and moved across the metal like water over iridescent rocks at midnight. So pretty the light was that moved on the small metal it was just asking to be touched.

"But honestly, don't you know it's dangerous to run in the park at night...alone?"

He words snapped her attention back up to his eyes, from the blade. The beautiful blade that deserved so much more to be looked aaaa- OH COME ON SARA JUST LOOK AT HIM! “Of course it’s dangerous, but the city is even more dangerous for someone like me during the day. Someone like you is much more lucky in that you can hide. You can fool people. I don’t fool anybody unless I convince those walking by that I’m just a homeless bum because for some reason society doesn’t like to look at homeless bums.”

It was looking more and more like he may not have to kill this one, and surprisingly, John Erik was relieved. Chances were that looking like a cat wasn't the only thing that this mutant in front of him was capable of, and an all out fight in this body would not be prudent....definitely not yet at least. It was frustrating, being in a weak and small body long after his living form had probably returned to the Earth. He'd been a strong man, physically fit and motivated to lift weights and keep his body in peak condition. Motivated by his mother. Ah, his mother, the woman to whom he owed all things, and always would.

The cat seemed to be buying the story he spun, commented how people were dropped on their heads that night. A cursory probe for the memory in the sleeping mind of the medium showed absolute carnage and John Erik was suddenly sorry he had missed it. "Yeah, hectic night. So you'll understand me not remembering if that happened...I was in a pretty bad way after everything died down too."

There John Erik thought, that should put the final nail in the suspicion coffin." The cat wasn't satisfied though, she wanted more conversation, it figured. John Erik told himself to be patient though, there would be easier prey if he was simply patient and let things happen in their own time.

"You're right..." he said, almost laughing a little as he realized how right the mutant woman was. He had it far easier than she did as far as blending in was concerned. If everything worked according to plan, nobody would ever know where John Erik was. If he got caught, he'd simply vacate this medium's mind and find another. He'd heard of others like this Tarin Brooks and could easily find an accessible mind.

"You must find it difficult...and obviously you can take care of yourself, so the night time isn't so dangerous for you." He made his face smile, it was fake, but then again, so was everything else about him.

"Well...I've got things to do...you know, since this whole thing with you didn't work out I'm going to have to find someone else to relieve of their excess funds before the night is over. I hope nobody else bothers you..."

He really did hope that, he hoped that the cat lady would just turn around and walk down the path she'd come from, or just continue down the one she was on. It was going to be far to difficult to kill her now, and this would be far easier. He waited, expectantly.

Sara was being dismissed. Ok, he was being more polite than he could be, more polite than most people simply telling her off or telling her to scram. For a moment she stayed rooted to the spot. Partially on principle because we all know how well cats love to ignore orders, partially because this still screamed about something being wrong, even if Sara was doing her best to push the feelings to the back of her mind.

Her right ear flicked back, then forward, as she thought. The Tarin she knew wasn’t a knife wielder. He hadn’t seemed so calm and casually about threatening of killing in the camp break out. The Tarin she met in the camps didn’t throw up and warning flags, but that ability to could be just… practiced? The Tarin Sara had met could have just been acting. Still there was something about it, that made her doubt.

She didn’t like just walking away, but she didn’t see the point to staying either. He was out to harm someone, yes. That was obvious what with the trying to stick the knife in Sara, but the hole harming someone wasn’t her business. That’s what she told herself and that Phrase gave a false numbness whenever she began to doubt that fact and the pain of not doing anything came out.

None of Sara’s Business.

“To the Tarin I know, Good luck.” Sara slowly turned, letting her eyes wonder down the path that she had been headed. If this was indeed the Tarin Sara knew, she did wish him luck in what ever. Everything else was just confusing. Though she thought she would leave him with one more message, spoken as she walked away in the same numb tone. “However if you harm anyone I know, I will hunt you down and extract your intestines in the most artfully, appealing, way.”

Fair warning. More than what he had given Sara, and more than what he would give anyone else.