*I wonder how well a vampire would take to be exorcised...not that well I think

Hmmm... depends on definition of vampire. Straight undead don't usually care; Chade being half demon would NOT react well to an exorcism, magical or religious, the religious type being sort a narrowed-down-by-trial-and-error version of the scientific/magical one...

Chade would probably end up peeved, and Theron would probably end up hurt...

Technically speaking, if Theron took refuge in a church, Chade wouldn't be able to get to him there. Religious magic, the whole damn belief system aside, has evolved to be ferociously anti-demon...

Church, what church...they are few and far between, and Theron's Bound to Chade

Hmm... that does present a rather perplexing little puzzle. Actually -- following the rules of Kat's world, which I have to since I dunno yours -- Theron sitting in a church would probably be fine, since his mission isn't itself in violation of what the magic of the church is set up to do. Chade on the other hand... if the two are Bound together, he'd be compelled to follow Theron, if only subliminally, but he wouldn't do well around a Church... this could be fairly painful for him, actually. Chade would have to put up with whichever he thinks is the lesser evil: approaching a church or straying from the Bond...Both tend to be EXTREMELY uncomfortable for things of the demon ilk.

Actually the bond is on the Vampiric level, and more likely to hurt Theron than Chade

If Chade intends him ill, then sitting inside a church should still help. When the whole idea of Christianity, at least, was set up, part of the bargain was trying to create a place of peace and sanctity. Whether the bond is on the Vampiric level or not, that vampire is STILL part demon, and wouldn't like the idea of walking into a church a damn bit. Particularly since if the church was consecrated correctly, his flashy powers won't work.

Chade wouldn't dare hurt Theron, as it would, on lower levels, come straight back at him. However, going back to the original idea, if someone intending harm on Chade, the same would fall on Theron. I'm not exactly sure what you'd call Ther in the first place, and am not sure what would happen if anyone attempted to exorcise Chade...

Probably Theron would be hurt badly as well as the exorcism tried to rip the two apart beyond the boundaries of the Bond. When Demons are exorcised, they are sent back to Hell, or whatever that world calls their plane of existence. The spell would likely try that with Chade and either 1) fail, depositing him in some random place in the multiverse or 2) succeed and deposit him in Hell, where, being neither true Demon or Damned Soul, he would have -- pardon the expression -- a hell of a time...

I know that Death doesn't look favorably on Vampires, something to do with the fact that they are out of his reach, and really don't think Chade would have a fun time of it...If it killed Theron, I wonder what'd happen. I don't know if he'd still be under Death's control, or if a Binding would screw that up...

No. Theron, should he wind up in Hell, would be treated like any other soul, probably with a bonus for being so important to Death. Satan would try to trick him and lure him away from his mission with the promise of eternal rest, probably even to the extent of offering him "Chade's" ring...

I'm not sure how much interest Satan would have in luring Theron away though...Currently he's pretty much Death's pet, like or not.

Satan would be very much interested in him, for two reasons: A) If Theron could be freed from Death's clutches and subverted, he would be an invaluable aid to Satan, not to mention a nice prize when he finally gets to die, and B) Satan likes pissing Death off.

Are Bonds between bodies or souls? If it's souls, if Theron manages to die, Chade's going to be in a lot of trouble...

Between Blood...mostly physical, but affecting existence (mayhap not souls, as I'm not sure if Vampires have souls) Binding is in the taking of blood, without giving in return. The more the Bound embraces the bond, the deeper the connection between the Vampire and his Bonded. The stronger the bond, the more affects it has. While most Vampires won't die at the time of their Bonded's death (Otherwise there'd be a lot fewer bonds, or a lot more deaths) it can happen if the Vampire is weak enough, and/or the bond strong enough.

Should a Vampire, for example, somehow manage to fall in love with his Bonded, the Vamp would be in considerable danger should his beloved be offed by a rival?

Back to the vamps...should he fall in love, it would depend on a few things.

1) How strong the Binding. (They don't grow stronger or weaker, regardless of that which may come along in future.)

2) For a stronger binding - I am assuming the feeling is mutual - it depends on the death. Distance can be a factor, though more likely to affect Bonded than Vampire. If the Death occurs near the Vampire in question, he's more likely to be backlashed with pain and emotions of his Bonded. which leads to

3) The more violent the death, the more pain that will be fed back into the Vampire. Bonds, while often making the Vampire stronger, can (and have been) used as a weak point when emotions get involved. If a vampire can be weaken, or even knocked unconscious, and rival will certainly have the advantage.

And this is all neglecting the fact that having one's beloved croak at an inopportune moment does NOT do good things to the mind...Out of sheer morbid curiosity, how do vampires react to reflections? The current SacAc/vampire fic I'm typing (based a lot on your Bleeding, Taking, Binding, Making, Breaking stuff) suggests that the Nightchild magic has had time to adapt to mirrors and ponds etc but still has a great deal of trouble with video cameras and 35mm Polaroids...

As you will, I have not thought of it.

Most Vampires, though, don't Bind for love or emotion, but for a power-base. Those who bind for love or emotion will Bind to only one person. At the end of the life, the Vampire will often be affected, but if death is expected, they can often block off some of the more empathic effects (but can not destroy the bond its self) Binding for power can be done in low numbers. (Hey...convenient food source if nothing else) This is often the path taken by weaker vampires seeking to increase their power or territory. The Binding is then in Blood, and there is very little effect or a soul/existence level and not much empathic connection. Older, stronger, and/or more experienced Vampires that bind will often do it by the dozens, creating a small army of constructs for their use. They can be used for errands, food, warnings (Bindings being broken by stronger Bindings can generally screw with one's mind - also taking the Vampire's Intended and binding them to self) and other such small tasks.

How old would be 'old' in vampire terms? How long do they usually survive repeated attempts to run them out of town with a pitchfork, say?

Chade, although I don't know his age, I'm guessing somewhere around 700-800 or so is pretty old. Currently, people are pretty damned apathetic. You do have a few religious nutballs running around, but few acknowledge the presence of Demons and Vampires. Most people try to pretend that they don't exist and create excuses for deaths obviously due to some vampire getting pissed and deciding to take out somebody's backbone via their throat. Demons are actually a rare occurrence. I'm not sure why, but guessing they weren't an original part of the world, but got bored and decided to hop dimensions.

Theron is actually somewhere around 2000 years old (but while it's a variant earth, it wasn't the same as our Earth 2000 years old) People used to be a bit more picky about Vampires and such (as religion was a bit stronger) but apathy set in through the centuries. Most deaths generally occur within the first few years of Making as they kinda forget sunblock, piss of the wrong people, or step into the wrong territory (Most Vampires aren't territorial, but that doesn't mean the older ones don't guard that which is theirs) Chade is not, by a long shot, the oldest vampire in existence. He, being the vain and irrational fool that he can be, did once challenge one easily 4 times his senior and came out the victor...not sure how it happened, but I think being Demon was what saved him.

Yeah. And it tends to make crossbreeds arrogant and foolhardy, which is cured REAL fast when they finally go up against a genuine Demon and get their ass kicked. The lucky ones live and are humbled. The unlucky ones never have a chance to be humbled. While demi-Demons can have most of a true Demon's powers, unless the true Demon is EXTRMELY stupid, the true Demon can always win.

Chade says he has no wish to take on any Demons, he's quite happy sticking to his territory...I, however, know he'd like to kill his father, however small the odds...

::ponders:: Hnnn... assuming it's Charon, Chade would be stomped on a few times, but Charon would be reluctant to kill him. Should he decided to threaten Kat or some equally stupid stunt, he would be flatter than a pancake in less time than it takes to snap fingers. Or dumped in front of Satan as a nuisance, as Satan tends to destroy demi-Demons that he can't keep track of or outright employ.

As nasty as Chade can be as a vampire (Blood is Blood, and while he may not be equal to a full Demon, I'm sure he learned to cope with death - and Death - faster than many Demons did) anyway...as nasty as he can be, I don't think he'd go for Katri, unless it was Charon, and Charon did something to really piss him off. In which case, Chade might go for blood, consequences be damned.

Actually, that was his way of thinking when he went up against his Maker. As mentioned above, being demi-Demon was the only thing that kept him alive, and I don't know if he cared to live or not. He's shrugging and saying he knew the outcome...I don't believe him - I think someone was out to get himself killed...

Here's to hoping that abandoning him and not knowing he existed doesn't qualify as a blood-feud. In any case, if he tried confronting Charon, he'd get himself turned inside out and probably in a few nasty magical predicaments. Charon doesn't really wanna kill the kid, but he'd most certainly not object to beating some manners into Chade's head the hard way.

I don't think that would result in violence. However, if Charon had done it for fun, to screw with the church and/or politics, or just to mess with Chade's mother's (I'll come up with a name eventually...if I deem it important) mind, then Chade is probably going to try and do something nasty. What, I have no idea...

Unfortunately, odds are that's exactly what Charon was doing. Demons get bored easily, and since Kat's a special case that he's being so sweet and utterly bendable-moldable to her will, probably he was just out for a lark with his mother and thought it was amusing to pick a cute little church mouse...

O joy...well maybe if we can sit Chade down, and Charon behaves very well...and somebody takes Theron elsewhere, and use that against Chade, we can get him to listen...no promises...

Kat would probably volunteer to sit down with Theron and mother him for a bit. Being sweet to psychos isn't something she's done a lot before, but evidently dealing with Charon does a lot to give one nerves of steel. Even if the Binding works both ways and Theron goes a little off-kilter when Chade gets PISSED at Daddy dearest, Kat's a good enough mage by the end of it all that she could probably keep him from destroying much, if anything...

I'm not sure how much Theron was a toy, how much he was a game to be won, and how much Chade really had interest in him...And Theron, being poor confused Theron, was totally and completely enthralled before he figured out what Chade was...

I'm sure Katri would be more than willing to sit down with the poor lost soul, give him a cup of chamomile tea and comfort for a bit. Particularly if she thought it would make it any easier for Charon and Chade to get by without destroying any dimensions.

Theron, as far as I know, has very little in the way of magic, other than little bits and pieces picked up through lives to keep him out of trouble. Most of that's more intuition and increased survival instinct than any sort of empathy, telepathy, or telekinesis...she's most likely to have to deal with Theron being a certifiable mess than him trying to destroy anything

That, Kat's capable of dealing with. Theron will most likely wind up burying sniffles in her nice white collar, but that's better than being stark raving insane...

Ummm...well...depending on the day...

::firmly:: Kat is good at this. Trust me. So long as the subject is not *her*, she has a very level head and is quite skilled at keeping people from going ballistic. And, again, if Theron attempts to toss the china out the window in an attempt to get Chade, she *can* stop him.

Tossing China out the window isn't a likely course of action. Taking the china, shattering it, and going after Chade's throat - now that he might do

Actually, considering someone else is trying to toast Chade, Theron will probably behave...unless Chade actually *does* get fried...

Which he likely would, given how it sounds like he's going to behave...I don't know how much, if anything, Kat would be able to block of the Binding. I still say sitting Theron down in a church would help; possibly Kat would be able to help some, but only if she was warned *well* in advance and Theron trusted her enough to muck about with his mind.

I don't think she would be able to block much, especially not on the Blood level - that which is inflicted on one, is inflicted on the other, and if Chade gets toasted, Theron's going to take the worst of the damage. I also don't think the church would help, because while Demons certainly have problems, Vampires, at least mine, were not affected by religion as they were neither of "God" or Satan. (I wonder how Satan would view them...Death can't stand Vampires, because he has no control over them...neither does Satan....)

The bond between them is purely Vampiric, and thus I don't think it would be affected by any religious muckings, unless someone got Chade exorcised, as you mentioned earlier...

In that case, what Kat would probably attempt would be to break the previous Binding by Binding Theron to herself, which would introduce a new mess and piss off Chade further, but at least poor Theron wouldn't be hurting any longer...

Actually, Katri - being mortal for all I know - would not be able to break the Binding between the two. Instead, she'd most likely Bind Theron to herself on a different level, thus really screwing him over...

which would make wonderful fodder for a sequel, assuming you ever finish the first one. ^_^ Not knowing much if anything about vampires, she would assume it was a Demon-style Binding -- purely magical, soul-to-soul -- well, being-to-being. If that was the case, however, she might be able to use Theron to leap-frog into Chade's mind and start screwing him over that way. Still not fun for Theron, but this time, even LESS fun for Chade...