Fantasy Vampires(closed)

[Mikotsuhime]

Bloodthirstiness, right. That must have been the weird craving that Eric had been having that he couldn't put his finger on. This was all horribly unscientific and superstitious, and he couldn't believe that he was actually starting to believe them.

He took the beer from Vlad and was happy to at least have a little alcohol in his system, enough for a little buzz but not enough to actually impair his judgement at all. He decided not to comment on Bram's apparent failures with women when it was brought up, because Vlad was testing him now, and Eric gave the shorter vampire a very annoyed look.

"My town, my case," he said sharply. "This thing is killing /my/ people, not yours. I don't care if you want to investigate on the side, or whatever it is that you guys usually do, but you are not taking this over. I'm finding the bitch and bringing her to justice, not you."

 

[Canth]

The door shut and Meredith let out a sigh. She waited another two seconds before pushing the closet door open, careful to turn the knob all the way so as to keep the movement silent. She had snuck into a few homes and hotel rooms in her time, most of them witches often with enough booby traps and magical tripwires to make a girl crazy. But, she could only imagine what sorts of things vampire hunters might have in place.

She had spent enough time in the dark thus far for her eyes to adjust, and she went to work quick and silent as she could, ducking beneath the beds and searching through the little luggage they seemed to have. She found a couple interesting blades and a book or two, nothing too telling. A search of the bathroom yielded just as much. It was all about as she had expected, though she had hoped to find something she might be able to use. Oh well. Meredith grabbed a few hairs from either comb, sliding them into a spare vial and tucking it back into a pocket, along with their toothbrushes. She popped a bottle of hotel lotion, gave it a sniff, and tucked it away with a shrug. Lavender and chamomile.

Meredith turned back to the room, opening a few more drawers, sifting through the second closet, and tossing the pillows and sheets one last time. Well, she would just have to ask. Grabbing up one of the books and a particularly beautiful looking knife, she pushed through the door and stepped outside.

“Woah, woah, language,” Meredith’s accent was subtle, that of someone who had been born and raised in the vast green or Ireland, but had spent the last eighty years or so in the States. There was no use hiding it anymore. “There’s a lady present.”

“So,” she glanced between the book and knife, and then up at the three in and around the truck. “Bookworm,” she eyed Vlad. “What’s the plan? Teach the kid to be a good little vampire and send him back into the world, your latest prodigy? And what if it doesn’t work and he feeds? Then what? You tell him that plan yet?”

 

[Reynarda]

Bram and Vlad spun as their door opened and Meredith stepped out. Vlad gave her a nasty look and held out his hand to Bram. He had to snap his fingers because the slayer was eyeing the unbuttoned part of Meredith’ blouse. Noticing Vlad’s hand, Bram rolled his eyes and dug around in his pockets until he found a crumpled twenty-dollar bill. He gave it to the vampire.

Vlad eyed the money and then his companion. “I think you owe me two since she was in our room and is a huntress.”

“I didn’t negate the second one,” Bram protested. Though, honestly, he didn’t know why they had even started this. It wasn’t like they had separate accounts.

“'Prodigy',” Vlad snorted, tucking the bill inside his pocket and sliding from his perch on the truck’s tailgate. He strode around the truck, sticking his hands in his pockets and giving Meredith a condescending look. “I know you may find this hard to believe, but it is perfectly normal for a vampire not to plan the doom of the entire human race. Now give me back my book.”

Bram, still leaning casually on the truck, settled a hand on Vlad’s shoulder. “Why don’t you just put her mind at ease?”

“I will do no such thing.”

“How ‘bout I trade you a beer for that knife?” Bram suggested to Meredith. He turned and opened the cooler. “Or I have whiskey and jenever.”

“Do not feed her alcohol,” Vlad protested. He shot Meredith another glare. “And you be careful with that book. It is a first edition.”

“Maybe if you talked to her like a nice vampire, she would be nicer to you,” Bram suggested.

Vlad rolled his eyes. “So be it. What do you want that you felt the need to snoop around our motel room to find?”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Both Eric’s eyebrows rose as he watched Meredith saunter out of the hotel room like she completely belonged there. Great, so that settled that issue; his second date did indeed want to kill him. Wonderful.

“Let me guess, you don’t even have a niece,” he grumbled, though he did take a good step away from her, eyes narrowing. Clearly the caring good girl thing had just been an act, and while he did indeed find his eyes drawn to her unbuttoned blouse, he was also enough of a hardened professional officer to tear them away after only a few seconds of oogling.

“Hey, I’m not going to go out there and drink anyone’s /blood/,” he said sharply, because vampire or not, he wasn’t about to just go about attacking people in his home town. “I protect people I don’t hurt them, unless they make Me. This vampire bull...crap doesn’t change any of that.”

In fact the thought of sinking his teeth into someone made him feel a bit ill, if only because it was also a bit appealing and the moral implications of that did a number on his stomach. He knew for sure, though, he was not about to start causing problems in his own hometown, vampire or not.

 

[Canth]

“Oh, hun,” Meredith turned pitying eyes on Eric. “I have a brother named Lexi. He’s basically a little niece.” She sighed, before turning eyes back on Vlad. Poor thing. He was almost cute when he got worked up.

“To be honest, I don’t give a rat’s ass about the human race. Do with it what you like,” she shrugged, and began flipping through the book she had grabbed. It had been a while since she had read for fun. At least, something that was not a grimoire or journal of some sort. Witch stuff. But an actual fictitious novel, it was probably pushing maybe sixty years. She wondered if she should take the hobby up again. Goodness knew she had enough time on her hands these days.

“Whiskey will do fine,” she looked up from the book, perking up at the offer. “I’m hoping I don’t have to specify neat. Throwing ice in would just be an insult.” She snapped the book shut and turned her eyes on Vlad, enjoying his more courteous approach. It meant she had some power in their conversation. She enjoyed power.

“I got what I came for. For the most part. I merely wanted to confirm who you both were, and what you were planning on doing with Baby Vamp over there. He still seems a tad confused, though I honestly thought he woulda run by now. Props, Baby Vamp.” She tossed Eric an encouraging smile. At least, she thought it was encouraging. “Obviously you don’t plan on killing him, otherwise you’d’ve done it by now. So, given the fact that I’m not a complete idiot, I’ve decided to allow you to take on your new pet and turn my sights on the original culprit. This lady vamp ought to be more fun, anyway. Vampire Cop here doesn’t seem to be giving much chase.”

 

[Reynarda]

Bram opened the truck’s door to get to the whiskey while Vlad continued to glare at Meredith. Bram usually just drank it out of the bottle, but not this woman wanted to be all fancy. He located a clean plastic cup and poured some whiskey. He held out the cup to Meredith as he closed the door.

“‘Don’t give a rat’s ass about the human race’?” Bram asked, a little confused. “You’re a hunter, yeah?”

“She is not human,” Vlad supplied. “Or, at least, was not always human.”

Bram eyed his companion. “Then what is she?”

“A witch devoid of her magic, is my best guess.” Vlad folded his arms across his chest. “Am I wrong?”

“Oh,” Bram said, drawing the word out. “That explains why you were being such an ass.”

“How kind of you,” Vlad said in response to Meredith’s proclamation that she would not be killing Eric that evening. “But I think we have to consider the fact that you are not in this for the good of humankind.”

Vlad looked pointedly at Bram, whose eyes were drifting again. “Abraham.”

Bram sighed. “I think Eric and I are the only responsible ones here.”

Says the hunter staring at a witch’s cleavage, thought Vlad with a roll of his eyes.

“So, clearly we should hunt down this vampire, and you two can sit in the motel and glare at each other.”

Vlad gave Bram an unimpressed looked before extending his hand to Meredith. “Book, please.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Well, if nothing else, it was impressive just how thoroughly she had played him, Eric thought. He had fallen for her act hook line and sinker, and now that it had been revealed he was feeling rather foolish about it. He tried not to let it show on his face, though, since he had his pride.

Said pride was taking quite a beating, though.

“I have a name,” he pointed out, because he did not particularly like being referred to as a kid or a baby. He was an adult, and not even the youngest officer in the department! Sure, only Isaac was younger than he was, but it still meant that he had graduated from being the kid, and didn’t like being thrust back into that role.

“Thank you,” he said, exasperated, when Bram actually used his name, though honestly the conversation was starting to just go right above his head again. Witches too? Excellent. Wonderful. He was just going to file that little tidbit of information away and ignore it until it became relevant. At least Bram was agreeing to let him be in on the investigation.

“Right, well, as long as we’re clear that this is my town and my case. If you yahoos really want to do your investigation you do it with me, under my rules, got it? Otherwise, vampire or not, I will arrest you and stick you in a cell until this is all over with, understand?”

 

[Canth]

She took the cup, handing the knife to Bram in return. It was a fair trade. Meredith peered into the cup before giving it a careful sniff. She shrugged, and tipped the cup back, pleasantly surprised. Not bad for a hunter. She watched as Vlad helped Bram figure her out, knocking the cup back and draining it. She always had trouble savoring a good whiskey.

“No, you’re not wrong,” she confirmed, not surprised he had picked up on her witch past. While her aura read non-magical, it was certainly not human. All it took was a little detective work to suss out the truth.

Meredith almost laughed at the thought of being stuck in a cell. Cute. Well, if it made him feel better, she supposed she could let him have it.

“Alright, good, I can work with that.” Maybe not the ‘my rules’ thing, but they would cross that bridge when they came to it. Big Man Cop wanted to lay down his rules, set everything straight, regain some control. Who was Meredith to take that away from him?

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad scowled, annoyed that Meredith was still holding on to his book. He was glad that his guess had been correct. It had been the only one that made sense based on his staring down her aura, but he still liked being proven right.

Bram took his knife back and stuck it in one of his pockets.

“We’re teaming up, then?” he asked, apparently having no problem with joining forces with two vampires and a former witch. After Vlad, he figured he could only go up.

“We are not teaming up.”

“You can keep an eye on Eric,” Bram suggested in a weedling tone. “Make sure he’s progressing okay in the absence of his sire.”

Vlad was still scowling.

Bram shrugged. “Or he could arrest you.”

Vlad would like to see Eric try. But the vampire rolled his eyes and huffed. “Fine. Give me back my book.”

 

[Canth]

((Oops, I totally had Meredith throw the book back, but I must’ve deleted it when I was moving things around and editing. I’ll get it to him in the next one I promise : p ))

 

[Reynarda]

((Haha, Vlad has a one-tack mind))

 

[Starlit Night]

((Hope you don't mind commentary, but Vlad's insistence on getting his book back is quite relatable. I, too, would be persistent in my attempts to get a book back, if someone had taken one of mine. : p
If you guys do mind commentary, do let me know and I'll delete this.))

 

[Reynarda]

((Baha, not at all. Vlad would sacrifice Bram for books if he could.))

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric was not sure how he felt about the prospect of Vlad being his babysitter, but otherwise the other three seemed to at least be amicable to working together. He hated to admit it, but he was really out of his depth here, and having some perspective that actually knew more about this sort of thing was a plus in any case.

“Chill out, it’s just a book,” he said casually, then reached for his bag and began rooting through it. He pulled out the report he had been reading at the coffee shop and handed it to Vlad, along with a look that said very clearly ‘this stays between us’. “And yes, we’re working together, or you’re not working at all.”

The report was fairly detailed; it was mostly information Eric had put together himself, with notes and photos from autopsies, a list of victims and where they were found, that sort of thing. Eric glanced up at Meredith and shrugged his shoulders.

“Only got one copy, sorry. Anyways, that’s all the info we have. I’m stupid and probably drunk to actually be trusting you folks, but oh well.”

 

[Canth]

Meredith’s smile only grew as Bram managed to convince Vlad to let her tag along. She was not really one to work with others, but what the Hell? It was not like she had /never/ worked alongside others. Back with the Coven, she regularly had other witches tagging along. Besides, this lot could prove entertaining, and she was willing to admit she could use the vampire hunting experience. She had already proven herself a bit of a novice, whether she wanted to admit it or not. Oh well, she was not about to let her lack of vampire knowledge sour her mood—this was just for fun.

“Yeah, yeah,” Meredith rolled her eyes and tossed the book to Vlad. Perhaps a tad lighter and gentler than might be expected. She wasn’t a barbarian—a witch knew the value in books. She kept her eyes on Eric however, following the file’s path from the officer’s hands to Vlad’s.

“So long as I get to kill something, I’m good,” she rubbed her hands together in her excitement. “So...where to first?”

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad caught the book carefully and inspected it for damages. At least she had been gentle with it. He turned a look of horror on Eric when the other told him to chill.

Just a book?! That was it. Nope. Vlad could not work with Eric. Nope.

But then the officer handed him a file, and Vlad had to reevaluate.

While Vlad gleefully leafed through the file, Bram shrugged. “I dunno, but we can take my truck. It seats five. Vlad? Where to?”

The vampire wrinkled his nose, his eyes on a lovely autopsy picture. “As much as it displeases me, I think we need to investigate the last confirmed location at least one of the vampires was in.”

He flicked his eyes up from the picture—which was definitely the work of a vampire—and fixed them on Eric. “Considering her… activities, there should be enough latent energy for me to get a read on, and hopefully some physical evidence, as well.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric had no idea what Vlad meant by latent energy or whatever, but he figured he could piece together the rest of it just fine, and it in turn made him wrinkle his nose in distaste.

“You wanna see where we had sex?” He asked, because weird vampire abilities or not, that was a weird thing to ask. Still, he was already breaking every rule and principle he had working on this case with them, so... he took a deep breath and nodded his head. “You know what? Yeah, fine, whatever. It’s not too far from here anyways, I’ll show you where.”

He glanced back at Meredith, who was watching him like a hawk, and he swallowed. He was feeling a lot more and more like the prey in this situation than the predator that he figured he was supposed to be.

He also did not like the idea of just killing a suspect without an arrest or the proper proceedings. Police were not supposed to do that, and it was a point of pride with him that he gave everyone a fair chance. But then they were the experts at this, and he could imagine that keeping a vampire in a holding cell was not as easy as it sounded.

“As long as you don’t kill me,” he muttered under his breath as he crushed his empty beer can in his hand and tossed it into a nearby public garbage bin. He was pleasantly surprised that it went in on the first try.

 

[Canth]

Meredith glanced at the truck with a frown, not liking the idea of being cooped in a car with two vampires (including one who had only just learned he had a craving he was going to have to keep in check) and a hunter...who up until maybe a year ago might have considered her enough of a threat to hunt himself. Maybe. After a little fun, of course. But, her ride was back at the Inn, and while she regretted leaving it behind, she had walked all the way over here for the sake of surveillance.

“Alright, so we’ll visit whatever sad little sex den you two kids got funky in, Vlad here’ll pinpoint the chick’s aura, maybe see if we can’t trace her to wherever she went next, and Bram and I’ll knock a few back while we wait ‘cause...aura sensing isn’t really my thing anymore. Sounds good to me.” Meredith clapped, smile stretched across her face, and made for the truck. She caught Eric’s grumble, but did not bother acknowledging it. Of course she would kill him if it came to it; she was not going to promise something so absurd.

 

[Reynarda]

“Trust me, I like it a lot less than you do,” Vlad assured Eric. “But it is the best lead we have at the moment.”

Bram nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“No,” Vlad said, giving Bram a look. “You are not going to sit around and drink while we work.”

“Yeah, ‘cause watching you crouch with your eyes closed is so profitable.”

“She,” Vlad said, indicating Meredith with a dark look, “doubtlessly knows locating spells. You two can find DNA for her to use.”

“Ew, Vlad.”

Vlad took a deep inhale through his nose. “Not that kind of DNA, Abraham.”

Bram knew that, of course. He just liked making Vlad uncomfortable. Grinning, he climbed into the truck.

Vlad pulled himself into the front before Bram could kick him out of his spot in favor of Meredith riding shotgun.

“Where’s the love nest, Eric?”

“Abraham.”

Bram shrugged. “I figured you would like that better than ‘sex den’.”

“Abraham.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric really did not like ‘sex den’ or ‘love nest’, and he could feel a slight flush on his cheeks as he massaged his temples. He climbed into the back seat obediently regardless, though, even though he was beginning to regret every decision he’d made that led to sleeping with that woman in the first place, if only because it had led up to this situation.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. Go straight for two blocks, hang two rights and a left, you’ll see the house at the end of the street,” he instructed, already feeling a bit silly and gearing up for the inevitable uncomfortable teasing that was undoubtedly to come.

The house in question was old and clearly abandoned, with boarded up windows and an atmosphere that just screamed haunted house. There was unintelligible graffiti on one side, while the front porch loomed in front of them ominously. It looked like the kind of place teenagers dared each other to sneak in and spend a night to test their courage. It wasn’t uncommon that they got calls about such a thing down at the station, and Eric knew the irony of the situation without it actually being said.

He didn’t doubt that either Bram or Meredith would bring it up anyways.

 

[jones573]

ooc- idk how significant Eric's biter is but if you just need someone to fill the role so you can all agree about what she looked like and what not- feel free to use a version of Annabelle! She's prone to some spectacularly disasterous benders (especially if she doesn't have kids to anchor herself around, or ESPECIALLY if she's just lost another kid and is bitter and angry that biting is her only means of procreating) and would prolly think it's hilarious to introduce herself as 'Maria' if she was drunk enough

 

[Canth]

Meredith rolled her eyes. All work and no play. Whatever—it was possible to drink /and/ run a locating spell at the same time. She followed and climbed into the back, opposite Eric. The etched eyed him for a moment, noting the slight flush in his cheeks. The boy was obviously having a bit of trouble with his whole life suddenly being laid out for a few strangers who claimed to hunt vampires. Still, he seemed to be holding up alright. Better than most, anyway. He was here, for one thing. Without any real proof that they were who they said they were. Either he had some sort of intuition, or he was just that careless.

The witch sat back, continuing to portray a strong air of carefree nonchalance, though she was never fully relaxed. She wasn’t an idiot—she kept her guard up, watching Eric out of the corner of her eye, gaze flickering out the window every so often to ensure they were following the officer’s direction. Checking on Vlad every few seconds in case he got any funny ideas. She had more than just a few fancy knives on her, and she was perfectly comfortable with using them and taking the file for herself, should anyone get too frisky. As they drove on however, and took the left onto the directed street, Meredith perked up. The house came into view, and her brows raised slightly.

“My my, don’t you know how to show a girl a good time? Tell me—who holds the whip?”

 

[Reynarda]

To be perfectly honest, Vlad did not like having Meredith sitting outside his line of vision. It made him nervous. He was enjoying this file, though. It was giving him a lot of information.

Bram followed the directions until the house came into view. Vlad eyed the place with a scientific eye, but Bram snorted. He would have said something, but Meredith beat him to it. He reached over and covered Vlad’s ears.

“Young ears!” he said with a snicker.

“Put your hands back on the wheel, Abraham, or so help me—”

Bram did. He pulled up next to the house and eyed it.

“This is probably where all the local adolescents sneak off to,” Vlad complained. “I am going to need gloves.”

“Looks like a regular haunted house,” Bram agreed as Vlad pulled on his leather gloves and scowled at them. Bram glanced back at Eric. “Not that I can judge to be honest. Not like I can bring girls home with him sitting on the couch.”

Vlad sniffed as he checked the dexterity of his fingers with the gloves on. He had carefully cultivated an atmosphere unwelcome to Bram’s evening activities and was not the slightest bit apologetic.

“In fact, there was this one time, with this one huntress—”

“Absolutely no one wants to hear that story,” Vlad said louder than necessary as he slid from the truck.

Bram grinned and climbed down. He brought the whiskey bottle and two cups with him because Vlad was not the boss. And, anyway, Vlad would just crouch with his eyes closed, and Bram didn’t need to be paying too much attention.

Vlad groaned. “I feel like a need a hazmat suit.”

Bram ruffled his hair. “That motel is probably nastier.”

“Abraham.”

Bram grinned and turned back to Eric. “Where’s the dungeon, then?”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

"Yeah, yeah. I was really drunk, and it was her idea, ok?" Eric said, though his ears were red and he was clearly embarrassed. A cop breaking into an abandoned house to have sex was just the kind of ridiculous thing that he himself would have scoffed at if there wasn't a regular boatload of alcohol in his system at the time. As it was now, it was just... humiliating.

He was very glad when Vlad cut off Bram from going on about his own sex life, because that was the last thing he needed right now, was hearing about a vampire hunter's random exploits. He got out of the truck with a huff, glancing back and forth before heading around to the back of the building where a window was open just a crack. It was enough for him to haul it open all the way, and he turned to Meredith and gestured towards it with a flourish.

"Ladies first," he said dryly, glancing back to the hunter duo. "And yes, kids like to break in here all the time. People say it's haunted, which is bullshit, obviously."

Vampires may have existed, he was going along with that for now, but he drew the line at ghosts.

 

[Canth]

“I wanted to hear it,” Meredith grumbled as she pushed her door open and slipped from the truck. She took a second to smooth out her slacks and blouse, and flipped her hair back into place before shutting the door behind her and coming around to the front. She looked up at the place, arms crossed, as eyes flickered from one corner to the next. She may not have much experience with vampires, but she had plenty with spirits. Souls, to be precise.

Meredith glanced back at Eric, figuring he wanted her in front so he would not have to worry about looking over his shoulder the whole time. She shrugged and stepped forward, walking up to the door and inspecting it for a moment.

“Darling, you have now entered the world of the supernatural, where any and all things are possible. Including ghosts. Hell, my brother keeps one as a pet.” She grabbed the door handle and pushed. It creaked open. It was dark inside, but after a couple seconds her eyes adjusted. She stepped inside, looking left and right as she did so, a common practice amongst those who were used to finding themselves walking into traps. So far, so good.

“Though...I can’t say this home is particularly haunted...perhaps a few remnants of souls long forgotten. There certainly is an eerie feel about this place, but I’d say that’s more on the human mind than anything tangible.” She glanced around, before turning back on Eric. “Alright, point us to the spot.”