Fantasy Vampires(closed)

[Reynarda]

Bram caught Meredith’s muttering and tossed her a grin. He really just liked telling the story because Vlad was supposed to be out of town, but he had strode into the living room with a blood-pop in his mouth and his nose in a book. Bram thought it was hilarious, but Vlad did not.

Vlad eyed the window Eric had cracked, not liking the thought of clambering in that way. Fortunately, Meredith seemed to have the same thought and chose the back door instead. He followed her in, testing the house’s energy through his feet. It couldn’t really be called a home—not anymore. The energy of whoever have lived here was long gone.

“I do not know if I like the sound of your brother,” Vlad murmured abscently as he look around. Something hit him, and he turned his eyes on Meredith. “Is he a witch? I thought male witches were rare.”

Bram held the whiskey and the cups and looked around, growing impatient. “Less talking, more investigating.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Great, ghosts were real too. Wonderful. Eric took in a deep breath and then exhaled, following the trio into the house.

“Excellent. Well, at least /this/ place isn’t haunted,” he grumbled. He was still hoping that all of this was a particularly bad dream, and that none of it would turn out to be real when he got up the next morning. The actual weight and reality of the situation had yet to sink in, which was probably how he was able to take things so calmly.

He decided to ignore the talk of witches, and closed the window from the inside, considering it hadn’t actually been needed, then surveyed the inside. They had come in through what had once been the kitchen, and there was a hallway leading to a few separate doors as well as a staircase going up on the opposite side of the room. Ignoring the stairs, Eric led them down the hall to a door that was cracked open, into a room that was sparsely decorated aside from the musty queen mattress in the corner.

“Well, here it is, do whatever it is you need to do,” he grumbled, wanting to get this over with.

 

[Canth]

“Rare, not nonexistent. The Coven’s tried hunting him down on multiple occasions, but he refuses to die.” Meredith shrugged. “Runs in the family, I suppose.” She followed after Eric, watching her step as she picked her way through years of abandonment. And a rat. Nasty little bugger, much larger than natural. Nearly on New York City Rat level.

Meredith turned her attention to the room. It was about what one might expect of an abandoned bedroom frequented by horny teens and wasted adults alike. Probably crawling with diseases. The witch wrinkles her nose at the thought, but decided to keep her disgust to herself for the time being. They had work to do.

First thing’s first: Meredith held a hand out to Bram. “I think best with whiskey, as they say.” If they expected any sort of spell out of her, she was going to require something in return. Meredith did not work for free, though she was not too picky on the form of currency.

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad was familiar with refusing to die, so he couldn't really blame Meredith's witch brother. He did, however, make a mental note to stay away from this crazy family. The last thing he needed was to get tangled up with witches.

Bram poured a whiskey for Meredith and passed it over. He then poured a cup for himself. This was his least favorite part of hunting.

Vlad groaned and strode into the room, carefully avoiding looking at the mattress. Why couldn't people ever just be reading? Why did they always have to be doing this sort of thing? He stopped in the middle of the room and crouched, placing his gloved hands on the floor. When there was no other movement, Vlad slit an eye open.

"You could help," he suggested.

"I am," Bram said, sipping his drink. "I'm keeping the witch from setting you on fire."

"Look for DNA samples. Hair is fine, blood would be better--since she is a vampire."

Bram sighed and knocked back the rest of the whiskey in his cup. "Do you know how many hairs--"

"A physical description would be beneficial, officer," Vlad said, not in the mood for Bram's commentary. "Unless you would like to find what we need on your lonesome."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric watched Vlad with no small amount of skepticism.

“So how exactly is this helping us find this woman?” He asked, before he realized that any answer would probably be way outside of his level of understanding. He was half considering asking Bram for some of that whisky as it was.

When Vlad asked him for a description he sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

“God, I don’t know. She had dark hair, might have been short might have been tied up,” he said with a shrug, wandering over to the mattress. He did not remember very much about that night at all, but if he was right... he dug around between some of the old bare pillows for a few seconds before pulling out a pair of lacy black panties that were ripped down the side. “Here, there’s your DNA sample. At least I’m pretty sure these’re hers. Beats hunting around for a stray hair all night.”

 

[Canth]

Meredith took the offered cup, swirling it a couple times before taking a sip, deciding to make this one last a tad longer. She watched Vlad in silence, and something stirred inside her. Jealousy? Regret? A witch losing her magic was like losing her soul. Her purpose. Her whole self. Meredith had never been one to wallow in self-pity, but she had never properly grieved her loss either. She kept herself busy enough with hunting down the very thing she had once been, and numbing herself to her new reality. Somehow, taking the very thing she had lost from less deserving witches made her feel better. But, that was temporary.

Meredith blinked, shaken from her thoughts when Vlad spoke up. Her eyes followed Eric as he fumbled over the description, which could really be anyone. But then, after a few seconds search, he brought forth a pair of lacy underwear. Ripped lacy underwear. Meredith cocked a brow.

“Damn, son. Color me impressed.” She stepped forward, head tilting slightly as she eyed the lingerie. “That should work. Vlad,” she glanced back at the vampire, smirk tugging at her lips. “Would you be able to confirm these belonged to our vampiress in question?”

 

[Reynarda]

“I am looking for her aura,” Vlad answered Eric. “And confirming that she attempted to turn someone here.”

That was all he intended to say, however. He didn’t need Meredith knowing exactly what he could do.

Vlad would have been absolutely horrified that Eric did not remember the appearance of a woman he had slept with had Eric not been bitten by said woman. Besides, he had little time to be horrified by that as Eric soon took his suggestion of finding DNA evidence himself and produced a lady’s undergarment. Vlad had nothing against undergarments, of course, but they were black, lacy, and ripped.

Bram whistled. “I’m with Meredith. Damn, Eric. You must’ve had a good time.”

Vlad almost pointed out he got himself turned into a vampire, but decided not to.

Vlad wrinkled his nose at Meredith and her smirk. “I am sure we can trust the officer—“

“You? Trust someone who clearly does not have a good memory of the events?” Bram asked, raising his eyebrows. “Are you sick?”

He was about to be. Vlad made a low grumbling sound deep in his throat and straightened. There were far too many other scents for Vlad to pick out another vampire, and he didn’t really feel keen on sniffing the panties anyway. He stepped over to Eric and shifted his gaze to see if there was an aura around them.

“Oh thank the stars,” Vlad said, shoulders lowering in relief. He wasn’t going to have to touch the unmentionables in question. “Yes. Definitely hers.”

Bram chuckled at Vlad’s relief. “For the record,” he said, pouring a bit more whiskey into Meredith’s glass, “he would have been just as panicked if it had been Eric’s undies.”

“Because they are dirty,” Vlad said defensively.

“That and because they were—“

“Dirty. Unwashed. Uncleaned. Let’s find the offending vampiress, then.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric scowled, his face flushing red from his neck to the tips of his ears.

“Yeah, ok, listen, she tore them on one of the bed springs,” he clarified quickly, because he was getting the impression that these people were getting a very wrong idea of who he was. He didn’t even usually have one night stands! Very often, anyways.

He accepted ‘aura reading’ as some kind of freaky vampire power and took it in stride, though he was also kind of curious if he’d be able to do stuff like that too. He didn’t ask, though, because that would be embarrassing. Instead he focused on the panties.

“So how did you tell they were hers?” He mused. “Even though I knew they were.” He wasn’t offended that they didn’t trust his memories, though. Lord knew they were incomplete. “Also how do you suggest finding her? Some kind of magic crap?”

At the mention of his own underwear he coughed and shrugged his shoulders.

“Yeah, well, I’m not taking mine off to test that,” he muttered.

 

[Canth]

Meredith waited as Vlad confirmed, and when he did, she figured it was her turn. Nothing fancy, just a simple little locator spell. Anyone could do it, really, which was the point.

Meredith watched as Bram filled her cup again. She smiled, and tossed back the first half of it. She then returned her attention to Eric, who seemed like he was going to explode in his attempt to explain himself. She put a hand up.

“Woah, woah,” Meredith almost laughed, though she managed to keep her composure for the sake of not wanting to spill her whiskey. “No one’s judging you here. Well, he might be,” Meredith added, gesturing to Vlad. “But honestly, like he’s any more a saint.”

Meredith polished off her glass before turning back to the room, picking her way around, ducking behind a busted dresser, and finally coming back with a red Solo cup pinched between two cautious fingers.

“This should do fine.” She held it out for Eric to drop the underwear in. “Not magic, remember. Just crap. Nothing too complicated. Bram,” she turned to the hunter. “You wouldn’t happen to have a map in your truck would you? Nothing elaborate, basic will do.” It was not necessary, though it would certainly make things get along faster.

 

[Reynarda]

“Uh huh, we’re sure that’s what happened,” Bram said, grinning wolfishly over his cup.

Vlad gave him a look. When Meredith suggested that he was anything but a saint, the vampire bristled. “Glass houses, witch. I guarantee there is not a single thing I have done that is worse than anything you have done.”

“I can think of several,” Bram put in. “I did get him a hoodie that says ‘St. Vladimir’s’ on it. I think it’s from a teen paranormal romance, which I know are just his favorite books.”

Vlad ignored Bram, instead answering Eric. “I can see the aura in the undergarment. Thank all that is good in this world that I did not have to touch it. And please, for the love of all the saints, keep yours on.”

Bram frowned. “Uh, who uses maps anymore? I use the app on my phone.”

“I use the app on his phone,” Vlad corrected. “He refuses to follow directions. Anyway there is a map in the glove compartment.”

Bram frowned. “How long has that been there?”

“A few days. I copied it from the library.” Vlad strode out of the room but was quickly back with the map in hand. He opened it and laid it carefully on the floor. “This is the whole area, so it is not too detailed.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric looked like he wanted to argue with Bram and insist that yes, that was what happened, but he quickly decided it wasn’t worth what was left of his dignity to make a fuss about it. He listened to the proceeding conversation with interest, dropping the panties into the cup that Meredith had procured.

“Huh. So, not magic, then. Got it.” He mused, though he had a feeling she hadn’t really been serious, but oh well. He whole heartedly agreed with Bram’s assessment on gps, not that Eric actually needed it anywhere in town, but luckily Vlad had apparently squirrelled a map away somewhere anyways. Eric’s suggestion would have been to grab one at the gas station, which would have taken them even more out of their way, so this was good.

 

[Canth]

Meredith gave Vlad a look. “I didn’t say otherwise.”

She eyed the underwear now in the cup, nose wrinkling slightly. They could make fun of Vlad all they wanted, but truth be told she was not keen on touching them either. Fortunately that would not be necessary.

When Vlad returned with the map, she walked over, crouching over it. It was better than nothing.

“This’ll do fine. Might not pin point her exact location, but we’ll still be able to get a general area. Close enough.” She glanced about the room once more, no longer able to sense the energies and forced to rely on instinct and intuition. She reached down and took up the map, moving it over about five feet to the left and one foot up. Satisfied, Meredith set her cup down beside the map, and began to pull a few items from her pants pockets. Despite their fitted cut, she managed to keep quite a bit tucked in her pockets in a way that did not morph her figure in the least. One of the perks of having experience with magic, despite no longer possessing it herself. And having a brother with a Familiar who had owed her a favor. A nifty little pocket dimension, pun intended.

“Alright, this should only take a second...” she broke off a couple sprigs of dried lavender, dropping them into the cup along with four fresh mint leaves, a cluster of six spider’s eggs, two bones from some small, unidentified creature, and three drops of a shimmery oil. Without magic, she had to rely on less...eloquent means. Finally, she drew a small knife from up her sleeve and slid the blade across her opened palm, just enough to draw blood. She turned her hand over the cup, allowed a few drops to fall on top, and wiped the blade clean on a fresh towel. She wrapped her palm in a clean cloth, tying it off. Last but not least, Meredith struck a match and dropped it into the cup.

The contents lit immediately, a bright orange flame that soon became a sickly purple. It rose about six inches from the cup, lapping at the sides in ecstatic hunger. She waited, watching the fire for a few seconds until it was completely changed. Then, she picked the map off the floor and held the corner into the flame. It caught instantly. She dropped the map back on the floor, where the fire burned exclusive to the map, eating at the paper with frantic speed, until the fire slowed, died, and all that was left was a smoldering section. A small piece, about a square inch in size, burnt at the edges but untouched in the center.

“Well, there ya go. Found your vampire.” She picked the piece off the ground and walked it over to Eric. “Recognize it?”

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad watched Meredith work with a superior expression and a wrinkled nose. Bram was curious how she kept all that in her pockets. Weren’t girl’s pockets like large enough for an enterprising dust bunny and a few atoms? Bram was able to hold a lot in his pockets, but that was because he just crammed stuff in there. Maybe they were magic pockets like Mary Poppins or Doctor Who.

Vlad did shift as she set his map on fire. Lovely. Now he was going to have to go get another one. At least she had burned up the undergarment so he wasn’t forced to think about them anymore. He squinted at the slip of paper but shrugged. He hadn’t studied the layout of the town well enough to make any guesses.

Bram drained his cup. “Where to, Eric?”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric watched with fascination as Meredith pulled thing after thing out of her pockets, and considered commenting on it before deciding that she would probably just make fun of him again and keeping his mouth shut.

“Hey, hey, careful with the matches,” he warned, because this was an old building and the /last/ thing that he wanted was to have to explain to Eddie on Monday morning why he was in the old Johnson house when it burnt down. But then the flames started doing something incredibly odd, and then the map was all but burnt away.

“Definitely magic crap,” he muttered to himself as he examined the scrap that remained of the map, squinting and turning it onto its side to get a better look. “This is down by the beach, I think. Not the touristy part, though; this is near the old boat launch, but nobody uses that place anymore since they built a nicer one closer to the docks.”

He wished he had more of the map to examine, since the piece he had was very small and it was hard to get his bearings, but he recognized at least the street name that was half burnt out.

 

[Canth]

“Alright, that’s a start,” Meredith nodded. The spell was not perfect. A year ago she would have given them the exact address.

She dropped back down to collect her stuff, shaking the ashes from the Solo cup into a new container and tucking it away with the rest. She stood back up, dusting her slacks off.

“Now, are we accepting this is just one lone vampire having a little fun? Or can we assume she’s not the only cat in town? My vampire experience is limited, but they generally seem to travel in groups.” She turned her eyes on Vlad and Bram, considering Eric had only just realized vampires were a thing an hour or so ago.

 

[Reynarda]

Bram nodded sagely. “Yeah, vampires are pack animals.”

Vlad gave him a look.

Bram winked at him. “Well, we’ll settle for ‘they’re not a solitary and broody as they want you to think’.” Bram clapped Eric cheerfully on the shoulder. “You are gonna freak when you learn about the vampire governing system. They are a collection of Vlad’s favorite vampires.”

“I hate them,” Vlad said, just in case anyone was confused by Bram’s attempt at a joke.

“How many vampires are running this, Vlad?”

“Contrary to popular belief, I am not omniscient.”

Bram rolled his eyes and lead the way out of the creepy house and back to the truck. “Literally no one believes you are. What is your guestimate, then?”

Vlad did not think he had enough information for such a projection, so he shrugged. “Three? Maybe more?”

“Excellent. More fun to go around.”

“You and I have very different definitions of ‘fun’.”

Bram pulled himself into his truck. “Alrighy, Ima need directions again, Eric.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric stared at Bram like he had just grown an extra head.

“/governing system/? There’s a governing system?” He asked incredulously. Exactly how much was going on that regular people didn’t know about? How could an entire government exist without normal people like him even having a clue? It was enough to make his head hurt, but instead of making a further fool out of himself he forced himself to relax, letting out a sigh.

“Buddy, everyone hates the government,” he said to Vlad before glancing back at the scrap of paper. “And I can show you where the old boat launch is no problem. It’s about a fifteen twenty minute drive from here, though. On the outskirts of town.”

 

[Canth]

Three, maybe more. This might prove to be worth her while after all. Double-checking to make sure she had retrieved all her supplies, she followed Bram out to the truck.

Eric was asking a lot of questions, which was to be expected. He had just been introduced to an entire world operating mostly under the noses of just about the entire human race. A few got caught in the middle every once in a while, most finding themselves food for a vast array of creatures who were merely trying to survive. Others found themselves at the hands of sadistic creatures, while still more were mere collateral damage in raging wars for power. Eric would probably do best to keep his ignorance. The supernatural was a door that was not lightly opened. She was only looking out for the kid.

Meredith pulled herself into the truck, deciding to stick with the same seat. If Eric did decide she looked a little tastier than she normally went for, she would rather him be within reach, so she could relieve him of his head without much trouble. The last thing she needed was a hungry and confused vampire seared behind her, next to another vampire who probably would not much mind were she suddenly out of the picture.

“Good,” she nodded, glad they could get the show on the road, move this party to a less stagnant location. A boat launch did not promise much excitement, but vampires were not complete animals. If they were hiding out there, there had to be some sort of structure or two. “I’m starting to get bored again.”

 

[Reynarda]

Bram chuckled at Eric’s shock. Poor guy. He was in for a lot. Just wait until he heard about all the other monsters out there.

Vlad scowled and pulled himself into his seat, which he was pleased to find that Meredith had not tried to steal. He still did not like having her outside his line of vision, though. “Yes, but do most governments have it out for particular people?”

“You did it to yourself,” Bram said as he started up the truck. He backed it up and went back the way they came. “Are there any drive-throughs on the way?” Bram asked, looking at Eric in the rearview mirror.

“Abraham, you just ate.”

“Yeah, like three hours ago. Besides, vampire hunting is hard work.”

“You have not done anything but flirt and drive!”

“Hard work!”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Eric scrunched up his nose in distaste as Bram laughed at him, but he headed to the truck and hopped into the backseat just as well.

“Drive-through! Buddy it’s pushing midnight, the only things open at this time are the coffee shop and the 24 hour convenience store. The nearest drive through is like an hour out on the highway.” He pointed down the road, leading them towards the water that was visible along the horizon to the edge of town. “Just keep heading that way, and then turn right when you read the end of the road. That’ll take you out of town towards the old boat launch.”

 

[Canth]

Meredith drew the unlabeled vial from her pocket as she settled into the seat. She stuck a halved strip of white label tape to the top and wrote ‘Eric’s Girlfriend’, before tucking the pen away and holding the vial up to eye level. The ashes lay still, unmoving aside from a couple at the top that seemed to float a hair above the rest. She flipped the vial between her fingers, watching the ashes float slowly from one end to the other, and then tucked it into her palm and dropped her hand into her lap.

“Alright, so tell us about this place,” she turned to Eric. “Any possible structures, nearby buildings, amount of overgrowth. If someone was hiding out down there, where might they be hiding?” It would be good to have an idea of what they were walking into beforehand.

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad had wiggled himself in his seat so that he sat with his right shoulder against the door’s window and could therefore see—at least in his periphery—both of the backseat’s occupants. The former-witch keeping vials was decidedly creepy, but he would have to consider that another time.

“Aw,” Bram complained. “Not even a McDonald's?”

“You are not eating there. I am not adding heart disease to your list of likely health problems.” Vlad pulled down the glove compartment and pulled out a bag of beef jerky. He opened it and passed it to the hunter. “Here.”

“Oh, thanks. I thought I was going to have to use my emergency chips.”

Vlad shook his head before sighing. “As much as it pains me, I am with Meredith on this. Whatever you can tell us could help keep us from getting killed.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Getting killed was certainly a sobering thought if Eric had ever heard one. It wasn’t like he had expected this whole situation to be easy or safe, what with the number of bodies that had turned up and started this whole mess, but still. He leaned back in his seat and thought about it. He wasn’t really the type to go boating so he didn’t usually use the boat launch at all, but he had lived in the town long enough to have a basic knowledge of pretty much everything.

“There’s an old fish gutting shed nearby. Nothing super fancy or anything, but it’s a structure. A few people could probably squat in there for at least a little while without bringing any level of suspicion.” He explained, trying to think of anything else that could be of note. Nothing really stood out in his mind, though.

 

[Canth]

Meredith listened. It was not much to go on, but maybe that was because there was just not much there. Sure, like Vlad had said, it would be nice to have as much information as possible so as to avoid surprises. And death. She had a feeling her mother would not bring her back a second time. But, she was no stranger to making things up as she went and there was no use fussing over the unknown. Life would be so much more boring if they knew everything.

“So, if this is where they’re hiding out and not just a passing through, then we can assume it would be in this...shed.” She paused, taking a moment to think. “When did you say the last disappearance was?”

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad wrinkled his nose. He had been hoping for more than just adding a shed to his mental map of the place. Ah, well.

“What I do not understand is why they are doing this,” he mused.

“Uh… ‘cause they’re vampires?” Bram said. “Terrorizing towns is their thing.”

“I am a vampire, and I have not terrorized any towns.”

“You terrorized Paris.”

“That was not my fault!”

Bram shrugged. “What does it matter, Vlad? We’re going to get in, kill them, then find a twenty-four-hour diner.”

In Bram’s opinion, people spent way too much time on the why and not enough time taking down the problem. Regardless, Bram had turned right, and now he could see the boat launch. He stopped aways from it, figuring it was best to approach the fabled shack on foot, and put the truck in park.

“Alright, everyone know the plan?”

“What plan?” Vlad demanded.

“Get in, kill the vampires, then find a twenty-four-hour diner. Were you not listening?”