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Post by GRACE PORTER on Mar 10, 2015 0:41:54 GMT -5
GRACE PORTER -- 23 -- FALLEN full name: Grace Porter
nicknames: Gracie
birthdate: April 25th
age: 23
race: Fallen (assumed)
sexuality: Straight
occupation: Bookstore clerk
three words to describe character: Kind, Pure, Loving
faults: Easily tempted, Trusts too easily, Lack of Faith (Doubts God)
strengths: Divine powers, Sees the good in all beings, inspires greatness everywhere she goes.
quirks: has a thing for bad boys.
play by: Lyndsy Fonseca
Personality: Grace is the epitome of light, she just doesn't know it. She's just trying to get by. Though deep down she is kind, forgiving, and pure, Grace has a lot of built up insecurities and doubt. She tends to hide behind a mask of sarcasm and ferocity, but she's just as lost and scared as everyone else who has to run from anything in Khontor.
brief history: I'm just going to post an origin story I've got written up for both Jaxson and Grace, it's long as hell, but worth the read. Also... it says Kantum... it's supposed to be Khontor. I just don't want to bother changing it.
Divinity, Faith, and Grace
“Seriously? Holy Sin? This is the bar you chose to schmooze at for the night?” Grace was shoving her brother out into the alley way in a less than savory part of town. The walls were covered in graffiti and probably piss. Knowing Holy Sin’s primarily vampire clientele, it could have been assumed the ground was not covered in the day’s rain, but likely blood. At the very least it was a mix of the two.
“It’s not that bad of a joint, Grace,” said Jaxson as he slurred through his words, chin dripping blood from his last meal.
He could see she was not impressed as she shook her head and pointed to the sky. “The sun is up in less than twenty minutes. You think you can get back to the apartment before you’re dust? I sure have my doubts.”
As the sound of a fight broke out inside, Jaxson screwed up his half-drunk face in dread. “Twenty minutes? We better get going. If the sun doesn’t kill me, the angry drunk at the bar will.” His hand found hers as he pulled her along at a sprint down the street.
* * *
Jaxson held his sister’s hand tightly. The city was a great big scary place, especially when you were only eleven years old. He couldn’t imagine being Grace. His little sister was only six, it was anyone’s guess how the big world of Kantum looked when seen through her little green eyes. The stoic gaze on the girl’s face made it clear she didn’t understand what was going on, but Jaxson knew perfectly just why they were there, standing with an old nun, at the beginning of an evenly laid stone walkway leading up to a tall brick house which was smashed between two more houses. The whole street looked like this on either side. It was two long rows of houses broken up every fourth house by a misty alleyway with large grey dumpsters.
“Jaxi… Why do we have to stay here? Why can’t we stay with Father Andrews and the sisters?” asked Grace. Her little voice was soft and it melted his heart to a puddle.
The nun spoke before he could. “The church doesn’t have proper funds to care for both of you.” Jaxson swallowed knowing it was only him they couldn’t afford anymore. It was Grace’s temper tantrums over being split up that settled the church’s decision in sending them both away and saving even more money. Jaxson also knew he was incredibly lucky to have Grace. They weren’t actually related by blood, but had both known only the orphanage, and when Grace came to them as a baby, Jaxson took over the duty of looking after her. They were the only ones relatively close in age and the only ones who had been there since birth. Their bond formed quickly and seamlessly, with the church allowing them time to play together away from the older or younger children. Unfortunately, families liked Grace much more than Jaxson. He was too old. Grace, however, was not going to have it. Therefore, when a family offered to take them both in, the children were shocked and a little confused.
“Oh…” Grace didn’t exactly understand the nun’s answer and just watched her walk up to the door, knocking hard on the wood.
Jaxson looked down at the little girl and sighed, “It’ll be okay, Gracie. They kept us together. Mr. and Mrs. Porter have adopted us. They get to be our new mom and dad. Do you know what else that means?”
Grace thought about it for a moment, her little face crinkling up in perplexity which radiated through her eyes. “No…. What?”
“It means I’m your real brother now. Not just pretend. So you’ll never be able to get rid of me,” he said with a comforting big brother smile. It was the sort of smile which merited her thin, innocent grin in return. “Come on, Gracie, let’s go meet them.” He threw her tiny purple backpack over his shoulder and grabbed his own bag, holding tight to her little hand as he lead her up to the house.
A tall woman with luminescent grey eyes and soft brown hair answered the door. She looked passed the nun, quietly excused herself, and came down the path with a smile cracking across her entire face. Her gentle, motherly arms scooped Grace into a hug as she knelt to the little girl’s level. Grace immediately grinned at her, hugging the woman around the neck. Her little arms squeezed Mrs. Porter, though she was very careful not to drop a worn looking brown teddy bear with black button eyes. Grace was more than enthusiastic about her new family, while Jaxson still wasn’t entirely sure, and had it made up in his mind that they still only wanted Grace. He also decided it was best to stand aside a little and wait to be addressed.
Watching Mrs. Porter’s attention floating up to him, made it clear that she was not unaware of Jaxson’s presence and very much wanted to adore both her children. With her smile a little softer, more reassuring, she placed her hand on the boy’s cheek, “You must be Jaxson. I hear you’re the best big brother there is?”
“Yes, Ma’am,” Jaxson said with a nod, adjusting Grace’s backpack on his shoulder nervously.
Mrs. Porter smiled before asking, “Would you like to come help me make some lunch?” Her face was kind and gentle. It made it all the easier for Jaxson to like her. He still had his doubts about where he was going to stand in this family unit, but at least she seemed nice, so he nodded to her request and looked down to Grace, who was bouncing with excitement.
“Son,” a voice came from the doorway, where a quiet conversation had been going on unnoticed between Mr. Porter and the nun. “Get those girls in off the street and thank Sister Mary for bringing you.” His voice was firm but it didn’t seem angry. He was a lean man with strong arms and a set jaw. He had dark brown hair and his eyes were a deep shade of blue which Jaxson was sure had won Mrs. Porter over the second the couple met. They were both neatly dressed in clean pressed clothes and nice shoes. Sister Mary had told Jaxson his new father was a banker and his mother was a schoolteacher that had left her job to teach her new children at home.
“Yes, Sir,” he nodded at the man, putting a hand on Mrs. Porter’s shoulder. He led both of them to the door and turned to Sister Mary. “Thank you very much, Sister. God bless,” his voice shook when he spoke. Every word sounded as though it came out rehearsed; like reading aloud a book far beyond his level. Nevertheless, the nun nodded to Jaxson and headed back for the town car waiting on the street.
Mr. Porter’s heavy hand rested on Jaxson’s shoulder. “Good, lad,” he said. “Let’s go help your mother and Grace in the kitchen.”
* * *
“After this jog I’m gonna be starving again!” Jaxson said through a laugh as he looked back at his sister. She was huffing and puffing as they made their way through the dim streets of Kantum.
“You’ve got to be kidding me. Stop calling it a jog. My lungs feel like they’re gonna explode.” Grace’s pace must have been a sprint to his jog. The young vampire was hardly even phased by the exertion. One day, this would have no effect on Grace either. For now, today was not that day.
While he was amused, Jaxson was mostly concerned about his sister. He looked back seriously and tried on an encouraging smile. “Keep going, Grace. This isn’t a good place to stop.”
He knew the words were coming the second he’d spoken. Grace was going to retort the same as she always did on Saturday nights when she fished him out of the filthy bar. “If you hadn’t been down there in the first place we wouldn’t be here. What would Mom think if she saw you?” Grace’s tone was exceptionally chiding and maternal for her lack of parental experience.
* * *
As Jaxson had surmised from the beginning, his mother was a nurturing woman with a gentle soul who loved unconditionally. Grace and Jaxson had adapted to life with a mother. They helped her around the house and sat promptly at the kitchen table at ten in the morning to start their lessons for the day. At around two in the afternoon, their father would come home from work and take an hour to sit in their parlor to read the paper. Jaxson would sit with him for the last twenty minutes to ask him questions about the news. His father would go over the headlines, omitting the really bad ones about people going missing in the ganglands of South Kantum. They were far enough north not to see a lot of that action, but still John Porter wanted to shield his kids from the horrors of their world. They would read a bit before he passed over the comic strips, and after dinner, the four of them would sit around the radio listening to music and try completing the crossword puzzle. They never finished one in a day, and Grace usually fell asleep trying to pay attention.
One night, as Grace dozed away half lying under the coffee table, Jaxson watched his father hoist the young girl and carry her up the stairs to her room. Occasionally Jaxson liked to eaves drop on his parents to listen to the way they spoke to each other. While Mr. Porter was firm with his children, he was incredibly compassionate with his wife. He cared for her every second and vowed she and the kids sincerely meant the world to him. Jaxson tried to mimic his father’s every move. Now that he was a young man of sixteen, girls were paying him much more attention. He had to know just the right way to treat them, and his father was a prime role model.
Peeking through the crack left open in Grace’s bedroom door, Jaxson watched as his parents tucked Grace into bed. She was getting much too old for this sort of thing, but Grace was clinging to every bit of childhood she could and Jaxson couldn’t blame her for that.
“She’s such an angel, John,” said Mrs. Porter as she sank closer to him, putting her arms around his middle.
“Margret… Don’t. We’ve talked about this. She’ll know when she’s old enough.”
“But, John, you heard what the sister said. A change can happen anytime.”
“If it happens. IF. There’s no guarantee that with the nature of her coming top-side she’ll even become anything.”
“We’ve taught her everything about the Bible. She goes to Sunday School. We have Bible study.”
Mr. Porter put his arms around his wife and kissed the top of her head. Jaxson didn’t understand what they were talking about, but his curiosity kept him at the door, holding his breath.
“We can only do so much, Margret. It has nothing to do with her understanding of Faith. Father O’Mally said she is a rare, special case, with special circumstances. She’s eleven, Maggie… We can’t tell her all these truths and expect her not to run around with made up stories and fantasies in her head. We have to wait to tell her when she’s old enough to understand the information and accept it.”
Mrs. Porter nodded understandingly. The look on her face spoke volumes about the fear that must lay in her heart. Jaxson didn’t want to stay to hear the rest if there was any and he quickly skirted off to his room for the evening, though he couldn’t sleep. His head was too busy trying to speculate what they could possibly be keeping from him. The conversation had been heard and wasn’t about to be unheard, and as much as he wanted to ignore it all, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. It had to be something big. Something important. Luckily, thinking on it wore the boy out and Jaxson eventually fell away to a light slumber, uninterrupted by dreams.
* * *
Jaxson shook his head and swallowed hard. His mother wasn’t a subject he liked to talk about often. “Don’t, Grace. Don’t talk about Mom.”
“Fine. What will Dad say?”
“Just leave it alone! Dad can’t see me now either. And if he did do you really think he’d come out of his psychotic hoarder’s nest to bother talking to either one of us? No. So drop it.” There was a long moment where neither of them spoke and only the sound of their foot falls could be heard hitting the pavement.
As they rounded a corner to a street much busier than the dank back alleyways, Grace nodded up the avenue. She’d grown to disagree with Jaxson’s developing avoidant nature, but would agree to drop the subject. “Come on, there is a safe house we can hide you in. It’s run by a member of the church, so hopefully they don’t want to kill you or bath you in holy water.”
“I’m not that kind of vampire. My heart is still pure and free of dark intentions. Holy water doesn’t burn me. I am a man of faith.”
“Well that makes one of us.”
* * *
“Hey, Jaxson,” called Grace as she looked up from the book on the table. She’d taken to studying for the afternoon. “Mom is sick again, do you think you could help me with my algebra homework?”
Jaxson shrugged, now that he was out of high school lessons, he’d spent most of his time with his girlfriend, Miranda. He was tired from being out all night, but he was still willing to help Grace. “Sure, what do you have?”
They worked on her homework until Jaxson was falling asleep at the table, so tired he didn’t even hear it when Grace ran from the dining room to aid their coughing mother. He was just starting his twenties - this was supposed to be a time of fun and adventure. His girlfriend was just that. A little on the bity side, her being a vampire and all, but this was Kantum and Jaxson was old enough to have seen the colorful bouquet of races and species which seemed so supernatural to him as a child. These were the things of fairy tales but once they were older, Jaxson and Grace had been slowly introduced into a world full of creatures their human brains could only imagine before.
Mr. and Mrs. Porter had expressed a level of concern about Miranda at first. Jaxson had very quickly assured them that once they got to know her they would be perfectly fine with her. Sure enough, his parents warmed right up. Mrs. Porter even installed black out curtains to keep the sun’s burning rays from seeping in through the windows and burning the girl’s porcelain skin.
When Jaxson finally lifted his dozy head, Grace was running down the stairs in a mess of tears. “What’s going on? Gracie, calm down.”
“Jax, you have to call Dad. You have to call Dad and tell him to come home right now. Mom is getting worse and she can barely breathe and… Jax she needs to see a doctor!” For the last few years, their mother had gotten very ill off and on. She never saw a doctor about it and just replied with a vague, “This is what God has planned,” sort of answer. Nevertheless, she always bounced back in a day or two. The panic in Grace’s voice made this time seem a little different.
“What?” He barely had time to talk before Grace was dragging them up the stairs. “Dad’ll be home any minute anyway, why don’t we just wait for him downstai-,” Jaxson was cut off the moment he saw their mother lying in bed. There was a glisten of sweat on her skin, and her lips were dry and cracked. Dark circles surrounded her eyes and her face had lost all traces of the warm glow it once held. “Mom?” Jaxson left Grace standing in the hallway with her hand to her mouth as he crossed into their mother’s room and sat on the side of her bed.
“Jaxson….”
“Shhh, Mom, it’s okay. Don’t try to talk. It’s alright.”
“No,” she said firmly grabbing his hand. Her voice may have been powerful in that instant, but her grip was weak. “There isn’t much time. You have to take care of Grace. Don’t you let her out of your sight. Ever. Not once. Grace has a destiny that has to be fulfilled.”
“I… don’t understand. Mom, just… lay back and relax, I’ll make you some hot tea and you can get some rest. Dad will be home soon and he can take you to the doctor, alright?”
Her grip tightened as she pulled herself up a bit and looked up into his bright grey eyes, “Jaxson, you listen to me. There are things in this world that don’t make sense to you yet. Things you’ve only just begun to imagine. There are things that are going to happen, and you have to keep Grace safe. You have to take her where she needs to be. I can’t tell you everything.” Mrs. Porter stopped to cough for a moment and sucked in long shaking breaths which didn’t seem to satiate her lungs’ need for oxygen. “Grace was not born on this earth. Grace is a child of the angels. There is a box in my closet. It was given to us from the church, they are the things she was left with, but she can’t know who she is until she is ready.” She paused and looked deep into his eyes as if her next words would be the most important thing she’d say in all her life. “Don’t let her lose her faith in God, for she will have to fight on His behalf. Please, Jaxson,” she gasped trying to catch a breath but was turning bluer and bluer by the second. She resolved to lie against her pillows. “Just… keep… Grace… safe…” As she drew in a shallow breath, her eyes fell closed and her hand went limp in his.
“Mom?”
“Margret?”
Jaxson looked up to see his father coming through the door. He couldn’t stay in there any longer and he stood hurrying out of the room.
“Jax?” Grace’s voice was quiet as she looked up at him. “Jax what happened?” The sudden sound of their father wailing hit their ears and the pair knew what must have transpired.
Jaxson crossed to Grace quickly and pulled her into a hug holding her tightly. “Don’t listen, Gracie. Just don’t.”
As Grace began to scream and her knees gave out, Jaxson held tight to his sister keeping her close, letting her sob against his chest. He wished he could protect her from this hurt, but how could he when he felt it too?
* * *
Jaxson stood just behind his sister as she knocked on the door. The sun was just beginning to peek over the horizon. Jax was suddenly very thankful for the shade of the porch and bounced on his feet as they awaited an answer.
The door swung open to a thin looking woman with dirty blond, short, cropped hair. She looked around forty years old, but was, in Jaxson’s opinion, in very exceptional condition. His stupid grin was wiped clean off his face as both he and Grace were met with a holy water shower. Simultaneously, Jax and Grace flinched back with their eyes clamped shut and then puffed up to blow the water off their faces.
Jaxson wiped his eyes dry, “What a woman.”
“We just need sanctuary…” Grace’s tone was flat and unimpressed. With a wet look, she turned her face up to Jaxson and sighed, “Remind me again why you just had to be a vampire?”
Jaxson gave her an innocent shrug and smiled before the pair were both dragged in by the woman inside, a one, Ms. Trinity Von Syke. Jaxson was entirely unaware that his choice had led them both to their destiny.
* * *
The day they buried their mother, Jaxson tried desperately to keep it all together. Many people from the church where there. Miranda stayed put in the sitting room with the windows drawn, Jaxson claimed it was to help with mourning. However, Grace was nowhere to be found. She was at the house of course, yet everywhere he looked, Jaxson couldn’t find his sister.
“Have you seen Grace?” he asked looking into the sitting room at Miranda’s turned back.
The raven haired girl turned her silver eyes on him and shook her head. “No, sorry. Jaxson, about changing you…”
“Miranda this isn’t the time.”
“Yes it is. We just put the nicest person I’ve ever met in the ground. I think now is a perfectly good time to talk.”
“I have to find my sister, Miranda. We will talk. I still want to go through with it,” said Jaxson in a calming voice as he rubbed the palms of his hands over her arms.
Miranda’s shoulders sank a little and while she didn’t move away she wasn’t looking at him. “An eternity is a really long time, Jax. Don’t make hasty decisions.”
“I’m not. I’ve thought about this. I have to go find Grace. We’ll talk later.” With that he kissed her forehead and turned away, heading up the stairs to his mother’s room.
“Grace?”
“Leave me alone, Jax,” said a voice from the closet.
He opened the doors and looked down at his caramel haired sister. Her green eyes, bloodshot with tears, looked up at him. “What are you doing in here, Grace? Everyone is expecting you down stairs.”
“It still smells like her in here. Like Mom.”
He nodded, “It does. It’s stuck to all her clothes. What’s this box?” He looked down at a wooden container the size of a hatbox that sat at the girl’s feet. It had Grace’s name carved into the lid and immediately his stomach sank. She was not supposed to be looking in that box.
“It’s everything she should have been able to tell me herself. It’s all the information the church has on me. Everything I had when they found me. Even a letter from my birth father… Ezekiel. It doesn’t matter. She should have been here to explain it all to me.”
“Instead… she left it up to me to figure out and tell you when you were ready. Guess you found it on your own,” said Jaxson with a sigh as he sat down with her and read over the letter. It was beautifully written in handwriting so perfect it could have been considered art work.
She sighed. “I didn’t mean to read all of it. The box fell on me when I was buried in all her clothes.”
The pair where quiet for a while, knees tucked up to their chests as the skirts of their mother’s long dresses wrapped around their shoulders. Finally, Grace spoke again. “You’re going to die too… Dad will die, and then you will die and I will be all alone. That’s what this letter says. I’m some daughter of angels. I’m going to live for hundreds of years or something. And everyone else will die.”
“Grace, I’m not going to let that happen.”
“No? What are you going to do about it, Jaxson? You can’t just pray and tell God that you want to live forever. It doesn’t work like that!” The tone of Grace’s voice was sharper and more harsh than Jaxson had ever been witness too. She was always such a calm and tender girl, the animosity he sensed now was heartbreaking.
“And why not?”
“Because he doesn’t exist!” Her voice carried through the tiny closet. “If he did why’d he take her? If he’s so mighty and powerful what would he need our mother for that was so important he had to take her away from us? Couldn’t he see we need her more?” There was a desperation in the intensity of her words and Jaxson could stand it no longer.
“I don’t know, Grace!” The rise of his voice scared her into silence. “I’m sorry. Listen, I’ve talked to Miranda-,”
Grace’s eyes were wide, “Miranda? What does she have to do with any of this? Why are you telling her my secrets?” Grace had never liked any other girls coming into Jax’s life because she felt they took him away from the important things in his life. Like her and their family.
“Hear me out. I talked to her, and I’ve told her I want her to change me.”
“Into a vampire?” Grace was shocked and almost furious with his sudden decision.
Jaxson wiped at his face trying to make sure it didn’t give away his frustration. “I’m going to spend the rest of my life with her, Grace. I haven’t asked her to marry me or anything, but I know that’s where I’m headed and she’s going to live a lot longer than I will. I don’t want to die on her, and I sure as hell don’t want to die on you. I promised Mom I’d take care of you no matter what, okay? So, if this is what I have to do to make sure you always have someone to watch over you, to have your back… Then I’ll do it. I’m doing it.”
“Jaxson, I…”
“I’m doing it, Grace.”
There was a silence again as they sat still as statues, perched between pairs of shoes. Grace stayed in the closet for three weeks while Jaxson came to sit with her every so often. They left once their smell started to take over, and they were forced to wander the house looking for other reminders of their mother. Whether they realized it or not, they were just starting the rest of their very long lives. It was the beginning of a journey to find who they were, without the person who could help them the most.
* * *
Prologue
“I want to make a deal!” Ezekiel shouted just as the devil raised his mighty talons to swipe down at him.
Lucifer paused looking the angel over and grimaced. “What kind of deal?”
“You let me put Grace on Earth… somewhere she will be safe… And you can have me.” He had realized getting out of Hell alive was not an option anymore, but saving his new born daughter, Grace, was the only thing that mattered to him now that his wife had been slain.
“Fine. You have one day. Then your soul belongs to me.”
“Deal. Done.” Holding the screaming child to his chest, Ezekiel signed his soul away.
The day he had, he spent it on Earth. He clothed the little girl, cared for her in every way that he could. If this was his only day with Grace, he was going to love her to the fullest. At the end of the day, he trudged through the snow passed the last of the holiday shopper taking her to a church. He placed her softly in the manger scene at the altar and left her with the bag of belongings he had, and a letter.
This child of angels is alone in the world. When she is old enough, tell her that her mother and I loved her dearly, but remain in Hell so that she may be safe. Bless this child, for she is a gift of God. Let the Prophets teach her kindness and all the world will see her Grace.
With the love of God,
Ezekiel.
With one last kiss, he looked down on the infant. “Daddy loves you, Grace…” the angel wept. “He loves you so much. I’m so sorry, Grace. Please forgive me. I don’t want to leave you.” On his knees beside her, caressing her soft sleepy face he swallowed and looked to the heavens. “Please protect her. In my absence, let her never know hate or vanity. Guide her in your glory; let her name never fail her spirit.”
As Ezekiel later returned to the gates of Hell he found Gabriel, Michael, Raphael, and Uriel waiting for him. Instinctively he reached for the borrowed sword he had in his possession and held it out to Uriel who refused.
Gabriel was the one to speak as he put his hand on Ezekiel’s shoulder. “Keep it… It is yours now. We’ve got orders to bring you back to Heaven. The sacrifice you made has earned you a spot with us.”
“But… Grace…” His eyes look half hopeful.
“That deal is done, Ezekiel. Grace remains on earth. And you remain in Heaven. It’s for her safety. There, Lucifer cannot find her. There she is mortal until the right time comes. She will be safe from all the anguish of this life without a mother. You sacrificed your time with her, and your parenthood, to give her a good life. Which is why you get to come back.”
“But, Lucifer owns my soul.”
“We’ll fight that battle when it comes. If he’s brave enough to face us all.” As he turned the battered and lovesick Ezekiel, the angels ascended back to Heaven, where Ezekiel returned home an Archangel and spent his days silently watching Grace grow up on Earth without him.
KARA -- 25 -- Jaxson Porter
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