[Metapanda] James Milner {Darkwatch}

General Information

Full Name:
James Milner the VII
Codename or Alias:
Jim, Sevens, Hierophant
Anonymity
James's personal identity is known to many within the occult community and members of the public might have heard of him for his performances as a stage magician. The general public would largely know him by his moniker Hierophant.
Gender:
Male
Race:
Human (Homo Magi)
Age:
Twenty-Eight
Place Of Birth:
Stamford, Connecticut
Occupation/Status:
Stage Magician, Oracle/Prophet
Alignment:
Leans between Hero and Neutral
Factions:
Darkwatch
Canon Or Original?:
Original
Powers/Abilities:

• Ars Mysteriorum (The Art of Mysteries; Magic/Mysticism): As a Homo Magi, James has a natural affinity for drawing on and manipulating magical energy to perform spells and various magical rituals. To help focus and give direction to those arcane energies he uses verbal, material, or somatic components. The material components can be replaced with a focus for some spells, but the more complex rituals still require the necessary materials. Coming from a long line of practitioners of magic, he has been deeply entrenched in the mysteries of occult since birth, and has sought to expand his occult knowledge, training under the apprentice of Merlin Nimue Inwudu, more commonly known in the current age as Madame Xanadu.
  • Abjuration: James is capable of using magic to cast protective spells. His personal collection of occult knowledge includes spells such as creating force-fields to protect himself and a few others from gunfire, energy blasts, and the like. He also has knowledge of wards that prevent intrusion through teleportation and scrying, prevent the entrance of beings (such as: fiends, spirits, and ghosts), and that will alert him to the presence of those he doesn't invite into his abode. These wards can be overpowered by sufficiently powerful beings. He has also been taught how to dispel magic, however; dispelling magic cast by other wizards can be tricky. The art of unweaving another's spell requires some knowledge of the spell cast or at least the general principles of how the spell was constructed. It can often require rare components and a ritual to unweave powerful spells that have been enchanted onto a place. Other times it can be simply impossible for James to unweave the spell due to the sheer power and complexity of the spell. Provided the correct knowledge of an entity, James can test his will against theirs to exorcise them from this plane of existence and return them home, or at least cast them out of the human they are possessing.
  • Conjuration: James can use magic to call materials, creatures or energy to himself and can reverse such magic to send creatures to other places, either over long distances or even to a whole different plane of existence. While never the primary focus of his studies, he has found that he has a natural affinity for it because of his connection to extraplanar entities. He prefers to use it to teleport when covering vast distances in a short period of time is necessary. He is warry of summoning and binding powerful entities because of the inherent danger in those situations. James also knows a couple spells to store things in pocket dimensions, and then to draw them back to this dimension. Of all his magical skills, conjuration magic is the one he uses the most in conjunction with illusions during his performances.
  • Divination: James has a decent understanding of divination magic, and knows very few spells that would fall under its classification. He primarily uses scrying rituals to view places and people from a distance. He can project his soul out of his body into the Astral Plane. Doing so allows him to explore the physical plane with his soul and to visit the Dreaming. Such journeys can be fraught with peril to the inexperienced, and the further one travels the more dangerous it can become. 
  • Enchantment: One of James least used and studied areas of magic, the school of enchantment magic covers spells that beguile the mind of others. James’s dedication to free will prevents him from using magic of this type to its fullest extent. He primarily uses spells from this field of magic to communicate telepathically.
    
  • Evocation: James has been taught how to manipulate the aether (mana), a part of casting even the most basic spell, and even the elements themselves for destructive and supplementary effects. He largely considers this to be the easiest and least complicated of all magic, as it is simply bending the natural energies of the world to your will. He uses this magic in large part to perform telekinetic feats, flight, and for general combative magic when situations call for it.
  • Illusion: One of James's most studied areas of magic, and the one he has the most aptitude in, is the school of illusions. He can create psychosomatic illusions that are so realistic and powerful they can cause physical effects (cuts, bruises, burns, etc.) to appear on the target and affect surroundings as they were real. Damage caused by such illusions isn't real but due to the mind thinking the injuries are real, it causes psychic damage to the person. Despite how convincing his illusions are, there are some beings whose willpower, sheer cosmic awareness, or understanding of magic allows them to see through his illusions.
  • Necromancy: The Necromantic arts are James's second least studied area of magic. He finds the even the most benign of necromantic magic to be unnatural, bordering on the darker side of magic that his family participates in. While he was taught the darker curses associated with this school of magic by his father, he is unpracticed and refuses to use such magic, fearing that he wouldn't be able to resist following in his family's path.
  • Transmutation: While not his primary arcane subject of study, James rather enjoys transmutation magic. He enjoys the versatility and artistic nature of the magic. He can use transmutation magic to change matter into other matter, even changing its physical state of being (solid, gas, liquid, plasma). He has had a lot of difficulty learning how to transmute living beings into other living things or into objects. Changing small changes, such as eye color, hair color, scars, tattoos, other minor physical details are within his scope of skill, but he couldn't change a human into a dog or vice versa. Transmuting requires that the mass of what he is changing must equal the mass of what he is changing it into. James can cheat by using his own wellspring of energy to satisfy the shortage of mass. While it may appear as if it does, mortal magic simply can’t break the Law of Conservation of Mass

• Extrasensory Perception: Like most people who practice mysticism, James has a natural awareness when magic is cast or some other form of supernatural or divine occurrence happens. He has honed this sense so that he can sense such occurrences within a city block of himself. Metaphysically larger occurrences have a way of being louder and can even cause echoes that he can sense from a greater distance. This form of perception manifests in the form of tingling sensations, sudden shift in temperature, or symbolic auditory or visual hallucinations. He doesn't know the exact distance of the occurrence but has a general idea of direction. This form of sense isn’t full proof as experienced and powerful beings tend to know how to conceal their mystical presence.
• Concentration/Will: Like any practiced spell weaver, James has honed his ability to concentrate, and his will. Without his willpower, his spells would have no potency to them. Without his concentration, his spells would unravel as he became distracted while weaving the spell.
• Familiar: Less an ability and more a pact made with a guardian spirit of knowledge, James has empowered his Boxer Kingston with many abilities. Kingston can sense when he James is in danger. James and Kingston can sense where the other is through their mental link. As a familiar, Winston contains the intelligence and wisdom of the spirit sharing his body, is supernaturally durable, and will not die of age or mundane disease so long as James is alive.
• Omnilingual: Once thought of as more of a curse than a boon, James was granted omnilingualism by Destiny. As such he can speak and understand all languages. At first the gift was debilitating, with the language he was speaking changing uncontrollably at the slightest memory of a person who spoke another language, reading another language, or even hearing another language. Through intense focus James has gained some mastery over the boon.
• Sleight of Hand: While James can perform actual magic, he has also studied the art stage magic. He hasn't let his actual magic act as a crutch, having devoted a lot of time to mastering the skills required to perform stage and street magic, such as showmanship, lockpicking, safecracking, crafting disguises, and sleight of hand. Despite a brief hiatus and some controversy about an arrest, his skill a performer provides him gigs throughout the United States.
• Mundane combat knowledge: James has been in enough situations where he couldn't use magic that he has learned some basic self defense skills and how to shoot a gun. While fit and skilled enough to hold his own in a bar brawl, James would quickly find himself outmatched by anyone with any actual skill and knowledge. 
• Seventh Generation Seventh Son of the Seventh Son: James is the seventh in a long line of Seventh Sons of the Seventh Sons. James isn't fully aware of what all this entails, but does know that it has given him unique talents to act as an oracle or prophet for extraplanar, divine, and cosmic entities. This causes James to be prone to prophetic visions as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. The later of which, often can make people think he has schizophrenia. This connection also makes him uniquely talented at drawing power through through his connections with such entities, though he has to be careful as he can draw to much and risk them taking control over his body.

Weapons/Items:

• Things he normally has on him: A Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, his wallet, a Galaxy Watch6, a deck of playing cards, a few decks of trick cards, A deck of custom tarot cards, a pocket watch with Metatron’s Cube etched into it
  
• Arcane Focus: James has had a few arcane focuses over the years. As his power has matured, he has required more complex and sturdier focuses to channel his power without issue. His newest focus, a staff, is the culmination of over a year intense labor. The staff is made from Olive Wood harvested from the holy land. He blessed the staff as well, imbuing the staff with some of his own power by soaking it in his blood. The process cumulated with him carving runes into it and enchanting it to be more durable, as well as making it easier to conceal and summon to his side.
  
• Warded Ring: Because of the magical nature of many of his enemies, James has crafted a ring that protects him from magical divination spells that would detect his location. While useful, it is not fool proof. Powerful spellcasters can bypass the enchanted ring’s protection. Mundane methods of tracking him can find him just as easily.
• The Ring of Solomon: A renown biblical artifact, James acquired it after eating an LSD fish and going on a spirit quest with his friend, Aldo. The artifact allows him to speak to animals and plants, and acts as an amplifier for his ability to commune with, exorcise, and command demonic entities. The four gems set into the ring allow him to command the four elements with greater ease. James is not quick to wield this powerful artifact as it draws attention to him from those who would seek to take it from him and abuse its power.
• The Greater Seal of Solomon: While there are many occult tomes associated with King Solomon, this combination of an artifact and tome is the genuine deal. The tome was gifted to him by Raziel, the Archangel of Mysteries. James has had this tome for a nearly a decade and still doesn’t fully understand the knowledge held within. James’s very soul is connected to the tome, allowing him to sense the direction and distance the tome is from him, as well as allowing him to summon the book to himself. The tome contains many rare and dangerous spells and rituals, such as the knowledge on how to summon and bind powerful demonic entities, powerful angels, gods, fae, and other such entities. Because of the dangerous knowledge within the tome, James keeps it within his personal vault most of the time.
• Personal Vault: James’s personal vault is part vault and part puzzle box. It was designed, crafted, and enchanted with the help his close friend Aldo. The vault's security is made up of technological anti-intrusion security devices, wards, of several complex, timed, resetting puzzles with solutions that permutate everyday as well as if incorrect solutions are tried. The security of the device was designed to be incredibly tedious and frustrating so that people would give up. On the outside of the vault, it occupies 100 square feet, while the inside has been chanted to be larger, occupying 225 square feet. While many assume the vault contains some great wealth of powerful artifacts and magical items, in truth James's vault contains very little. James primarily keeps the Ring of Solomon and the Greater Seal of Solomon contained within. Other contents of the vault include James's journals and arcane research, as well as the arcane codex and journal he stole from his grandfather.

Appearance

Face/Voice: Aaron Taylor-Johnson
Image:

Physical Appearance:
James is five foot and eleven inches (roughly one hundred and eighty cm) tall. James is rather lanky, weighing only one hundred and seventy pounds. His posses a very tanned complexion. He has long, curly, dark brown hair that he keeps swept-back.. His eyes . Studying the occult isn't the most physically engrossing activity, but James has learned the hard way to keep himself in good shape. James has a series of tattoos on his chest, back, and arms. Most of them were part of his rebellion against his parents, but one of them does serve a practical purpose. On his back just below his neck he has a hamsa hand tattoo surrounded by Enochian runes. He uses this tattoo as a ward to help protect himself from possession from such beings as ghosts and demons. The rest of his tattoos are various esoteric occult references such as Yggdrasil, the ouroboros, Goetia sigils, Nordic sigils, and some tarot and playing card symbols. The two most visible tattoos he posses are that of a bird on both of his forearms near his wrists.
Clothing and Armor:
James believes that he should always dress his finest and in the latest styles. Because of this, most of time he wears a variety of different styled long sleeve, button up, t-shirts with a vest and tie, along with suit pants or khaki pants, and dress shoes with dress socks. He likes to roll up his sleeves, especially while he is performing and when he isn't wearing a coat. He always keeps his shirts tidy, tucking them into his khaki pants. He carries his suit coat with him if he isn't wearing, unless he has somewhere to put it. When he was younger, he would never dress casually but is now more comfortable wearing casual clothing that is on the more stylish side. In his heroic persona of the Hierophant, James prefers to be just as stylish as in his civilian life. He wears a slim fitting long sleeve white shirt, with a thin black tie, and a layered dress vest that starts as a black and fades to a light grey just past his hips. On the last three buttons of the vest there are chains that drape slightly as they wrap around to his back. His suit pants reverse the color tend of the vest, starting as a light grey and darkening to black. All along the outer thighs of his pants are adjustable straps. His choice of shoes are steel tipped leather wingtip dress shoes. To finish his ensemble, James wears a black topcoat, black, goat leather gloves, and a porcelain Venetian Masquerade mask. The mask is painted to appear old and fragile, with chips and cracks.




Personality

Sexual Orientation:
Pansexual
General Personality:
James has a fierce intellect and loves learning. His intellectual studies have been focused on the occult, the Ars Mysteriorum, philosophy, and advanced mathematics and sciences in relation to magic, leaving his understanding of more mundane things lacking. James was taught as a child to be analytical and logical in his approach to solving problems because emotions got in the way. His family kept him largely isolated from others, causing him to lack the interpersonal skills children learn by having friends when they’re young. The one time he did have a close friend, his family manipulated her into effectively committing suicide. His family used the event to manipulate him into becoming very selfish and shortsighted, lacking empathy for others. The invasive and controlling nature of his family caused James to have a rebellious streak, learning mundane street magic to annoy his father and getting tattoos. It also caused him to become mistrusting of others as he could never trust his family members. The trauma of his childhood has can cause him to spiral into intense bouts of depression and self doubt. His childhood caused him to learn how to be a survivor. Surviving his childhood made him stubborn, practically incapable of giving up on his objectives, and can make snap decisions in difficult situations.

Life outside his family taught him to be a better man. He still has trouble putting others before himself, but he has gained empathy for the suffering of others. It has also taught him that he doesn’t have to inherently distrust everyone but himself. After years of hearing about his destiny and how disappointed his parents were with him failing to live up to their expectations, James has realized that he didn’t fail them but rather they failed him. Naturally charismatic and creative, James is a natural performer. Before becoming more mature, James put on performances solely for the attention it brought him from the crowds at his performances. He has realized now realized how much he loves performing because the astonishment it can bring to people, even though they believe it isn't real. Making the lives of others a little bit brighter is one of the few things that gets him through the day. Obsession with legacy is common within members of his family. James for a long time didn’t care about his legacy or that of his family’s legacy; however, he has taken a vindictive approach to his family’s legacy, intending to build a new legacy on the ashes of their legacy of corruption and vile deeds. Between his own personal wealth and the use of magic, he has very little concept of normal currency, but has a deep respect for the nontraditional forms of currency used by the occult community such as favors. He has a disregard for authority, brought on largely by his deep hatred for his father and grandfather.

James is a creature of many bad habits, but to put it bluntly. James’s Achilles’s heel is his pride. It manifests in numerous ways, such as a tendency to take more responsibility for things outside of his control or a tendency to take unnecessary bold risks. His pride and need for control over his life can lead him toward self-destructive habits when things aren’t going well. While James is very good at hiding his emotions, he has a mild compulsion insightful people can use to read him. Whenever he is stressed or nervous, he feels a need to manipulate objects with his hands. This generally manifests as performing cardistry, coin tricks, pen spinning, or other forms of sleight of hand and contact juggling. Performing the act helps him focus his mind and calm his nerves. James's self destructive nature has also manifested in addiction to drugs an alcohol. James has given those up, having been sober for seven years, but hasn't been able to give up cigarettes.


Anything Else
Kingston

James's personal vault



Character's History

Siblings:
Rufus Milner (Brother) - Alive
Lyle Milner (Brother) - Alive
Gerhard Milner (Brother) - Alive
Brannon Milner (Brother) - Alive
John Milner (Brother) - Alive
Matthew Milner (Brother) - Alive
Mother:
Athaliah Milner - Alive
Father:
James Milner VI - Alive
Other Family:
James Milner - Deceased
James Milner II - Deceased
James Milner III - Deceased
James Milner IV - Deceased
James Milner V - Alive
Roscoe Milner (Uncle) - Deceased
Morris Milner (Uncle) - Alive
Oliver Milner (Uncle) - Alive
Noel Milner (Uncle) - Deceased
Elias Milner (Uncle) - Alive
Erik Milner (Uncle) – Deceased


History:

The Milner legacy began with James Milner the first, the seventh son of immigrants from Greece who had immigrated to Britain. Having made a bargain with dangerous entities to continue the power of his family, James Milner the first started the tradition of naming the seventh son James Milner. James Milner the seventh was born in Stamford, Connecticut on October twenty-seventh. He was the seventh son of James Milner VI and Millicent Milner. Growing up, James was expected to be the best, to live up to the legacy of being the Seventh Son. His parents would not let him go to public schools as they were filled with riffraff, and private schools were ruled out as his parents wanted to exercise as much control over him and his schooling as possible. This allowed them to have a much more active hand in shaping him. His mother and father gave him whatever his heart could desire, but James quickly learned that there were strings attached to those gifts. If he did not meet their expectations or do what they told him to do, those gifts were taken away from him. If taking away his things did not work; other forms of emotional manipulation and abuse were employed. Physical abuse was rare but employed selectively by his brothers and father. James quickly became wary of his family members, learning to survive a cruel childhood. As he grew into his teen years, he became more and more rebellious. He took any chance he got to exert his independence from his family. He began practicing Stage and Street magic in his free time because his parents disapproved. In his teenage years, he became best friends with Hayden, the daughter of a family friend. When he was fifteen, he began to obtain tattoos, bribing the tattoo artists, as he grew more confident in his independence.

His rebelliousness led to new crueler and twisted forms of manipulation and abuse. It culminated in the coerced suicide of Hayden. Her suicide was caused by his brother, Rufus, who tricked her into drawing on more power than she could manage. Her death nearly broke James but pushed him into considering methods of escaping his family. One night, sneaking around his house, he watched his father and grandfather discuss sacrifices to a demon with a fellow member of the Church of Blood. James did not look to much into the demon or Church of Blood. He realized that at least some of his family had been trying to twist him into being willing to serve the same entity. Unsure of who he could trust in his family, James played his parents, telling them that he needed to do some soul searching to accept the role he would be playing in his family's legacy. He moved to Las Vegas and decided to give a career as a Stage Magician a shot for the time being. The promised freedom of Las Vegas was short lived. James’s greater purpose as a Seventh Son was thrust upon him in a series of events that slowly spiraled out of control. It started with visions of the impending apocalypse brought upon the world by the Church of Blood and Trigon. James prepared to seek answers in New York when a member of the Church of Blood showed up to collect him. James was forced to blow up his own home, escaping through a portal to New York City. It was during his time in New York that James had a meeting with the Envoy of Destiny, receiving a blessing to help him on his path. Preferring to be a moving target, James left New York City for Gotham. The Church of Blood's second attempt at capturing him was nearly successful, if not for the timely intervention of other young heroes. James had been traveling through Gotham's train station, when a demonic creature attacked, seeking to capture him. It was James's involvement in the incident that put him on A.R.G.U.S.'s radar. James traveled with those who had helped, becoming close friends with one of them, whose name was Aldo.

Aldo was a great influence on James, helping James over come some of the trauma of his childhood and actually trust people. Despite this, James had issues fitting in with the team. Between mistrust and James's own interpersonal issues with other members of the team, James's position was precarious. Many of them worried he would slip and follow in his father's footsteps. Despite this, the team was an effective thorn in the side of Church of Blood. James's luck finally caught up with him in the form of A.R.G.U.S detaining him for questioning. They had nothing on him and eventually had to release him with the warning that they would be keeping an eye on him, but during that time Aldo died in a church fire. Aldo had gone home to visit family, and the local preacher had gone insane, setting the church on fire. Aldo's death hit James harder than anything James had suffered at the hands of his family. What was once self-destructive drinking and occasional drug use became nearly crippling addiction. James went on a bender that culminated in planning an incredibly dangerous ritual. James went to insane lengths, performing a heist of his own family’s vault to steal information and materials he would require for a ritual. He altered an Immortality spell created by Merlin and summoned Death of the Endless herself. He sacrificed the Fountain of Youth his grandfather used as part of the deal and brought Aldo back to life as a Knight of Death. This act was the final straw to break regarding James’s membership in the team. While the technical skill and power needed to perform the act were impressive, the litany of rules James broke by performing it caused numerous occultists to be terribly upset. James set off on his own for a long time, getting more in touch with his power and purpose. Despite their strained friendship, Aldo insisted James get clean and go to therapy, which is an agreement he has held too. Despite the grievances with his actions within the occult community, a surprising figure approached James not long after resurrecting Aldo. Madame Xanadu, a former apprentice of Merlin himself, was impressed with what he had done, offering to take him under wing to teach him as he showed great potential.

James suspected this was in part the community attempting to keep an eye on him, ensuring that he did not disturb the cosmic balance again. He doubted they would be so kind in their judgement if disturbed the balance again. He accepted her offer, taking the opportunity to learn from someone who had studied magic under Merlin to expand his knowledge. During his eight years studying under her, he did his best to keep some independence from his mentor, going about studying on his own in attempt to greater understand his purpose and abilities. He made little progress on the later, but took to the lessons of Madame Xanadu like a fish to water. He learned a great deal from her, at the price of having to assist her with helping her clients at times when she was unable to assist them more directly because of whatever arcane laws that bound her from doing so. It was not far from the duties required of him from many of the entities that plagued his waking and dreaming life. James stayed out of the Enchantress crisis, being called into service to perform tasks that, at least on the surface, seemed rather mundane and minor in comparison to dealing with the threat Enchantress posed. Studying and working under Madame Xanadu helped heal James's reputation within the community. The community still had a healthy amount of reservations and mistrust when it came to him. Despite his actions, it seemed his family and their legacy would forever overshadow him. His lack of intervention in the Enchantress crisis did little to help as well. Many within the community couldn't understand why he kept out of it despite his new found sense of responsibility helping others. He devoted what time he could to NA, AA, and therapy, keeping his promise to Aldo. He found the programs and therapy to helped with his more self destructive tendencies. A few weeks ago, James was very surprised when he received a formal invitation from Stephen Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme to join the Darkwatch on a probationary period. It seemed the Sorcerer Supreme was seeking to pull even a wayward magician such as James under his umbrella. James had little choice but to agree to join, loosing yet another bit of his independence he strove for. The alternative was finding his reputation once again damaged within the community, possibly beyond the point of repair. Strange had not threatened him with those consequences, but James knew what the community would think once they found about the meeting and if he had turned the Sorcerer Supreme down. So now James waits to be called on by Darkwatch, having yet more responsibility thrust upon him by the organization.

Role Play Sample: (Content Warning: Abuse)



Kingston glanced up toward his master, with what James could only describe as a look of concern before glancing at the man in the suit opposite of them in the limousine. The man looked out the window before saying,”Are you sure about this? This doesn’t seem like my usual clientele.” James held back a snide remark about the legitimacy of his usual clientele. James had done his research and knew exactly who he was dealing with. James put his hands together and said,”May I remind you that you are seeking new and different clientele from your usual clients. Any additional legal fees will be paid. If you will be so kind as to wait here, I’ll go let your client know you are here. Once they arrive, feel free to leave.” James opened the door, letting Kingston out first before getting out as well into the brisk night air. The dingy street was barely lit by the streetlamps, making it hard to see his surroundings. It was not the worst neighborhood in the city, but the limousine stood out in stark contrast to its surroundings. He straightened his jacket, turning to shut the door. James gave Elton a polite smile and said,”Have a nice evening,” as he shut the door. He took a deep breath glancing over at Kingston before entering the apartment complex. Kingston followed at his master’s heels in pace. Security was an issue for normal people, but James was not a normal person. With a quick phrase in Latin and a gesture of his hand, the front door yielded to his entry. James noted his surroundings as he made his way further into complex, specifically the growing corruption. Lights flickered, the shadows seemed unnaturally deeper, and ink like blood slowly dripped walls. All the clear signs of the presence of a demonic entity. The mortals couldn’t see the signs beyond the occasional power flicker, but in an area like this it wasn’t that unusual of an occurrence.

James made his way with purpose to the third floor, looking for the correct apartment. It didn’t take long to find it. He reached out and knocked, waiting for the response. It wasn’t long before a woman with mousy brown hair opened the door. The shadows hid her face, and James could tell the movement and her position was intentional. Despite her efforts he could see the bruising. He gave a weary polite smile and said,”Good evening, do you have a moment? We need to have a long conversation.” She started to reply,”Sorry, now isn’t a good time,” but was interrupted midsentence by a yell in the background,”Who’s at the goddamn door? I bet it’s one of your lovers, you goddamn stupid cheating whore.” Shame crossed her face at the implication. She turned to reply to the voice, but was cut off as a male hand grabbed the door, slamming it open. The man looked over James thoroughly, the unbridled rage on his face quickly becoming fear which he quickly masked with contempt. He sneered at James,"Go away Little Messenger Boy, you're not welcome here." He saw James eying the threshold of the doorway and said,"Nor are you invited in. You have no power here. Leave now or I'll gut you like the little rat you are." The wife's face went from confusion to fear as she started to ask her husband how he knew the man at door, but was quickly silenced by an implied threat of violence. Disgust crossed James's face as he began to roll up the sleeves of his shirt. He sighed and said,"Of course, of course. You're so bloody fucking clever mate. Hiding behind a defenseless woman and her children in their home. Well here's the kicker..." James made a quick few gestures before holding up his hand toward the man, sending a concussive blast of telekinetic energy toward the man. The blast hesitated for a split second, loosing some of its power as it came into contact with the threshold of the apartment, before slamming into the man and sending him flying. "There isn't much of a threshold on the home of an abusive father and husband, you stupid fucking wanker," James finished.

He looked toward the wife, and said,"In all seriousness. Invite me in. Now." The wife looked toward her husband's unconscious body hesitating. James continued,"Look, he won't stay down forever. The thing possessing him is going to be pissed and it wasn't prepared before. You need to invite me in, or your kids will be the first thing he goes after." The panic cleared from her face and she said,"Ok. Come on in." James nodded, entering into the apartment. He looked at her and said,"Get your kids. Grab your go bags I know you've been preparing for a long time. Your husband might be possessed, but he was an abusive piece of shit long before that. It just made him an easier target for the demon. There is a limo down stairs with a lawyer. He is a bit of a sleazy bastard, but he is trying to turn his life around. He is going to help you with the divorce and getting away. Go. Now." The sense of urgency in his voice left there little to be debated. James went into the kitchen, grabbing salt, as Kingston began dragging the unconscious twitching body into a more open area. James began pouring a salt circle around the unconscious man. As the wife and kids left, James looked to Kingston and said,"This is going to be a long night. Be prepared for any tricks." He paused before looking to the woman standing by the fireplace and said,"I have seen them on their way to their new hearth, are you satisfied?" The woman, who wore a simple peach colored toga and little other frills, smiled and said,"Of course James. You've never disappoint," before fading like she had never been there to begin with. She very well might never have been. James could never entirely be certain what was a hallucination and what was real sometimes. The irony was not lost on him. Something in her tone, despite all its warmth, set a chill down his spine. The implied 'yet' did not need to be said. He rolled up his sleeves and began the long arduous process of exorcising the demon back to Hell.