Possessed [Closed]

[Lucyfer]

Lucia Valerius Ambusta sat outside the Starbucks that night, legs up on a chair off to her side, and body positioned so she could see the familiar man, Julian, before her. They both came from the same area, but they were centuries apart. “I’ll see if anyone here can find Stephanos, Julian,” she said. Stephanos was a mutual friend, albeit a Greek. “Though wasn’t he in Russia?” It was difficult keeping track of all the old vampires.


Julian gave a nod, sipped at the beverage that the Starbucks cup so wonderfully hid. “Yes, and he still should be, but I cannot get in touch with him at all.” Julian set the cup down, “It’s a serious matter, or I wouldn’t disturb you with it, but his childe just…I don’t understand it.”


“Repeat it,” Lucia said, brushing a bit of corkscrewed blonde hair from her face so she could watch him better.


Julian shook his head, “He said that his name was Benny,” which was not, in fact, the name of Stephanos’s childe. “He tried to kill me. I had no choice,” it was part of why Julian was so fidgety. He had committed a crime in the eyes of all vampires by killing another without due process.


Times had changed. Senseless slaughter was no longer permitted. “I understand it was self-defense,” Lucia told him. Watching the man through her eyes gave her no indication that he was lying. It was just so strange. “We will figure things out, Julian. You should return to your hotel,” he was not staying in America. He preferred Great Britain nowadays.


Julian looked a bit confused at the order, and she smiled, “I do have a few business matters to tend to, and I’d rather do them in the privacy of my office. I’ll put out a message about this, see if Mikael ever referred to himself as Benny before, and what the last known interactions with him were. Perhaps there’s an explanation for his snap in sanity.”


It was something they all hoped for. Vampires did snap, this was not unknown, but snapping to the degree of adopting another persona was rare. Not all vampires could handle age well. Most tended to die out around the 300-500 year mark because of that issue. They thought themselves immortal, and got in over their heads with hunters, or did some other foolish things.


“All right,” Julian started to rise.


“Also, I shall be calling Reginald.” His back straightened quickly, and he looked down at the woman harshly. “Just in case you are lying. Do not try to flee this city, Julian.” She could see his fists clench in his shadow, but she did not look up to see him actually do it.


“That is not—”


“It is necessary,” she rose, and calmly took her messenger bag from over the back of her chair, to rest the strap over her shoulder. “I would want you available when I find Stephanos. If you are here, that makes things easier.”


Julian glared at her, but she didn’t flinch under his brown eyes. She held his gaze until he looked away. She didn’t hear what he snapped before he turned away and left the café.


Lucia, also, left the area and started on the trek towards her office. She wasn’t lying, there was business to tend to.


What Lucia didn’t notice was that another man in the area had been watching her. Dustin Finson saw when she moved and he let out a breath, “Finally,” he said under it, then quickly sat up straight and stood. Matthew, his companion in hunting, was not with him. He was nearby, of course, but Dustin had an advantage that Matthew didn’t have—no ghost.


Some vampires had grown sensitive to the presence of the supernatural. Dustin could catch them off guard by not having that disadvantage.


He did give a look around, though, trying to see if he could locate just where Matthew was. ‘Come on, get it together. He’s around.’ He was still learning to trust Matthew since they decided on a partnership.


So, he walked after the vampiress, taking note that she didn’t appear armed unless there was something in that messenger bag. ‘Valeria Adair.’ It was how he knew her. ‘No name in history, that name is recent, behind Adair Incorporated.’ Adair Incorporated was the name of her line of hotels, which were all around the world now, known for their luxury accommodations. Adair was starting to go into other industries as well, and had already started putting out a line of clothing.


Valeria was certainly rich, not the standard run-of-the-mill vampire who kept a low profile. It only made Dustin suspect the worst of her private hobbies.


They came to an office building, and she slid a card through the reader. The building itself looked pretty empty, though that was to be expected at this hour.


‘Now or never.’ She opened the door as the slider acknowledged her. “Miss Adair?”


She looked up, towards him. He acted relieved, “Oh, thank goodness it’s you. I’m here on behalf of the Hyatt,” he lied smoothly. He had adapted his attire to the role, wearing a business suit. He didn’t like it, but he thought it would help. In the peacoat jacket, he was able to hide a stake. “My boss thought I might catch you at this hour.”


“And who would that be?”


‘Well…shoot.’ He hadn’t thought this completely through.

 

[Oort]

Stay distant, stay hidden. Watch from afar and wait for an opportunity. In the dead of night; hiding spots and opportunities were in ample supply. Moonlight blared down on the streets and mixed with the street lights well enough to make the darkness seem like the middle of the day, and made it impossible to hide in plain sight. Luckily, across the cheap coffee shop, stood a cheaper, twenty four hour cafe, with free Wi-Fi: a student trap. Interestingly, no students. No anyone. Only a single, lonely barista, cleaning the already clean desk over and over again. Desperate for overtime, it seems. How long was it before she started cleaning the paint off?


A single customer sat in the front of the restaurant, eyes fixed on two customers in the shop opposite. He did have a cup of coffee sitting in front of him, but it had only been touched once, then left to go cold. He couldn't get close to the customers in the other shop. They'd know what he was instantly, what he had with him. In him.


She was uneasy, she didn't like waiting around for things to unfold when she had no control over the situation. She shuffled in her chair, itching to move. If it were up to her, they would be marching over there, dragging those vampire beasts out from their chairs and running a stake through their hearts before they could say "We haven't paid yet". Then, she would be cheered by the barista and given a free drink. Her time was much simpler than this one. A small, solitary fly buzzed around the area and flew through her head. Still annoying, even after all this time.


The vampires started moving. Finally. Dustin followed the woman away from the shop and to wherever she was going. Probably to her hotel he thought. As if she had read his thoughts - which could be possible, he wasn't certain of the ins and outs of how much she got to know about him - Elizabeth pricked up and leaned forward, watching the prey closely.


"She has an office nearby, she may go there. Try getting there ahead of time," she suggested.


"How do you know that?" He muttered quietly enough to not be heard by anyone but Elizabeth.


"Well, while you fell asleep in front of your..."


"Laptop."


"Yes, research device. While you fell asleep in front of that, I read what you were supposed to."


"You can do that?"


"Apparently so." With a shrug, he followed her advice and left the cafe. As he did so, she disappeared from his vision.


The office was to the right, and that's where they heading. Unsurprisingly, she had taken the fastest route to the office. He could definitely get there faster, unfortunately, it involved running. Despite having to run a bit, Matthew still got there before them without looking like he had been running too much. He waited in the corner for the other two to show up.


When they appeared, Dustin followed his story smoothly, even going so far as to dress for the occasion. He, however, had not. He wore a long, dark coat and equally dark trousers. He didn't have to dress for a part, or so he thiught. But, when she caught him out on something that he wasn't prepared for, he had to step in.


"Evening," he said, stepping closer, "his boss would be me." As the words came out of his mouth, he quickly realised how dumb this idea was.


"She will sense me and then she will kill you; this was a bad idea," Elizabeth commented, stating the obvious.

 

[Lucyfer]

As soon as the other man spoke, Lucia felt the undercurrents of something supernatural present. She turned her head to take in the one being ridden with his lame line.


Lucia didn’t see the way Dustin’s nose wrinkled, or the protest written on his expression about Matthew being the boss. “Ah, I see. I’m afraid you’ve gone into the wrong line of business.” She let the strap on her shoulder slip down her arm and into her hand. She laid it on the ground behind the glass door and stepped away from it, letting it close.


She was not having her laptop destroyed.


Dustin understood the game was up by that action, and he reached into his coat to grab his stake. Unfortunately for him, Lucia noticed the quick movement. “What are you doing?” It was a trick to get him to lift his gaze to hers. As soon as their eyes locked, he found it difficult to tear his gaze away. “Put the stake down.”


There was another reason Lucia did so well in business. She cheated. Americans were all about eye contact in conversation, which was unfortunate. Most humans found it difficult to resist her commands, and Dustin was no exception—he had no ghostly aid. Though he shook, fully aware that he was being pushed to act against his will, he still found himself starting to kneel to set the stake on the ground.


Lucia then spoke to the other, “Can’t we talk about this?” She was adjusting the tone of her voice as she spoke, though it was subtle. The right tone was near her regular speaking tone, after all, “I really would rather not kill the both of you right now. I have a meeting to attend with a client who’s awake in Japan.” Ah, there it was.


Her words would prove her a liar, if Matthew was able to understand what she was doing. Lucia’s voice hit the right tone, and with each syllable, she was lashing out at him. Each one should manifest like the strike of a barbed whip, if his ghost was not able to protect the hunter from that influence. She knew it could be difficult to wear down a ghost’s protection at times.

 

[Oort]

As it seemed, Matthew's frankly incredible act of being boss hadn't passed for the vampire; it had failed to impress dustin, it seemed.


"Yes, I must say this boss business isn't quite right for me," he muttered, watching her closely. He did nothing when she put her bag down, when she was exposed, which, frankly was dumb. Of course, this was still a public place, attacking her now would be crazy.


Dustin was already making the move to strike the attack with a stake, but, somehow, the vampire's words made him drop his weapon. She was one of those vampires with the ability to bend people's wills with her words. He had heard of those. Or had Elizabeth heard of those? It was becoming increasingly difficult to remember which was which.


Then she turned her powers to him. Asking to talk about it, how impertinent of her, how on earth did she expect that to work?


"No you're going to-" he started with the snide remark, but found the salty kicker consisted mostly of him making random noises of pain. Her voice had no intention of manipulating him, it had the intention to hurt him. Once, Elizabeth had claimed her powers formed a protective barrier against these sorts of attacks for him and that he could shrug them off like they were nothing, but, as he writhed in pain, he decided she was either kying, or too bysy examining some dust to care much about his situation.


This wasn't going good, the vampire had them around her fingers, she was probably going to end them in a moment and there was nothing he could do about it. This was the end.


"A little help, please," he groaned through gritted teeth, not caring in the slightest he was directly addressing Elizabeth. It was never a good idea to directly address someone whom only you can hear the reply of, mostly out of courtesy. But still, the ghost realised she was required and took to assessing the situation. She couldn't interfere directly with any form of touch, it was impossible, but she had been forced to put up with a "horror film" Matthew once watched in which the ghost, when walking through someone, gave them the chills. Only then, did she consider that "the chills" probably wouldn't stop a vampire in its tracks in the least bit. With a heavy hearted sigh, she positioned herself between the vampire and Matthew and did what all ghosts had to do to stop the pain hitting who they were bound to: take it themselves. In an instant, she was doubled over, howling pain into the void for only Matthew to hear, and he was standing upright once more, attempting to brush off the pains that lingered. He needn't defeat her in one foul sweep to save Elizabeth from the torture, he only needed to distract her. He hoped. Perhaps he should do his research more often. Without thibkbg, he launched himself at the vampire and went to throw a punch at her face, then remembered what Elizabeth had taught him about fighting and quickly turned that punch into a last minute feign as he instead opted to bring his knee up to the first place it would make contact with, which just happened to be her leg. For a heartbeat, he wanted to turn to see if that had fixed Elizabeth, but, at the same time, he knew taking his eyes away from the vampire, especially when he was that close, was suicide.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia did not survive this long by manipulating hunters. She had a strict rule—all hunters who came to kill her, died. They had decided to forfeit their lives when they came after her. Given, in her early life, she had tried to talk to them. Lucia soon realized how stupid that was. Her manipulations only lasted so long. Hunters always shook it off and remembered their vendetta against her kind.


Her words cut right through to the flesh. And so she continued talking, “You are a novice at this, aren’t you?”


The stake was put on the ground. “Most hunters at least have some idea of what I can do before coming, but you look surprised,” Lucia walked right over to Dustin as the other fought with his pain, and she picked up his stake before he could get his senses together enough to reclaim it. “And you bent to my will so easily.”


The hunter spoke to his ghost, and Lucia commanded Dustin. Her tone shifted. “Stand.” Why lift him up when she could make him come to the right height to jam the stake through his heart?


Dustin knew the order couldn’t be good for him. He tried to resist, but his legs unbent. His back straightened. He stood before her. “Bitch,” he spoke through grated teeth.


“Yes, I’m the bitch for killing people out to kill me,” the derision was heavy.


Before Lucia could bury the stake in the hunter, she saw a blur of movement. A punch was sent at her face, and she moved to dodge it, only to put her leg in a place to get kicked. It hurt, and it made her balance a bit difficult to maintain—damn heels. However, it was a mere annoyance. “You should have—” the tone was back to that of barbed whips, but Dustin reacted. He had been ordered to stand, but not hold still. He reached under the woman’s arms and caught her under them, and pulled her back.


It would have been an open shot at the heart, but Dustin couldn’t hold her. It wasn’t even Lucia’s doing. Dustin was suddenly flung from holding her, and Lucia’s first move was to duck once released.


Stepping onto the sidewalk was the telekinetic vampire Maximus, but Lucia didn’t think that. She could feel what seemed to her to be another hunter entering the game, for the supernatural aura of a ghost was strong—radiant. Abnormal.


Maximus had flung Dustin into the wall, and Dustin groaned in pain as he slid down it. He wasn't out, but he was definitely hurt. The back of his head was bleeding from the harsh contact.

 

[Oort]

Well, things were going well. For a few moments, Dustin had the opportunity to kill the vampire and end this dilemma, but something fast threw him off his feet. As it happened, it hadn't been something fast, but a telekinetic vampire, using its powers to throw him against the wall.


"Have to say, I wish your powers were as cool as that," he muttered at Elizabeth, who was too busy being fascinated by the new vampire.


"Shut up and look at that vampire," she muttered, concern in her voice.


"What about it?" He asked, completely forgetting about the woman. When Elizabeth was concerned, something was definitely amiss.


"Wait no focus on the other vampire, she's still a threat," she commanded, "I'll deal with this."


"How? You can't interact with this world."


"Shut up and fight and stuff."


Maxwell didn't even look over a Dustin, he could have been dying for all he knew, but he was too busy focusing on the vampire. His eyes looked around for the stake to jam into the vampire, but, in his panic, decided he had ran out of time to find it and just ran at the vampire. Probably not a good idea, but hey, it worked last time. He curled his hand into a fist and made an attempt to throw it at her stomach, but, in that moment, he found the stake. In her hand. What an ironic way to be killed: by a vampire with a stake, he thought, as he turned his actual attack to a last minute feign for the second time in less than a few minutes. Both his hands diverged towards the hand with the stake in a desperate attempt to get a hold of it, or at least jam it in her a couple times.


Cautiously, Elizabeth approached the vampire and watched it like it was a tiger, ready to pounce. When she looked at the world the way she did, other ghosts walked around and alongside their living companion. This one did not: it was inside the vampire, its movements were the vampire's movements. Elizabeth wondered if she could do that with Matthew, things would get done a lot faster if that was the case.


"What are you?" She asked, her eyes narrowing. Even though she couldn't interact with livings things, she pondered the possibility that she could interact with the ghost inside.

 

[Lucyfer]

The hunter was talking to the ghost again. With Dustin off of her back, and the stake still in her hand, she straightened up and looked back at the new presence, rather than strike out at the hunter. “Max?”


There was a ghost in him. That was unusual. Vampires and ghosts didn’t mesh…ever. There was no benefit on either side, from what Lucia understood. She’d never tried to find out personally.


“Shh.” Max put a finger to his lips as he spoke the word, and Lucia felt a grip on her neck. She didn’t need air to live, but she did need air to speak. The supply was cut off by that telekinetic grip, much to her surprise. It was enough of a surprise that she didn’t even notice in time the feint, and instead felt the hands of the hunter trying to steal the stake.


Immediately she gripped it tighter and pulled it towards herself, pulled it up to get it closer to her own chest—strange move, but she’d have more strength at that point, to hold and control the item. She also tried to step back and see if she could pull the hunter along, to test his own strength and see what she might be capable of. Without her voice, though, she was quite worried. ‘Damn it, Max, what’s wrong with you?’


Dustin was starting to get back to his feet during this chaos, ignored now by Maximus as the gaze of the vampire turned to the ghost.


That ghost dominating the body of Maximus could see her, too. The body smiled to show the response of the ghost. “Well, weren’t you lucky to die young.” Within, the ghost had not been so lucky. He died of a stroke centuries ago, in his old age. He addressed her directly without concern for the fact that he was even revealing he could see her. After all, he planned for these three to all die. “I was called Harold in life. Harry by friends. I think I’m now a vampire,” he looked down at the form, “I do have to keep this body alive by drinking blood, so that’s what I am.”


He looked her up and down, then asked, “Who are you?” Maybe she’d be willing to join the cause—jump into her hunter’s body, or heck, Lucia’s, and take over.

 

[Oort]

Surprisingly, the vampire decided the best move to do in this situation was to move the dangerous weapon closer to the part where it actually kills her. He poured all his, and Elizabeth's, strength into moving the stake closer to her heart. It wasn't easy to fight the strength of a vampire in this sort of thing, especially when she had the advantage of having her hands in a stronger position. Then, for some reason, she decided to step back. He moved with her so that he could keep his hold on the weapon.


"Your friend seems nice," he chimed, through gritted teeth.


She was fixated on the way the ghost stood inside the living, controlling every movement. No, controlling was the wrong word to use; the ghost and the vampire were one and the same. It smiled when the ghost smiled, its jaw flapping in time with the ghost's words. Perhaps she was the only one able to hear it, or perhaps its words came from the voice of the vampire too.


"Yes, much better than looking like a full sponge," she commented, folding her arms as she spoke, "Well, Harold, I was given the name Elizabeth, a very long time ago, and I killed vampires in my time. The question is, can I kill you?" She wanted to lunge forward, to see if she could hurt another ghost, but then another question sprang to the front of her mind that she had to ask, even just out of curiosity.


"Can I control him," she pointed at Matthew with a nod in his direction, "like that?"

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia expected the hunter’s moves to try and be to press the stake into her own heart. She didn’t seem to be getting a victory here, he was able to match her strength with the ghost’s help. The move back was something he willingly followed.


A litany of curses were swirling in her head, now only in Latin. Anger had a way of making her revert to Latin, and she hadn’t been so furious, nor so afraid, in a long time. She couldn’t speak! And it was all Maximus’s fault! ‘But why?’ She could hear his half of the conversation with the ghost as she now struggled to keep the stake out of her heart.


“You’ve never tried before?” Harold had hurt ghosts before. It was part of how he learned to take over this body, under the direction of another. He learned to kill ghosts—or, in another sense, to destroy souls. She then rephrased her question, and he chuckled, “Ah, of course you can. It’s very simple, actually.”


Lucia gave up her fight. She used what strength she had to push the stake off to the left before she let it go, though the forward momentum from the strength of the hunter did cause it to tear through the fabric of her dress and flesh. She didn’t care, didn’t even care whether or not the hunter would stumble. She turned on her heel, and lunged right at Maximus.


“In fact, all you have to—” Harold didn’t get to explain. Lucia fell on him and her fangs ripped right into his throat since she caught him off guard. The body of Maximus hit the ground, hard, and blood gushed from the wound. It was clear that Lucia wasn’t trying to drink, though. A gurgled shout escaped his lips before he utilized his telekinesis to throw Lucia off of him.


Dustin had just gotten to Matthew’s side when Lucia left her fight with Matthew to target the other vampire. He looked, obviously, confused, “…the hell?” He asked aloud.

 

[Oort]

Elizabeth listened with intent curiosity to what the ghost was saying, she could hurt other ghosts, apparently. But, more importantly, she could control Matthew. She could, through him, touch again, feel again, speak, eat, sleep, and all those other great things of life again. Sure, she'd be a guy, but it'd be worth it. However, more importantly, she could control him in a fight, use her expertise directly instead of having to point it out, or having him share her skill. She didn't even get the chance to find out how to control Matthew, because the dumb vampire decided to tackle the other.


"Damnit, you dumb, stupid, vampire!" She yelled, even though the vampire couldn't hear her.


The vampire tore herself from Matthew, and ran at the other vampire, for some reason. Then, to make it even weirder, she attacked said vampire, ripping into his throat before being thrown off. While Matthew had been able to hear the entire conversation between the two ghosts, he had phased most of it out while he fought the other vampire.


"What's going on?" He asked, turning to Elizabeth.


"There's a ghost in that vampire," she told him, "controlling it." Matthew turned to Dustin.


"Apparently there's a ghost controlling that vampire," he told Dustin, bewildered.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia wasn’t thrown into anything. Harold didn’t have the concentration for that. His only goal had been to get her off of him. He sat up, and started to rise before he was reminded of why he had her in such a vicegrip earlier.


Though Harold didn’t understand a word that she was saying, all of it in Latin, he felt the barbs of each word. The wound at his neck opened wider, spilling more and more of his host’s precious blood onto the ground. Other wounds started to open, the words digging into his flesh and tearing it apart as they raced by him. “Knew you were old,” he said through gritted teeth as he again clenched his hand into a fist, silencing the cursing vampire. “Didn’t quite realize you were that old.”


That talent made her a rather attractive host-body, actually. He was jealous. Perhaps he ought to keep her alive and switch. ‘Yes.’ He determined, and threw her into one of the windows. He knew that was going to suck as the glass shattered and splintered, impaled the body. Blood was precious to vampires, and loss of it was just as fatal as it was to humans—well, somewhat. Vampires could stand to lose more than humans could.


Lucia collapsed onto the glass, and winced with each movement as the glass bits dug into her flesh and pricked it, draining her. The Latin cursing continued in her head, since she couldn’t scream it out again.


Harold turned his body towards the hunters, who seemed to be gawking. Dustin had just made the response, “So we should let them kill each other and destroy the last one standing?”


Harold made his response, “Afraid that won’t be happening,” and then he addressed Elizabeth, “I wouldn’t waste your time with a human body. These,” he motioned to his own, “are much better.” And then he tried to manipulate the stake in Matthew’s hand, to try and put the stake right into Dustin.

 

[Oort]

It was all a blur to watch, vampire fighting ghost-infused vampire. The woman muttering her evil words in Latin now instead of plain old English. It was fascinating to watch, really. Neither Elizabeth nor Matthew had ever seen vampires fight, they usually kept that for after they picked the bits of human out their teeth with that same human's bones. It didn't take long before the ghost vampire took control of the situation and used the vampire's telekinesis to throw the other through a window. Definitely painful.


Matthew opened his mouth to respond to Dustin, but the ghost got in before him, with a rather rude threat.


"Human bodies are far less disgusting... well, except whatever it was you used to live in," Elizabeth retorted, really wishing her audience was bigger than just two people at the moment. In a breath, the vampire's hand was around Matthew's, in a rude attempt to manipulate the stake to stab Dustin, which seemed less effective really, when there was a living, uncooperative human on the same end of that stake. Matthew went to bring his hand down on the vampire's neck, but paused for thought when he caught sight of Elizabeth pounce. She launched her arm into the arm of the ghost that tried to hold the stake in an attempt to separate it from the grasp. In that same movement, she twisted herself so that she was behind the ghost and she threw her arm around his neck, squeezing hard on it. In an attempt to be less of a useless fish, Matthew forced his own hand, the one with the stake in it, to point away from Dustin and towards the ground. There was no way he was going to be able to point the weapon at the vampire, there were too many competing forces on the weapon at the moment.

 

[Lucyfer]

Less disgusting, perhaps, but Harold favored the vampire form. He couldn’t feel death the way he felt death in a human body. Humans were constantly dying, after all. Vampires weren’t. Having already died, he didn’t care to feel that again.


He was actually surprised when Elizabeth thought to lash out at him, though. Her inexperience in this matter did her no favors, but she was still able to reach through the flesh to startle him. The actual physical body shared the reactions of the ghost. He held onto man’s hand, though, even as his head arched back when the woman’s arm moved around his throat.


He relinquished control of one hand in order to reach up to his neck with his ghost-hand, and try to pull Elizabeth off of him.


Dustin didn’t fully understand what was going on, but he reached out and grabbed the stake in his friend’s hand, “Let me have it,” he said, so as to take the threat of the vampire using it away. He figured that would be useful, while the vampire seemed…distracted or something. Dustin wasn’t too sure what was going on there.


Besides, Lucia had just gotten out of the glass, and Dustin could see her stepping back onto the sidewalk in front of the building. She didn’t look so pretty any longer with her clothing ripped and rivulets of blood running down her body. She had looked annoyed facing them, but now Dustin was certain that she was positively livid.


He wouldn’t have guessed the reason was that her laptop had a shard of glass puncturing it, though. That was, indeed, the reason she was livid in that moment.

 

[Oort]

Elizabeth had been a warrior all her life, and she was not going to be beaten by someone clawing at her hands, that was the sort of thing that beat weaker people who couldn't stomach a little bit of a stinging. She kept her arm tightly around his neck. One problem she encountered, however, was that fighting like this was something different indeed. She tried to keep her focus while adjusting her mind to cope with the changes to what she was used to, but she was sure it was probably affecting her ability to fight a bit.


Matthew, very willingly, allowed Dustin to relieve him of the stake so that he could focus on the vampire ghost thing. That and, in his ear, he could hear the vampire woman crawling out from the glass, who probably had no intention of making their lives easier. He hadn't even seen that her laptop had been all but completely destroyed in the glass. And, to be fair, if his laptop was destroyed, he'd be pretty furious.

 

[Lucyfer]

This was a very difficult situation. Harold hadn’t actually expected to have to deal with a ghost. He thought they’d all see it his way. They seemed to before, he’d recruited many to the cause. “Damn it,” he was still able to talk. He didn’t require air, “Let me go, wretch!” The stake traded hands, so he saw no reason to keep hold of Matthew. He let him go, and then released the grip he had at the arm on his neck. He instead tried to twist his body to reach and grab the arm that took hold of his arm. He figured if he could get a good grip, he could throw Elizabeth off of him.


Of course, there were several other things to consider.


For one, Lucia was up. He saw her out of the corner of eye and forced his will to manipulate the powers of Maximus. He drew on the blood seeping out of her, and in one forceful grab, pulled quite a bit of it out. Her steps staggered and she almost fell. Her eyes shifted from blue to red, the indication of starvation. Usually there were stages, but the loss of blood was too quick for that.


Dustin moved the stake to kill when he saw Maximus-Harold’s eyes look towards Lucy. He was very nearly successful, and did put the stake through his chest, but he wasn’t able to put it through far enough. Both stake and Dustin were thrown back, the stake clattering to the ground.


Starvation and anger drove Lucia, and as Dustin was thrown back, she ran forward. Anger decided her move not to tackle him to the ground. Her arms did wrap around his physical body, though. She wouldn’t be thrown off so easily, not this time, she had a good grip. Before her fangs plunged into his neck, she spoke a command. Unfortunately, it was in Latin, as she was still fixated on the language, so it would not work. Understanding was a crucial part commanding. However, her eyes moved by the stake on the ground.


Then, she bit into the neck, feeling something like a chill as she did so, but not caring. She needed blood, never mind the queer, cold sensation that almost made her want to recoil from him.

 

[Oort]

All the sounds and sights of the world had blurred into the background, there was only this ghost, and her. His angry words bounced off her ears and failed to break her concentration. He began contorting his body to shake her off and she knew now that her attack was doing nothing to him, she was going to have to take her arm off. And, at the same time, she could release her hold on his hand, he had dropped his hold of Matthew. Perhaps her timing was lucky, because it seemed as though he was going to try and use her holds against her.


The other vampire was at him now, she looked ready for death's embrace in the way blood oozed from her; the red eyes did nothing to help her appearance. Between Elizabeth restraining him, Dustin taking swipes with the stake, and the other vampire leaping at ghost-vampire for his blood, Matthew felt rather useless at the moment. Elizabeth, however, felt like her usefulness had just gone through the roof. The vampire was draining the blood of the other, it was a wonderful sight to behold, but it wouldn't take long for ghost-vampire to fling her off with his powers. So, she held his ghostly head tightly to keep it still, and pulled it to the side to expose his neck more.


"Drink up vampire!" she laughed, not that she could be heard by said vampire, "although I can't imagine it tastes nice."


Matthew's eyes tore from the exciting scene that his companion was partially missing out on, due to his limitations, and turned his gaze to that very companion.


"Should we not be doing something?" he asked, although he wasn't entirely sure he wanted to get in the middle of all that. Would his powers even work when the ghost who bestowed them was so preoccupied? He hoped so.

 

[Lucyfer]

Sweet, nectar of the gods, life-giving substance! Lucia didn’t even care about the taste as it flowed down her throat. She’d forgotten she tried to order the human to stake him, forgotten it had failed because of Latin, in the haze of regeneration. The blood she drank went immediately to work at trying to close the wounds, so it wasn’t exactly helping her with the loss, but it was preventing more.


She felt Harold try to throw her off with his powers, but it didn’t work as before. It couldn’t. He realized this, and tried to focus on removing her arms from around him, but she just wrapped them around tighter. His neck was arched, and Lucia greedily accepted was offered.


Dustin, however, was getting up. “Yeah,” he told Matthew, picking the stake back up. He was hurting. “You can pay for my massage, that’s what you can be doing.”


This time, when Dustin moved forward and thrust the stake into Maximus-Harold, it worked. He was held by Lucia and Elizabeth, physically and ghostly held, so he couldn’t evade. His own telekinetic power had been focused on trying to remove Lucia, too.


He dissolved into ashes at their feet. Even the ghost perished, a consequence that Harold knew would happen. He hadn’t been able to jump ship, thanks to Elizabeth. The specter’s death was not one that Dustin or Lucia could see, though. He appeared to melt into a multicolored smoke, and then was gone.


Lucia stepped back from the ashes. She wiped her hand by her mouth to get rid of the ashes that lingered on her lips. That was disgusting. She started to speak, but realized then who her audience was. Eyes still red, she held onto her senses and said, “You’ve helped me, unintentionally I’m sure,” there was no persuasion in her tone, “I do not usually make exceptions with hunters, but if you leave, I won’t kill you.” She needed to get to her office. She needed to get to her blood, or she was going to tear them to pieces.


She stepped back, not turning her back to them, “I have five years of financing information to restore.” She made excuses.

 

[Oort]

Never in all her life, did Elizabeth think she would be assisting a vampire drink the blood of another vampire. Although, this was her afterlife, so technically, she still hadn't done so in her lifetime. After having actually been able to participate in the battle, instead of just watch, shout advice, or take the pain, Elizabeth was willing to forgive herself somewhat for forgetting she was dead. She was definitely enjoying this new experience. So much so, that when Dustin ended the vampire-ghost's life, she felt a little bit of annoyance for him. The vampire was lost to ashes and the ghost lost to the abyss. True death awaited that one. Perhaps ghosts' ghost haunted the veil between life and death, where all the normal ghosts hung out. That notion was mostly definitely preposterous, but it brought its own level of amusement with it.


Many a question ran through the head of Matthew while he stood there: had the ghost inside the vampire perished alongside the vampire? Being bound to Elizabeth allowed him to see somewhat into the world of ghosts beyond just who was bound to, wholly if he truly focused. It was like peering over her shoulder to see what lay beyond. And it would appear to him that the ghost was gone. Another question haunted his mind and it surely had a more terrifying answer than anything that could be offered for the previous question: did Dustin like massages? He enjoyed a stranger getting all touchy feely with his body covered in all sorts of foul smelling oils whilst his face was stuffed between the hole in what was essentially a soft toilet lid.


Unsurprisingly, the other - non-ghostly - vampire had no intention of hanging around with them and made all kind of excuses to flee the scene, but Elizabeth couldn't let her leave quite yet. She needed to know more about these ghost-vampire combos, if not to satisfy simple curiosity.


"Question her about that vampire," she demanded, waltzing through the vampire, in the hope that the chill would stop her and buy them a little extra time.


Not even Matthew could deny he was more than a little curios about the ghost in the vampire, so it wasn't exactly difficult to convince him he needed to investigate.


"Tell me what you know about that," he said, gesturing to the ash pile, "and not just that it will blow away in the breeze."

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia continued to back up until that chill passed through her again. She visibly shivered, and she wrapped her arms around herself. She was already freezing. There was little blood moving in her veins to keep her warm at all, and she didn’t like the additional cold.


The human hunter wanted answers, and Dustin looked back at him. He seemed to be debating whether or not to strike at the weakened vampire. He seemed to decide not to—at least not while there were questions to be answered.


Lucia just shook her head. “Nothing,” she told the hunter, “I know that it was once my friend Maximus, and I know that today it was not, and he is dead.” By her help. By her teeth, and that stake which was still held tightly in Dustin’s grip. As her eyes trailed to that, the scent of his blood also made itself very, painfully, obvious. He still had a head wound.


She licked her lips, grateful briefly for the disgusting ashes still there. It reminded her of where her thoughts were straying, and temporarily destroyed her appetite. She shook her head and started stepping back again, grasping at self control like threads. “I know no more than you, hunters.” Right now. She’d be investigating this highly abnormal situation soon.


Lucia bent to pick up her ruined bag with its ruined laptop. “Is that all?” That question came with a sneer. Lucia didn’t want to answer any more questions. She knew she ought to ask some, but she didn’t imagine she’d be capable of waiting around for answers. The scent of Dustin’s blood was only getting more and more enticing.


‘But they helped me.’ Unintentional or not, they had earned their lives for the night and she was a woman of honor. She wouldn’t destroy them unless they tried to kill her again.

 

[Oort]

A big bright smile grew across Elizabeth's face as the vampire shivered with the cold. It was definitely nice being useful again. Although, perhaps she could have been more useful if she'd gotten the information out of that vampire before that Dustin had killed him. She could be controlling Matthew at this very moment. Or maybe, she could abandon him and take over someone else, maybe someone a bit older.


Was she even aware what was controlling her friend? Did she just think he was mad? Matthew watched her closely as he thought about what he was going to say.


"You know he was being controlled, by a ghost? It was inside him," he told her, watching for her reaction.


For the first time, Matthew noticed the vampire's ruined laptop and couldn't help feel bad for her, it was probably all ruined. If her hard drive wasn't broken, then at least she could salvage that. If it was broken, however, well, Matthew didn't want to be anywhere near her when she found out.

 

[Lucyfer]

Of course he had more questions. ‘Be glad he only has questions right now.’ And Lucia was, in some twisted way. It was different to actually talk to a hunter, and to have her own suspicions confirmed. “That’s what I guessed,” Lucia answered, her words slow and measured, “I thought it was a hunter presence until I saw him.”


Obviously, Maximus wouldn’t have been a hunter in any world. He was a vampire. “We don’t work with ghosts. Maybe that’s why.” Lucia did wonder if this might be connected to the situation Julian was in. Would Mikael have ever thought it reasonable to trust a ghost, though? Lucia didn’t think he was that stupid.


It didn’t work. It wasn’t meant to work. Vampires were dead, and ghosts were dead, in two very different ways. She let her gaze shift to Dustin, but then she quickly looked away, looked up at the ceiling of her own building. “You don’t use a ghost, either?”


“I watched enough Exorcist as a kid.” Dustin said. That wasn’t the reason, he just didn’t feel comfortable with the idea. Perhaps it was all the horror stories he’d seen and read in his youth. He’d never seen a ghost harm a hunter before.


He sure as heck saw one harm a vampire, though. “Hey, can your ghost do that? Take control of vampires? It’d make things a heck of a lot easier.”


Lucia narrowed her red eyes on the ceiling, still refusing to look at Dustin, to see and focus on the one who was bleeding. Sure, it had slowed to a trickle now, but gods wouldn’t that be enough?

 

[Oort]

Matthew nodded at her response, although he hadn't entirely expected it. He had expected, or hoped, for her to be completely taken aback by this revelation he had sprung on her, but she had expected it. Guessed it beforehand. He contemplated the idea that perhaps she had seen one of these vampire-ghost combos, but then again, she probably would have been doing more than just guessing if that was the case.


That couldn't be the only one, there had to be others. He said there were others, or at least he had implied it. Elizabeth had to meet one of them, find information out about them. Oh what she would give to live again. Although, it wouldn't be living, would it? It would be living through someone else. Was she willing to force someone else to give their life so she could steal theirs? The more she thought about it, the worse of an idea it seemed. She was trying to convince herself her life was more valuable than the lives of another. Her mind snapped out of her thoughts when she was mentioned by Dustin, something about her controlling a vampire. Now that would be interesting, and she certainly wouldn't mind forcing a vampire to give up their unlife. She'd done it many times before.


The question came at him quite suddenly, although he probably should have expected it eventually. After all, being able to be one's enemy is definitely a better choice than having to fight one's enemy.


Oh how rude of him, she thought, I am not his ghost. He doesn't own me. I can leave at any time. If anything, he is my human. She would have spoke her mind, but, considering Matthew was her only audience, she decided against it. After all, she might offend him with her words, somehow.


"I dunno if she can, but she can certainly hurt these ghost-vampire hybrids," he told his friend, watching Elizabeth's face twist in the corner of his eye. He knew she hated being ignored in conversations, especially ones about her, but what other choice did he have? Its not like she could answer for himself.


"Can you?" he asked, turning to look at her, only then realising she stood next to the vampire and it looked oddly like he was asking the vampire she could control vampires, "not you, Elizabeth."


She wished she could say she had to ponder her answer, but, considering Harold's words had been haunting her mind, her answer was already there, waiting for her to say it.


"I bloody well hope so," she grinned, "although I don't think I can be bound to you and ride along in one. I think this is kind of a one term contract really."


"So you could control me?" He asked. He had caught snippets of her conversation with the ghost, and it seemed he - Harold - thought so.


"Apparently, but I don't know how. I imagine it wouldn't be all too comfortable for you. It may be the closest you've ever been to a woman."


"Hilarious."

 

[Lucyfer]

Though Dustin’s words had been unappreciated, they seemed to stir a conversation. Lucia looked down from the ceiling, trying to focus on it, but she couldn’t. There was a participant she couldn’t hear, for one, which made matters difficult.


Lucia glanced to the space the ghost apparently occupied when a question was directed to ‘her’. “Hm.”


One step back, and she was through what had once been the second set of glass doors. Lucia intended to leave them while they talked amongst themselves. She still hesitated to turn her back until one heeled foot found the stair. ‘Good.’ She lifted herself up, then turned around to walk up the stairs, shaking with each step. ‘Not good.’


Dustin caught enough of the conversation to guess what Elizabeth must have said. “See, told you this whole ghost-thing isn’t a good idea.” He didn’t want to see Matthew controlled by a ghost, “But uh, Elizabeth, if you could control a vampire, it’d give us an advantage! Like, you could control one to let us kill it, or—where are you going?” He called to Lucia, realizing she was leaving.


Lucia, however, ignored him. Actually, she did a bit more than that. At the sound of his voice, Lucia simply bolted. She had several flights to get up, and she was going to burn what little blood she had left to get there before she collapsed and left herself vulnerable to the hunters.


Dustin looked back to Matthew, panic and concern written on his face. ‘Should we follow?’ He didn’t ask it aloud, but it was written on his face quite obviously. He was still holding the stake from offing the last vampire.

 

[Oort]

For a second, the vampire regarded her. Albeit only with a 'hm' but still a regard. Obviously, she couldn't see her, but she could have a guess at where she was. She couldn't blame the vampire, everyone like to try and guess where she was. It was cute in sense, it always reminded her how they liked to try, but couldn't quite get it right. Every time someone guessed her position, they were off a bit. Once, she had watched someone attempt to converse with her while looking over her shoulder. Dustin started talking about her, complaining about the joining of a ghost and a hunter. She always assumed it was jealousy. A binding of a hunter and a ghost was something both parties had to agree on before it happened, and not all ghosts were so willing as to jump into any old hunter at any time. She liked to imagine that Dustin once tried for a ghost, but got no responses and now wildly denied it. Well, she needed something to amuse her thoughts.


"I would most certainly not control a vampire so you could kill it. While I'm assuming Harold skipped the part where he got the vampire's consent for the take over - which would make it easier - he still died with the vampire and I don't want to die. Again," she explained to Matthew, expecting him to then spew a watered down version of what he had just said at his friend.


Listening to Elizabeth's response to Dustin, Matthew wished that it was possible he could hear her. It was a pain by any measure to have to constantly be the messenger between the two.


"She says not possible," he explained, wondering if his shortened versions of her explanations ever annoyed the ghost. Looking at her face, he was going to go with yes.


Of course he shortened it down to be simple enough for even a gibbon to understand, he always did. He didn't even bother to give a watered down explanation as to why she was unable to control a vampire. ugh.


For a brief moment, a vampire and hunters had worked together, they had collaborated on something without tearing one another's throats out. A miracle by any definition. But now, this vampire was deciding to ruin it all and run to the hills, or at least the stairs. Dustin clearly thought they should probably be going after her.


"Perhaps he is desperate for the company of a woman?" Elizabeth suggested, reading Dustin's face like a book, "You know, one he can actually see as she drinks all the blood from his body." Sometimes Matthew wondered if she did this just to test how well he could keep a straight face. It was hard. He really, really, wanted to let loose a chuckle at least, but he pushed it to the back of his mind.


"I don't think we're going to need that. But I'd keep it hidden, at least. Better to be safe than sorry," he suggested, making for the stairs the vampire had just traversed.

 

[Lucyfer]

Lucia didn’t look back once. The need to feed was far too strong, all-consuming. It was one of the things she did hate about her nature. When she was human, it had been much easier to deal with hunger. The hunger of a vampire, though, was something entirely different. It could turn her into a rabid beast, and she had no intention of becoming that.


Her office was, of course, on the top floor. She dug her card out of the bag again and swiped it. The door unlocked and she threw it open and walked right to her fridge. She dug out her key from that same bag, ignoring the huge shard of glass. She unlocked the fridge and pulled a bag of blood out. She didn’t bother pouring it into a cup as she usually did, but dug her fangs into it and tilted her neck back and held the bag aloft so it slid down her throat quick. The messenger bag slid off her shoulder and fell to the ground by the fridge.


The first blood bag was finished before she was joined by anyone. Wounds began to close rapidly, and she finally dug the glass shard out of her neck and threw it aside. ‘How am I going to explain this?’


She pulled another bag out, saner, and dumped its contents into a mug. She put it into the microwave—warm blood was better than cold blood, and set it for a minute.


Lucia looked over her shoulder at the hunter. Her eyes were purple now, losing the hints of red that had tarnished them. She knew it would take this cup to put an end to it all together. “What, do you want?” She had spared him his life. She had no information for him. Lucia wanted to believe he hadn’t come up here to try and finish the job he started earlier, but that was what she suspected. ‘And it’ll ruin the office.’ Already her laptop was ruined. It was going to be hard enough explaining what happened outside, and destroying the evidence.


Dustin lagged behind, but he had done as suggested. The stake was hidden away in his coat again, and he tried to hurry up the stairs, but he didn’t have the speed of the vampire, or of Matthew.


Besides, these were stairs. By the fifth flight, he was cursing both of them.