Death Comes to Eden, part 2 (CLOSED)

Link: Part 1


Part 2 Continued
The woods on the outer limits, the dark forest which encompassed the city had always been my favorite playground in the past… The trees were twisted and deformed, closely packed in places as if they huddled together in safety from the darkness… Gnarled roots broke through the ground in various places, making traveling off the well-worn paths that crisscrossed like giant spider webs, dangerous and treacherous… Thick brush with sharp thorns surrounded the base of every tree, nature's form of natural razor wire… Anyone attempting to climb the ghastly monstrosities that passed as trees would be torn to ribbons by the underbrush long before they could gain purchase on the sandpaper-like bark that covered them… These conditions made for prime hunting grounds…

The old hand-carved sign "Welcome to Eden" was weathered and beaten, the dried wood split, cracked, and covered in black blotches of something that may have once been paint, the only indication which showed its age… Two sets of heavy rusted logging chains attached the sign from the top to an inverted pipe “L” brace, the end of which was cemented deep in the ground… Dents, dings, holes of various shapes and sizes covered the degraded pipe as it jutted from the soil at a strange angle like, at some point in time, someone had tried, unsuccessfully, to remove it from its place of rest… The wind stirred causing the trees to groan in protest as their limbs rubbed against each other high overhead, leaves rustled like hushed voices… The old wooden sign swayed slightly adding the quiet squeaking of the supporting chains, blending with the groaning and rustling of the forest, it was almost as if they were all welcoming me… Or warning me away… Whichever the case was, I paid it no heed…

The city was laid out before me like some child’s plaything… Buildings that were as old as time stood side by side with buildings that look to have been build just yesterday… The only real planning, to a city that seemed to shift and change at random, were the city streets which were arrow straight without a curve to be found… Lights from various windows gave off a golden yellow glow, breaking the darkness in small pools of light… This city never slept… By day the human inhabitants went about their meaningless little lives, scampering around like so many rats in a colossal maze, trying hard to make their short lives just a little less pointless… They all dreamed of greatness, few worked to obtain it, and fewer still actually acquired it… In the end, though, they all met the same fate, death… I could only guess that this must have been what coined the phrase “rat race”…

I had to wonder where they got their overinflated sense of superiority, they thought themselves to be the top of the food chain and as such thought, they were untouchable, almost god-like… Every night the same cycle repeated itself, the folly of their thinking became painfully aware, every night some unlucky soul got to meet something that truly was above it… They were not the top of the food chain, I was… They realized this as their life drained from them in order to curb an appetite that could only have been created in the deepest pits of hell by the devil himself… If there were really such a thing as angels and demons, our kind would be the closest thing to a walking demon that the earth would ever experience… We literally had to die, then we were spat back out of hell as walking, talking, death and destruction, and humans were our food… I was hungry… Time to let the air out of someone’s “over-inflated sense of superiority”… It was time to eat… My eyes scanned the city before me, searching for the perfect plaything, the perfect meal of pain and fear…

Humans scampered about like insects, moving from one island of light to the next, hurrying to cross the dark patches and shadows, they didn’t tarry long before scurrying off to the next patch of brightness as they made their way up and down the street… One human was as good as the next, but I was always after something sporting, something that would prove to be entertaining… A play toy… After several minutes I spied something I thought would present a challenge… A group of men stood together on a corner at the edge of a pool of light, voices hushed in low tones, enough so that even my enhanced hearing could only make out the occasional word, and not enough to follow the conversation… I didn’t really care what they were talking about, I was more interested in the chain of command I was observing… Six men total, all of them looking to one man as some sort of leader of the group… The man was tall for a human, easily over six foot, with a broad chest and well-muscled arms that strained to rip out of his navy blue sports coat he could easily weigh two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds… The man was glaring around the group, pointing fingers at certain ones and snarling like an animal as he talked to them… No one spoke while he was speaking, several heads of the other men were hung low like errant school children being scolded by their teacher…

I moved slowly from beneath the sign… To anyone watching it would appear as if the shadow of the sign simply split into two parts, one of which then began to drift toward the city… A black woolen cloak draped my frame, covering me from head to toe, the lower part was dingy from where it brushed across the ground… There were no bobbles or trinkets attached that might cause something to reflect in the moonlight, the clasps which held the cloak closed down the front were a deep dark blackened wood and simple stained leather loops… I didn’t care about fashion, I didn’t care about appearance, I cared about functionality, I cared that if I were standing in the dark I would appear to be nothing more than a darker section of the darkness, unobserved and uncared about… I would attract no attention…

Unlike the humans that moved from one point of the lighted area to another, I moved from one section of darkness to another… Drifting, silently as the fog, my soft leather boots made not a whisper against the hard gray concrete sidewalk as I moved down the street toward the group of men… I took my time, making no sudden movements that would draw the eyes, and thus, the attention of them… Humans were like animals, movement triggered something in their brains causing an unconscious action to look in the direction of any movement… They couldn’t help it any more than a lion could help it… A hundred yards… Seventy-five yards… Fifty yards… Still, no indication from the men that they were about to meet their doom, they were so engrossed in their conversation that I probably could have run right up to them before they even noticed they weren’t alone… Twenty-five yards…

I didn’t want to kill them all at once… That wasn’t the game… I wanted to hunt, terrify, and torment them, but the big man was already doing that… I made the decision that he would be my pray… I had moved close enough, bringing me next to the building they were standing on the corner of… It was a short two-story building made of bright fire-hardened red bricks, which were laid out in perfect rows, separated by a thin white line of mortar… Windows were set at even intervals about ten feet apart, outlined in chiseled rock, giving them a defined look as if they had been put in after all the bricks were in place, added as an afterthought… The top of the building was outlined in the same chiseled rocks as the windows and jutted out several inches out from the flat wall, it made a lip that ran the full circumference of the building… Bending my knees slightly I sprang straight up to catch the fire escape ladder and moved up the side of the building, my hand catching hold on the cold chiseled rocks as I swung myself over the ledge to the long flat rooftop… Glancing from the top to the group below I watched as they all turned in unison toward the spot I had just vacated a moment before… Their conversation halted in that instant as all the men scanned the area for whatever had just caught their eyes…

I remain motionless on the rooftop, ready to step back out of sight in case one of them actually decided to look up, but it proved to be unnecessary… The big man snapped his fingers, regaining the attention of his fellows…

“Pay attention! There’s nothing there! You fools are jumping at damn shadows.” He hissed in a low voice… He may be chastising them for being jumpy but he wasn’t taking any chances that they might be right, he certainly didn’t want anyone outside his group to hear what he was saying and as such was speaking even lower than he had been… It didn’t matter how low he talked now, I was close enough to hear it all…

“If we don’t find her soon, the boss is going to want someone’s head on a stick. I for one will not be that someone, so I leave it up to you guys to figure out which one wants to explain to him that you can find one girl.” The big man glared around the silent group as they exchanged worried glances at each other… Some of them shifted their weight from foot to foot as if they wanted nothing more in the world than to take off running and never stop… “We have till morning.” He said, “Look under every friken rock, in every hole, and behind every trash can if you have to. Just find her.” The man pointed a finger around the group, “Or so help me God I will make sure every last one of you is standing there when I tell the boss that YOU GUYS couldn’t handle one simple task.”

Low murmurs escaped the group as real fear set in and they imagined all the things the boss would do to them for their failure… I was liking this ‘boss'… “WHAT ARE YOU STANDING AROUND FOR? MOVE!” He yelled. Like the bang of a starting gun at the track, all five men took off running in different directions, a couple of the less coordinated tripped over their own feet and almost fell in their need to get as far away as fast as they could before the big man changed his mind and hauled one of them off to the boss away way, just to make a point… There wasn’t a question, I knew the driving force of fear, these men would find what they were after or they would kill themselves trying because if they failed, the fate they had to look forward to was one worse than death… I almost laughed at the thought as I stood looking down on the big guy…

“Time for you to taste what it is to know fear…”

I whispered down to him, but it went unheard… A ringing erupted from inside his breast pocket, reaching in the big man pulled out a shiny silver object, it looked so small and fragile in his oversized meaty hands, with a flick of his wrist he unfolded the phone… Light from multicolored display washed across his face as he placed it to his ear, his shoulders slumped down and I knew that he was not overly excited about whomever the caller was…

“Hello.” he stuttered, after a brief pause he continued, “Yes sir, I found them all and just got done explaining the situation to them. They’re doubling their efforts.” another pause, the big man raised his other hand to his forehead and began a gentle massage to try and relieve some of the tension he must be feeling at the conversation. “No sir, we WILL find her, that won't be necessary.” His fingers ran backward through his short black hair, he reached out and placed it on the wall as his head leaned forward to stare at the ground. “Yes sir. We’ll get her back. You have nothing to worry about sir. I promise you.” With a push he stood up straight, almost renewed. “Thank you sir. I’ll call you as soon as we find her and let you know. Thank you again, sir.” He pushed the phone closed with his thumb and replaced it in his pocket… With one final look around he headed off down the street…

“Interesting, very interesting…”

I said to myself… Maybe this girl they wanted could prove useful… Someone was going through a lot of trouble to find her. Normally the affairs of humans did not interest me in the least, but it must really take something drastic to scare the man below me, and that was something I wanted to see…

With one short jump, I covered the span between buildings, moving a little faster than the man below I dropped into the alley a few yards away from where the big man would pass, and I waited… The alley sat between two buildings, one being only a couple stories high, the other being much taller than that… The stench of old trash, garbage, and maybe a dead cat or two, were overwhelming… The alley floor tapered to the middle, down which, a steady flow of rancid greenish water flowed carrying chunks of stuff before it dumped into a sewer grate at the street… An old iron fire escape was bolted to the wall of the taller building, but it looked as if had never been used… A quick scan of it told me that using it would probably be unsafe, burning to death might be a better choice rather than falling from it when it came crashing down... Most of the brackets that attached it to the building were rusted through, those that weren’t were barely holding on… I turned my attention back to the approaching man…

It only took a few seconds, I could hear his breathing, the beating of his heart against his rib cage, the swishing noise made by his pant legs as they brushed against each other with every step, and the soft thudding of his shoes against the concrete as he drew nearer… I didn’t really need the element of surprise, but I liked the effect it had on the unsuspecting… Like a serpent strike my hand snaked out from the darkness as the man pulled even with the entrance to the ally, my fingers latched on the front of his suit coat and I could feel its fine silk crumple in my grasp as I jerked him toward the darkness… Turning quickly I launched him backward sending him flying several feet, deeper into the alley and its welcoming blackness… I watched as his short flying lesson was cut short by a big green dumpster… With a loud crash, the big man smashed into it, sending the dumpster skidding sideways, almost before it stopped sliding the man was on his feet, and his eyes locked on me… I didn’t move, I didn’t need to move, he would come to me…

“You know who I am?” He asked, his voice dripping with anger and rage. “You know what I’m gonna do to you?” his eyes left me and scanned the alley as if looking for something or someone, with a snort he looked down at the front of his suit coat, using his hands to smooth it out he then turned his attention back to me, pulling his shoulders back he stood to his full height… “You must be retarded to come at me alone. I’m fix’n to put a hurt on you boy.” he spat the last word as if it was meant to be an insult…

We stood facing each other…

Post by Lyrene:

Lyrene had left the hustle and bustle of the bar in Wanderlust as the others began to trickle back in after the scavenger hunt. She had been enjoying her quiet conversation with Shikon, sipping on whisky and explaining her new business venture. Shikon had been interested, as Lyrene thought a few others would be, people were always looking for ways to dispose of the prey they killed each night and with some practice, Lyrene was sure she would be able to perfectly taxidermy bodies soon enough. Maybe she could start a collection ? A macabre Madame Tussauds, if you will. Human bodies of all shapes and sizes. However, at the moment she definitely needed some practice - practice did make perfect after all, and she enjoyed her new found hobby far too much to only be mediocre at it. The vampiress would head to the forest tonight, collect up some animal corpses to start getting on with.

Tucking Shikon’s card into the pocket of her jeans she headed away from the amusement park, the rides towering like dark shadows in the sky behind her. Ravenblack was an interesting city. A city filled with vampires, lycans, demons - anything and everything that could be birthed into life through darkness, a city of monsters, of evil. Then, you build an amusement park and these supposedly nightmarish creatures are riding roller coasters, eating pound cake and cotton candy. The corners of her lips tugged upwards into a small smile as she thought about the contradictory nature of the place she had called home for just over 15 years. Maybe it was that small child that still existed inside each and every person that made the above possible, the tiny voice deep down that still wanted to just have fun, to not take life too seriously. It had been a long time since Lyrene had listened to that inner child, the little child who didn’t want to be so stoic all the goddamn time. As she had ventured out a little more, being a little more social, stepping out of her comfort zone that little bit further, she had found herself meeting new people, enjoying the company of others perhaps more than she had previously allowed herself. Maybe life wasn’t meant to be all death, doom and gloom after all ?

What could only be described as a grunt left her lips and she rolled her shoulders in one smooth, fluid motion, almost as if shrugging off the deep inner monologue. Her riding boots were practically silent as she walked the city streets, the reassuring pressure of her knives against her calf provided a touch of comfort as she drifted between the shadows and pools of light provided by the streetlamps. It was quiet out tonight, a cold wind blowing through streets and alleyways, grasping at coats and scarves and hair with bitter fingers. Most houses had their curtains drawn against it, a muted golden light the only indication people were safe in their sanctuary behind them. There was something Lyrene found comforting about that. She often walked the streets at night during the winter, finding a cosiness that settled her at seeing the lit windows, imagining the families inside keeping warm, watching television or eating dinner. It was something she had done as a human and though she no longer held the same regard for human life as she previously had, it was still a ritual she continued whenever she needed to ease her troubled soul.

She pulled down the sleeves of her brown knitted sweater, sheltering her skin from the icy wind. Her hair was hanging loose down her back and that same wind picked up brunette locks and made them dance around her face, brushing against high cheekbones as she walked. The houses were becoming more and more scarce as she neared the outskirts of the city, dark and dreary alleyways separating what buildings there were, the shadows thick down inside them.

She thought of the forest, of the hush that dropped down as you entered, a thick, weighted blanket keeping away the noise and hubbub of the outside world. The stillness as you pushed through the thick brush and the leafy canopy above welcomed you inside with open arms. It was one of her favourite places to go as of late, a quiet oasis when she needed a moment to herself to think, to process. Only the sounds of the nocturnal animals could be heard as they went about their animal business, base instincts the only thing to guide them. Lyrene liked that about them - they had no ulterior motive, no morals, no ability to lie or scheme or plot. They simply did what nature needed them to do to survive and that was all, there was no pretense, no bigger picture. Only the action that ensured they would stay alive from one moment to the next. Eat, rest, reproduce, pass on the successful genes to ensure continuation of the species. She wondered if humans had been like that once and if so, when had things changed ? When had people begun doing things just because they could ? Rather than doing something for the continuation of mankind, instead they did things for instant gratification, for a fleeting moment of pleasure or an ego boost or to get the upper hand over another. Maybe things would be simpler if everyone just went ahead and reverted back to their base instincts ? Or would it be chaos and bloodshed still ? Who knows.

As she drifted back deep into her thoughts again, her feet carried her through the grid like streets, eyes barely paying attention to where she was stepping. After so long here the brunette knew the streets like the back of her hand and could almost function on autopilot - only adjusting her course to step out the way of a fellow pedestrian if needed. That is exactly what she had to do right now as a man came barreling down the street towards her, arms moving like pistons while his feet pounded almost comically fast on the concrete. Lyrene sidestepped quickly, eyes on the man as he sprinted past her and off into the distance, barely even registering she was there. Her nostrils flared involuntarily as the stench of sweat and fear emanated from his pores - clearly he was terrified of something, or someone and she wasn’t sure whether he was running to or away from that particular thing. With an arched brow she turned and resumed walking, the sound of a crash gaining her attention as she moved, followed quickly by a gruff voice.

"I’m fix’n to put a hurt on you boy."

Lyrene furrowed her brows, clearly there was an altercation of some kind going on. Making a split second decision she pulled the shadows around her, shielding her from the view of anyone she might encounter. Silently, she stalked forward, the inky blackness of the shadows moving with her, hugging her form. Having pinpointed the noise as coming from the depths of a nearby alleyway she crept closer to it, boots making no sound on the concrete, she wanted to assess the situation before she made her presence known.

Approaching the mouth of the alleyway she peered around the brickwork, gaze landing on two males whom appeared to be facing off against each other. One of the men had his back to Lyrene and she could only see the outline of a body wrapped in a dark cloak, but she could sense he was a vampire, sensing that familiarity that came with encountering another of their kind. The other; the one facing her with his back up against a dumpster, was human. He was large, tall and broad and to another human probably intimidating or at least he definitely seemed to believe he was. He had that air of arrogance that came about when you had spent your whole life threatening the little guy, purely because you had more heft on you then him. Lyrene almost wanted to take out her knives and carve that smug looking face right from his muscle, maybe take it home as a souvenir. But this wasn’t her fight, she had no horse in this race and didn’t even know what had started this back alley fight to begin with.

Still, she moved quietly into the gaping maw of the alley, a thick wave of the aroma of rotting garbage assaulting her as she did so. Wrinkling her nose in disgust she focused her attention elsewhere, pushing the fetid smell to the back of her mind as she concentrated on the scene in front of her instead. With her heightened senses she could practically hear the heartbeat of the human, the blood pulsing and pushing through his veins as he stood, living and breathing. The heartbeat was loud and fast. Like the wings of a hummingbird as it fed, repetitive, quick, fragile. It would take mere moments to still that beating heart, to stop the coursing of blood through the veins, to start shutting down all bodily functions on the way to cellular death. A shiver ran through Lyrene as she thought about all the possibilities. However, this wasn’t her kill, this wasn’t her victim and she had no say in how it would play out - she hadn’t even made her presence known, she felt almost like a voyeur as she stood to watch

I felt a tingling, like a static charge in the air during a lightning storm, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I was no longer alone with the big man, someone else, one of my kind was close at hand. I quickly scanned the area searching for the newcomer, but before I could effectively locate the wayward intruder the big man used my slight distraction as his opportunity to launch his attack. For a man of his size, he could move quite fast, covering the short distance between us in the blink of an eye he reached out one of his large meaty hands and grasped the front of my cloak, his other cocked back to deliver a possibly devastating blow. However fast he may be, I was faster still. Having unnatural speed and strength was a gift to my kind and had saved me more than once. My fist shot out like a viper and slammed into the side of his neck temporarily interrupting the flow of blood to his brain, his eyes rolled back, his body went instantly limp like a child's rag doll, and he crumpled to the ground, unconscious. Had I been alone I would have taken my time with him and enjoyed a spirited fight, even if the outcome was already fated to end only one way, the pleasure of the kill would have been even sweeter. As it was I would not let myself become entangled, and vulnerable, while some unknown vampire lurked in the night for some, as yet, undetermined reason.

Once again I scanned the immediate area trying to ascertain the location or identity of the interloper, but whomever it was, they were firmly hidden in shadows. Without delay, I opened the front of my cloak I slid a six-inch stiletto from its plain black leather sheath at my belt and used it to cut the man's shirt off. Then cut the shirt into strips and used the strips to bind his hands in front and his feet together. His hands tied together I then looped a strand around his waist and tied his wrist off to it so he would be unable to lift his arms. Standing over the big man I nudged him with my foot.

"Wake up asshole."

Squatting down I decided to take a more direct approach. With the presence of another vampire so near, I no longer had the luxury of time on my side and therefore needed answers from this man now. With a blade in one hand, I used my free hand to strike the unconscious giant across the face with my palm.

"I said, wake up."

He let out a groan as his head rocked side to side and his eyes crept slowly open. A blow such as the first one he received took a few moments to recover from naturally and I was trying to rush it in the interest of time. He tried to sit up so I placed the point of the brightly polished chrome blade against his forehead and with the slightest of pressure I eased him back prone. He almost looked comical as his eyes crossed to look at the weapon, shifted to my still hidden face, and then back to the weapon. He tried to bring his hands up and quickly figured out that they would go no farther than his waist. Reality set in and his eyes grew wide, but it passed as his face filled with rage.

"Let me save us both some time, and save you a lot of pain and suffering."

I said in a very calm voice as if talking to a child. The big man gulped as his eyes continued to travel back and forth between the stiletto and me. I could only imagine that for a man like him, this was the first time he had ever been on the receiving end of a good old fashioned ass-kicking, he was like a fish out of water and had no idea how to deal with it. I had a feeling he still thought he would be able to get free and kill me, so I would need to put that notion to bed if we were to get anywhere.

"I am going to ask you some questions. You are going to try to lie to me, you are going to tell me you don't know, you are going to play dumb, you might even try to threaten me in some way, you also might even think that you can break free of your bonds and kill me. If any of those things happen, if you try to get free, I am going to take this blade"

I pushed a little harder so he understood which blade I was referring to.

"and I am going to use it to remove a body part."

A small pool of blood gathered at the point where it had broken the skin.

"Eventually, you are going to tell me everything I want to know. I would hope that knowing this in advance would make you decide to just tell me everything I want to know and save yourself the pain, and the missing parts, but since we both know that you can't and won't give it up willingly, we should just get started right now."

Reaching down I grabbed his little finger, my blade followed second, in a spray of blood, and with an audible pop, his finger came free. He let out an earsplitting scream, followed by insults about my mother. I held up the now severed finger so he could see it, and then tossed it farther down the alley. Some lucky cat or mouse would enjoy the small treat.

"Now that we understand each other. Who's the girl, who's the boss, and why does he have an army of lowlife thug trash like you looking all over the city for her?"

The man glared at me, "FUCK YOU!" was his only reply. Without hesitation, I removed a second finger and it followed the first into the darkness. Again he screamed and cursed.

"Do not make me ask you again."

I urged as I slid the hood of my cloak backward slightly to expose my face. A small crooked smile let what little light there was in the alley illuminate my fangs. The big man's eyes suddenly went wide from fear and the blood drained from his face. "You're one of them. You're like him. Oh Lord, save me, please." he begged.

"Like him? Like who? The boss? Are you telling me that someone like me is using someone like you to hunt down one girl? I told you about lying."

I grabbed the third finger. "Oh my God. NO. Please. Yes. The boss is like you, or you're like him, I don't know, but yes he tasked me with finding her and bring her back to him. Please. God. I'm telling you the truth, I swear it." He closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and his head tilted back to rest on the hard alley floor as he waited for me to remove the third finger.

"Why?"

I asked, still holding the yet to be severed appendage.

"Why is this girl so important that he would need filth like you to find her for him? Answer me honestly and this all ends, it will all be over, I won't remove anything else."

He opened his eyes and looked at his hand for a moment as if trying to decide how many more fingers he was willing to lose over this. Looking up at me, he must have made up his mind. "I don't really know a lot, honestly, I just work for him. I provide security for him during the day, run errands, whatever he needs. I've worked for him for about a year. Six weeks ago he showed up one night with this girl, I learned not to ask questions, but he never hurt her or did anything inappropriate with her. He just kept her lock away in a room. It became my job to bring her meals and whatnot. He would visit her almost daily and they would talk. He would ask her strange questions and sometimes she would answer him, sometimes not. When she refused he would get very angry and yell at her, threaten her, but he never touched her. He would even have me refuse to feed her, sometimes for days, and for those days he would stay away from her." He looked at his hand, the blood from it was everywhere. "Please. I don't want to die like this, I don't want to bleed to death." I grabbed what remained of his shirt and set it over the wound of his missing fingers.

"Press on it as best you can."

I said.

"You don't expect me to believe that in six weeks you never overheard what they were talking about, that you have no idea why he wants her so bad."

He held the tattered shirt over the stubs and continued. "No. I overheard them several times. She is the key to some sort of ritual, or at least the boss thinks so anyway if you believe in that type of thing." I could tell that being human, this man had no idea just how real certain rituals could be. "I know what you are, and what he is. She was supposed to know how to fix certain things about your kind, certain weaknesses, your type has. Sunlight, food, garlic, holy water, things like that. She knows how to make those things go away. Make it where he could go out in the day time, be able to eat whatever he wants, not be hurt by the other things. I don't buy any of it, but he does, and he is certain she can help him. She won't help him though." The shirt was soaked through and I didn't know how much longer the man would last without medical aid. "Yesterday, when I brought her breakfast, she was gone. I thought, at first, that he might have let her go, but when I told him he went crazy. He started throwing things around, breaking stuff, yelling at me like it was my fault. That's when he told me to gather some men and track her down. Being daytime and all, he couldn't leave to go find her."

He looked at his hand and the blood-soaked shirt. "Please, you gotta believe me. You gotta get me to a hospital or I'm gonna die. I can help you find her, I promise. I have her picture in my left back pocket. I'll help you, I swear."

I patted the big guy on his leg in a comforting way.

"Unfortunately, I don't need a human's help to find one girl, and if she is what you say she is, I will find her. I need to find her."

Post by Lyrene:

Lyrene had watched with curiosity as the vampire had felled and then bound the man, using the shirt he had taken off his own back to do so. When she had spotted the silverish glint of a blade in the moonlight a smile had crossed her lips, approving wholeheartedly of his weapon of choice. Her mind went to her own knives tucked safely within the confines of her boots, her fingers twitching of their own accord. She found a knife to be a very...personal weapon - you had to get close enough to the other to use it, to get into their own little bubble before you could slice and dice until your heart's content. A gun is good, but it could be used from a distance, you didn’t necessarily need to look your victim in the eyes as you did the deed, so to speak. With a knife you need to be really, definitely sure that was the course of action you wanted to take.

"Eventually, you are going to tell me everything I want to know. I would hope that knowing this in advance would make you decide to just tell me everything I want to know and save yourself the pain, and the missing parts, but since we both know that you can't and won't give it up willingly, we should just get started right now."

The vampire’s words brought her attention back to the scene unfolding in front of her and her eyes followed his movements, widening a little in surprised approval as the delicious pop of a finger being severed filled the air, followed by an ear piercingly loud scream. Within mere moments another finger had quickly followed the previous, being detached from the hand and flung further into the dark recesses of the alleyway. The scent of the blood seeping forth from his now bloody stubs quickly reached her nostrils and she could practically taste the coppery liquid on her tongue. Well, wasn’t this just turning into the quite a lovely little meander home after all.

The injured man very quickly lost his resolve and began to spew forth a very lengthy amount of word vomit. Lyrene listened intently, taking another silent step forwards, just enough to ensure she was still hidden from the pair. He spoke of a young girl, an escapee apparently. That in and of itself wasn’t anything particularly out of the norm for a city like Ravenblack. Shit like that was always happening here to one person or another, even Lyrene herself had been both kidnapped and done the kidnapping. However, it was what he said next that intrigued her greatly, the supposed things this girl could do.

She was supposed to know how to fix certain things about your kind, certain weaknesses, your type has. Sunlight, food, garlic, holy water, things like that. She knows how to make those things go away.
That was….interesting.

Her brow furrowed as she turned the words over in her mind, perplexed. Could it be possible ? While it did sound absolutely crazy, one of those rumours that started out small and then morphed and grew into a different beast entirely, like a game of chinese whispers, the city was indeed full of crazy things. Was it really that much of a stretch of the imagination to think such a girl could exist ? Lyrene wondered what a city full of vampires without those weaknesses would look like. No more Holy Water, Garlic Sprays or UV grenades ? Would the only weapons then become SoT’s and Stakes ? Would they return to the days where conflicts could only be resolved by biting one another for long, drawn out periods of time ?

She had so many questions that needed answering, she certainly hadn’t expected her night to progress in such a fashion. The cloaked male patted the other on the leg and Lyrene surmised that he was probably going to kill the human now - but perhaps he could help, he had the photograph at least - that was something. She decided then and there that this was something she was going to be involved in, whether the other vampire liked it or not. She had seen and heard too much for him to pretend like nothing of importance was happening now anyways. Letting the shadows fall from her figure she stepped forwards towards the pair, clearing her throat as she did so, acutely aware that she could have one of her knives in her hands in milliseconds if the vampire decided to try anything.

“Perhaps...Perhaps the picture would be useful, at least - that is, if you do plan on finding this girl. And maybe your friend here, has an idea where to start looking ?”

One hand gestured nonchalantly down to the male lying on the concrete floor, her eyes flicking down to him for a moment. It was clear she was not a friend here to help, rather she wanted to know more about the girl and get in on some of the action herself.

I decided that I had all the information I needed from the human and I could see no way that he could help me find the girl, after all, his human comrades were doing the searching anyway. Once they found her they would no doubt call this man and I now had his phone so it would be I that received the call. Killing him would be a kindness, and I just was not that kind. I wondered, if I cut him loose, how far would he manage to make it before the bled to death? It would be interesting to watch. Before I had time to act on my impulses I felt the presence of the other vampire suddenly get very strong as it stepped out of the shadows and cleared her throat.

Spinning around, still crouched with my blade in hand and my fangs barred, I faced the woman. I had been so caught up in the human's confessions that I had completely forgotten that I was not alone tonight and I hated being caught off guard. I contemplated attacking her before she could attack me and slipping off into the shadows before she could return the attack or defend herself. It would buy me enough time to get away, I hoped. “Perhaps...Perhaps the picture would be useful, at least - that is, if you do plan on finding this girl. And maybe your friend here, has an idea where to start looking ?” she said as one hand gestured nonchalantly down to the male lying on the concrete floor, her eyes flicking down to him for a moment. It was clear she was not a friend here to help, but it was yet to be seen if she was an enemy here to hurt.

I relaxed not a bit. Obviously she had heard everything, maybe she wanted this girl for herself, maybe she wanted to kill me, kill the human, and find the girl, after all, it is what I would do. Being this close I decided to find out who I was facing before making any rash moves. Second Sight was easy when you were facing someone, any other time you had to know a name, but names could be lied about whereas being face to face could hide nothing. What I found was a complete surprise. Fully powered, but so low on blood, I could hardly understand how she was even standing here before me. I could kill her without a second thought and no one could come to save her even if she screamed, yelled, and sent telepathic thoughts to everyone she knew, she would be in topor long before anyone arrived.

I stayed my hand. She had a point, even if she did not know she had it. The man was of no use to me in finding the girl, but he was the only person I knew that knew the boss and where to find him when the time came. If the time came. Just her showing up had saved the human and therefore saved me the task of trying to track down the boss with no knowledge of who or where to start.

I hate everyone, humans, vampires, fey, lycan, it did not matter I hated them all. Several times I had tried to kill them all, but it was a fancy dream and their numbers kept it from ever really being practical. Humans bred like rabbits, put two of them together and suddenly you have 5 of them and then 5 more, it was disgusting. Vampires and lycan needed the humans to increase their numbers and would turn them as fast as they could. As for fey, I had no idea where they came from, but no matter how many I killed, there seemed to be a never-ending supply of them. If I could kill everyone, I would, and then sleep like a baby afterward. I wanted to watch the human die, I wanted to watch this vampire before me die, I wanted to watch them both suffer and beg for their lives, and then watch the look in their eyes as all hope faded from them. The killing was the only real enjoyment I ever had, BUT to be able to remove the vampire curses would be an incredible advantage over any adversary, and right now, that meant they both got to live.

"Who the fuck are you? Are you following me? Following him?"

I pointed to the human.

"You are wrong by the way. I don't need him to find the girl, but I do need him to find the boss."

I slipped the dagger back inside my cloak. Maybe she could be of use. Maybe not killing her would work to my advantage. I decided to find out.

"For the moment, you saved his pathetic life. That is if he doesn't bleed to death."

I stood up and backed away from the man on the ground, hoping she would take the hint and save him. Taking a life was something I was very good at, but saving one was not something I even knew where to begin.

Post by Lyrene:

Lyrene stayed exactly where she stood as the other vampire swivelled with blade in hand and fangs bared. Her steely blues watched him calmly, her mind instructing her to practice patience and wait the moment out. It was funny. Being sighted so brazenly and right in front of your very own eyes. It felt almost as if someone was probing, searching. It sent an unexplained feeling down your spine. As if someone could see both your strength and your weakness all at once, a quick snapshot of who you were….but it was never really who you were. The vampiress could sense he knew she was low on blood - but wasn’t she always, that is the price for constantly chasing hunters and pocketing the coin they so coveted. Maybe she coveted it too, but she’d rather have the security a heavy bank balance offered her and those she cared about.

She moved to roll her shoulders, shrugging the sensation off as the feeling passed and the cloaked vampire began to speak once more.

”Who the fuck are you? Are you following me? Following him?"

"You are wrong by the way. I don't need him to find the girl, but I do need him to find the boss."

"For the moment, you saved his pathetic life. That is if he doesn't bleed to death.”

The words came in quick succession as he pocketed his blade and stepped backwards.

“Neither.”

It was all she said as Lyrene continued to smile at him for a moment more. It was a wide, open smile. She didn’t fear him, she wasn’t here for an argument or fight, she wouldn’t draw weapons for this cowering human who was bound and crying on the floor. No, the talk of the girl had piqued her curiosity and that was all. She could work with or against this other vampire, it really didn’t matter. But, something told her that maybe they would get further together, even as the hate that seemed to radiate from his very pores washed over her. A quiet laugh escaped her, feet moving her forwards, moving her closer to the prone human.

“Oh...perfect...I am so glad you didn’t kill him.”

As she lowered to crouch down beside the human she shot a look back to the other vampire, a look that was meant to display annoyance and disregard. She needed this man to trust her, if only for an instant. Her hand moved to tenderly cradle his own, mangled and stumpy as it was. With soft, seemingly caring movements she removed the strips of cloth binding his wrists and used them to place a tourniquet below the elbow of the arm that ended in amputated fingers. The rest of the cloth was pulled tight against the bleeding stumps and tied. Lyrene looked the man in the eyes and nodded heavily, brow arching as gazed at him with something resembling human emotions.

“Alright….we’ll get you to the hospital in a moment...Now just tell me, which pocket is the picture in ?”

She had used a slight amount of both telepathy and charisma as she spoke to him and the angry demeanour he’d had towards the brute force the other used broke. He stared at her for a long minute, bewildered. Lyrene nodded at him encouragingly, concentrating as her mind gently stroked his, calming, easing, persuading. The man raised his hands towards his face, his eyes open and wide as he studied the place where his fingers had been only moments ago, then looking down the alley to where his fingers now resided, the cells already dying and decomposing as they laid waiting to be some animal's snack. He turned back to Lyrene once more, ghost white face pale and round in the moonlight. A bead of sweat made a long, slow journey from his temple down towards his chin and it was all Lyrene could do to stop herself from ending his life right there and then. Instead, she nodded again. One hand rose to lay claim to his shoulders, squeezing gently. She pushed her telepathy further.

Don’t worry. I’ve got you. You can tell me, I promise.

“Back left, in the pocket. Her picture is there. You’ll have to get it...I...I…”

The male lifted his tattered hand, indicating that he couldn’t get it out himself, of course. Lyrene gave him an empathetic glance and reached down into his back pocket, shuddering inwardly at the proximity. After what was only seconds - but felt like a lifetime, reaching into this snivelling cowards pocket, she pulled out a small photograph, lifting it up towards the dim light the alleyway entrance afforded. Turning it this way and that she forgot about both of the others and just let her mind study the image.

A young girl, who had at one point maybe been considered beautiful. However this point must have been before her capture. Lyrene could see easily the youthful looks, the high but plump cheekbones and the roundness of the face that had once existed. Staring back at her now though, was a thinner more pallid face. Eyes that at one time had been bright and full of possibilities, now deadened and lifeless. They still had a glint in them though, a glint that said do what you want, you can’t win this one. Lyrene wasn’t sure if she wanted to kill her or if she admired her.

“Thank you….very much...now this talk about her being held..for your boss. Where was she ? Where did she escape from ?”

The fallen giant of a man shook his head vigorously and pulled his hands close to his chest, as if the sheer movement of making himself smaller would save him. Lyrene almost pitied him for a split second. How fragile life is and how big the ego, that you thought by holding it close to you, you could save it, make it last just that little bit longer. That by grasping it firmly it couldn’t - wouldn’t escape. If you held on tightly enough…..tight and secure and firm...the world wouldn’t keep turning and turning and leave you behind like a speck of dust in the wind. He clearly felt that right now as he refused to look at Lyrene, instead cradling his hands and looking wistfully to the opening of the alley.

With a roll of her eyes and a deep sigh, Lyrene moved to crouch directly in front of him, lifting her hands so palms rested on his cheeks. She moved his head back so he was facing her square on and looked him deep in the eyes, tendrils of her thoughts reaching out to his.

“Where, friend? I promise we will protect you. Just tell me, and I promise we will keep you safe, you can have a normal life...marry, have children, have a family, whatever you want, deep down. We’ll make it happen.”

The panic is his eyes slowly gave way to a quiet acceptance, a peace, a glimmer of hope. He thought he could maybe finally escape this life he had built for himself and craft a new one, with no horrors. A one with white picket fences and a family that loved him and he them, maybe a pet or two - some normality. No more running scared from the boss, no more bloodshed, no more violence. With that in mind he quickly blurted out the address the girl had been held at previously, his heart heavy with regret that he had betrayed his associates, but light with the hope that a new life was dawning.

“Thank you...now, that saving I was talking about.”

The idiot grinned widely at Lyrene, nodding his head as he thought about all the possibilities now he was getting away from this life. In his mind’s eye he could picture his wife as she walked down the aisle, all white dress and smiles. The home they would have together, a sanctuary against the outside world, a safe place for just them. He could see the children they would have - a boy and a girl, one of each of course. He could see the family dog sitting by the fire as they all decorated the tree, christmas songs playing in the background. He could see the-

SNAP

Quick, sudden and unknowing. That was only salvation Lyrene could offer him as she released her grip on his neck, letting his lifeless body slump heavily to the ground. She leaned back on her haunches, turning her gaze to the other vampire.

“How’d you feel about an adventure?”

“Neither.” the woman said as she moved closer to the near-dead human. “Oh...perfect...I am so glad you didn’t kill him.” she lowered to crouch down beside the human and did something with the bloodsoaked rags that had been his shirt as she spoke to him, “Alright….we’ll get you to the hospital in a moment...Now just tell me, which pocket is the picture in? Don’t worry. I’ve got you. You can tell me, I promise." to which he replied “Back left, in the pocket. Her picture is there. You’ll have to get it...I...I…” Reaching down into his back pocket, she pulled out a small photograph, lifting it, turning it this way and that, she said, “Thank you….very much...now this talk about her being held..for your boss. Where was she? Where did she escape from?” lifting her hands so palms rested on his cheeks. “Where, friend? I promise we will protect you. Just tell me, and I promise we will keep you safe, you can have a normal life...marry, have children, have a family, whatever you want, deep down. We’ll make it happen.” He told her what she wanted to know, but the more I thought about it, the more I thought it was pointless. I had the phone and that would give us the girl, we did not even need the boss. “Thank you...now, that saving I was talking about.” I slipped my hand inside my cloak and gripped the blade handle. She might be willing to save him and do all that crap she had spewed, but I was not. He would die in this-

SNAP

She released her grip on his neck, letting his lifeless body slump heavily to the ground. She leaned back, looked at me, and asked, “How’d you feel about an adventure?”

I stood for a moment, dumbfounded by what I had just watched, I suddenly realized my hand was still inside my cloak gripping a dagger I no longer needed. Twice tonight this woman had surprised me. Just as slowly as I slid my hand inside my cloak I slid it back out, empty as it went in.

The woman was resourceful and smart. At least I had to assume the latter. Leaving the human alive would have been a mistake. He would have healed up and either told the boss we were after the girl or he would have come after us himself with more men, maybe enough to actually hurt us or worse. Telling the boss would have put the boss on our trail, and knowing nothing about him, that could have proven deadly. With a few questions and one quick action, we had the information, eliminated a possible threat, and no one knew we were after the girl or even existed. Perhaps she would come in handy indeed. I still hated her, I still would enjoy seeing her dead body laid out next to that of the human, but for the moment it seems our goals are aligned, for the moment I would let her live and see where this took us. I could always kill her later if I got bored with her.

Before I could answer her question, the dead human's phone rang.

I moved over to the human, fished it out of his front pant's pocket, and flipped it open. The name on the display read simply 'Boss', Humans were so unoriginal I thought to myself. The human had just talked to the Boss a few minutes ago, what could he possibly want now? How was a dead man going to answer the phone? If he did not answer the phone, how long would it be before he sent men to find the human, and then what would happen when they did find him? A dozen things went through my mind in the span of a few rings, I had to do something. I thought back to the first call I had overheard and hit the send button, then the speakerphone button so the other vampire could hear, and simply said,

"Hello."

An ordinary-sounding, yet angry voice on the other end replied. "Get your dumb ass back here. Call your men and cancel the search. Forget the girl, I have a different idea. You guys are completely incompetent." Before I was forced to say another word, he hung up. Looking at the other vampire I shrug my shoulders, close the phone, and said to her,

"I'm up for an adventure, IF, you're up for a little breaking and entering."

I slipped the phone into my cloak.

"I had originally planned for the humans to find the girl. When they did they would have called that guy,"

I motioned to the dead man.

"at which time, we could have just shown up, killed everyone, and taken her for ourselves. But now that this boss has called off the search, he will be expecting everyone back at his place. When he"

Again nodding to the body.

"doesn't return with his friends, the boss will know something is wrong."

I thought quickly as to how to fix this wrench in the machine.

"We need to get to that house and search that room. Right now, the boss is the only one there, at least we hope, so we should be able to slip in, search the room and see if we can learn anything more about this girl and where she might have gone, and slip back out before anyone even knows we were there. We let his human's friends keep looking since a dead man can't make any phone calls, they will just keep looking and if they find her before we do then they will call and we can go take her away."

The plan sounded like a good one as I was thinking about it, but like any plan so much could go wrong.

"I'm Mal."

I thought names might help.

"Let's go, try to keep up."

I had heard the address, it was no more than a few blocks away, and with one final look at the dead body, I headed off. Several minutes later we stood on a rooftop overlooking the boss's house.

"Let see what you're made of little vampire."

I pointed to the house.

"Figure out how to get us in there."

Post by Lyrene:

Lyrene had stood straight again once the body had dropped to the floor, dusting her hands off on her jeans as if she had touched something particularly nasty. The now dull, lifeless eyes of the human stared directly upwards towards the stars, as if in his final moments he had looked upwards for salvation - there was no salvation to ever be found in this city, that was for sure. Her ears picked up the sounds of scurrying little feet from the shadows and she knew the rats were gathering, hungry and desperate to feast on the flesh that had conveniently dropped into their small section of the world. A smile drew her lips upwards as she thought about this particular circle of life, rats eating rats, how wonderfully apt.

A loud ringing suddenly erupted from the pocket of the man, the tones of a ringing mobile phone echoing around the walls of the alleyway. Before she could do anything, the other vampire had moved and fished the phone out of his pocket, pressing the button to answer the call and another to turn the phone on to speakerphone so Lyrene could be privy to the conversation as well.
"Get your dumb ass back here. Call your men and cancel the search. Forget the girl, I have a different idea. You guys are completely incompetent."

The phone went dead as whomever was on the other end hung up. She could only assume the voice was that of this boss. Clearly, he had called off the search and wanted all his men back at the house for now. Her head tilted to the side slightly as the other vampire began to speak and she nodded in agreement with him, it looked like they were very soon going to meet this particular boss after all. With one more short glance down to the body they were leaving behind she turned fully to face the other vampire, ready to go.

”I’m Mal.”


“Lyrene.”

In normal circumstances, she most likely would have followed up with a nice to meet you. However, Lyrene could feel that the male vampire probably didn’t find it very nice to meet her at all. There was something about him, a sensation she got that gave her an idea he didn’t socialise with their own kind all that often. A kind of contempt that washed off of him in waves and she would put money on it that he would kill her as soon as partner up with her. Another wide grin split her features in two as she turned to follow him out of the alleyway and towards the address the dead man had given them. What an interesting venture this could turn out to be, depending on the way in which things unfolded. What a thrill it was meeting new people.

Within minutes she found herself standing on a rooftop beside Mal, the cool breeze blowing in her face now they were more exposed to the elements. Lyrene let her gaze travel up and down the street, advanced vampiric eyesight searching the shadows to make sure they were definitely on their own out here. So far, so good. Clearly, nobody had witnessed the...incident in the alleyway, nobody had followed them, nobody was wandering the streets. Perfect.

"Let see what you're made of little vampire.
Figure out how to get us in there."

A quiet laugh escaped from behind closed lips at his little vampire comment and she fought the urge to roll her eyes right into the back of her head so far she would be able to see her own brain. She wasn’t sure if this guy - this Mal, had some sort of a superiority complex or similar, but it certainly was amusing. Luckily, Lyrene really wasn’t the kind of woman to give too much care to what others thought about her and so she didn’t say anything further, simply followed the direction of his outstretched arm and observed the house. It looked average enough, a standard red brick 2-storey home, small front yard behind a flimsy wrought iron gate. A small access alley ran along the left hand side, presumably leading around to the back gardens. Most of the house was in darkness, however there was a light on in one of the upstairs rooms, shadows flickered across the window and she hoped that meant a TV was playing in the background, it would help muffle any noise she inadvertently made while doing her breaking in. She turned to Mal, affording him one more glance and a small smile.

“See you in a minute.”

With that she dropped down from the roof, hitting the concrete pavement below with a muffled thud, knees bent and one palm flat against the ground to steady her landing. Immediately she pulled the shadows back around her, almost rendering herself invisible in case anyone were to enter the street or even look out of a window, although luckily most of the houses had their curtains drawn against the cold, dark night. Moving as quickly and as silently as she could, she crossed the street and headed towards the house, stopping to inspect the gate for just a second. The iron appeared rusty, the gate in a state of disrepair and she had an inkling that if she pushed it open it would make a noise that could alert whomever was inside. After all, there was a reason that people used houses like this, that any house that was used to hold a captive wasn’t an immaculately presented, modern house. Something that would be an annoyance to your average homeowner - such as a squeaky front gate, could be advantageous to a person that needed to know if anyone was approaching.

With that in mind she placed one hand on the fence instead, vaulting it smoothly and landing on the bare yard the other side. Another quick glance to the house, no movement. She knew her landing had been silent, but still, it didn’t hurt to keep an eye out. Wasting no time she moved swiftly into the darkness of the access alley, pressing her body close against the wall of the house and listening out for any sounds. Hearing nothing but the usual natural soundtrack of the nocturnal, she headed on down the alley, stopping as the wall came to an abrupt end. Peering around the corner she checked to ensure there were no guards posted at the back of the house before stepping out into what she guessed was supposed to be a back garden.

It was unruly, overgrown; both of which were definitely understatements.A long rectangle of waist high grass stretched out from the small path at the back of the house, knots of brambles and other flora running around the borders. If there had been a walkway down the garden at one point it was now impossible to locate and you could safely assume the occupants weren’t the type to be holding summer barbecues and garden parties out here. Clearly the garden had been neglected for a very long time.

Slipping soundlessly past the dark window that faced the rear, she stopped at the door, again listening for any noise from the man inside. Hearing nothing she reached into the back pocket of her jeans and pulled out a small black wallet. Now, she could easily have just picked up a rock and thrown it straight through a window - the simplest and quickest way to gain entry into the house, and the thought did indeed cross her mind. But, that would obviously alert the bossman inside and she knew he would be straight on the phone to his henchmen, calling them back with urgency and readying himself for an attack. Instead, she opened the wallet to show a lockpicking kit glinting dully in the moonlight. Oh, the things you could learn when you spent a certain amount of time in this city.

With a quick inspection of the door, she identified the lock as a cross lock and picked out her appropriate tool, lifting it up to inspect the tines for a brief moment before she began. With the lock having 4 pins it took a moment or two longer than most conventional locks, however, with a little practice Lyrene had picked up a certain degree of speed and so it was only a matter of minutes before there was a soft click and the door inched open. She gave a satisfied nod, slipping the tools back into the black case and sliding that back into her pocket before she pressed a hand to the door and pushed it wide open.

Stepping into the room as she pushed it open, the door gave a loud creak on its hinges and she stopped, frozen still. Footsteps above her suddenly ceased and if she had any breath, she would have been holding it right now. The low murmuring of voices from a television show could be heard and within a few seconds the footsteps carried on, moving across the floor again. Deciding to leave the door wide open so it made no more noise she moved further into the dark room, eyes adjusting to the shadows as she looked around. It was a small kitchen, basic but with everything one would need to get by. Opposite the door where she stood was another open one, leading out into what she presumed would be the hallway to the front door. Her footsteps carried her soundlessly across the linoleum and into this hallway.

The hallway was exactly as she had expected - like it had come straight from a magazine of Criminal Homes Weekly. Dull, threadbare carpet, and blandly wallpapered walls. There was no furniture, no knick-knacks, or framed pictures hung at jaunty angles. The carpet made sure her footsteps were silent as she moved to the front door, dropping the shadows from her form as she approached it. Wrapping her fingers around the handle she pushed it downwards and turned, hoping this one would be silent and it was. It swung open noiselessly, illuminating Lyrene and the hallway behind her in dull, fractured light from the street. Tilting her head to look upwards to where Mal would be stood on the rooftop she couldn’t help but to give a small, ironic flourish as she waited for him to join her.

The Boss's home was a standard red brick, 2-story home, with a small front yard behind a flimsy wrought iron gate. A narrow access alley ran along the left-hand side, which probably leads around to the back gardens. Most of the house was in darkness. Lyrene gave me one more glance, a small smile, and said "See you in a minute.”

With that, she dropped down from the roof and vanished from sight. A few seconds later I watched her slip over the fence, and she was again swallowed by the night. I did not much trust her to be able to get us into the house, but it was always better to let someone else get caught than it was to get caught yourself. At least if she was caught, it would draw the attention of anyone in the house and keep them busy while I slipped in and looked around. Of course, if she did get us in, then I knew she could be useful and I would not have to kill her and find the girl myself, she would have some use after all. As far as I was concerned, it was a win-win for me.

Patience was something I was very good at, but the longer I waited the more worried I got that something had gone wrong. She was out of sight and I had no idea where she had gone, how she was managing, or if something had happened. For all I knew, she could have gotten inside and come face to face with the Boss. She could be sitting in his basement, tied to a chair as he tortured her for information. She could be telling him all about our plans right this very minute! I was such a fool to send a woman to do a man's job! Now I had to go down there and-

The front door swung open, illuminating Lyrene and the hallway behind her in dull, fractured light from the street. Tilting her head to look upwards at me on the rooftop she gave a small flourish. A smug smile on her face as if she knew everything I had been thinking. Taking a quick look around for anyone that might see me, I stepped off the rooftop and landed on street. I figured Lyrene had decided to go over the fence for a reason, so I followed suit. A small leap put me on the other side and I joined her in the house.

"Not bad. I guess I'll keep you around a bit."

I whispered as I passed her. Giving compliments was not something I ever did and I figured for a first-timer, I had done well.

Moving silently as a ghost through the empty hallway, I located the room the human had said the girl had been kept in. I tested the door handle and found it to be unlocked, which stood to reason because there was no reason to lock a door to a room with no one in it. Pushing it gently open, I slip inside and close it behind me. Then it hit me, I was in the room alone, but I had not come to the house alone. This working with someone else was going to take some adjustments. I opened the door, reached out, and pulled Lyrene inside with me.

"Don't just stand out there in the hall. What were you thinking? Nevermind. You search over there and I will look around over here. Find anything that might tell us who this girl is, where she came from, where she might have gone, anything that might prove useful."

The room was comprised of an old white painted wooded six drawer dresser against one wall, a matching vanity stand in the corner, a closet between the two, two matching two drawer nightstands flanked a bed that had a matching headboard and footboard. Without waiting I headed to the nightstands. Most people tended to keep personal things close, and I figured the dresser and closet would hold very little except clothing, woman's clothing and undergarments at that, and I had no desire to riffle through those. The vanity would probably be make-up and hair stuff because women liked to look pretty. That left the most logical place to find anything useful as being the nightstands.

The first nightstand held nothing, both drawers were completely empty. Fearing I may have made a mistake I quickly moved to the other side and pulled open the top drawer of the other nightstand. Papers, magazines, and pens. The papers seemed to be doodles and drawings of some kind, but nothing stood out as having any meaning. Deciding we might figure them out later if nothing else turned up, I stuffed them inside my cloak and moved on to the next drawer. Undergarments, so much for my theory about that stuff being in the dresser on the other side of the room. I grabbed them out by the hand full and deposited them on the bed to ascertain if anything might be hidden underneath, but it was fruitless, there was nothing.

I tossed the pillows on the floor, pulled back the sheets, and even felt between the mattress and boxspring, but all turned up nothing. I was beginning to think we might just need to find this Boss and make him tell us what we wanted to know. Looking over at Lyreen to see if she was having any better luck, something flashes in the corner of my eye. I turn my head again, slowly, to see if the event will repeat itself, and as luck would have it, it did. Something shiny was reflecting light through the small space between the headboard and the mattress. I slid my hand in the space and brushed against something hard, groping around I felt it again, and this time I grabbed hold and pulled it out.

Suddenly it felt like I was holding on to a lump of red hot coal from a fireplace, I could smell burning flesh, and it took everything I could muster to keep from screaming out from the pain. Not being a stupid man I instantly let go of the item, let it drop on the bed, and examined my hand. My palm was blistered, burnt red, and throbbing. What hellish thing had I grabbed a hold of? Looking from my hand to the bed, there sat the fiendish attacker, a simple golden locket attached to a fine gold necklace. How did something like that cause the kind of damage my hand now felt? It did not make sense. Reaching down I pick it up by the chain this time, but before I can even lift the chain a searing pain ignites across the tips of my thumb and finger.

Something about the locket was very familiar, I just could not seem to remember why, but I knew I have seen it before. Pulling out my dagger I hooked the chain and lifted the locket to eye level, the light danced like moonlight off still water as it spun back and forth. I grab the closest item of clothing on the bed, use it to insulate my flesh from the devilish locket, and flip it open. Two pictures tucked inside stare back at me, two faces I had only seen once but now seemed to laugh at me over the pain the locket had caused. Now I knew why the locket looked familiar, I knew who the locket belonged to, and now I knew who the girl that had been in this room was. I wrapped the locket in the panties I had used to open it and shoved it into the pocket inside my cloak.

"We need to leave. Now. Right now."

Without waiting to see what Lyrene might have found, I slipped out the bedroom door, back down the hall, out the front door, and made my way back to the rooftop.

"I know who we are looking for, I know where to find her, but we need to get something before we grab her."

I pull out a scroll.

"Meet me at Fear and 1st. I'll explain everything there."

I read the scroll and disappear...

"Not bad. I guess I'll keep you around a bit."

Lyrene bit back a laugh, teeth pressed firmly into the skin on the inside of her cheek as he moved past her. It was obvious Mal was not overly used to dishing out compliments and so she decided to remain silent and accept this one, watching as he disappeared down the hallway. Following suit she treads carefully through the house mere feet behind him, watching as he approached a door, pushed it open, and stepped inside. With a slight tilt of her head, she moved forwards to follow him through and-

The door shut right in her face.

She stood for what could only have been milliseconds, staring at the dirty wood paneling, a bewildered frown furrowing her features.

“What the fu-”

The door swung immediately open again, a hand reaching out to grab her and pull her through. With a muffled ‘oomph’ she was dragged over the threshold and into the room, belligerently smoothing her hands down her front as Mal released his grip on her.

”Don't just stand out there in the hall. What were you thinking? Nevermind. You search over there and I will look around over here. Find anything that might tell us who this girl is, where she came from, where she might have gone, anything that might prove useful.”

As he moved to search the nightstand, Lyrene’s pale blue eyes stared into the back of his head with a glare that would have dropped him right then and there; if indeed, looks could kill. Muttering heavily under her breath, something about arrogance and men, bloody men, she began to cast her gaze about the room, taking in her surroundings for a brief moment. With a quick pause to make sure there were no sounds of hurried footsteps rushing towards them, no voices alerting others via phone that the home had been invaded, she crossed the room and began to look through the vanity.

Pulling open a drawer she began to rifle through the contents, hands pushing through the contents within. It seemed your standard vanity drawer, a mish-mash of loose make-up, brushes, utensils etc etc. Most people tend to have this idea that women’s vanities were tidy, organized works of art with all their cosmetics and perfumes displayed perfectly. The reality of it was though - that usually only their most prized or expensive products made the display and the rest, the most used, were all thrown together within easy reach. This one was absolutely no different and Lyrene’s hands came away with a dusting of make-up covering them as she gave up and rolled that drawer shut. Sliding open the other she lowered her hand, and her eyes to search again-

Nope.

Not that one.

She slammed the drawer shut almost immediately. Now - every woman also had a drawer, or a box just like that one too. However, it was not a drawer whose contents Lyrene particularly wanted to rummage through and inspect. What people got up to in their private lives was completely up to them and she would just trust that it contained nothing of any particular interest.

Seeing nothing of importance on the top of the vanity she moved over to the closet, throwing the doors open wide. The closet was stuffed full, chock-a-block. Hangers and hangers of garments forced into the small space, shoes, and boots piled high up on the closet floor. Thrusting the hangers this way and that with a quiet scraping noise there seemed to be nothing particularly jumping out at her in here either. One hand roughly pushed into the middle section of the clothes, shoving them to one side and creating a gap in the middle that she peered down into. Nope, still nada. She was beginning to wonder if there was really anything here worth them breaking in for when the subdued glint of metal and leather straps caught her eye.

“I’m not finding a single thing...hang on, what’s this?”

Stretching out an arm and reaching deep into the recesses of the closet she wrapped her hands around the object and pulled it out, dragging the hanger along behind it. As she maneuvered to hold the top of the hanger the fabric fell straight, fully revealing the outfit to her. One eyebrow raised as she looked it over appraisingly. A short black miniskirt was accompanied by a similarly black, velvet long-sleeved sweater. Layered on top of these ran leather straps, decorated with studs and buckles as they looked to be made to weave around the neck, surrounding the breasts, and meet at the waist to be cinched tight. Lyrene elevated it to get an even better look and gave a satisfied nod of approval, lips pursing together.

It was just as she was pondering the possibilities of the outfit, that the smell of burning flesh assaulted her nostrils. Assuming that the boss had somehow snuck up on the pair of them she whirled around quickly, freehand lowering towards her boots, ready to grab her knives. As she turned, however, she was met with only the presence of Mal standing by the disheveled bed, a piece of jewelry glinting as it hung from the edge of his blade. She took a step towards him and watched as he grabbed a pair of panties and used them to help prise the locket open.

"We need to leave. Now. Right now."

Before she could even utter a word, the space before her was vacant and empty as Mal headed out of the room and down the stairs, en route to exit the house and head back to the rooftop. She stared at the open bedroom doorway with wide eyes, wondering what the hell had just happened and what exactly did he just find in there. Plus, she had seen him shove the panties into his pocket.

Weird shit, man.

What was it with men and women’s panties ?

Giving her head a quick shake she forgot about men and panties and used her Celerity to rush herself out of the house and across the road. Joining Mal back on the rooftop they had stood maybe fifteen minutes before. Looking across at the house she could still see the flickering light in the upstairs window, and judging by the fact that nobody had come running out after them, she figured their little breaking and entering had gone largely undetected for the most part. No doubt when the bosses goonies rejoined the party and found the back wide open, the empty bedroom completely ransacked. Well, maybe then there would be questions, but until then they were free and clear.

"I know who we are looking for, I know where to find her, but we need to get something before we grab her."

"Meet me at Fear and 1st. I'll explain everything there.”

Lyrene watched as he read the scroll and dissipated, presumably to the location he had just mentioned to her. Using her free hand to rummage in her pockets for her own scroll, she pulled it out and disappeared from the rooftop seconds later.

Landing at Fear and 1st, she gave herself a second to gather her senses before she pivoted to look around, searching out Mal - who did indeed have some explaining to do, he was definitely right when he said that. It was only as she was moving towards him, mouth open ready to ask what exactly it was he had found and what on earth they were doing here - that she realised she was still carrying the outfit from the closet in her other hand. She looked down at it almost angrily for a split second, before shrugging her shoulders with a soft sigh and looking back to Mal.

“Well ?”

Post by Azeara:



3 Months Ago

That bullet almost killed her. A fucking bullet to the calf almost fucking killed her. Of course her idiot of a boyfriend didn't help matters, sitting there like a blubbering nitwit. A sigh left her. No. That wasn't fair. It wasn't his fault. He is young, and inexperienced. Sweet, kind, goofy... No no. He wasn't an idiot but he was a liability, as she was for him. She knew better than to let herself get involved with someone more mortal than he knew. Today would suck. But it needed to be done. So she prepared herself, and went to him. His response, or lack there of actually hurt. He didn't say or do anything. Like if what she has said held no importance to him. Okay then, that was something to unpack at a later date. Well, on to the next piece of her issue. She knew what was required, she just needed to get the relics. What was the name of that guy that she bought relics from a few years back? Thompson? No... Thistle? That wasn't right either. No matter. She had his number still, buried in her office. Two hours later her office had received the cleaning it had needed for ages, and she found the post it she had scribbled the contact info on. No name. Well fuck. This will be awkward. Its rude not to remember names.

Hours later, once she knew the man would be awake, she called him and requested three relics be found and delivered to her. He quoted her a price and she didn't negotiate it. On the contrary. She offered a 30% bonus if he could have them in her hand within the month. Sooner would be better, but some of these relics haven't been seen in centuries and it was always better to set reasonable and realistic goals. The man eagerly agreed and stated that his best men would be pulled from their tasks and sent off to do her bidding. Fantastic. Now, nothing much to do but wait. Now that things would be changing she started socializing more and filled the next few weeks attending parties, events, and just generally loitering around the tavern. She had forgotten how much she loved being around people and generally just being Azzy.

10 Weeks ago
Two weeks before the first month was up she received a phone call from the dealer. Concerned there was an issue with her order she answered it on the first ring. Instead he started asking her questions about what she was going to be using them for, if it was repeatable, things that were absolutely none of his concern and she informed him of such. He didn't like that. He reminded her that vampires were kin, and if one found a way to walk in the day then it would be a game changer for the species. Humans wouldn't stand a chance. ”What is this idiot going on about? Daywalking? What does that have to do with this?”, she thought to herself but she wasn't going to correct him. The further he was from the truth the safer and easier it was for her. “Listen. I hired you to do a job. I am assuming you already have my relics otherwise you would not be asking these questions. You do not have the last ingredient, I do. Now bring me my purchase or I am afraid business will become very bad for you.” And with that, she hung up.

8 Weeks ago
Yet another two weeks go buy, and she has not received her items and she was starting to get grumpy. The bonus was no longer an option, either. Nobody was going to be amused when this was all over because of the delay. She made a mental note that if he and not come to her within the week, she would go to him. That would be bad for him. Azeara was a Karen in the extreme when somebody was fucking with such important items. The dealer made the first move though. She had been on her way home from the tavern when a hand grabbed her arm from behind. The hand had a pulse. In a flash she spun, extended her free hand and allowed her nails to slice through the throat of the man who touched her. He crumpled to the ground and her eyes followed, watching until the body went motionless. “What you see here is not a body, but an accumulation of poor life choices and mistakes leading up to the folly that ended his life.” She stated, speaking to the man's partner. “Now again you have a choice. One will cause you to join him, the other will spare your life. You can chose to tell me who sent you, or you can choose to try to fight me. Your life is in your hands.” Her icy blue eyes finally traveled up to meet the second male's. He seemed very ill equipped to handle what just happened, as if he hadn't been warned who she was, or his master underestimated her. “The.. The boss wants you. He needs your relic for a ritual or something, I don't know, lady!”

Pinching the bridge of her nose and sighing she pieced it together. “Your boss is a relic hunter, yes?” The man just nodded. “I am sorry, dear. I am afraid I have accidentally lied to you.” Her voice went very calm and sweet, soothing even. Her eyes bore directly into his before she spoke again. “You will not live to see the morning after next, but you can make your last hours worth more than all the hours you have wasted to this point. That would be nice, right?” The man nodded, seemingly in a haze “You are going to tell your boss tomorrow night that you saw who he was looking for, and you even got a picture of her. You will come up with a convincing story how you know she was the one he was looking for. The picture will look similar enough to who he remembers I doubt he will second guess himself. You can do that, right?” Again, the man just nodded. “And then tomorrow night you will meet me here again, and will tie up all the loose end with leaving your body here for someone to find. Do you see any holes with my plan?”

The man shook his head. The woman beamed and the man smiled in returned, happy to have pleased her. “Very good. Walk across the street and then turn back to take my picture, angle it so your friend here isn't photo bombing us.” He nodded and turned to walk across the street. She sighed and rubbed her face with both of her hands. When she put her hands down her eyes were a different color, her lips and nose were bigger, her eyes were spaced differently, her skin seemed a bit more tan and her hair closer to sandy blonde than her natural color. Over all, similar to what she really looked like, just different enough to pass as another person. Right on cue the man pulled out his phone and snapped her picture, then walked off like it was the most natural thing. “Good boy”, she whispered, before wiping away the disguise away. Grabbing the hand of the body she scrolled home. She no longer had time to just enjoy her stroll.

Once home she discarded the body where she landed, that was a mess for another time. She went to her sewing room, and took a mannequin and started drawing on it with her pens. The woman then went to her room, and pulled out a necklace from her jewelry box. Holding it in her hands as if a child was carrying an egg, she chanted while she went back to her sewing room and clasped it around the mannequin neck. She found a wig, and some suitable clothes and dressed the form before chanting some different words. The figure glowed, then slowly took life. Flesh and skin covered the plastic and facial features completed the spell. She looked like the picture the idiot took earlier. Azeara could see and hear what the clone could see and hear. It was currently an echo because they were surrounded by the same stimuli. “Okay, girlfriend. Your job is to keep those guys away from me by having them chase you. ” The other nodded, and walked out of the room and out of the house. If needed Az could talk though the clone. This should keep them off of her long enough Azeara could figure out where the relics were being stored, and where the dealer was. Seriously, all this for a ritual that wouldn't work how the guy intended?

The next night the man showed up to the spot like they had arranged, and he looked peaceful. Like he was ready and accepting of his death. Good. She didn't like killing anyone but this was necessary. It had to look like he died trying to do the bosses bidding. She gave him a kind smile as she snapped his neck, giving him a merciful death before maiming the body to give more of an appearance of a fight with a predator gone badly. The body was left on the cold sidewalk and she went home to start her search.

6 Weeks ago

Turns out this asshole had lots of warehouses and safe houses. This was becoming annoying. She had already searched several locations when her clone pinged her mind. Focusing on it she watched men grab her and carry her off. The mannequin gave a good show of a fight, but honestly at this point this was what Azeara wanted to happen. Maybe she would be taken to where the relics were stored? Doubtful but she could at least find more information now. Within half an hour the clone was shoved into a dingy, gross room. Azeara felt like she needed to shower and she wasn't even physically there. An hour later a voice was talking from outside the door. “Just tell me where your relic is and I will forgive you for killing my men, and I will share the ritual with you”. It was the dealer, she recognized the voice from the phone. “This will not work out how you think it will.”, her voice spoke though the clone. “I tried telling you that a month ago. Now I don't think I will pay you at all, I think I will kill you, take the relics, and just be done with all of this foolishness.” That prompted a chuckle from the man. “You can try, but you have to leave the room first. It is warded so you can only leave if I escort you out.” Well... shit. Okay. We are playing that game. “No matter.” she replied, looking around for something clean enough to sit on in case she was being recorded. “I don't sleep, I don't need food, and at this point I don't even need blood” All true, to be fair. The mannequin needed no vampire or human comforts. “I have nothing but time. And unlike you, I don't hire weak humans. I have vampires at my disposal and they will come for me and kill all of you. Now, make yourself useful and bring me something to clean this room.” And with that the man stormed off.

1 Month ago

They had been bickering back and forth for the first several nights before Azeara started to pretend to soften up on him. She would put hints in her voice, inflection, and word choice that could suggest she was thinking about telling the man where the last relic was. There was no last relic obviously. But this continued for the next few weeks. Eventually they got to where they were friendly with each other, she she felt like the boss was starting to trust her. She was getting nowhere and she was getting impatient. But this had to be played well, she only had one shot to not make this harder than it was already was.

1 Week ago

After weeks of being friendly Azeara spoke through her puppet to ask the guard at the door to bring their boss and he did so. Once there, the woman exaggerated a sigh. “Fine. You win. You called my bluff. My throat is killing me. I need to feed. Lets get this over with so I can hunt”. The boss's face lit up, and he opened the door, but did not step through the threshold. He eyed the woman and clasped his hand, looking as proud as a peacock. “This is fantastic news, Madam. I will have blood of course brought to you. Now, tell me. Where is the last relic?” The woman looked at him then looked to the ground. “Its me. You need my blood. There is no actual relic. Just me. My ancestors were the first vampire hunters thousands of years ago. My blood is key to easing the vampire curse.” The boss nodded. “Its a shame you had to lie to me all this time. This could have been over with ages ago. But I will have the ritual prepared and we will get this done soon.” And with that, he left.

Last night

The boss came into the room, and put a blindfold on her and led her out of the room, not noticing all the blood that had been delivered to the room was hidden under the bed untouched. He loaded her up into a car and though blinded, Azeara was able to track where the car was headed and stopped. A warehouse on the North most street of the city. The puppet was led out of the car and the blindfold was removed once inside the secured building. On the floor was the ritual circle but with the relics missing But the mannequin brows scrunched up as she examined the circle. “Uh, we have a problem.” The boss looked back at her and arched a brow. “I know. The relics should be arriving shortly, but they will be here” His voice was irritated. “Well that, also, the circle is wrong. The hard part, the relics are coming, but this circle if activated would get us all killed. Here, do you have pen and paper?” She asked, extending a hand. The boss snapped his and someone hastily brought over a clipboard and pen. The puppet flipped over the work sheet to the blank side and started drawing another runic circle. The correct circle. Noting different parts that needed to be drawn with different animal's blood. That part was unnecessary, but it ensured that it would take them at least a day to get it done. The dealer looked over the circle and verified that it was a legitimate circle more true to this type of ritual and grinned at her. “You know, I was hesitant but I think we will get along great. Think of us in business together, we will be rich!” He beamed before shoving the new circle design at the guy who had given her the clipboard. “Tomorrow night, everything will change” He said, before snapping his fingers yet again and the blindfold was refastened and she was carted back off to the safe house and locked back in the room for one last night.

Tonight

Azeara had ordered the mannequin to take off the locket that held its form together, and it did so, dropping it to the floor and it bounced a bit. As soon as the metal was no longer touching the fake skin the clone exploded in a cloud of dust, which with how filthy the room was wouldn't be noticed. Az had spent the day casing the warehouse, figuring out the best way to get in and get her prize. The hard part was finally over, killing the boss and his goons would be child's play. She would rest tomorrow and tomorrow night she would be free of her own curse. There were parts she would miss, but over all it was too much of a liability.

Once the boss learned that the girl had escaped the warehouse became a hive of buzzing. People were coming in, but nobody was leaving. Which meant the relics that should have arrived last night weren't leaving, She had sat herself on a bench a block away, still able to see everything going on, but going unnoticed herself. Once the boss arrived to check on everything she would attack and this would all be over.

The world reformed around me and I was no longer where I had been. Fear and 1st, Devil Miyu's Lair, Ravenblacks gift to her and the first lair to be built in the city. It stood silent and still as it had since the day it was built, a squat square building no more than twenty feet across, twenty feet deep, and 12 feet high with a high pitched roof. The outside walls were rudely constructed from smooth polished river stones, lime mortar, and seemed to be held together by the thick vines that crept up the surface as if mother nature was trying to drag in back into the earth from wince it came. The roof was a cross-work of sticks, twigs, and branches laced together so tightly that neither rain nor wind nor sunlight would peak through. The only break in the vines held a single arched doorway, the blackness beyond seemed to drink the very light like some cosmic black hole. The Lair was in constant flux, it seldom appeared the same depending on who visited. I had heard it described by those that had been here, and the descriptions varied greatly depending on the individual. Both the outside and the inside seemed to adapt to the needs of those that came. I always thought it more of a tomb than a Lair because it seemed to invite the dead. Maybe the Lair could sense the impressions of those that came and changed itself accordingly, due to the fact I thought it a tomb, it appeared as a tomb. Tonight though, it held something I needed, something I had hidden here many years ago from someone I had loved.

I felt the air come alive as Lyrene arrived. She started towards me, carrying an outfit from the room. "Well?" she asked. I glanced at the outfit trying to figure out why she had taken it. Was she some sort of cleptomaniac, stealing things at random just because she could? I would need to keep an eye on her, lest she steals something else. Reaching in my cloak I pulled out the panty-wrapped locket and handed it to her, I figured it was either give it to her, or she might just try to steal it too.

"I know who the girl is, and she is not the girl in the picture."

I waited for her to take out the locket, I wanted to see if it had the same painful effect on her that it had on me. If it burned her, I would not take it personally, but if it did not then someone would have some explaining to do, and I would be due an apology.

I was disappointed in a way when it did not harm Lyrene whatsoever.

"Anyway, as I was saying, the girl we are looking for is named Azeara. She is my ex-childer, a spoiled, hardheaded, ill-tempered, mean-spirited, sarcastic, woman of questionable morals. Needless to say, she will not help us willingly, and there is a high probability that she will try to hurt, or even kill us. That's why we are here. I left something here that will give us something else that we can use to keep her in line, to some degree."

I nodded to the Lair and pointed to an inscription by the entrance that says 'Taceant colloquia; effugiat risus. Hic locus est ubi mors gaudet succurrere vitae.'

"I will assume you are not old enough to read Lattin. It says; Let idle talk be silenced; let laughter be banished. This is the place where death rejoices to teach those who live."

Looking away from the inscription and back at Lyrene I continued,

"I actually liked the original inscription that said, fronti nulla fides, omne ignotum pro magnifico, damnant quod no intelligunt, non sum qualis eram, j'y suis, j'y reste. Or in English, appearances are deceptive, everything unknown is taken as grand, they condemn what they do not understand, I am not what I used to be, here I am, here I stay."

Back when it was first put up, it caused a lot of debate in the city as to what it meant. Miyu would not come clean and tell anyone and eventually it was changed to what it is now, removing the mystery that had surrounded the words for so long.

"Let's head inside."

I entered the Lair, and it felt like the darkness inside swallowed me for the briefest of moments, in those moments I could hear, nothing, feel nothing, see nothing. It was as if the whole world ceased to exist for that mear second of time, and then the room opened up before me. Having been here many times over the years I did not need to look around and sightsee. Rusted iron rings set in each wall held a torch, and each torch was already lit, or maybe they were never actually unlit. I had never had to lite them, they just always were, and no matter how long I had stayed in the past, they never seemed to go out. Another oddity of this place. The inside and the outside were both made of the same stone and mortar, but inside lacked the vines, as if even they did not dare to try to live inside this place. The room was bare of anything, just an empty room. In the past it had held tables, always different, chairs of various types, even a couch once, but tonight it was empty. Again giving the impression that the Lair reshaped itself to fit the needs of the visitor.

I head straight to the opposite wall, pulled out my dagger, and knelt on the cold, hard cobblestone floor at the base of the wall. I carefully count the stones from the back wall outward, and again from the side of the room across, and slipped the blade between one of the smaller stones, no bigger than a fist, and a larger stone next to it. The cracks between the stones were filled with finely sifted sand that had been swept across them and then packed down by countless footsteps over many years, but by using the blade I scratched the sand slowly out from around the small stone, and eventually, I was able to pry it out. The sand under the stone was pressed hard and it took stabbing downward into it to loosen it enough that I could shift it clear of the hole, my fingers brushed against something hard and I carefully pulled the object from its resting place. Ten years had tarnished and discolored the medal, but it would still serve its purpose. I tossed the item, a single skeleton key, to Lyrene.

"Keep that with the locket, and keep both of them safe. We should spend the day here, and rest safe from the sun. Tomorrow night we go to the Myst Bastion and visit an old friend."

I carefully repacked the sand and replaced the small stone. The leftover sand I tried to re-tamp into the cracks as best I could and then sat down against the wall facing the doorway, crossed my arms, and tried to sleep. It had been a very long night, and tomorrow would be just as long.

Post by Lyrene:

Lyrene watched as the glance of the other drifted down to the outfit she held in one of her hands and she remained silent, gaze focused on Mal’s face as she waited. In truth, she purely couldn’t explain why she had taken the outfit, other than the fact it had been in her hand as he had left the building in a rush and it had slipped her mind as she had hurried to follow. Mal seemed to have worked through whatever questions about the outfit in his mind and shortly thereafter reached into his cloak, pulling out the locket and handing it over to her. Taking it in her free hand she looked down at the strangers' panties that were now sat in her palm and gave a silent wish that whomever they belonged to cared one fig about their hygiene.

"I know who the girl is, and she is not the girl in the picture.

Anyway, as I was saying, the girl we are looking for is named Azeara. She is my ex-childer, a spoiled, hardheaded, ill-tempered, mean-spirited, sarcastic, woman of questionable morals. Needless to say, she will not help us willingly, and there is a high probability that she will try to hurt, or even kill us. That's why we are here. I left something here that will give us something else that we can use to keep her in line, to some degree."

As he spoke, Lyrene moved her hand so that the panties dropped to the floor and only the locket was left remaining in her open palm. A risk, considering she had witnessed the burning of Mal’s hand only moments before in the bedroom, but a calculated one nonetheless. Lyrene had a feeling that the jewelry would not do to her what it had done to Mal and she was proved right as the locket sat innocently, delicate gold chain swinging idly between her fingers. Throwing the pilfered outfit over the crook of her elbow she used her now free hand to pry the locket open and bring it up towards her face, peering down at the two pictures inside. She didn’t immediately recognise them and so she only looked for a brief moment before shutting it again, slipping it into one of the front pockets on her jeans as apparently Mal had decided she should keep hold of it.

"I will assume you are not old enough to read Lattin. It says; Let idle talk be silenced; let laughter be banished. This is the place where death rejoices to teach those who live."

She slid her gaze sidewards along to him, thinking to herself that he assumed an awful lot, even if he was right in this particular instance. Lyrene’s knowledge of latin was only basic, enough to get by as long as she didn’t come up against anything too challenging and so it was something of a relief when he read out the inscriptions and then translated them immediately. As he spoke about the original inscription she let her eyes wander over the building that stood before them.

The vampiress had passed by the lair countless times since it’s construction, had even briefly stopped once to look over the inscription before moving on, but she had always been on her way to somewhere, something else and so had never before paused fully to inspect the premises. It was relatively small and squat, covered in what seemed to be a healthy layer of vines. To Lyrene it looked pretty unexciting, drab almost. As she cast her eyes over the dark, black mouth of the entrance she let her eyelids fall shut for a moment, attempting to get a sense of the feeling of the building. To her, it felt...tired, weary. Like an old man that had spent so much time on his feet - working, calloused hands and the constant aching of back muscles a reminder that his time on earth had been long and arduous.

”Let’s head inside.”

Opening her eyes the building came into view once more and as she watched Mal stepped into view and then disappeared into the open entrance of the lair. She remained where she was for a brief moment, casting her gaze over the building one final time. What family drama had she gotten herself involved in tonight ? Just what exactly did Mal’s ex childe have to do with all of this and how on earth were things going to play out ? So many thoughts and questions swam around in Lyrene’s head and she doubted whether she would be getting answers to many of them. She still had a chance to turn away, leave the locket outside the entrance for Mal to find as he exited and she could be on her way home, or more likely back to the bar for some more scotch after the events of the night so far. On the other hand, adventures were exciting. Especially ones that were apparently intricately woven mysteries just like this. Lyrene had never been one to back down from an adventure before and she certainly wasn’t going to start now. With a hard swallow, she stepped after Mal, through the entrance and into the Lair.

It took a moment before her eyes adjusted to the dark and the room began to slowly open up around her. Torches along the wall cast a soft, flickering light throughout the room and Lyrene turned her head this way and that as she glanced around. The room was completely empty save for the torches and Lyrene furrowed her brow somewhat in confusion. She had expected...well, she didn’t know exactly what she had expected but it had certainly been something, not the complete sparseness that she now faced. At the other end of the room Mal had knelt down and began grappling with something, eventually resorting to what looked like stabbing the ground. Lyrene took a few more steps towards him, almost feeling the heavy emptiness of the room weighing down on her. A cold, numbing pressure that pressed close against her skin and took a few minutes to get used to.

“What’re you doing over there?”

Lyrene practically whispered the words to the back of Mal, not exactly asking out loud with regards to receiving an answer. Almost as soon as she had muttered her sentence, Mal turned towards her and threw something in her direction, having finished his digging it seemed. Luckily having quick vampiric reflexes Lyrene shot out a hand, fingers closing quickly around whatever it was that had flown through the air. Whatever it was, it felt cool underneath her digits and against the skin of her palm, smooth and polished, like metal. Uncurling her fingers she dropped her gaze downwards as Mal began to move to seat himself against the wall, arms folding across his chest. A skeleton key lay flat across her hand, the metal dull and tarnished from what was probably years buried in the dirt here in Devil Miyu’s Lair. This object only gave her more questions and she tilted her head, preparing to ask Mal what it opened and where they were headed next.

"Keep that with the locket, and keep both of them safe. We should spend the day here, and rest safe from the sun. Tomorrow night we go to the Myst Bastion and visit an old friend."

Before she had a chance to open her mouth, he spoke once more before closing his eyes and obviously attempting to get some sleep. Lyrene’s eyebrows had risen at the mention of the Myst Bastion, a name and a place she had not heard anyone mention in what felt like forever, she had no exact idea of the number of years it had been. Another name came unbidden to her mind…Ayla and she could picture the woman now, pale skin and dark hair, blood-red lips, and an exuding sense of sexuality. It must have been close to 10 years, if not more since they had last spoken and for a brief moment, Lyrene wondered if the woman were even still around. Well, tomorrow - she guessed, she would find out.

With a sigh she closed her fingers around the key once more, depositing it in the same front pocket that held the locket. It appeared she had been delegated the official object carrier for this mysterious adventure and she hoped there weren’t going to be many more or she’d have to buy a bag, she never carried a bag, they were cumbersome and got in the way when you found yourself in a fight. Maybe she could make Mal get the bag. All thoughts for tomorrow, she mused as she dropped the outfit down near the wall, her body following shortly after as she propped herself up. Her legs stretched out before her, crossed at the ankles and she let her hands drop into her lap, casting another sidelong glance at the sleeping Mal’s form before closing her own eyes.

Well, let’s see what fun escapades tomorrow brings.

The day passed without incident. The sun rose and set, and nothing disturbed our slumber. I remained still after I woke, gathering my thoughts and forming a plan as to how to go about making everything happen. The night before had transpired quickly, one thing leading to the next thing and so on. There had not been much of a chance to truly take the time necessary to work out how all of this was going to unfold. Lyrene was a surprise, and keeping her alive looked like it would prove useful in the long run. At worst, she made a great pack mule, at best I could use her as bait to trap Azeara.

There was still much to do, by now the boss would know someone had broken into his house, and that might cause a few unexpected complications. Complications that could be a monkey wrench in the machine that was a well-formed plan. I looked over at Lyrene and said,

"Time to go."

Standing up I looked around the room to make sure there were no signs that we had been here, then I stopped. This place would not be the same for whoever came after us, it would reform to suit their needs and match their thoughts. Nothing of us would remain the second we were out of sight of here. Uncounceusly I gathered my cloak around me as if I was about to step out into a freezing blizzard and stepped through the black hole that made up the arched doorway.

Silvery moonlight illuminated the area on the other side casting shadows and pools of blackness where the light seemed to shy away from. This was my domain, this was what made me, what others feared about the night I delighted in. If I could burn out the sun and cast eternal darkness over the world, I would do it without a moment's hesitation. To live in the shadows, to attack, hunt, kill, and feed on all those that feared the blackness was what made this unlife bearable.

"The Myst's Bastion is not far from here. No point in burning up a scroll. Plus, we can talk while we walk and I can fill you in on the plan."

I turned north and started walking.

"If we are going to work together, you may as well know who, and what, you are partnering up with, and you should know what you are getting yourself into."

I took a deep breath, gathered my thoughts, and began.

"I was born a very long time ago. In the beginning, I was married to Ayla Myst, but she died in childbirth, as did our unborn child. In an act of rage against the gods and a fit of sorrow, I made a deal with something very old and very evil. The gods had forsaken me so I could not turn to them for help, instead, I sought another way. What I did not know was that when you make a deal with the devil, you better close every loophole because he will exploit them to the fullest, and he did just that. I wanted Ayla back, and that was all I told him, he could have my soul if he would return her to me for all time."

I looked around to make sure we were still headed in the right direction.

"He granted my request. She was to be mine, for all time. The catch was, she would be born, grow up, grow old, die, and then repeat, for all time, while I would never grow old, and I would never die, but I would have to suffer her death every time knowing I could do nothing to change it. Each time she died, I would have to search for her until I found her again. Once she reached her 18th birthday I could feel her, no matter where she was in the world that feeling would consume me, force me to seek her out. I tried to resist it once, the pain, the sickness almost killed me, except I could not die, so I suffered. I languished in agony for weeks before I was finally forced to locate her. I watched her die forty-eight times before I figured out a way to stop it. I brought her to RavenBlack, and here she was turned, never to die again. It backfired though. She could not die, but she also did not need me any longer. I on the other hand still had to have her or I would suffer physically. Her curse ended while mine got worse. I decided that if getting turned had fixed things for her, it might do the same for me, I allowed myself to be turned as well. That just added the vampire curse on top of my other curse, it fixed nothing."

We were getting closer to the Bastion, and what was inside. The ever nagging feeling of her.

"I thought if I killed her, things would reset and go back to the way they had been, but learned quickly that no matter how many times you kill a vampire, they eventually come back. I killed her several times, I killed her childer, if and when, they got in my way, I even killed her friends on occasion. I no longer loved her, that stopped a very long time before all of this, but I had to have her, or I paid a heavy price. I figured out a loophole of my own though. I did not need to have HER, I only needed the part that holds a person's soul, I only needed her heart. Since she could not die, her heart would remain the same, forever, so all I needed was to keep it close and I was free of the curse. I took it. I cut her heart out, placed it in a box, and hid it from everyone. As a final act, the devil cashed in on my soul, being a vampire saved my body and mind, but my heart and soul are no longer. I feel no love and I never will. I am truly a soulless monster."

We stood in the road. A hundred yards away loomed the castle of the Myst. The Myst Bastion. I stopped to take it all in.

"At one point in time, I kidnapped Ayla in the hopes I could keep her locked away and end my suffering. To do that I had a very special pair of items made. Eventually, I let her go, we locked the items away in a chest. She kept the chest and I held the key. This guaranteed that the items could never be used against the other ever again. With her gone, I can retake the items, and we can use them to trap Azeara."

All the Myst had long since left the Bastion. I had killed most and those I had not killed had left the city or went underground. Even without them, this place was a fortress. I had never been able to get inside without being invited.

"All we have to do is get in there."

I pointed toward the bastion.

Posted by THE BOSS:

Thomas was a simple merchant. He specialized in rare things, antiquities, and the uncommon. He had spent several lifetimes building connections and putting together a network of other specialists in the same line of work. There was almost nothing on this planet that he, or his associates, could not locate and procure, for the right price that is. So when the woman called and asked him to find three, very unusual, and very specific items, he did not bother to question the request. This being his natural trade, he gave the woman a price, which was not cheap, but he was surprised when she countered the offer with a 30 percent bonus if he could locate and deliver them in one month or sooner. This raised a few questions, but being a professional, he did not ask. Thomas eagerly agreed and stated that his best men would be set to the task.

Thomas sent the list of items to every one of his sources with a set contract amount on each item, and 1 hour later he received a phone call from his contact in the United Kindom. She was an archaeologist and the head of the team that had worked on the Beckery Chapel dig on an island near Glastonbury. Her questions raised more questions, and she had a theory for why someone would want these three particular items. They put their heads together, made some phone calls to some other trusted people, with certain questions that would not create suspicion, and all the answers seemed to confirm the archaeologist's theory. This was too big to let slip by so Thomas phoned the buyer to address the issues.

Thomas started asking her questions about what she was going to be using them for if it was repeatable, and she informed him it was none of his concern, which he already knew, but this was something big, and he wanted in. “Listen. I hired you to do a job. I am assuming you already have my relics otherwise you would not be asking these questions. You do not have the last ingredient, I do. Now bring me my purchase or I am afraid business will become very bad for you.” And with that, she hung up. This woman was certainly full of herself if she thought she could affect his business in any way whatsoever, but it did not matter, she had confirmed what he was thinking, and even told him there was actually a 4th item that she had. Thomas decided that if she had it, he wanted it.

It took Thomas a couple of weeks to locate and transfer the 3 items, and now he needed this 4th one. He sent 2 of his human thugs to bring the buyer to him, he knew she would not give him the item, so he would need to convince her to do it. The next day one of them returned with a picture of the buyer and said they would have her very soon, the next day the bodies of both men turned up at the city morgue. Thomas was furious and sent his best, and soon she was in hand, locked in one of the older unused rooms in Thomas's home.

An hour later stopped outside the door to the room. “Just tell me where your relic is and I will forgive you for killing my men, and I will share the ritual with you”. He said “This will not work out how you think it will.”, was her reply “I tried telling you that a month ago. Now I don't think I will pay you at all, I think I will kill you, take the relics, and just be done with all of this foolishness.” That prompted a chuckle from Thomas. “You can try, but you have to leave the room first. It is warded so you can only leave if I escort you out.” After a brief silence she said “No matter. I don't sleep, I don't need food, and at this point, I don't even need blood. I have nothing but time. And unlike you, I don't hire weak humans. I have vampires at my disposal and they will come for me and kill all of you. Now, make yourself useful and bring me something to clean this room.” Thomas motioned to his human housekeeper who stormed off to do as instructed.

They had been bickering back and forth for the first several nights before the buyer began to soften up. Eventually, they got to where they were friendly with each other. One night the buyer finally cracked, “Fine. You win. You called my bluff. My throat is killing me. I need to feed. Let's get this over with so I can hunt”. Thomas had won, he smiled as he said, “This is fantastic news, Madam. I will have blood, of course, brought to you. Now, tell me. Where is the last relic?” The woman looked at him then looked to the ground. “It's me. You need my blood. There is no actual relic. Just me. My ancestors were the first vampire hunters thousands of years ago. My blood is key to easing the vampire curse.” Thomas nodded. “It's a shame you had to lie to me all this time. This could have been over with ages ago. But I will have the ritual prepared and we will get this done soon.” And with that, he left.

The next night Thomas came into the room, put a blindfold on her, and led her out of the room. He loaded her up into a car, drove to a warehouse, and the blindfold was removed once she was inside the secured building. On the floor was the ritual circle. “Uh, we have a problem.” she said, “I know. The relics should be arriving shortly, but they will be here” Thomas replied, “Well that, also, the circle is wrong. The hard part, the relics are coming, but this circle if activated would get us all killed. Here, do you have pen and paper?” She asked, extending a hand. Thomas snapped his fingers and someone hastily brought over a clipboard and pen. The buyer flipped over the worksheet to the blank side and started drawing another runic circle. The correct circle. Noting different parts that needed to be drawn with different animal's blood. Thomas looked it over, “You know, I was hesitant but I think we will get along great. Think of us in business together, we will be rich!” He handed the new circle design to the guy who had given her the clipboard. “Tomorrow night, everything will change,” He said, before snapping his fingers yet again and the blindfold was refastened and she was carted back off to the safe house and locked back in the room for one last night.

Thomas was in his study making the final preparations when his housekeeper ran into the room. "She is gone," he said in a huff. Thomas looked up from his work, "Gather everyone you can, and find her, NOW!" Without another word, the man ran out to do as he was told. Thomas picked up the phone and placed a call, "Lockdown the warehouse, nothing comes in, and nothing leaves." and he hung up.

Hours passed without a word from his people, so he called the housekeeper to check on the status of finding the girl buyer. After a short conversation, he hung up and called the archaeologist. "There has been a slight wrinkle in the ritual. The girl is gone, and without her blood, we are dead in the water." The archaeologist replied, "No, Thomas, that's not entirely true, from the ancient journal I found, we only need the blood of a hunter, so any hunter will do." Thomas gave a slight chuckle as he hung up. With that, he called off the search and called all the men back. If all they needed was a hunter, this just became so easy. Calling his man he said, "Get your dumb ass back here. Call your men and cancel the search. Forget the girl, I have a different idea. You guys are completely incompetent."

The next day, Thomas went downstairs to find the lazy housekeeper, but what he found was the door to the girl's room slightly open, he could smell burnt flesh, and he knew someone had been in here. He finished looking for the housekeeper who was nowhere to be found. He knew something was not right, and he suspected he was not the only one now looking to complete the ritual. Until now he had left the items in the possession of their current owners, but if someone else was now after them, he would need to gather them all up, and quickly.

Thomas hurried to his office and made a phone call. "Get over here, now. There is someone I need you to eliminate and time is of the essence." He hung up, sat down, and waited.

The rear portion of Myst's Bastion sat on a cliff overlooking the ocean while the rest was surrounded by high walls and battlements. It was once rumored to have been the original castle of Elisabeth Bathory, which could actually hold some truth since Elisabeth Bathory lived in the Bastion with Ayla Myst. The Mysts had all left the city a long time ago, but that did not mean the castle was vacant. As with any perfectly good castle, I was sure someone must have taken up residency in it, someone had to be keeping the place in repair, and that someone could pose a problem if we were caught wandering around there at night.

"Once we get in, finding what we need is going to be easy."

I said to Lyrene, only to be greeted with silence. Turning my head towards her, I found that she was gone. On the ground where she had been sat the key and locket. I looked around to be sure, but she was definitely gone.

"Well, at least she left the key."

I chuckled to myself as I picked it up and placed it inside my cloak. Some people were just not cut out for a life of adventure and danger, and despite all her talk, she just could not take the excitement. No big deal, I would go on.

Turning my attention back to the Bastion, I scanned the walls looking for the easiest way over. Years ago I had tried to climb the seaside cliff, eighty feet up, and once I neared the top, one of the Myst happened to look over the edge, saw me, and simply dropped a stone down on my head. A week later I washed up on a beach, miles from the Bastion, looking like a dead, drowned, rat. Another time I attempted to scale the outer wall and the second my feet hit the upper walkway at the top I was meet by Ayla and a dozen Myst. After a holy water bath, I was tossed over the cliff into the sea and again ended up on a beach covered from head to toe in burns and seaweed. I did manage to get inside once by hiding in a delivery wagon. Little did I know, the delivery was for an event at the Bastion and once they opened the doors to unload it I was quickly discovered. Another holy water bath, and again over the cliff into the sea. After that, I pretty much gave up on trying to break into the place and just started using the front door. It was far less painful and I did not have an eighty-foot swan dive into the ocean to deal with after.

I sat down on the ground and watched the Bastion. There had to be a way to get inside that would not involve whoever lived there currently. I just needed to figure it out.