Us Together

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel's face brightened up like a Christmas tree as his grin spread as far as it could, he was in pure bliss right now as he had gotten what he wanted. He was struggling the life out of the she bitch that had attempted to curse him and caused all this turmoil for him and his brother to begin with. They were perfectly fine blending in and had been doing so for a very long time but some people couldn't leave things alone. No she was smarter then the sheep they feasted on and soon her spread to a coven and eventually everyone wised up.


He squeezed harder as his eyes began to turn red and his face distorted to allow for fangs to appear. "My big brother will be here soon. No one will here you scream down here in the cataco-" he explained as he turned down the corridor and with a reflective action his shadow sprung up to block it. It had dug through almost reaching his face. "Curse your magic witch, I see you've discovered how to deal with my shadow". Another one came flying and he dodged it instead of letting his shadow grab it and get damaged further, it would need time to recover.


However in the time he took to dodge, something had moved faster then he could track with his eyes and punched him in the gut, sending him against the wall. Her protector golem had come into vision. It looked almost human. "What the hell wench" he screamed in surprise as he saw it. "Brother destroyed it. . . he should have been the one coming".


He started to panic, she was powerful and so was her golem, it had been crafted from the body of a seasoned vampire hunter augmented by her magic. Still though, he was in the dark catacombs and he had he the advantage. Doing something she had not expected, he quickly appeared behind her. "I am the Darkness" he grapsed her neck and just before he snapped it, she dissoved into smoke as well as everything around in his imediate vision and suddenly lights, cars, and too much noise.


He looked confused and fell back onto the sidewalk as he dodged a car. "Whats going on" he screamed, people watching as they couldn't understand his strange langauge. He covered his eyes and ears and retreated back into a dark alley behind him to recover not realizing he had been sent several thousand years forward in time.


Taking refuge behind a large dumpster, he punched easily denting it and cried. "Big brother where are you!?"

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua leapt into the air. His lithe form left the ground and flitted into the sky as if he were a feather caught in the passage of a strong wind. He rose up and up, his jerkin... no, jacket, fluttering about his torso. He landed lightly atop a five storey building and his eyes scanned the benighted city. The yellow light of the electric lanterns below cast a strange pallor across the faces of the cattle that drifted beneath them. Joshua's ears could hear the manifold beats of their hearts, the seductive swish of blood through their arteries and veins and the hiss and sigh of their drawn breaths. But tonight, they were inconsequential to him for he was hunting another subject. A dangerous subject. A subject he had been searching for every night since he had destroyed the witch and her damnable magical constructs.


Before he had consigned her broken dying remains to the river with a rock tied to her neck, she had told him of the curse she had used, that it had sent Samuel into the distant future to a distant undiscovered land. And so, Joshua had planned, he had planned and spent years and sometimes decades in torpid rest. Each time, he awoke he would feed and he would seek knowledge of the time he was in. He would learn of the changes to the world. Of new lands discovered, of the rise and fall of empires, of the advancement of knowledge and new technologies. And he would manage his funds. He was far-sighted enough to see that commerce was becoming a powerful factor in the world and he would not be left behind in this new world. Then came the breakthrough he was waiting for. Ships were travelling across the Mare Atlanticum.... The Atlantic Ocean to the country of America. They were travelling there as cargo ships, not warships any more. That messy revolution was won and lost, with the real winners being the traders. Joshua had book passage for himself and a few trusted blood-retainers then, once he was comfortably settled in the quiet town of Salem, Massachusetts, he returned to his watchful wait for Samuel's return.


The centuries rolled on, with Joshua awakening, feeding, learning, then returning to sleep. America grew larger, the tiny colonies perched on the Atlantic rim spreading and rolling westward, clawing away at the barbarian hinterlands until both coasts were colonised and civilised. It was in the early 1930s that Joshua decided that he had slept long enough. The American people at that time were so much more vibrant, lively and exciting. And the clothing was becoming more and more interesting, especially the exposed legs of the women. Joshua's other passions came to a boil and he decided that he was past due for spending time among the cattle. For the next few years, he engaged in a whirl of excitement, travelling to every country, experiencing the hedonistic pleasures of the age and enjoying himself. Then the Second World War happened, and he had the opportunity to indulge his other pleasure. With the coming of 1945 and the end of the war in Europe and the eventual end of the war in the Pacific, Joshua got back to America and continued his vigil, buying properties and other permanent assets to keep himself and his brother afloat when the younger vampire returned.


But the decades became a long crawl, with each night stretching out interminably long. Joshua realised that he was falling into melancholy, the world was moving too fast for an immortal such as he, but he dare not slumber again, lest he miss his brother's return so he carried on his suffering. Each year he waited, each decade he began to curse the fate his brother's loss had brought upon him. Then, the foretold night came. Joshua found that his hands would not stop shaking as he tried to button up his $300 shirt, nor would his feet cease their incessant pacing in his $1000 Italian shoes. Night fell and he felt the urge to go out. He walked through his garage, ignoring the 1934 Bugatti Type 57, the 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, the McLaren Mercedes SLR (all originals, all one owner. Him), and out into the city streets. It had been raining and the city streets were covered in a sheen of water that reflected the neon lights like a fire. He moved through the crowds that thronged the streets, even in the light drizzle that still fell, but the progress was slow. In the end, he ducked down a side street and took to the rooftops in his own inimitable way.


The journey was quicker here, leaping from rooftop to rooftop, and he was able to get to the general area swiftly. Then he brought his supernatural senses to bear. It was peaceful, for the city. Then there was a screech of tires, the blare of a car horn. He rushed over the rooftop and caught a glimpse of someone vanishing down an alley from a confrontation with a stationary car. He took a few steps back, ran forward, then leaped. He sailed through the air, high above the street, and connected with a fire escape. He hopped onto the metal platform, jogged down the stairs to the lowest level, then rode the ladder down to the ground. His eyes glowed with a dull red light as his magics enhanced his vision in the dark of the alley. He could see a figure cowering in the shadow of a dumpster and he paused a moment. No pulse. But moving.


It was him!

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel was upset, he was very upset.


His shadow had suffered physical damage. Well its complicated, a mortal's brain would implode trying to think on it but thats magic for you. He cried out your name Joshua. He started feeling little sensations on his skin, further ruining his already destroyed outfit. "Oh its raining. . . " he said with a sigh and started to get up and had to lean against the dumper, he felt weak and a lone. That was when he felt it. Another extremely powerful being approaching. His senses were going into overdrive trying to determine if its friend or foe. His shadow attempted to expand and crawl up the ally ways and turn this small area into a makeshift domain to protect against any dangers, but it was struggling. Samuel was starving and his shadow was still damaged.


It still didn't stop it it from going a decent distance around him and for eyes to open as it scanned everywhere, feeling every heartbeat and the coursing of blood. It was all too distraction, the cars, the people, the phones. He stood there unaware that his brother was close. He started to panic when he couldn't find the threat, if he went on a rampage he could take a huge portion of the city with him before the mortal sheep would be able to force him into a deep sleep.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua could sense Samuel's fear. It was so tangible it was almost a visible thing. He was hurt too. The witch had had her construct attack him before her curse took hold, and no doubt she used her own magics as well. Joshua could vaguely remember that he had suffered the witch's spells for a few minutes and her servitors had been powerful. But in the end, her golems had crumbled and her magics had faltered and he had taught her that she was, at the very crux of it, a mortal. He could sense Samuel's shadow-thrall. While weakened, it could still be dangerous. And in his current state of mind, it might lash out without his permission. And that shadow-thrall was a bitch who knew how to hurt.


"Samuel, relent!", his Voice rolled along the alley like a pyroclastic cloud, seeking a way into Samuel's consciousness and warring against his pain and fear, "You are safe, brother. And you are finally back in the world."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel's face twisted and the shadow-thrall's eyes all shifted to you. It was a bit unsettling to have an entire alley wall stare back at you. Samuel relaxed and smiled for a moment after hearing his brother's voice and that is when the malicious desire to kill filled the air. Samuel quickly noticed that the accent was slightly off. That outfit. . .the hair, his entire posture and appearance. There was no way this person was Jousha, it must have been another trick from the she-bitch.


The Thrall quickly retracted to Samuel and began to circle him as tendrils sprouted from the ground ready to launch them selves and attack.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Well, it was to be expected. Samuel had been hurled centuries into the future and, unlike Joshua, had no chance to acclimatise to the change around him. Another land, another continent entirely, essentially another world. Joshua weighed up his options. He could grow fangs and claws, race in with the speed of the sunlight at break of day and subdue Samuel. His time fighting during the various wars of the past had taught him the value of impregnable skin to turn aside bullets, explosions and the like. Samuel's shadow-thrall would be hard pressed to even scratch him before he was toe-to-toe with his brother. And then?


Yes, then what?


Joshua fought the urge to go with his instincts. Instead, he turned and walked back up the alley a ways and seated himself lightly on a trashcan that was overflowing with decaying waste. He tugged a packet of cigarettes from his pocket, stuck one into the corner of his mouth and lit it with his lighter.


"You must be very disoriented, Samuel, I can understand. After my first decade or two of slumber, I felt very confused about the changes around me. ", he said, exhaling the smoke as he spoke, "And here you are, almost eight centuries removed from your last memories and deposited into this strange city. I waited for you, you know."


He stood up and took another deep drag on the cigarette.


"I travelled much of the world after you were cursed, saw many places. Constantinople. Do you remember Constantinople? The Moors took it over finally, the Great Cathedral became one of their temples. It's called Istanbul now. The ancient cities along the Mediterranean Sea have all been subsumed by time, tide and the cattle. So much of what you value is gone too, Samuel. So many ancient libraries looted and burned, so many tomes either torn apart, burnt, used as bedding for lowly beasts or hoarded by shallow men. The world has marched on, brother dear, and despite my running to keep up, it continues to outpace me. I'll admit it, I have not thrived as well as when we were together. I've survived until these modern nights, but still it's a struggle."


He looked back at his brother.


"And it's all because of you. You had to go after that damned Kabbalist seeking the art of making golems. You had to do that, didn't you? Ever seeking more knowledge, regardless of the cost, ever looking for that next secret to unearth and keep for yourself.", he dropped his cigarette and crushed it mercilessly beneath his heel, "I warned you, begged you, to relent from your pursuit, even after that close call in Carpathia. After the running battle through Augsberg with the Inquisitors. And you swore to me, that night when we were stood in burnt rags in the hills above our long-lost home at Deva, that you would be more cautious, that you would not run off unprepared and without me. But you did. And this time you paid a hefty price."


He heaved a sigh, part angry, part saddened. The pain and torment of centuries of seeking and waiting pouring out in his words.


"But you have been released from her curse, loosed from the centuries of incarceration that she placed upon you. And despite my annoyance at yet another of your foolish acts, my heart is gladdened by your return, Sami."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

With a hiss Samuel's shadow launched forward, about 5 tendrils in total attempting to pierce, grab, and rip you apart. However the shadow was weaker then usual due to all the light in the city, Sam hasn't had time to adjust to what the modern world considers the night life yet.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

The Shadow-Thrall lashed out, whether through conscious effort from Samuel or, as he sometimes suspected, through motives entirely it's own and Joshua knew he had to act. The pattern of the attack had started wide, but was veering inwards. The conceit was simple, cutting down his potential vectors of attack, while focussing in on him. The smart attack would be to go fully-evasive and try to out-manoeuvre the tendrils. But Joshua decided that smart moves were overrated. Instead, he lunged forward, powering himself directly at Samuel. The move wrong-footed the Shadow-Thrall and it started to reposition itself, some of its form breaking off to try and slow him, forcing him to evade. He refused, instead willing his skin to the hardness of granite. A tendril struck him, but ricocheted away doing little more damage than tearing his jacket. He was scant feet from Samuel now, when another tendril reared up like a King Cobra preparing to strike. It lashed out, directly at his heart, but he punched it aside with all the strength his desperation leant him.


Desperation reinforced by centuries of vampiric strength training.


His blow smashed the tendril aside, but it was costly. His right hand was reduced to a tattered lump of torn flesh and broken bones dangling from his wrist by a scant few tendons. The pain did not slow him, it spurred him on. He was now face to face with Samuel and he threw his wounded limb up, slamming it between his brother's bared fangs. Then he hit his brother's chin with a left uppercut, forcing his fangs deep into his forearm. Deep, rich blood flowed from his wounds and flooded into his brother's mouth.


"Remember, foolish brother mine!", Joshua snarled, his own fangs bared and eyes blazing with supernatural fire.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

The moment you stopped should have been the moment your fate was sealed. The tendrils stopped inches from your body though and relaxed. Samuel hungrly drained the blood from your wound and was not gentle about it. Now that you realize he should have entered torpor or worse long ago. The she witch had done significant amounts of damage. However the shadow thrall kept him here and that meant that with the proper amount of blood any of his wounds could be healed.


Pushing you against the wall he continued to eat. You could hear minor surface thoughts as he stared at you never once opening his mouth to let go of his meal.


"It really is you big brother" a thread ugh came weakly. "I'm sorry if it hurts. I can't stop. Id take you right now if you weren't my brother." he most likely meant that. Samuel was beyond restrictions like gender, sexuality or race. One of the periods in time he enjoyed himself the most was during the height of the roman empire and the Camarilla before their destruction. He did enjoy pretending to play in all guide games.


"Have" another thought came from him before his mind went silent and just continued to eat. The shadow thrall almost smiling and by Sam' will or its own you aren't sure it carefully removed the hair out of the way to reveal his neck with out disturbing his meal.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua endured his brother's feeding, after all, he'd only fed a few hours ago from a delightful young maiden with fascinating green eyes, a clever wit and the dextrous finger of a harpist. He'd left her in a dazed but contented fugue with a memory of expensive meals, vintage wines, stolen kisses and a gentlemanly chaste goodnight kiss on the hand. In the morning, she would put down the wooziness to the empty bottle of wine that sat in the recycling bin under her kitchen sink, decide to drink more water, add more spinach and red meat to her diet in the near future and carry on. Despite his recent repast and the potency of his elder blood, he accepted his brother's offer and sank his own fangs into the exposed skin of his neck. The painfully familiar taste of Samuel's blood washed over his tongue and answered the yearning that had existed for centuries. Joshua was glad that his brother was returned. He decided not to take too much, Samuel would need all he had to mend his damaged body, so he lapped a few mouthfuls before closing the wounds and leaning back to watch Samuel carefully.


"I don't know what you'll think of these modern nights, Sami.", he said as his younger brother continued to feed, "But there is a little something I'd like to gift you."


He opened his mind, sending tendrils of thought into his brother's. There he laid a seed of gathered knowledge.


"It's modern English. It's the most prevalent language of the time and far more accepted than ancient Romanian."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel's mind filled with the language that was known as English. He finished feeding and slowly began to pass out as his Thrall released the powers that kept him from entering final death, so they could both rest.


"Thank you . . " he said in English trying it with a thick European accent that young men and women would fall prey to in this modern age as his eyes closed and his body leaned into yours.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua smiled as Samuel's body went limp in his arms. As his brother relaxed, he set his ruined hand right with a rush of curing blood. Now, how to get back home with Samuel's dead weight. He could go across the rooftops again, but that was risky. Should he lose his grip, his brother would be unable to protect himself. So, more mundane methods then.


He pulled his phone from his pocket and quickly dialed a number. The cab company were discrete enough and the drivers didn't ask questions just so long as the tips were generous enough. Within a quarter of an hour, he and Samuel were pulling up outside his apartment block and Joshua had to continue to act as if he was burdened with his brother's weight. The moment the cab was out of sight, he carried Samuel as if he were less than a quarter of his weight. Joshua entered through the parking lot, jogged up the stairs and into his apartment. He tapped the wall panel for the exorbitantly expensive home management system and selected the 'Relax' setting. Lights turned on and automatically dimmed, the LCD fire became a more abstract fireglow effect and a



began to play through the concealed sound system.
He lay Samuel out on one of the leather couches and covered him with an angora blanket. The clock showed it to be almost an hour til sunrise and he could already feel the sun's weight on his senses and strength. But within him, his heart was lightened by the sight of his brother laying in torpid repose. He could not count the number of times he had wanted to see his brother asleep in his presence but now he had seen it, the pain and suffering of the ages was alleviated somewhat and he felt that he could finally move on.


He went over to the wine rack in his kitchen and took down a bottle of vintage red. If he were to sell it, it would probably make more than $18000 in auction, considering he'd saved it from a burning vineyard stock in Italy during early 1944. The vineyard, it's vines and the rest of its stock were either destroyed by fighting or looted and drunk by passing troops. This bottle, almost unique now, was a special treat. He uncorked it and poured out a glass. The rich, musty scent struck the back of his nose and he luxuriated in the fine aromas. Then he took a mouthful and allowed it to sit in his mouth for a few minutes before he spat it into the sink. He could drink it, quite easily, but it would only stay in his useless digestive system so long before he would have to go and vomit it back out. It was far easier to taste and spit when he wasn't in the company of the cattle.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel stirred in Torpor. He stirred a lot and saw nightmares tailored to him just like they were for every vampire. Vampires were given eternal life and power but at the cost of a good night's sleep.


Being near him most be weird as every shadowy dark corner of the apartment radiated his presence as if he was there. He continued to stir all day, the nightmares being worse then usual for him defying Final Death, nature's way of permanently getting rid of the wicked abominations that walk this beautiful earth.


Suddenly though the scattered feeling of Samuel began rushing back to where his body was resting and his senses were sticking out in all directions trying to figure out where he was as he awakened. "Where. . . am I" he said with a groggy voice. "Josha. . . ." he called out whispering. "It must have been a dream" he said disappointed.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua awoke instantly, his mind returning to him from walking abroad in the daylit world. He rarely actually rested any more, instead allowing his spirit to exit his body and move through the world. His supernatural senses allowed him to see beyond the mortal realm and this had benefitted him repeatedly in the past. One more than one occasion, he had foiled the attempts of rivals to send their minions to kill him while he rested, spotting them before they reached his haven, returning to his body and slaughtering them before his spirit shadowed the maimed survivors returning to their master. Once he knew his rival's location, he would make it a priority to go there as soon as he was capable and exact immediate repercussions on them. There had only been a few such events, and only ever once in any one city he had dwelt in. His 'immediate repercussions' were often graphic representations of what would happen to anyone who dared cross an elder vampire.


He climbed out of bed and out into the lounge where his brother still slumbered. The shadows flitting across the walls no longer disconcerted him, they were harmless enough and were little more than an annoyance to him. He brewed coffee and sat smelling the rich aromas that filled the apartment before performing his sip-spit ritual until Samuel awoke.


"Good evening, Samuel. I trust you slept well enough.", he smiled, "Also, you need to start using English more often. Especially in this country. People tend not to be too enthused by foreigners. I guess tonight our first task is getting you up to speed with the world."

 

[The Dark Wizard]

"So it wasn't . . a bad dream" he expressed in a low voice, staring back at you.


"How far did the she bitch send me?" He said sitting up and looking around. He may have been out of time and place but he wasn't stupid, he can tell the world has changed way too much over night.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

"Perhaps two thousand or so? There was a change of calendars so my reckoning might be off a few decades or so.", Joshua responded, perching on a stool by the breakfast bar, "But the most change in the world has happened in this last century. So much has come to pass. They created devices that allow you to speak over great distances with others. Even on the opposite side of the world... Oh, and you were right, by the way. The world is not flat, it is a ball, more a rounded oval, actually. They have machines that travel across the ground without horses, ones that travel across the sea without sails and even ones that fly through the air. The cities are lit at night by lanterns that don't need wicks or oil. And people have little need to carry weapons. Oh, some do, but they are far removed from the swords we used to carry. Now they carry things that are more akin to slingshots, only they use a strange powder to propel the bullet. It's loud and smelly, but it's effective against the cattle. Some of the rarer ones are problematic to our kind, but with practice you can negate their effectiveness."


Joshua looked up, trying to think of anything else his brother might be interested to know.

 

[The Dark Wizard]

Samuel quietly listened to you and took it all in. "I won't really get a grasp on it all till I experience it first hand . . but more important." he paused for a second.


"How did you do with out me?" he asked choking the question out of his throat.

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Joshua looked up at his brother and smiled, "As well as I could, all things considered. For almost a decade, I gave in to the Beast. I roamed the lands wildly, taking whatever I wished from whoever I came across. I left my mind behind and reveled in the power of my blood. Little could dissuade me from that course of self-destruction."


He paused and sighed.


"That was until Senelleca found me. She was gentle, but powerful. I had descended into a frenzy when a band of Inquisitors had tracked me down. They were using holy relics to trap me and had all but overwhelmed me with fire and their own holiness. Then she walked into that circle of flames, totally at peace and unperturbed. She spoke a word and my frenzy abated. The Inquisitors turned on her but she passed a hand before them and they simply put up their arms and allowed us to leave.


"We travelled for months, yet she never spoke. And each morning, she would find us shelter. She would bring me people to feed from each time I needed to, yet I never once saw her feed. We fought many different foes, vampires, werewolves and other beasts, yet I never saw her strike a blow. Her foes would recoil from their attacks against her as if she had struck them and they would scatter in terror. In time, I had recovered enough of my mind that she felt I was ready to walk my own path once more. That last night, she turned to me and said, 'The future is not yet written, but each of us has a path we must walk. That much is determined. Go forth and seek that which drives your heart. I must go and follow my path now and I cannot take you with me. But know that you shall find what it is you seek and peace shall come to you also. I am Senelleca and I have foreseen it.'. Then she wandered off into the early morning and I never saw her again.


"After that, I just drifted around, doing not much of anything. I slept when I felt the need to rest, I travelled when I wished it and I learned of places being discovered. Once America was discovered, I knew that was where I had to go. It was where the Kabbalist had prophesied your return so that was my path."

 

[Captain Hesperus]

Spoiler

You still interested in this or do we let it slide on off to the bowels of 1x1?