Fantasy As Shifting Shadows; Worlds Merged

[GoodJobDino]

She began following the steps of the man from the alley, who introduced himself to her. "Very nice to make your acquaintance tonight, Mark. My name is Victoria." She kept her eyes forward as they walked and talked, the figures in the shadows got closer together, and her grip on the knife loosened. "Lovers" she thought, "sickening". It took no longer than a couple more strides and then one of the figures seemed to jerk away and scream. It shocked her, and she perked up, but didn't make a move.


She saw Mark rush into action, revealing his weapon and even firing a warning shot. She reached out to slow him down, and even tried to yell, "Wait!" but her voice was drowned out by the bang and it's echoes. "Could he be a hunter? Or just some maniac!?" She thought. The silence of her thoughts was disturbed by the nearby sound of a whistle. "Guards" the thought went silently thru her head, but then audibly she let out a "fuck!".


As she looked around, waiting for guards to come pouring out onto the street, she could swear the non-screaming figure said, "Vampire". More audible, "fuck, fuck, FUCK!"s escaped her lips. Her knife hungered for vampire blood, it was the entire reason she came out every night. The stake attached to her other side had not been wet by the vampire filth in much too long, but the risk of fighting was high. She could never forgive herself if the reason she never returned home was for breaking curfew, even if her motives were noble. She decided, that perhaps the guards would grant some leniency, if they saw she was hunting, and whipped her coat open and grabbed the knife's handle.


As she began to charge, following a short distance behind mark, she pulled the blade from its sheath. What she held now in her right hand was a pure silver knife, an 8 inch blade protruding stunningly from it's hilt, which had inscribed on one side, "Ein Licht Im Dunkeln". Which those who could translate it would read as, "A light in the dark".

 

[Still Crazy]

Once a gun shot went off, she jumped a little and turned her head. When the man stopped and pointed the gun, she ran to him and stood next to him. She narrowed her eyes when Damian started trying to warn him at the same time the girl ran over. "Whatever you are, you're crazy!" She exclaimed while pointing at the vampire. She had half hoped that the strange vampire would help her in this charade, that way they would both have fresh blood to feed off of. It seemed as though the stronger of the two hunters was the woman, the man was quite shakey and unsure of himself. Good prey.

​

 

[Baconhands]

Fia was very close behind the witch when the group arrived. The building wasn't old or even close to looking like a stereotypical witch dwelling but Fia supposed that only made sense, given the nature of the city of which the building was in. The witch had shot a glare at Fia as a gunshot echoed from far away, and Fia took a glance behind herself, her eyes scanning for any sign of hostile activity. When she couldn't find any, she turned back, following the pureblood inside and closing the door behind them.


The interior was perhaps more of what Fia expected: clutter everywhere, chaos somewhat organized and hundreds upon hundreds of books. She took a quick glance around before she approached the witch, her voice dropping down to barely above a whisper, "I don't know how long we'll be staying here. But if I'm to stay until tomorrow night then I must ask if you have some silver, wolf's bane and a couple of other things."

 

[Fenris]

Clearing the last few feet Mark slid to a stop, adopting a more stable shooting position. The blood bag was easy to spot even before the scent hit him, it churned his guts as always, but he wouldn't allow it to show. If the black haired lad was at all disturbed by the pointed gun he did a swell job of hiding the fact. Strange that he would let his victim slip away so easily... things weren't adding up even before he spoke.


Trap?! The word seared through Markus conscious like a hot poker as he noted Victoria rapidly approaching from the corner of his eye. Metallic glint reflecting off of a sleek silver blade. She seemed like a nice person too... The blond nearly laughed in despair at the elaborate set up of this ambush, nearly for he'd need his breath to put up a fight.


With a flick of his wrist a blade snapped into his palm, silver slivers forged into its edge caught the lamplight in a manner that made them appear to glow. It wasn't great but it was a fighting chance, angling it defensively he prepared for the oncoming rush while keeping the gun pointed at its original target. Maybe it would be prudent to place a few shots into the dark haired guy? He was definitely not normal; yet seemed to be the least agitated.


Before Mark could pull the trigger a familiar shiver ran down his spine, an acute sense of danger. The red head! Cursing his own carelessness the hunter shifted his weight. It wouldn't be enough, she was too close. He exhaled a single word, joining in the pale blade wielders mantra.

 

[Guilded Clover]

Zamani stopped in front of her visitors. She had finally managed to gather a simple blanket and a pillow and she held one in each arm. It took her a moment to understand what the others were saying. "Go into that room and you'll see some couches," she handed the pillow and blanket to Hiro. She pointed at the opening across from the front door. "Just set her down in there. You can sit down if you want."


The witch rummaged through her head at the mention of the list of ingredients that were given to her. "If you're looking for a potion to help you with something, I think I might have one already made. Give me a moment." She walked over to the locked door next to the stairs. She pulled out her key ring that contained three keys on it. Picking the third one, the unlocked the door and went inside. A couple of minutes passed before she reappeared with a grayish green liquid in a small vile. It was labeled in Zamani's original language. She quickly locked the wooden door and turned around. Holding the vile up, Zamani spoke. "Was this what you were looking for?"

 

[Lord Aphrodite]

"I'm going to get something." Noah walked out of the apartment and down the fire escape into the street. He walked down the side walk toward the store. He ignored all the people watching him and weaves around them. He smiled, then walks into a twenty four hour store.

 

[Kry]

Alistair took the pillow and blanket before following Kasimir into the other room, his grey-blue eyes watched the blonde German very carefully for a few moments. They were in a new place, and this place was full of things, Kasimir had to be watched carefully, some times his old habits got the better of him. The vampire put the pillow down, and Kasimir laid the unconscious girl down with her head on it, then that blanket was placed gently over her.


Kasimir's vibrant green eyes seemed a little more vibrant than usual, and he turned to get a good look at the things in this room. A tight grip on his shoulder caused him to hesitant and look up at Alistair, the German gave his friend an innocent smile. The two exchanged a few words in German for a moment, then Alistair let go of Kasimir and took up a position where he could sit comfortably and watch the unconscious girl.


Kasimir began to move through the witch's house, he didn't go far, he mostly went towards Zamani as his eyes darted around. Looking for valuables and secondary exits. "You sure have a lot of interesting things." He smiled at her, and his expression and tone seemed merely one of curiosity.

 

[Shnuydude]

Damian watched as the man completely disregarded the redhead and thought the other woman was the enemy. He stopped sipping at his blood packet and teleported, now in between the man and the Rowen. He smiled and winked at her as he raised his hand for some payback, he slammed his fist down onto his blood packet which popped on the other end from the pressure, which sent the blood splattering onto her face. This did nothing except provide him with a laugh, unless her eyes or mouth were open in which case she might have a problem. "Sorry" He said with obvious sarcasm as he snickered.

 

[Baconhands]

Fia took a moment, studying the vial with a keen eye. Every instinct in her body wanted her to move away from it, find safety in a relatively hostile place. With a sigh, she looked the witch in the eye and nodded, "Yes," she said, her voice barely above a whisper, "that's the one." She held out her hand expectantly, hoping the witch would place the vial in her hand carefully. Despite what she wanted, Fia was always scared of that serum, and she didn't trust anyone with it other than herself. Something tugged at the back of the werewolf's mind, telling her to smash the vial before it even reached her, but, as she always did, Fia stalwartly resisted.


Taking a glance over her shoulder, she noticed the two men had placed the human in a fairly comfortable-looking position. She eyed the pureblood carefully, taking every detail of his form into account before her eyes shifted over to the blond haired human as he spoke. Fia rolled her eyes at him: he seemed the talkative type, Fia didn't like that.

 

[Still Crazy]

Rowan was quite happy with herself for about a minute. Once she realized that the other vampire would not fight with the hunter, her happiness turned to anger. She wasn't expecting him to end up in between her in the human. For one, becasue it's bad edicit to interfere with ones meal, but also because normally vampires don't teleport. She knew now what he was, which mad her even more angry. Once the blood squirted on her face, her eyes turned furious and she glared at him. This night was the first night that she had ever had any problems with other vampires. Maybe it was because she was reckless, but maybe it was because her mind was slowly deteriorating into darkness and insanity and this vampire was sure not helping her situation. "Your fucking kidding me" she said in the deepest, most pissed off tone she had ever used. She put her hands up to her face and dragged them down, taking off most of the blood. She shook her hands in one movement and then lunged at him.

​

 

[poppet]

Words she didn't understand, the smell of a place she couldn't recall and the feeling of a place that wasn't her bed, caused Eleanor to stirr. As she cracked her dull, currently grey, eyes open, the ceiling of the room came slowly into focus. She blinked a couple of times, shaking off a funk that something was seriously wrong. But wasn't it? As she turned her head to the side to see that someone she recognized was sitting in the room, she hurt in places that reminded her painfully of the evening events.


She watched the pale haired man for a brief moment, before deciding that she'd sit up. Eleanor was no longer feeling out-of-body. She was feeling very in it. And it ached. Her shoulders that were bruised from that woman's grip and from the wall of the alley, and the holes in her neck that were very present with every slight turn of her head, reminded her at least, that she hadn't been killed. Eleanor may have been very viciously attacked by a.... person, with fangs.... but she had survived. She still couldn't bring herself to even think of the word, of what beings who lived off of human blood by the darkness of night were called. It still seemed too unreal. Ridiculous almost, to think of.


As she sat, she reached up to hold onto her forehead. In that moment, she found herself dizzy again, though she would recover. The loss of blood would cause that afterall. She looked to the other, the one who'd saved her life. He was one of them, too. She wasn't entirely sure how to talk to him, how to thank him. Why was he here now? And where were they? Grey eyes looked around the room inquisitively. "Where are we?" she asked, voice barely above a whisper, as if they were sharing some secret.

 

[Shnuydude]

Damian held out his hand and his eyes glowed red. "Not kidding, quite serious actually" When she lunged she had a slight red outline around her. He used his telekinesis and swung his arm to the left, this should fling her towards the wall of the nearest building, but only with enough force to bruise since he didn't want anyone seriously injured. He wondered why he even had to fight for there to be any form of peace between vampires and humans. Vampires can survive on donated blood so he sees no reason why they need to keep feeding on the humans.

 

[Kry]

Alistair's eyes were on the girl when she made the first movement, and he watched her as she slowly came to. Those grey-blue eyes continued to watch her as she looked around and moved about very slightly. No doubt she was in pain and dizzy, weak from blood loss. The perfect prey, and he was not sure how safe Zamani's house would be. He was quiet, patiently watching the girl until she looked at him and spoke first.


A hint of a smile touched his lips, and he shrugged the slightest bit. "Safe, in the house of an acquaintance." His tone was reassuring and soft, almost a whisper to match hers. "I will not allow anyone to harm you while you are within my presence." Meaning that once he did leave her, she would be on her own again. "Rest for now." His gaze drifted from her, to Kasimir, the blonde was standing just barely in the doorway to this room, and so Alistair could partially see him. This shift in his attention was to indicate that he was done talking to the girl, that she should indeed just lay there and rest. However if she did continue to speak, Alistair would converse with her.

 

[GoodJobDino]

Closing the gap between herself and the alleged red headed vampire, Victoria raised the knife and prepared for a grappling attack. She wanted proof and information before she dared to go for a kill. As Mark gained a sense of his predicament, Victoria couldn't help but feel his look indicate that perhaps he felt threatened by Victoria as well. That is at least until the shock hit his eyes, as though he began realizing the red head was a vampire as well. "A vampire against two hunters. Or at least one hunter and a maniac. This would be a good night inde-" her thoughts even, were halted by the sudden disappearance and reappearance of the still shadowed figure. As he seemed to teleport into view, she finally got a good look at the dark haired... "thing?". Even though she had only been hunting for over half a year, she had expected to have seen all of the vampires various strengths and weaknesses.


She stopped her advance and assessed the situation, as the teleporting man purposely splashed a blood packet in the girl's face. "He had a blood packet, he is a vampire.." Hesitation set in, what was once a daring plan of attack and triumph had turned into an almost inconceivable situation. Despite her experience with the other worldly vampire, actual... magic was a whole new monster. She looked around, still watching for guards. She was going to steady herself again, until the red headed vampire began lunging at the man.


"Screw this." She blurted out to herself. She ran to the shadows, and decided to stick to them all the way to The Fanged Lady. As she started off she let out a, "Good luck Mark! See you later!" and without looking back, hoped she would see the hunter again. Alive.

 

[Fenris]

Mark managed to fall back without injury which was unexpected, but nowhere near as surprising as a teleporting vampire. The dark haired strangers intervention caused a momentary lull, allowing Victoria to slip away unscathed. Her parting words only further confused the blond, leaving him seriously wondering where his allegiances were in this conflict.


Unsure about that very fact meant his situation had hardly improved. The dark haired man remained a dangerous enigma and the red head a furious but cunning opponent. Truth be told he probably preferred his chances with the red fury, better the devil you know and all that. Despite believing in making the best of what one had, Markus found himself desperatley wishing for some heavier ordnance.


If he had more time the hunter might have asked the dark haired man one of a hundred questions floating through his head. With the guards closing in, adrenalin surging through his veins and a very angry vampire looking for blood Mark chose too aim silver-tipped bullets instead of questions at him. The darn things were too expensive to pepper the area, so he simply squeezed off a pair of shots to cover his hasty retreat.


With any luck the adjacent alley would offer an escape or at least some advantage. Knife still clutched defensively he ducked into the questionable security of a brick canyon, half expecting another dangerous foe to be laying in wait. This wasn't his night! "Fraggin crazy... the hell's wrong with them tonight?" Mark muttered to himself; maybe he should have just stuck to the Catacombs, at least the vampires down their acted according to expectations.

 

[poppet]

She didn't say anything for a moment after he suggested that Eleanor get some rest. Then her eyebrows drew together lightly in thought. "Why?" she wanted to know. It was a rounded question. Mostly she wanted to know why he was here watching over her. Why he'd saved her at all. But also, why this happened to her. To anyone. Was she going to become one of them? Was that how it worked? The thought of having to drink blood made her nauseous. Were these people the reason why curfew had been enforced? They were obviously quite dangerous. So why was she trusting this one? Maybe she didn't really. After all, Eleanor rarely actually trusted anyone. She was pretty sure everyone was only out for self gain anyway. What would make these 'creatures' any different?


Carefully, she reached up to brush her fingers over the place where she'd been bitten. How was this not something that more people knew about? Did people not generally survive to tell about it? Certainly there had been survivors that had told. She couldn't be the first. Could she?


(Sorry, would have been longer but I've been so busy that this took 3 hours! Lol and I'm headed out the door now!)

 

[Guilded Clover]

Zamani studied the werewolf. She seemed to want to take the vial, but the look in her eyes begged to differ. The witch gingerly placed the serum into the girl's hands. "Just be careful. This potion was made by skilled hands; something like this can hurt more than transforming, as I'm told." With that, she strolled into the main room where the others were.


"I like to collect things, it makes me seem more travelled." She reciprocated the smile. A feeling of nostalgia passed over her as she remembered the places she had gotten those books and artifacts from. "You can try to read any of the books on the shelf if you want. We might be here a while." That's when the human girl woke up. She moved to the other side of the couch, the smile fading into more sympathetic concern. She kept quiet while Hiro spoke, when he ended, she opened up. "Would you like some tea or anything else? You don't have to have anything at the moment if you don't want it."

 

[GoodJobDino]

It was a minute or two before Victoria stopped to look back. She gave herself what she hoped was enough time and space between herself and the insanity she had just encountered. Now, in the gloom of an alley, she calmed her breathing, and listened carefully.


Kneeling down, she sheathed the knife again. The fine silver slipping easy into its leather holding. Once she finished closing her coat again, she removed the flashlight, turning it on, and illuminating the stone beneath her feet. A warm sigh of relief clouded the cooling air in front of her. "No sign of the trash" she thought before standing and moving to the other end of the alley. Gazing down the street, a lone street lamp shown nearby. "And there's my lady" she whispered aloud.


Her head twisted back and forth a couple times, paying careful attention to not just what she could see, but hear as well. And once she was sure she was alone, Victoria fixed the red scarf around her neck and moved toward the light. And just beyond the ray of its light, lie her destination. An old building, light creeping around the cracks of the blinds in the window. Above the solid door hung a sign, "The Fanged Lady" with smaller words inscribed beneath it, "Eat, drink, be merry" she turned the handle and entered the empty establishment. Music droning quietly from the corner juke box, and a lone bald, built man behind the bar. He never looked up at her, as he turned to grab a clean glass, and started a tap above it.


"Rough night?" He muttered to her. His voice was deep, smooth, and tone was sincere.


Victoria pulled out a stool in front of him, and sat, swinging her leg around to mount it. "You have no idea."

 

[Still Crazy]

Rowan lunged at him, to no avail. In fact, she found herself flying through the air. "WHAT THE F-" She was cut off by her body colliding into a brick wall. It wasn't hard enough to break her back, but the force was enough to knock the breath out of her. Rowan tucked her arms to her side before she slid to the ground, trying to keep them from getting fractured or broken even. She groaned, pushed herself up into a sitting position. As she leaned on the wall she finished her sentence "Fuck" she muttered slightly. The black haired vampire, that she had tried to get killed was much stronger then she had originally thought. Rowan had heard stories of the first vampire, he would have these powers that no one else had. The Original Vampire is what the called him, and she seemed to have stumbled upon him. What a lucky night...

​

 

[Shnuydude]

Damian teleported right in front of Rowen and looked down at her, he sniffed the air and found that he could still smell the delectable aroma of then blood of whoever she had fed on. He knelt down "that smell" He paused "is whoever you fed on still alive? If so I'd like to know where you left them"


The smell of that blood was a bit much for him, he hasn't wanted something that bad before, he needed to find this person. His mouth was watering, that was bad.

 

[Kry]

Kasimir knew when he was being brushed off, and Zamani had definitely brushed him off, she had basically told him to go read something. The German looked at the books with a frown and merely shrugged. Kasimir had no interest in books, but Alistair might if they were really old. "I'm well traveled and I don't have this many things." The words were mumbled a bit softly, though if he had a permanent residence he imagined it would be full to the brim with various things. His fingers were twitching again, and he began to casually wander about Zamani's home, those sharp green eyes drifting over the trinkets and what-nots that were within eyesight, sometimes that gaze was a rather lingering one. Still he knew better than to try and steal something from this woman, he was a guest in her house, it would be much different though if he had just happened to wander in an accidentally left open window. For now he would only look at everything and take nothing.


Zamani entered the room, and Alistair watched her for a few moments. When the injured girl asked 'why?' he returned his attention to her. That single word seemed to hold many questions within it, and for a long few moments Alistair was silent. It was a thoughtful silence, but he broke it soon enough to answer her myriad of questions that had been asked with a single word. "It is the way things are, you had luck on your side this night. Luck runs out though, so be wary." That answer though seemed more like an aversion to an answer. He glanced at Zamani. "Sugar will help her body regenerate the lost blood quicker. The sooner she eats and drinks something the quicker her body will recover."

 

[poppet]

When the woman entered, Eleanor thought she vaguely remembered her. Yes, she was on the street with the others. With the blonde, the pale haired man, and... there had been someone else. Her eyebrows drew together as she recalled, the "wolf". For a brief moment, Ellie's eyes searched for the girl, but quickly her attention turned back to Zamani. She was offering tea. So this was the "acquaintance", it was her home. Any other time, Eleanor would have realized that she liked the home. But her mind was preoccupied.


In a simple reply, she nodded. "Tea is fine, thank you." It was obvious her mind was elsewhere. She didn't even hear Alistair suggest sugar or food. She was too busy mulling over his previous statement, and she couldn't say she was all too happy with his response. Finally though, she sighed. Her head and her body hurt, and while she had more questions, she wasn't sure he was going to answer any of them. Perhaps she would have better luck with the woman, when she returned with tea.


Luck. The word rolled around in her aching head. Could the events of the evening really have been considered lucky? Probably not. Her luck lay in the silver haired man. "Thank you," she said almost suddenly, realizing she'd yet to show her appreciation. If not for him, her luck would have run out by now, wouldn't it have? Why was he different from the others though? Eleanor could only assume that, like humans, these beings had a mixture of personalities. The entire group of them couldn't be judged based upon the actions of only some. There would be good, bad, and everything in between. Right?


Eleanor had leaned her back against the couch, but now she sat up quickly with a gasp. "My books!" she said frantically, looking around the couch desperately. She looked under the blanket and around at any surface she could see. While she carried them with her always, they were very personal and private. The book she referred to, was her journal. And the art pad, held her life, hopes, dreams, fears and everything in between, in the form of arts. Neither of them were things she'd ever allow anyone else to see, ever. And she had some things to add to each by now.

 

[Baconhands]

Serum in hand, Fia nodded as a sign of thanks towards the witch before she left. The woman had stated that it could hurt more than transforming; Fia already knew that. It wasn't her first time drinking it, she'd found the recipe for it not too long ago and ever since she had been taking it once a month, every full moon.The werewolf didn't want to respond to her, however, and, fortunately, the witch had gone into the other room with the two vampires and the human. The human was apparently awake, and the pureblood was answering her questions as the witch went to go and get the girl a hot drink.


Fia took a moment before she entered the room, tilting her head curiously as she studied the "seer". She seemed to be in a bit of a panic, shouting out about her books. Fia rolled her eyes; she had forgotten what it was like to worry about something so material. The blonde man had wandered off, but Fia barely noticed, moving to sit next to the human woman. Taking a glance at the pureblood, Fia placed the serum next to her before she sat back, listening to the pureblood and the seer.

 

[Fenris]

His heartbeat hammered loud enough, he imagined it could resonate off of the brick walls. Still Markus hands were steady as he scanned the alley and nearby rooftops, but it seemed like the vampires had given up the chase. A mixture of relief and regret welled up inside of him. Leaving something so dangerous out on the prowl was hardly an option, but facing off against such abilities without preparation would be suicidal. “A troublesome night...” the hunter muttered, turning from the alley into a better lit street. Quick strides taking him back toward his residence as he mulled the problem.

 

[Still Crazy]

As Rowan looked up at him, she grimaced. He asked her about the girl that she had fed off of earlier that night. Her frown turned into a smile, a smile that showed her feisty side. "Like I would tell you" She said in a challenging voice. She grunted as she pushed her body up from the ground, using the wall to support her. Her body ached, but for some reason she was wanting to pick a fight with this 'Original Vampire'. It could have been the parts of her mind that was slowly deteriorating, or maybe she just wanted to know if she could take him down. She tried to dig the smile of her smirk into his mind, so he would get angry enough to try and fight her.

​