Post by Rae-Star Berii on Nov 3, 2012 10:03:56 GMT -5
There was darkness in the world, the moon was bright in the sky but its fullness brought a shivering despair through those beneath it. There were no stars in the British sky, just dark grey clouds, with the smell of rain in the air. A car alarm sounded in the distance, and Rae ducked down an alleyway and into the lingering shadows. She was a slender girl, thin and wispy, her lithe frame clothed in black leggings, army boots and a blood red leather coat. The coat was tattered and swamped the girls frame, floor-length with a high collar that she kept buttoned to the top. Today her rainbow hair was covered in a black woollen hat and she wore knitted fingerless gloves.
Her boots clacked as she walked across the cobbles, as she weaved between the streets of London, through the rat like maze of darkness. Rae knew these streets well; once upon a time she had grown up here; in the best of this place. Now, returning here, it was just a dark twist of cold, stone bricks. She hadn’t been back here since her father had died, not until tonight.
Daemon; a creature related to the souls of the dead. Supernatural, prevalent in religion, occultism and folklore, these creatures may be malevolent or goodly. They cannot in any form be trusted and should not in any form be confronted by anyone who is not well versed in their behaviour, traditions and other-worldly deeds.
She had read the words from the page two nights ago, typed and signed in her fathers’ hand. She had been reading ‘The Case file’ from the start, since the first day of her running. It had become something of a bible to her, and she read it not only with interest but with due caution. It had led her back to London, her Uncle and her father’s work had talked of a safe at the basement of their old home. Perhaps there she would find an answer to this whole mess. Unravelled was her father’s secret; he was a hunter of these creatures – of others too that existed in this world- and that had led to the downfall of her entire family.
A noise behind her woke her from her thoughts, a rattle in the alleyway. She glanced behind her, a street lamp flickering and amber and a shadow streaked passed. Rae felt she had been followed for some time now. She had been poking around in things she should not have been looking into. She had limited training, other than the words on the pages before her. If someone caught her- if someone found her- she would be as dead as her family. Perhaps they would burn her too, as they had her mother, or perhaps they would take her limb by limb as they had with her brother. She hated them, all of them, she bulked them together in a misunderstood stereotype that so many mortals fell victim of. She wanted them dead, she wanted to find the men…the monsters that had destroyed her family and she wanted to hear them squeal in pain…
A second rattle in the alleyway caused her to press herself against the wall. Her fingers curled against the trigger of her gun. She had only fired it once, having bought it when she’d been in America. It was a simple handgun, heavy in her gloved palms. It was a man’s gun, but it made her feel much more protected than she was. Still, she had only fired it once, and then her shot had not been wholesome. Rae swallowed on a dry throat, holding her breath, closing her eyes and listening to the footsteps gaining on her.
Shrinking into the shadows more, her eyes glanced to the iron railing to her left, the empty alleyway ahead of her and the shadows lurking to her right. If she were to escape she would have to go unnoticed, or run out into the light; hoping she could be faster than the creature behind her. That or she prayed her stalker to be merciless when he fell over into her hiding place.
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Last Edit: Nov 3, 2012 10:10:51 GMT -5 by Rae-Star Berii
Samael held his face skywards, eyes closed, momentarily seeming content to allow the chill, brisk night wind cleanse his sins; to wash the blood from his eyes along with the festering, black growth that clung to his soul. An evil which threatened to consume him.
But no, he had a job to do; a contract to fulfill. Samael was supposed to be hunting down and retrieving whatever had killed the footmen of his employer. Sam's employer suspected a rival group of targeting his people, but from what Sam had seen from examining the bodies, the ripped throats as of the victims were mauled by some animal indicated the work of a supernatural. The fact that they had been drained of blood screamed vampire to him and had frightened his employer enough to call in a'specialist'.
Sam fingered the hilt of his favorite knife, a nervous tic he had developed. This knife he fancied to have a voice of sorts, one that lusted for blood. Even now it called forhim to take it up in hand and find for it a victim. 's
Persuasive though the awful voice seemed, whispering honeyed words whose violence repulsed him, Samael was painfully aware that it was not real; the voice given to the knife was just one way his psyche warned him of the guilt and growing evil within him that threatened to consume his soul.
He shook it off and dropped down to the street below. This seemed to be the creature's favored hunting ground, Sam had discerned from the recent and relatively frequent murders which had been occurring around this area. Even though he was an assassin by trade, Sam had long ago learned that ones target was not always human. Rust was one lesson learned the hard way when he had attempted to slip a garrote around the neck of one very flammable mobster who had been expected of torching the boss's house. To make a long sorry short, the mobster had turned out to be a daemon fond of spilling out the secret of how he'd grown horns and wings when the blade of a knife was pressed against his throat and said wings and horns broken beyond use by one very disturbed Samael.
That was one of Sam's very first contracts. Now here he was, one of the best and most feared assassins money could buy, turning down all but the most interesting and dangerous cases offered to him by his extensive network of contacts.
Seeing a strange young female, Sam unwisely shook such nostalgic thoughts from his mind and attempted a closer look. When she turned down an alleyway, Sam followed, assuming his suspicions were correct and that she had spotted him. When San did nut unwisely spot her as he turned into the alleyway, he drew two knives and dropped into a fighting crouch, legs coiled to prowl him forward for one quick and lethal offensive attack. One knife was held at the ready in front of him, the other behind his back, prepared for a quick throw to at last distract and confuse his enemy long enough for him to get close.
Eyeing the rooftops to make sure there would be no that's from above, Sam spoke "There ours no point in hiding. Your end has found you today, creature of the night." His voice showed a supreme confidence Sam surely did not feel. Already his heart beat a dun roll within his chest, sending adrenaline choosing through his body. Sam did not believe in coincidence, so why would he think that the female cornered in the alleyway had been in fact more or less minding her own business before he had shown up?
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Nov 4, 2012 2:34:13 GMT -5
Rae held her breath. There were several options in a situation like this. She had learnt them through the years, some she had tried and had found successful and some she had learnt from popular films. She understood, films and reality were very different, for one; she failed to believe that vampires sparkled in sunlight, but their premises had to be based somewhere right? The martial arts used in by stunt guys in just about any film where there is opportunity for a fight- that had to come from somewhere. Why make it up? Cursed or gifted – whatever you may believe- Rae had an eidetic memory, she could practically feel the moved forming in her mind. She knew the mechanics, but didn’t have the poles and wires and choreographed stunt double to work with. Of all the options she had here; fighting was not on the top of that list.
Option one was by no means her favourite option; it merely suggested that she fire upon him; the man who had been following her, who was crouched now in the darkness and expected her to reveal herself, that is. She could level her gun, click the safety off and put a bullet in his direction. Of course the biggest flaw with this option was that the last time she had fired upon something she had missed her mark and then her bullet was meant to be a mercy. Had he been a mugger or a thief then the gun would’ve been sufficient, she would not even have to fire it, but its reputation along and a confident growl at her attack would have been enough. Humans, she had learnt and experience taught her, were frightened of guns.
Why her thoughts suggested he was not human she was not sure. Had she lived so long in a nightmare that she assumed all monsters to be inhuman, superhuman? Perhaps it was the way he so confidently sentenced her to death. That in it-self, well, it made her feel ill. Rae slowly let out the breath she was holding, her eyes flickering to the sound of his voice as it crackled through the storm-edged night.
Option two was to return his confidence, was she not entreated with many of the secrets of a hunter, had she not learnt from ‘The Case File’ that she was not stronger or more able than these supernatural creatures but often a hunters job came from out-witting their opponent, but pre-set traps and thought out strategies. She loved Chess, Rae could play at pro level if she so wished- if it had been ‘cool’ may she would’ve taken a greater interest. Chess meant strategy. It was something she was highly capable of. She could step into the eerie light of the street, light a cigarette and offer him one, suggest to him that killing her would be a poor idea in the hope that he concurred with her odd, self-assured and highly fake amusement with the whole situation.
Option three would be useful to Rae if the man was a) a hunter himself and b) had worked within her father’s network. Unfortunately she had no way of telling these two details from his threat. It was plausible; she assumed that he thought her to be some creature of darkness. She was, after all, better dressed than a street tramp and moved with a more favourable grace and ease in the darkness than most girls her age and travelling alone would. Her father wrote of a code he had implemented for situations where two hunters were in danger of stepping into each other’s territories or destroying well prepared traps. To announce ‘Have you heard of the Whitechapel brothers?’, ‘The Case File’ did not go into details as to where this saying originated from but Rae believed it was too do with Jack the Ripper. Her father had books in the library on the serial killer; it was easy to suggest he was obsessed with the histories.
Option four was shaping up to be the most likely. This option dictated that she run. If she headed towards him he would not be expecting it, she could run at him; there was a large metal bin back there in the alleyway that she was sure she could jump up onto easily, and from there she could make it out of the alley and into the street. It would take her seconds, time which would allow him to regain himself and follow her once more.
Rae realised her mistake in all of this, that being she should never have come into the alleyway into the first place. Too distracted was she with getting back to her parents’ house unnoticed that she had simple disregarded her own safety. If she had not been so naive then she would not have put herself into this situation.
While her brain worked over these options only seconds had passed in the world outside of Rae’s head, perhaps time was passing slowly for her now she was placed in an impossible position. There was cruelty in the fates if that were to be true- yes, lets slow down time when someone is faced with death, give them plenty of time to enjoy their life flashing before their eyes before they go to the big black hole in the world.
Rae went with option five.
Slipping her gun into the waistband of her wet-look leggings, she bent quietly and took an empty beer bottle from the ground. Then she stumbled out into the open, one foot tottering in front of the other in the pretence giddiness of being influenced by too much alcohol. She needed more time; she needed a greater read on the situation. Swaying, comically she played a good drunk, looking in disbelief at her empty bottle, but keeping it in hand just in case. “Who me?” She smirked at him, her face as lucid as it was possible to make it, while her heart raced in her chest. “Sorry guv!” Rae giggled, “Didn’t mean ya no ‘arm.” Her ancient heavily scented with a cockney twist.
If she wasn’t on the run for her life; she’d have made a great actress.
Samaels thoughts ran wild. He began to doubt himself. After all, he could not exactly be sure that this woman was actually the creature he sought. Maybe, just maybe, he was wrong. This thought was of course ludicrous; never before had Samael failed in his task.
Nevertheless, Samael kept at the ready, muscles beginning to ache from being tensed so long, but his blade still kept at the ready, hands possessing a level of steady that would make any trained surgeon envious. He was a trained killer who had applied his chosen trade more times than he would care to count out in a church.
As often happened to him, Samael began to imagine the faces of former contracts appear standing of to the side, just on the edges of his peripheral vision. A godly chorus come to witness the murder, no, not murder. Sam refused to think of his contracts as victims, as himself being nothing more than some hired murderer.
The faces began to make Sam think of the last vampire he had slain. The creature had appeared a middle agreed man to him, a librarian, perhaps. If middle agreed librarians all were possessed of an insatiable thirst for blood and a particular craving for little boys.
That kill had also proved the first real challenge for him.Or had seemed that no matter how many times Sam had stabbed him, he had just kept getting up. After having at the vampires neck with his swords for many moments, the head had rolled free from its trappings and the blood fiends body had finally ceased its struggles.
So yes, Sam was prepared deal with the pretty young woman who emerged from hiding in a way he could only think of as savage.
When she began to feign drunkenness, Sam's eyes narrowed. He was no fool And quickly discerned it as an act. First, the bottle she held appeared as if it had been lying on the ground outside for quite some time now. Second, a quick sniff told him that he could detect little alcohol in the air and certainly none wafting over to him from the girl, no, not the girl, the female.
A harshness entered Sam's voice as he spoke this second time that surprised him "You think to play me for a fool-" Sam began but the words caught in his throat. He felt as if someone, something, was standing behind him.
His mind flashed along its thought processes rapidly even as he flocked his hidden knife behind him. The presence behind him reeked of a predatory fear that caused his heart to beat rapidly. Sam wondered to himself, eyes wide as he sorting up from his crouch andleaped into the air, as to whether or not he had miscalculated. Were there in fact two vampires?
Sam's knife had not yet even made ours way to its target yet when Sam began his vertical run up the alley wall. Counting on his speed to get him or of this alley which wad fast becoming a death trap in Sam's opinion. Once his momentum was nearly run out, Sam reached up and hooked the lip of the building with his third and forth digits. With only a slight grunt and a burst of strength most humans were not possessed of, Sam pulled himself over the top and rolled over.
Only a slight moment had passed between the toss of his knife and Sam's return to his fighting crouch on the rooftop. Looking down at the two, he grimaced and scolded himself for being so careless.
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Nov 5, 2012 14:43:38 GMT -5
He didn’t fall for it.
She wasn’t sure he would but of the five options milling around in her head she felt it had been best idea at the time. Clearly now it was a mistake. His cold, growl of a threat came her way once more, and Rae paused. If he wasn’t falling for the act she may as well drop it, no need for her too look needlessly stupid. She straightened wetting her lips slowly and feeling her tongue touching along the jagged edges. For a moment her eyes centred on him and as she took in his crouched position, as her eyes trailed over the keen and athletic dip of his position she swallowed.
As soon as she faced him he was gone; sprung up in the air like a helium filled balloon popped with a razor sharp pin. He moved with dexterity that she was sure only a cat possessed. As his shadow disappeared in its climb to the top of the alley wall she quickly saw why he had fled the scene. A man stood before her now in the alleyway. Her eyes, dark swirls of chocolate, fell upon the tall slender figure of the vampire.
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence (generally in the form of blood) of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person/being. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in many cultures, and may go back to "prehistoric times”, the term vampire was not popularized until the early 18th century, after an influx of vampire superstition into Western Europe from areas where vampire legends were frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as vrykolakas in Greece and strigoi in Romania. This increased level of vampire superstition in Europe led to mass hysteria and in some cases resulted in corpses actually being staked and people being accused of vampirism.
The biggest give away that the man before here was one of the undead walking the world were his fangs. Like short white diamonds sticking in the front of his mouth they caught her eye and paralysed her with fear. She had read all about vampires in ‘The Case File’, her father had had several encounters. He went into details about the best methods to kill them; he gave personal accounts on the effects of mirrors, of silver and wood-based poisons. Even as the information raced through her eidetic mind, she struggled to find useful or logical pockets in order to assess the information in some way that would support her current need. That need, of course, being survival.
Stumbling back as the vampire leached forwards, Rae rattled into the iron fence that dead ended the alleyway. It rattled all around her, cold as ice on the back of her neck as her back pressed into the criss-crossed chains. Rae, unaware she was even holding the empty beer bottle, jumped as the bottle smashed on the ground. Reflex had caused her to drop it and it smattered the dank, moist cobbles of the alley-way in shards of beautiful emerald glass.
Whatever defence her ‘stalker’ had given her before taking flight to the roof tops seemed to malevolent as the vampire first dodged the flying knife and then picked it up. The creature turned it casually in his skull like fingers and Rae eyed it nervously.
Instinct took over as the vampire flew at her; he span at her with the knife in hand, cloak billowing out around his lean frame like a pair of ugly dark wings. Rae panicked. Her right hand fumbled for the gun she had stowed away in the back of her leggings as she fell back against the chain links. Sliding to the ground she yelled, feral and blinded by fear as she pulled the trigger.
At point blank range the two bullets she squeezed off sunk into his chest, she could smell the putrid rot of his flesh as the little pellets burrowed into his skin. His weight slumped against her, and Rae cried out. A happy accident, but Rae was too het-up to celebrate.
She shoved the monster off her, and watched him roll into the mud. Rae stumbled back, dragging herself unsteadily to her feet. “Oh fuck.” She whispered, tears streaking her cheeks, encouraging mascara trails; “Oh shit.” She levelled the gun, watching him for a moment, needing two hands to keep it steady. Despite the car alarm in the distance everything seemed to be insanely quiet, it was like the world had come to a stop; that the blood rushing in her ears drowned out the noises of the busy city after dark.
Was it dead? It wasn't moving, but she didn't believe this was over...
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Last Edit: Nov 5, 2012 16:30:53 GMT -5 by Rae-Star Berii
For many moments, the two just stood there, facing each other. Samael watched them with growing interest as it became apparent that the two vampires were not allies and were possibly even feuding over territory.
That thought brought a grim smile to the assassin's dour face, for it did not matter if they were feuding or not; both vampires would fall to his blade this night.
Almost as if to reassure himself it was still there, Samael gave a slight squeeze around the handle of the knife he held in his hand. A feeling akin to regret washed over Samael when he realized he would likely never manage to locate his thrown knife. It had been with him for so long and many such similar throws had likely saved his life on more than one occasion.
Samael's face scrunched up slightly when the vampire charged the woman and she fired off two rounds into the creature. They must have been silver, for shortly after being shot, the vampire slumped limply on top of the woman, his momentum having been enough to carry his corpse crashing into her.
Shifting apprehensively, Samael looked down at the girl and realization slowly dawned on him. She was never a vampire, merely a girl he had cornered in an alley on the suspicion that she one of those who walked with the night.
Embarrassed and now slightly concerned for the girl who struggled from underneath the dead weight that was, just moments ago, a blood guzzling fiend attempting to make of her a meal, Samael sheathed his knife and dropped from the roof overlooking the alley, going into a slight roll to absorb the impact.
Fingers traced the guard of a now sheathed knife as eyes watched both woman and corpse warily. Vampires were, after all, well known for being exasperatingly difficult to destroy. The corpse just lay there however, showing no signs it would rersume its attack.
Samael nudged the toe of one boot underneath its torso and flipped it onto its back. Its front was crusted with fast drying mud, but Sam noted the two bullet holes in its chest. An acrid smoke drifted from them and Sam's suspicions of the bullets having been silver were correct.
While never having used the stuff himself, Sam was aware of the toxic properties of silver when it came to vampires so even while none of the shots had penetrated the creature's heart, Sam felt it was safe enough to assume it dead. Of course, he still planned to behead the thing. Some aspects of his contracts were less than pleasant, but nonetheless needed to be fulfilled.
Sam rose back to standing height and pulled his hood down, running one hand through his unruly mop of dark brown hair as he looked at the young woman who was appeared barely more than a girl. Light brown, almond colored orbs studied her with a bit of curiousity and newfound respect.
After taking one step to clear the widening pool of blood flowing from the vampire's corpse, Sam spoke "My apologies, Miss," he began "for mistaking you for a vampire." At this verbal admittance of his error, Sam winced. He should know not to make such assumptions. Sam was experienced enough that he should know better.
Then it hit him like a slap in the face; he had made a mistake. Samael Nameless had nearly made a fatal error that could have cost him his life. Was he losing his touch so soon, at such a young age?
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Nov 28, 2012 15:30:19 GMT -5
Killing someone had not been her original plan. She had never wanted to have really had to kill anyone; it went against everything she had ever been taught as a child. Killing was wrong; life was not hers to take and she was shaking all over. The guilt, the disgust at herself and her actions were beginning to rot her.
The gun shook in her hand, and she looked down at it as if it was an object that was alien to her. Rae wet her lips again, trying to formulate some sort of moisture in her cotton-dry mouth. This was somewhat of an impossible situation and one she had never imagined finding herself in. Everything that happened next seemed to add to the dream she felt she was in…
Before Rae realised how the man from the alleyway was back at her side. He kicked the body over and it didn’t groan- there was no movement of life or breath. She dropped her hand to herself, gun still held as it swung to her side. Her eyes stared at the body of the vampire.
This was a dirty creature, why did she feel so bad about what she had done?
Rae didn’t even notice the blood as it pooled around her boots, she couldn’t drag her eyes away from the corpse, the sunken pale figure of the once aggressive vampire. Even when the man spoke the words rattled around in the emptiness of her head, they bounced of her brain cells and sent echoes shivering down her spine.
Rae blinked and a long, wavering sigh expelled from between her lips. “Oh shit.” She repeated under her breath.
Then everything started to register, thankfully.
Rae’s ‘on’ switch ignited and the fire in her stomach roared. She stepped back from her frozen position of fear and angst. In that moment, it was like a new person stood before him; not the wavering child who was struggling to come to the realisation of what she had done. She stepped back, smattering a bloody footprint onto the alleyway, and raised the gun to face him now. Momentarily her hand was steady, her arm held out in front of her in offense as she looked down the barrel of the hand-gun at him.
“Why the fuck are you following me?” She asked, aggressively.
Then Rae registered him. A frown lined her pretty face, furrowing her sculptured eyebrows. “I know you.” She told him, but didn’t lower the gun any.
Lifting her free hand to woollen hat, she pulled it off her head. Her rainbow hair, smattered with red, streaked with yellow and blue and laced with purple amongst the baby pink strands; spilled out of its messy up-do and tumbled down over her shoulders. People remembered her hair. They didn’t remember her for her face, or her talents, or her somewhat shy personality; no, they remembered her hair. Having such an eccentric appearance made her totally unmemorable to the rest of the world as she hid in plain sight.
Her eidetic memory kicked in; she was put with an image in her mind like her photograph and in that moment she remembered him. The picture that came to her memory was vivid, like she was reliving that moment. She remembered a diner, in America, the embarrassment of a doodled napkin and a very strange situation with a collection of men, a bomb and bad food.
“What is the vampire to do with you?” she asked, solidly, keeping the gun centred on him as she waited, sternly for her answer.
Post by Rae-Star Berii on Dec 9, 2012 6:50:13 GMT -5
Uncertainty flooded through her, she wasn’t going to get an answer from this man. Rae levelled her gun; and for the second time in a series of seconds she used it. The hammer slung back and the bullet pressed out of the chamber with alarming speed. Rae was not shooting to kill; to kill another human seemed worse than killing one of the ‘them’. Unsurprisingly her aim was bad, and even if she had been shooting to kill the chances are she would have done a poor job; instead of going for his leg, like she had intended the bullet flew just passed his ear and into the large metal bin behind him. It sent up a horrid noise, enough of a distraction for Rae to get the hell out of there.
She turned on her heel and ran back the way she had come; back out onto the street pocketing the gun as she fled. Without pausing to see if he was chasing her she barrelled through the city, over cobbled flag stones until her legs would take her no further. Fortunately, she’d had enough sense to run in the direction she was originally heading.
Ahead of her was a beautiful stone house, its walls red and white and there was faded gold-leaf on the letter box. Home. Her father’s home, the place she had been born. Rae, without thought, pressed up the old stone steps and up to the main house. Even in the darkness she could work out the for-sale sign, and that the house lay empty. Well, people had died here…houses like that barely sold again.
A quick elbow through the small window in the front door and she was into the hall way. Rae paused, catching her breath, aware of the pounding of her heart in her chest. Only know she could not tell if it was because of her running or because of the terrible nerves that built up inside her. Somewhere in this house was the answer to all of her questions; only she did not dare to look…
