[Closed] An Uneasy Domain

[Lucyfer]

“It’s just some ghost stories,” a man with shaggy brunette hair said as he slammed the door to the car, earning a fierce glare from his red-headed companion. He ignored it, walking on around the Bentley and to the broken up sidewalk, black boots making no sound when they touched the concrete. “There’s always been stories about this place, even before it shut down.”


The red-head followed after the jean-clad man, heels clicking up the path towards the abandoned building, “Don’t you remember what happened in Kansas?” She asked him, hands moving to rest behind her back. “Menninger’s?” The question caused a sigh to escape his lips. The cold air froze his breath, but neither of them seemed effected by the cold. In fact, the woman was wearing a black dress that only fell to her knees, and a light jacket. The man wore just jeans and a band t-shirt, Judas Priest.


“Yeah, yeah, but that doesn’t mean every abandoned clinic has a ghost in it, and it doesn’t mean we have to take care of it, either. We could have sent some underlings.”


The woman laughed a bit at her complaining friend as his hands grasped the chain around the gate. With one pull, he broke it, and opened the gate for the two of them. “I’ve built my reputation as someone that does things, Dane. You’ll remember that,” she passed him by to the door of the actual clinic, “when you recall that you own a piece of shit Nissan.”


He scowled at her back, “Don’t tempt me.”


“Break my car and I’ll break you.” The door was unlocked, and so she was able to pull it open. He followed after her, and they both took in the lobby-room, half a century old, or perhaps even older. The floors were linoleum, though coming apart. There was a PA system right at the front, as well as a desk with a computer. In all directions, there was a path for them to take towards the rooms that once held patients.


Dane took a coin from one of his pockets and asked, “Heads or tails?”


The woman crossed her arms and considered for a few moments, then nodded, “Heads.” And he flipped it. His brown eyes watched it move through the air, and with practiced ease, he caught it.


Tails. The woman snapped her fingers in dissatisfaction and he gestured with his head to the left. “This way first then,” and he took a turn down that path. The woman followed, listening, much as her companion was, for anything unusual. They’d seach the first room they came to, and all the others after that, though they both knew it wouldn’t come to that.


Something would catch their attention and put them on the right path. Even if Dane didn’t want to admit it, he got a bad feeling about this place.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja had only just woken up, still very thoroughly confused about her entire situation, and looked ruffled since she had once again slept in her clothes that she was wearing last night.


She didn't know why, but she was pretty much out cold as soon as the sun started to rise, and she always ended up in some of the darkest places inside the old abandoned asylum she had taken residence in.


Sonja had taken hold of the place a couple nights ago. She had woken up inside the old walls of the asylum, completely confused but holding some very hazy memories of being attacked while she was on her dusk walk.


It took her ages to find her way out of the old building on her first night, and by the time she did it was about sunrise. That was when she learned that the sun was no longer her friend.


Along with being hungry, without actually being hungry for food. Though the hunger issue didn't pop up till she woke up, it was still pressing, and Sonja went loose on some animals when she tried being outside during the night.


She regretted that, since she loved animals, and those strays didn't needed to be eaten. Though Sonja accepted the fact that she definitely wasn't looking for normal food, and that she certainly wasn't human by any means anymore.


Currently though, Sonja was trying to wake herself up. The hunger that was an almost constant throb in her insides made her feel sick, and the headache she had wasn't helping. The old asylum walls, the wallpaper peeling slightly, still didn't compute as home in her mind, and really they weren't, but she had been living in there for a few days now.


She got up, groaning a little as the world went hazy and the nausea spiked up. She made her way outside the room she was in, into the hallway, just in case she did start to puke.


She really needed food, hunger was the main point her body was trying to get across at the moment, but the protesting it was doing just left her groaning in pain.

 

[Lucyfer]

The sound of steps caused Dane to pause first, and following his head, Velia came to a stop. She watched him for any sign of what it was he heard. Velia knew better than to ask aloud, lest they be overheard by something dangerous, so she waited.


Eventually, Dane turned right back around and passed her, going back to the lobby and then into the right corridor. Velia followed him, a hand reaching back to touch an object that none could see. Velia didn’t go many places without her sword. Sure, she knew how to use modern weapons, but she’d found swords to be much more efficient given how easily they made vampires bleed—and blood was their life.


They could both hear the groan. Dane’s direction became apparent as they rounded the corner to see a woman in disarray.


Velia stepped to be at Dane’s side and she cast him a glance. He rolled his eyes, knowing Velia would want to talk first. It had not always ended well for them, but he’d allow it. He gave a nod.


Velia spoke up, “Excuse me,” she still stood a few meters away from the woman. “Are you all right?” She certainly didn’t look, or sound, all right. Velia wanted to be certain she could even talk, though. Usually if they didn’t, or couldn’t, that meant there was a much bigger problem at hand.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja looked up when she heard a woman's voice talking to her, and her world tipped in several different directions before it stabilised enough.


She coughed, intending to reply but opening her mouth just wanted to make her throw up, but she kept it down so she could talk back to the hazy woman, who at this point could have been a ghost for all Sonja could know.


"Hun...Hungry. I'm so hungry."


The stomach pains reared their head again after she spoke, it was almost like her stomach was eating itself. Sonja couldn't really understand it, but she knew that it wasn't normal food she was after. The memories of drinking dry those stray dogs the other night popped up in her head, and if she could look at herself she would probably see some of their dried blood on her shirt, though the colour did blend well with the blood.

 

[Lucyfer]

Hungry. “Don’t,” Dane cautioned. He was the one to step forward. “Come with us,” he said, making a gesture but not getting close enough to touch. If she was starved, she might try to feast from either of them. His own vision allowed him to see the wavering, erratic aura around the woman, something he knew his companion could not see. “We’ll help you find some food, and then we’ll talk.”


Velia nodded, and asked, “Do you have a preference?” Often, vampires did, be it for moral reason or taste reason. Both she and Dane preferred to drink from other vampires, though that was an expensive and dangerous habit. Humans were acceptable. Neither Dane nor Velia would ever consider animals again. It didn’t provide either of them with any nutrition, anyway.


They were much too old for that.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja had to give herself a minute before she replied, mainly because the pain of her stomach was a little overpowering and talking wasn't possible, but the minute also gave her a moment to think.


She had no clue about these people, the offer of food and help was very nice, but how was Sonja going to say she needed blood and not a hamburger? And the longer these people were near her Sonja started to consider them as her next meal, which sickened her on a more moral ground than anything.


She wasn't going to eat them, they were trying to help her, Sonja refused her body's own inclines of what and wasn't food. But she was going to take a risk of sounding crazy to them, maybe latter she could excuse it on being very hungry.


"Dogs, rats, anything please."

 

[Lucyfer]

Animals. She was either young or moral. Velia cast a look towards Dane, and he still shook his head. The aura was erratic, it was not safe for the woman to approach at all. “Do you have any with you?” Velia asked aloud.


“No, I just have our preferences,” Dane tended to bring along blood bags, packed away in his jacket. They weren’t animal, though. He motioned again to the woman and he stepped back, “Come with us,” he said again, “We’re going to have to hunt them down.” And he put a hand by his ear to try and activate his higher sense of hearing.


His higher senses played into a lot of things, from auras to hearing, to even hearing thoughts, which he knew better than to do right at that moment. Velia had caught him a few times, reading her thoughts, and had been none too pleased. “I hear a few things downstairs,” he said as an offer of direction. Velia also took a few steps back to indicate her willingness to go along with Dane.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja had stopped listening to the woman and man, mainly because they were talking to each other and not her, and the obvious reason of trying to stay in control while in so much pain.


She had no clue as to what was going on with herself, other than the fact that she desperately needed blood. Though while in pain and going through a personal dialogue inside of her head to try and make herself easier to deal with for the nice people helping her out, Sonja noticed them leaving.


"Wait, where are you going?"

 

[Lucyfer]

It seemed the hunger was making it difficult for the vampire to pay attention. Velia answered the question, “We’re going down to the basement. There should be some creatures there for you to eat,” she informed her.


Dane gave a nod, agreeing with what Velia had to say, “I can hear some movement down there that doesn’t sound too heavy. Rats, I think,” he offered, hoping that would convince the woman to follow them. If it didn’t, he wasn’t sure what was to be done. They couldn’t leave her. She’d become a danger to them as they looked about the place, if she didn’t eat. Yet, dragging her to get food was not high on his list.


Nor was letting her drink from Velia, even if Velia might want to encourage that sort of behavior. She liked the idea of blood slaves far too much.

 

[Detective Rascal]

"Oh... okay... Just let, let me get up."


Sonja unwrapped her arms from her stomach, and slowly lifted herself off the floor. She used the wall as her support, and she did have tiny slips on the ground as she got up, but she was weak and her energy was pretty much non-existent at this point.


She had her back to the wall, and looked up at the two people helping her out. Sonja could talk for just the moment, but did nod her head at the two of them to signal that fact that she was ready to follow them.

 

[Lucyfer]

Dane and Velia waited for her to get up and prepare herself for movement. Dane glanced at Velia and cocked an eyebrow, a question that didn’t need vocalization being asked. With a sigh, she nodded her consent.


Immediately, Dane’s voice entered her head. He had gotten so good at heightening his senses, that he was now able to tap into the telepathic network, as he was sensitive to the wavelength that thoughts traveled on. ‘Lead the way, I’ll direct you and alert you to any dangers.’ He was better at seeing in the dark. ‘I’d like to stay between you and the woman. Just in case.’ He was hopeful that the woman had it together enough not to attack either of them, but he didn’t want to run the risk.


Velia gave another nod to show her understanding. She walked ahead of Dane, and Dane gave a motion to the woman with the pixie-cut hair. He offered a smile as he introduced himself, “I’m Dane, by the way,” he said and then motioned ahead, “That’s Velia.” They hit the stairs that led down. Dane saw the way Velia tensed, no doubt recalling how something bad almost always happened in basements, but she walked on after that.


In the basement, there were indeed rats roaming about, but that wasn’t the first thing that Velia snatched. Where there were rats, there were cats, and there was a rather large tomcat stalking its prey.


Velia held it out to the young woman, “Here,” she offered.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja didn't respond to them as the man, Dane, introduced himself and the woman to her. She was trying to maintain the composure and strength she had gathered up already, and also kept herself in check so to not jump the two of them. Her body wanted to jump and bite into Dane as he walked in front of her, the momentum of already being up and moving urged her to do just that, but it took all of her will power to not follow her body's urges.


Sonja staggered down the steps, following the pair down into the basement. She could hear all the rats scurrying around, and when Sonja did get down the steps, Velia was holding up a cat for her.


Sonja didn't care about anything as she grabbed the cat and sank her teeth into the warm body, mouth being full with fur before blood started to seep down her throat. Though Sonja let go of the cat from her death grip for just a second, only to cough and gag out all of the fur in her mouth, and the stuff that went her throat, before going back to the animal.


She took great gulps, tearing into the poor things flesh a little in order to get more blood into her, and the fur didn't concern her as much as she gulped it down.

 

[Lucyfer]

The woman’s reaction to the cat was as expected, and Velia gave a satisfied nod. Dane merely watched the aura for any indication that the hunger craze was dying down. Neither seemed all that upset over the destruction of the cat.


Velia did wonder, though. ‘How old are you?’ For the woman made quite the mess in eating, and certainly ingested quite a bit of fur. Had no one taught her how to feed appropriately? All this tearing was really unnecessary.


When the cat was finally disposed of, Velia asked, “Better?” with a cant of her head. Dane offered no insight into whether or not the woman was actually doing better.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja made a noise, something that sounded like a yes, and nodded towards Velia. Sonja did feel almost 100% better, she could feel the pain ebbing away and somehow she knew that her eyes held that 'alive' spark once again, and even though she was slightly covered in blood from the cat and it's fur had probably gotten into her stomach, Sonja felt very good.


Of course, now she had a dead cat in her hands. Sonja was more of a dog person really, but still the life of an animal was on her hands, and Sonja slowly kneeled down to place the poor dead cat on the ground gently.

 

[Lucyfer]

“Good,” Velia said, pleased that the matter of this hunger was over. “I don’t suppose you know the name of your sire, do you?”


“Velia, we don’t even know her name,” Dane reminded.


Velia shook her head, “That isn’t as important right now,” she noted. To her, it was not. The one who sired her was much more important, because whoever it was, they had left their childe to die of hunger. It was someone who was a part of this domain, Velia would see that justice was done. All people who thought to sire another needed to remember that siring came with its consequences. One of those consequences was responsibility to the childe, until it was old enough to manage on its own.


A sire was, for all intents and purposes, a parent.

 

[Detective Rascal]

"No..."


Sonja's voice was a little bit gurgly, from the blood that was still coating her throat deliciously, but Sonja did notice it and coughed to get rid of the sound from her voice. She didn't like her voice sounding like that when she talked, it irked her slightly since she had the dead cat laying at her feet.


"No, I woke up in here a couple days ago."


Sonja hoped that it was enough information to help out Velia, since it seemed as though she needed to know, but Sonja didn't know about who attacked her.

 

[Lucyfer]

‘Great.’ Velia was not at all impressed by this information, though she tried to keep her anger from the unknown woman in front of her. There was on description, and from the looks of it, this woman barely understood what she was.


She was also, likely, from around here. “Have you contacted your family or friends?” Dane also came to that conclusion. He looked to Velia. “Come on,” he motioned back up.


She crossed her arms. “We can come back here later, this is more important,” he was going to make that call. If there was something haunted about this place, he was not going to have a neonate’s blood on his hands, too. That was just terribly wrong.


Velia let out a sigh, but then stole passed the woman and Dane in a huff. She had wanted to do this job, that night. She did not appreciate this change of plans at all, even if Dane was correct. They had a duty to help this neonate get on her feet, and around others.

 

[Detective Rascal]

Sonja had watched as Velia and Dane seemed to have a little tiff, or at least Sonja would have called it that. She didn't know what exactly they were on about, but Velia just storming out from the basement seemed like typical tiff behaviour.


Though Sonja did look towards Dane, mainly because he was the only one to talk too, and he probably wanted to know the same answers Velia did.


"My name is Sonja by the way. And ah, I didn't go near anyone I knew, or just anyone in general. I didn't want anyone to get hurt."


She let herself show a sheepish smile, more or less trying to make Dane feel a little bit better about the tiff, and to show that she was actually better from the feed.

 

[Lucyfer]

Dane did smile as Sonja introduced herself, and he motioned for her to follow him up and out, the way that Velia had gone. “That’s good,” he said, “We’ll have to talk about what you would like to do in order to ease your family’s suffering, but we can do that when you’ve gotten a grasp on what you are now.”


He suspect it was obvious, but just in case, he said, “You’re a vampire now, like myself and Velia. You’re lucky we came by here,” though he wasn’t sure if it was good news for her. As he walked up the stairs, he explained, “We came by here because there have been some…rumors of supernatural activity. Not vampire activity,” he added quickly, so that she wouldn’t think she’d drawn attention to herself. “Did you notice anything strange while you were here?”


This was probably already a lot to digest, since she had no one to tell her what she was or explain what had happened. He didn’t know how she’d react.


Even so, he made it to the exit of the asylum, and motioned towards the car that Velia was already in. She was in the driver's seat. She didn't trust him with her precious Bentley.