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Fantasy A Companion In The Night

FaithWynters

The Cuppycakecreep
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This Roleplay is reserved for Armageddon Armageddon and FaithWynters FaithWynters

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"I'm not who I was one year ago
and maybe,
just this once,
change is good."

This is for getting to the Character Thread
 
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“After their harsh loss to the Warriors last week, it looks like the Lake City Lions will be facing an even tougher opponent this Friday night…” Slowly his chest rose and fell; she could see it from where she sat in the kitchen. His lack of shirt showed that nothing was out of the ordinary for this evening. He slept as he always did about this time, and she sat in the kitchen, listening to the mindless talk of those unknown on the television and trying to ignore the almost-empty bottle of whiskey sitting by the chair. Mindlessly, she wrote the small grocery list on a pale napkin; she would need to go to the store tomorrow before work.

“Sissy…” The voice trailed on for a moment before the young woman turned. The small boy that stood in the doorway leading toward the rest of the house rubbed his eyes quietly. A quick glance to the clock on the microwave informed her that it was well past eleven already. Lucas should have been asleep hours ago.

“What’re you doing up, Lucas?” The old wooden chair creaked as she picked herself up and walked across the small kitchen. The young one wasn’t able to hold back the yawn that spread across his tired face and reminded him that it was past his bedtime.

“We left Squares at the laundry place.” There was a whine to his voice, and Kimberly couldn’t help the quiet little sigh. “I can’t sleep without him. I—I already tried.” It was probably odd that a ten year old still had cuddle with a stuffed animal in order to sleep, but the old raggedy bear had been Kimberly and her father’s only saving grace when her mother wasn’t around to comfort Lucas and tuck him into bed. That white—now dull grey—bear had given Kim so many more hours of sleep than she would have liked to count, and she knew that now wasn’t the time to try and wean him off the damn thing, and after taking a good fifteen minutes pulling the house apart around them, she knew she’d have to make the trip back to the laundromat.

“Take a little look from the outside if you can. Saw a little tenderness—Go on, give me a reason to love y—“ It was lucky for her that the place was open twenty-four hours, or she would have had an incredibly long night ahead of her. She hadn’t even thought about how late it was until she realized that the streets were dead. She sang quietly to the music on the radio, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel to the soulful rhythm that played through her speakers. Cutting the car off left her in an eerie silence as she looked ahead into the large glass windows of the laundromat.

From the outside, it seemed like it was in its own little world. Harsh florescent lighting cut through the darkness outside and were almost painful to look at for too long. No one was inside, and for the first time that Kim could ever remember, none of the machines along the back wall were spinning. Even the sound of the small bell on the door seemed harsher than usual as she walked inside. The elderly man that usually sat at the desk in the corner and sold over-priced detergents and rolls of quarters was absent from his post. The young woman wouldn’t have to watch him busy himself with reading fervently from his bible and giving mean glares in Kim’s direction when Lucas decided to crawl under the tables. It was strange, because Kim was almost certain that someone was always supposed to be on duty.

No matter. She was here for one thing and one thing only. She had to find that stupid bear. Slowly, Kim walked along the lines of machines. Usually, her place was in the center section of the laundromat. There, she used the same washer and dryer every week. It was the first place she checked.

“Where are you, ya dumb bear?” She spoke aloud, and really didn’t expect and answer. It wasn’t in either of the machines—as she suspected, and for a moment, she worried that the animal was gone forever. Unless it was locked away in the old desk, she wasn’t sure where it could have been. She walked around the whole room looking in the machines and making sure it wasn’t on any of the tables.

“Where would you be that I’m not looking?” Kim couldn’t help herself from speaking out loud. Somehow, she hoped by some unknown magic that the bear might hear her and come out from wherever it was hiding. It was only then that it hit her. Underneath the laundry table. That was one of Lucas’ favorite places to crawl around and act as if he were some spy hiding from the old lady with the mole that was trying to steal the world’s gold. She giggled quietly to herself; it honestly shouldn’t have taken her as long as it had to think about that place. So, on her knees she got and under the dusty old table she went. While she didn’t see it at first—and her heart filled with dread—as she began pulling herself out from underneath the gum—littered table, she spotted the paw of one, Mr. Squares hanging out from behind the machine she had been using. Success!
 
It's dangerous to go out at night. Everybody knows that. There are strange people lurking beyond the light of the lampposts, people you'd never want to come into contact with. And, undoubtedly, there are monsters waiting to prey on the unsuspecting. Some of these monsters are humans, and others ..

Well, others are Isaac.

It's harsh to call him a monster; the hungry will steal food if they have to, and he is no different. You just have to replace 'food' with 'blood', and suddenly, the entire situation gets a lot sketchier. None of his friends were available to get hammered that night, unfortunately; it was the safest way he could feed, and it gave his friends a night of fun as a bonus. And it had been at least a few days since he'd gotten around to filling his tank. What else could a guy do?

The process was always simple -- grab someone alone, keep them from screaming, and find a spot to bite before they flailed. When you're taking blood from someone, it's a delicate process to do if you're planning to keep the person alive. A bite to the neck ensures you're gonna get loads of blood, but it's to a point where fatality is imminent. Isaac was no doctor with syringes and tubes, so a careful, soft bite on a still body would have to do. He'd taken from the arm, just within the crease of the man's elbow, and the anesthetic took its toll quicker than any normal drug. In ten seconds, the guy was dead weight, and it was easy and breezy from there. It was nothing fancy; the guy was middle-aged, so his blood was past its prime, but it was something. Enough to keep him satiated for a few days, at least.

Vampire bites, Isaac had found over the years, seemed to heal faster than a mosquito bite or spider bite did. It was baffling, but convenient, and it made clean-up after snacks easier to handle. He crouched down as, gently, he set the man's head onto the cement of the alley. He was sound asleep, and would be until the crack of dawn, where no memory of Isaac's face would exist. Before he stood, Isaac stopped and thought for a moment before he patted the guy's cheek. He mumbled to him, "Y'done me well, man." He'd barely stood from his crouch before, out of absolutely nowhere, a man ran at him and tackled him to the ground.

"I GOT 'EM!" In a haze of adrenaline, Isaac had kicked the random guy off of him, but two others followed up and pinned Isaac squarely to the ground. Even being a vampire, it's hard to fight off three equally-sized men who are pummeling the absolute fuck out of you. The occurrence had taken a turn far too quickly, and suddenly, it was a very, very long thirty minutes of being cursed and beaten by three scruffy cult nuts. 'Demon' and 'Antichrist' were tossed around. His nose was broken; he'd surely gotten some of his organs bruised from the ruthless punches that were thrown; he spit blood and grunted, breathed deep and fast, tried to block out the pain somehow through sheer force of will.

And once in a while, he jested them. Good old Isaac refused to go down without getting some cuts in. "Eat shit and die" was his most notable response, and it earned him a solid knee to the groin. Maybe it would've been better to just take it quietly, but God knows that Isaac Earlson never took things without some lashes back.

It reached a point where Isaac was struggling to even stay conscious, and he slumped in the grip that the men had on his arms. He violently coughed, his own blood speckling on the cement. So much for a snack to tide him over; if he made it through this, a serious feeding night would be needed to get back this lost energy. Key phrase: if he made it through this. It would have been over faster if he'd been able to morph, but he was taken by absolute surprise. Now, he barely had the blood to keep himself conscious, much less the energy to change so drastically so quickly.

What happened after the pummeling had finally stopped was a blur of nothingness to the young man. With harsh red covering his T-shirt and dripping off his chin, he was dragged off into the unknown. He felt one guy's arms hook under his shoulders and lift his torso, while the other guy lifted his legs up, and the leader just walked ahead. Isaac's head was lolling to the side, eye swelling, a scar on his nose, blood on his teeth and smeared on his cheek and neck. It was a bit of time that he had no way of counting before the haziness before him became a little brighter. Light? Where the hell were they taking him? Some part of the panic that swirled in his thoughts told him it was one of the guys' houses. That was the smartest choice, right? Somewhere completely private? No, it seemed, it wasn't.

He'd managed to crack open his eyes, as far as they'd let him to. The glare of artificial light met his vision, and it stung in his head far after he'd squeezed his eyes shut again. A heavy door opened and shut with a slam, ringing in his ears. Where the fuck am I? Was this a public place? No, it couldn't be .. he didn't hear anybody around him, didn't smell anything strange through the overwhelming taste and smell of his blood. Just their human musks, and .. was that laundry detergent?

He didn't have much time to consider these questions. They'd quit moving, and a few seconds later, they practically tossed him onto cold, tiled flooring. Something akin to a pained grunt escaped him when he hit the ground, sending waves of pain through his skin and deep into his muscles. Tears streaked from his left eye, which was now swollen shut. At that point, he couldn't even squirm; his body was desperately trying to repair itself, and had already slowly begun to, but his energy was completely shot. There was no way he was getting up yet, and not even the muffled voices of his captors pushed him to move a muscle. "Fuckin' freak .. could've killed .. guy .. " His hearing was going in and out. The pounding in his head was too loud to hear properly over. "should we .. with 'em? .. damned vampire .. " Ah, yes. There was that word. He wanted to wheeze out a chuckle, but he couldn't. His lungs refused to, and his ribs hurt just trying to breathe.

Maybe you'll die tonight, his thoughts whispered. More panic, more fight would be expected from any normally-functioning person, but Isaac had resigned. The idea was passive, as if he was contemplating what he was going to do after working a shift. The coolness of the ground felt nice on his face, swollen and screaming for some kind of relief. His inhales and exhales shuddered.

 
“Come on you piece of shit.” The two machines must have vibrated closer together in the time that Squares had been resting between them. She wasn’t completely sure how he had made it there—maybe Lucas had hidden him there on one of their little imaginary adventures of the day, or maybe he had somehow fallen behind the machine at some point during the day. Honestly, Kimberly didn’t know, and right now, she worried more about getting the sack of fluff unstuck from between the machines without accidentally ripping it apart. The thing was pretty old, so she was having to sew him up more and more each time Lucas accidentally got a little too rough with him.

“Finally!” She muttered quiet curses to the bear as she was finally able to work him out of his entrapment. “Now I can get you home, and you can get Luca—“ The sound of the heavy back door colliding with the wall cut Kim off and made her jump. Her head collided hard with the table above her, but over the sound of whatever was coming through the door, the sound was not heard.

“Fuckin’ Freak” The first voice that she heard wasn’t a pleasant one. It was the sound of anger that reached her ears. For only a moment, Kim thought of pulling herself out from under the table and asking the faceless voice what the hell he was going on about and why he felt the need to throw the door open like he didn’t have any damn sense. It was then that she saw, through the space between the two washers in front of her, the thick smearing of crimson across the white tile. There was something on the ground, and it took Kimberly a moment to pick out parts of a body. Hair stuck to pale skin by dried blood, stained clothing and broken bones sticking out at odd angles. She thought twice about pulling herself out.

If the man was dead, then Kim wasn’t exactly sure she wanted to find out what the men would do to her if they found her. A sickening feeling washed over her and the smell of blood finally got to where she was. Was he dead? Her breathing picked up out of fear, but she remained quiet, gripping the dirty little teddy bear in her arms.

”Damned Vampire” The words caught her by surprise. Vampire? They really thought this poor kid was a vampire? They were crazy! Okay. You gotta come up with a plan. You’ve got your phone, but if you call the cops from here, they’ll hear you. Kim took in another slow and deep breath. You just gotta get outside. Such a task wouldn’t be too difficult. She wouldn’t be able to provide any more help than that, as the three men that stood around him, uttering about how he was a spawn from hell and kicking him further. That would be her best bet.

“I’ll get you some help. Just don’t die.” The words were soft against her lips. She just needed to let him know—even though he couldn’t hear her—that he was going to be okay. Slowly, she began crawling her way out from under the table and toward the door. The line of washers would cover her until she got about five feet away from the door. From there, she would just have to wait for the right time, be as quiet as possible, make a break for it, and hope that she wasn’t caught.

With each dull pounding sound, Kim got closer and closer to wanting to get sick. She just knew that she had to keep going or that kid was going to be dead. She needed to distract them without allowing them to catch her. It was then that she realized what she needed to do. There was ten feet from her to the door. It was enough time for them to see her, but enough time—hopefully—for her to get away. That was the only way she would be able to help the kid soon enough for him to not just bleed out on the floor.

Pulling her phone out of her back pocket, she readied it silently. Her hands shook. One wrong move could land her in just the same situation as the body on the other side of those washing machines. 911 It was ready to call as soon as she made it out the door. She picked herself up into a crouch before forcing herself into a run.

At first, Kim thought she was lucky enough for the men to be too occupied, but with the sudden movement, all three of their heads shot up. Kim recognized one of them as the old man who sat at the desk. She let out the quietest little squeak as one of them yelled at her to stop, but her goal was the door. She thought she was free. Gripping the handle, she flung the door open, the little bell letting out the most disheveled of rattles. Kim felt the breeze on her skin. She was safe—or so she thought.
 
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"RCK -- " He choked and moaned when a shoe jolted into his side. His nails scraped on the linoleum ground. They squeezed into white-knuckled fists that pressed hard into his palms. If he'd have known .. if he'd have been more careful, watched his surroundings, understood that loonies like this were out to get him, this would have gone down much differently. The exhaustion had diluted his reactions, but a rage was festering in him. Absolute anger. His body betrayed him, trembling and weak. He wanted nothing more than to just rip their throats out with his teeth, remove them from the world so that they couldn't do this to some other poor bastard like him, just trying to survive. His nostrils flared and he took in deep inhales, through the wash of his blood that wasn't at all appetizing.

.. Wait. Wait, hold on. Something was different. He stopped for a moment, then took in another breath. And another. What .. Is somebody else in here? His breath quaked, but he dragged his head along the ground, towards a new scent he hadn't caught before. It wasn't as strong, but it was human. It was softer than the men. Blood streaked in a path as he tried to seek out this smell, his eyesight blurry --

He couldn't even catch a glance at the origin before he was assaulted again, and he jolted with a shout of pain. " .. Ffffff .. " He curled in towards the spot they kicked again. Fuck these guys. Fuck these guys. His brain was overrun by a fresh wave of anger, and excruciating pain. They'd kicked a bruise, it seemed. He couldn't think. He couldn't focus ..

But, all too suddenly, all three of them fell absolutely silent, for a second in time. He heard a different pair of shoes against the floor, scrambling away. Adrenaline rushed back into him. He wasn't alone. With a flicker of his eyes and a tilt of his head, he caught a blur of motion headed straight for the back door. A person was making a dash for it.

And they failed.

Time had slowed for a solid few seconds, but when heavy feet crashed against the ground in their direction, Isaac's face tilted back towards the floor. There were shouts. "GOD DAMN -- " "GET HER BEFORE SHE RUNS!" They'd left him alone, for just a moment. It felt like it was a moment given to him by God, the golden opportunity to get out. His chest huffed out and sucked back in, and he tried, tried, tried to gather strength in his limbs. He wheezed as he moved his fingers, sluggishly moved his arm, pressed his palm against the ground .. the second he pushed up, he fell with a clench of his teeth and a restrained cry. He choked, heaving for a second, trying to get up. Ten seconds .. he heard a struggle. Fifteen .. he heard grunts and muffled screams. Twenty .. the door opened again.

He still couldn't get up. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do it. He had failed. I'm so fucking sorry. He apologized to this person in his thoughts, ashamed.

They came stomping back in with a person struggling in their arms. His lip twitched. Yet again, he'd fucked something up. " .. Hey." His voice was a whisper. Nobody could hear him among the fight. "Hey." He tried again, but it was still too quiet. He coughed, more blood flecking the ground. "Hey -- fuckers -- " His one dark eye stared up at them. His upper lip looked like he was poised to snarl. " -- y -- you want me, not -- not her -- " Her. Yes, her. They'd said 'her', right? It made sense. The smell was too different, it was too soft. This was getting worse and worse by the second. "Don't you fuckin' -- "

"Shut your fuckin' mouth!" The shout rang in his ears before a boot came swinging across his jaw. He couldn't move out of its way, so in all of his beaten glory, he just took it. It knocked his head aside, making him roll onto his back. His arms screamed at him for doing it, but his hands moved up to cover his face, turning away from them. Blood and spit dribbled onto the ground from his re-busted lip. There was no way he could help her. He was useless, and he hated every single minute of knowing it.

 
Freedom. She had felt it a few times before in darker times, but nothing would have prepared her for what was happening. The cool of the night air stung in her lungs, but it was exhilarating sting that kept her mind moving. It kept her on her toes. She could hear the three men scrambling after her, and they had made it to the door by the time she had taken her first few steps on the dark sidewalk. Her first thought would be to run to her car, and as she slammed into the side of the dinged-up piece of shit, she learned that her first thought was not always the best one.

Her first mistake was not realizing the door wouldn’t be unlocked, and her second was forgetting to dial the police as she ran. The second her hand yanked on the door and she realized that it wasn’t going to happen, she was gone again. Her small frame propelled her around the side of the car, but it hadn’t been enough of a head start. Her third mistake was letting them catch her.

Before she could even realize how close the largest man was, he had tackled her to the ground. It wasn’t pleasant, and had the air not been knocked out of her, she probably would have screamed from the feeling of her bare arms scraping against the unforgiving asphalt. Her head making contact with the ground dazed her just long enough that the man was able to get up, and haul her to her feet.

“HURRY! COVER HER MOUTH.” She felt the first strike across her face. It was not the balled-up fist she was expecting, but the hardest open-palmed slap of her life. The order was proceeded by the larger man doing exactly what he was told. “I’ll get her phone.” The poor thing had skidded across the concrete and was probably cracked to high hell anyway.

“LET ME—“Her shouts and screams were muffled by the large hand on her mouth. While her hands were free she tried desperately to hit and scratch the man that now wrestled with her much smaller form, but soon, he had wrapped her in a bear hug of sorts and just squeezed. With her hands pinned by her sides, she couldn’t move. Maybe he was just trying to calm her down, or maybe he was literally trying to squeeze the life out of her. Either way, that mixed with the hand that was pressed so hard against her mouth that her cheeks ground into her teeth, she found it hard to breathe. The only thing she could do was whimper, but even that couldn’t be heard.

“Get her inside, now!” The leader gave orders, and as this man dragged her along, she did all she could to kick out to try and wriggle from his grasp. She was not successful. Tears streamed down her cheeks in fear, and the chiming of the bell did everything to seal her fate. Almost every part of her was doing anything she could to get away. She tried—hard—to bite at the hand that still pressed against her face. If Kim was just able to get him to loosen his grip.

From somewhere across the room, she heard the sounds of blinds falling and hitting the ground. They must have finally thought about closing off the front of the store. She let out another loud scream, although to everyone else, it hardly made any noise at all. She heard the door locking behind them as she was dragged across the room and toward the other lip body. Through her tears, she could see only the slightest rise and fall of his body. She hadn’t been able to save him like she had hoped. Instead, they would both be doomed to whatever fate these crazy fucks deemed they deserved. They had gotten close enough, and the man’s grip on her loosened. He wouldn’t be able to hold onto her all night.

”Shut your fuckin’ mouth!” The dull sound of them kicking him made her flinch and let out another sob. Through the hand, she tried to beg them to stop, but for the moment, they were occupied with making sure the boy didn’t say another thing. In the few moments that the grip on her face loosened in all the commotion, Kim took her chance. Shifting her head the little bit she now could gave her the opportunity she had been looking for, and she bit him. With all the power she could muster in her whole body, she bit him like her life depended on it—because in her mind, it did.

“She bit me!” Before she could really react, the man was shouting and cursing and throwing her on the ground. Of course, out of his grip was better than anything else, and in the few moments that they were distracted, she tried to crawl her way across the floor. “Not today, vamp bitch.” A strong grip on her scalp, yanking her back toward the group, was enough to immobilize her.

“P-Please.” She was sputtering at the mouth; tears mixed with snot and spit to form an incredibly pathetic looking woman on the floor.. “Whatever you think has happened is probably just a misunder—“

“SHUT. UP.” It was the first time she had ever been hit that hard in her life. One swift kick to the stomach knocked the air out of her. “I am tired of you both thinking you fuckin’ run the place.” There was another hard kick, this time, only elongating the time that she gasped for air.

“Jay. Stop.” This time, the leader spoke. “I’m not sure she’s one of…those
 
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He heard him yell "She bit me!" and shook his head. Though he understood the fight she put up, it only made her more susceptible to being retaliated against. And with how fast they'd subdued him, he didn't even want to think about what they could do to her. He heard her scramble across the floor, and the same voice growled at her, calling her a 'vamp bitch'. Don't bring her into this. It made his gut twist into a knot to hear her being dragged back -- and it was only when he heard her sputtering and trying to speak that he finally mustered the energy to turn himself towards her. She spoke to them, her voice trembling, pleading. His one good eye flickered aside, just in time to hear "SHUT. UP." And with a kick, she was curled in on herself, gasping for air.

You son of a bitch. His eye was wide with shock. No, this wasn't supposed to happen. He had accepted his fate, but this was wrong. His teeth bared, and in a rush of adrenaline, he flipped back over onto his stomach. He wanted to move towards her, but that action alone left him too drained to do anything else. He wanted to get closer, try and body-block the attacks that were sure to come her way --

"Jay. Stop." He paused his actions when one of them spoke. "I'm not sure she's one of .. those." The older man, who'd walked ahead on their way to this building, spoke in the girl's defense. Despite the intense, ever-burning anger he was feeling towards all three of them, he couldn't help but feel grateful that there was some sense among this group. The girl was definitely not a vampire; Isaac knew this for truth. Though her scent was softer, it was still warm-blooded and human, just like the smells of the men. Vampires had .. sweet smells. Colder smells. Like perfume, like something unnatural. He'd picked up his head to try to move towards her, but now, it slumped back onto the floor. His cheek pressed against the linoleum, his breathing labored.

"What the hell do ya' wanna do with her, then?" The big guy, Jay, spoke up. "We can't just let 'er leave." There was a short silence among the men, until the leader took in a deep breath and exhaled. The second guy spoke up, "We gotta do somethin'. We gotta figure somethin' out, Rob." Rob. Name of the older guy. Jay, name of the bigger guy. These notes pierced through the haze of Isaac's brain, pinning them to his memory. He might be able to use it .. somewhere. For the moment, he remained motionless on the floor, feeling the tingles of his body trying to repair the damage it had been inflicted. " .. Jay, watch the door." The older man walked around Isaac and their newest hostage. "And watch the vampire." The other man followed after as they went to a room in the back, away from the range of Isaac's hearing. It was so fucked up from being beaten, it didn't even matter at that point.

The bigger man, Jay, backed away from Isaac and the young woman. He kept himself solidly at the door, but there was no way running from him would do any good. He was fast, and had brute strength that had subdued this girl too easily for comfort. There was a solid minute of silence, and stillness. Muffled voices spoke from somewhere else. He listened to the girl, listened to her slowly start to regain her breathing to something manageable.

He opened his good eye and looked at her through the blurriness. It was clearing up slowly, and the swelling in his other eye was trying to go down. He closed his eyes and coughed, trying to brace his hand against the ground and lean up just a bit. It took every ounce of grit and strength to do it. " .. Ar-re you .. okay?" Strange that the person beaten half to death was asking the question, but he hated the fact that she had gotten so caught up in this madness. His voice was scratchy and uneven. He hoped to prevent her from getting hurt the way he had gotten. He could heal from all of this; a normal human person couldn't, and just the idea of it made him sick to his stomach.

 

Just play dead. Just don’t move and don’t give them the satisfaction of seeing you hurt. Her mind went into overdrive, and every natural instinct and learning she had on the matter seemed to kick in. Still, through all of that, she fought to regulate her breathing back to what it had been before. Right now, everything escaped and entered her lungs in uneven gasps for a while as she waited for another kick.

It took the Kim quite a few moments to realize that they had talked about her, and that another kick didn’t come. Thank God. They were at least a little bit logical. She had been coming to this damn laundromat every week for the past two years, and finally the elderly man chose to speak up. Still, as the three argued amongst themselves, she didn’t dare uncurl herself from the form she had taken on the ground. If she moved, she would only be drawing more attention to herself. So instead, she looked at what she could with her one eye open.

“We gotta figure somethin' out, Rob." They were worried now. Of course, they hadn’t expected anyone to be in the laundromat at this time of night. A witness had done everything to ruin their little plan, and Kimberly worried that meant the worst for her. Just take deep breaths; you’ll figure this out, you always do. There was that worry in her though, because things had finally been looking up for her and Lucas, and now there wouldn’t be anyone to take care of him. If things didn’t work out…no, they had to work out.

From what little she could see, the movement of the men disappearing to their posts was the first good thing all night. She didn’t move. She had to think of a plan. A plan that would get them both out of here. A plan that would get them away from these crazy men so she could call for help. Something that miraculously had her carrying someone larger than her because if he could walk, it would only be very slowly. She needed to do the impossible, and yet, she knew she wouldn’t be able to.

" .. Ar-re you .. okay?" The words had sounded odd to her ears. They were almost so forced that they were unhuman. There was a twinge of guilt that coursed through her. If she had only made it far enough away…She didn’t want to think about it, but there was a great chance this kid was going to die.

“Yeah.” Kim almost didn’t recognize her own voice as she slowly pushed herself up off the ground and wiped at the dried tears on her face. Even though she could still feel the dully throbbing pain in her gut, she wouldn't say anything. Before looking at the person who spoke to her, she surveyed the room, and realized there would be no way of getting out of the front door. If there hadn’t been so much adrenaline coursing through her, she might have started to hyperventilate, but instead, she scooted a little closer to the body that still lay awkwardly on the ground.

“The question is, are you alright?” Honestly, there was only one word to describe how the young man looked right now—like shit. His lip was swelled slightly from where it had been busted earlier, his nose was slightly crooked from where it had obviously been broken previously in the night, and everything seemed covered in his own dried blood. She really didn’t know how he was still living from the amount it looked like he had lost. Even from some of the nastiest bar fights she had ever seen, he still looked worse that those.

“What’s your name? Mine’s Kim.” She had been in tough situations enough times before this that she just started talking. She had to keep him occupied so that maybe he wouldn’t realize that he still bled from a few cuts on his arm, and that there was very little she could do at this point to save him. Without thinking, she pulled at the edge of her shirt until a small rip formed. Some of the cuts looked pretty deep; Kim just hoped that Jay at the door didn’t hear the quiet sounds of her ripping about two inches off the bottom of her shirt.

“I need to stop your arm from bleeding, okay? If something hurts when I pick it up, please tell me.” She was no fucking doctor, but she had seen enough episodes of Grey’s Anatomy to trick herself into feeling at least the little bit confident with what she was about to do.
 
It was a moment of quiet that followed his question. Just a tiny one. " .. Yeah." He could hear her thoughts in her voice, which spoke in a monotone. Detached. Unsure. She was trying to stay collected, trying to ground herself, and she was doing extremely well. It struck a chord in him. Humans were frightened so easily, broken so quickly, but she was stronger than to snap in a tough spot. It tickled him a little. He could appreciate that. He watched her look around the room before she moved closer to him. Her scent grew stronger through the blood, and it was comforting to him to know a different presence than the musky, intrusive scents of their captors.

She asked him something interesting. "The question is, are you alright?" For a moment, his eyes flickered up to her, and he let his head fall back onto the ground. Why .. was that funny to him? He wheezed out what was supposed to be a chuckle, but it came out more as a death rattle than anything. An answer wasn't necessary to let her know that no, he wasn't quite alright in that point in time. Eventually, he would be, but it was all a matter of whether they decided to beat him more.

She told him her name -- Kim. Simple, straight-forward. She asked him for his name back, and his eyes closed for a moment. After a short pause, likely to get his strength back up to speak, he tilted his head up towards her so that she could hear him. " .. Isaac. It's Isaac." He almost didn't tell her, worried of having random people know his name, but there was no point in that. She was the only semblance of company in this room with him that could likely be where he'd be murdered, and if he was really going to die, at least she would know his name.

He heard a soft tearing noise and looked up. She was removing part of the bottom of her shirt. There was a short second of confusion, but then she explained herself. "I need to stop your arm from bleeding, okay?" He did a bit of an internal double-take. My arm's bleeding? He blinked once, and attempted to look at his left arm. Surely enough, there was a deep cut in his flesh that created a very shallow coat of blood on the ground. Oh. Everything hurt so much, he didn't even notice it. He sniffed and exhaled as she told him to alert her to any pain while she tied up his injuries. It made sense now why his body wasn't making much progress in healing. Lost blood could be recreated faster in that body of his, but it wouldn't make any difference if he was losing more of it at the same time.

He rested his head back down and closed his eyes, as if settling down for a nap. His hands, which were tightened into fists from before, loosened and rested palm-down onto the floor. "Thanks, Kim." Just the idea that she was making an effort to help said a lot about her. Every breath he took made a dull ache echo through his chest.

 

Isaac. She repeated the name in her head a few times. It was an interesting name—an uncommon name, and that made it all the more reason to remember it. From the other room, Kim could hear the other two speaking. Over the past few minutes, they had quieted down quite considerably. It wasn’t the harsh sounds of them being upset towards one another, it was the calm talking of two men who had decided on a plan. What that plan was, Kim had no idea. While sounds made it through the wall, words and meaning didn’t.

“Don’t mention it.” It seemed that Isaac had prepared his body the best he could for what was about to happen. She hoped that it wouldn’t hurt, but if his arm was broken and she couldn’t tell, the it probably would. “It’s the best I can do for, ya know, not being able to call to cops or anything.” It was definitely a jab at herself; Kim was pretty good at that when it came to tense situations such as these. For her, it relieved some of the pressure and helped her cope a little better; she hoped it would do the same for Isaac, but she seriously doubted it. For a moment, she let the silence linger. As delicately as her hands could manage, she lifted his arm and set it down in her lap.

“We’re going to get out of this.” She had decided that much. Kim took care to wrap his arm as tightly as she could manage, tying the ends together. “I just need a plan.” The adrenaline was slowly starting to wear off, and while her was calm in most of her demeanor, Kim could do nothing to stop the small tremors in her hands.

“Why do they think you’re a vampire?” The question was simple, and one that she had been tossing around in her head for a while. Obviously, these guys were nuts, but she wanted to hear from him what he had done. They wouldn’t have just beat the hell out of some guy and started yelling vampire for no reason; that just didn’t make any sense.

She was pretty proud of her handy work, and fought the urge to make a comment seeing as she just wrapped something around someone’s arm. There were other more important things to attend to. Kim pulled his hand off her lap when she made sure everything was secure, and placed it back down on the ground. That probably would have been more comfortable. If that didn’t stop the bleeding, then she was sure that she wouldn’t be able to.
 
"Don't mention it." He laid still as she prepared herself, remaining quiet. Her tone became strange as she spoke again, and his eyes opened a bit in recognition. It was sarcastic, as if she was scolding herself. Though getting someone on the phone could have been helpful, she seemed frustrated enough with herself that she didn't get around to it. He couldn't blame her; in the adrenaline, it's difficult to think about anything but fighting or running. Surely enough, as her hands touched his arm and lifted it to her lap, a surge of aching pulsed through the limb. His bicep twitched, but he clenched his teeth and pushed himself through it. She was trying to be gentle, and he appreciated it. His jaw relaxed when his arm laid still for a few seconds, inhaling and exhaling deeply, trying to push the pain out of his mind.

She went to work, and more throbbing ensued, but it was manageable. While she began to wrap him up, she said, "We're going to get out of this." Despite the odds of their situation, her tone was so resolute and determined that he actually believed her. That strength was showing its colors again, the grit he'd observed before. His eyes opened and he looked towards her for a minute, silent as she said, "I just need a plan." He allowed her optimism to carry him towards something a little less bleak too. It would have to be enough for both of them, because Isaac sure as hell wasn't feeling all too determined. His eyes drifted down and he stared off into space, feeling the fabric of her shirt tie securely around his wound. He flinched, but went still soon after.

And then, she asked him the million dollar question: "Why do they think you're a vampire?" It was as innocent of a question as it could be, and he had to work hard to not blatantly say, "Because I am one." In this case, telling her the truth would work against him severely; she'd probably think he was crazy. It would be better for the both of them if he lied, so he was silent for a moment before he shook his head gently, as if questioning it himself. As he spoke, he sometimes paused to breathe heavily in a bit before continuing. "They saw me next to .. next to this dude passed out on the street. I dunno if .. if he was drunk or somethin', but .. he was lying so still he looked dead. So I -- I went over to check on him, and .. " He sniffed. " .. and they jumped me. Tellin' me I .. sucked the blood out of him." I mean, part of it was true; they did jump him while next to a passed out person on the street. The details just weren't quite the same. It sounded fine to him, regardless.

He tilted his face to the floor, and his shoulders shook with a dry, empty laugh. "They belong in a god damn psych ward, if you ask me." There was no question that they were crazy, even with the fact that Isaac was a vampire. Any person who beats the shit out of somebody innocent belongs in a psych ward. Dangerous vampires were so quickly killed off that there weren't really any dangerous ones left to kill; it was just mindless, unnecessary violence that had happened to Isaac, and it seemed he could very well die from it if they decided to torture him some more.

 

“Hmm” She didn’t really have a response for his story. Sure it was possible, and obviously they found themselves together somehow, but there was something…strange about it. Kim couldn’t put her finger on what, but it just didn’t seem to make sense. They would just say he was a vampire without actually seeing him latch onto the guy? Wow. If that was the case, then these guys were mental. Them being a little nutty might actually work out in their favor. A small smile spread across Kim’s face. Of course, now was no time to be happy, but a glimmer of hope was enough to get anyone in a little brighter mood.

“That’s it!” She let out a slow breath to calm down a little bit. Without thinking about it, Kim started motioning with her hands as she spoke. “All we have to do is co—“

“What the fuck are you doing, Jay?!” The door had opened from the back room without the young woman realizing it. “You don’t just fuckin’—ugh—come here.” It was not the leader that spoke this time as the three grew nearer, but the only nameless man in the room. “Do you realize how easy it woulda been for him to rip out her throat?” Kim turned so that she sat in front of Isaac. “Then he would have been strong enough to get free!” Maybe, if she could sit in front of him, she could stop them from terrorizing him anymore. “Come here, girl.” Nope. With one hand the man was able to pull her a few feet away from Isaac on the floor, but soon he released her. Obviously, their plan wasn’t to drag her off somewhere and murder her; that was probably a good thing for her.

“Look Darlin’.” Jay had finally made it to the group and stood beside the others; he had now been the one to talk. “I know you think this is just some poor kid off the street that we dragged in here, but he ain’t no human.” With one of his meaty fingers, he jabbed it in Isaac’s direction. “We found him feasting on one of our buddies out behind the bar!” He folded his arms in the angriest pout Kim had ever seen a man put on. “We can’t let him hurt anybody else.”

“And we can’t let you go, or you’ll call the police.” Mr. Nameless interjected.

“I need proof.” Picking herself on wobbly legs, Kim folded her arms and stood her ground before the three. She could feel her stomach ready to turn in on itself. “I want proof that he’s a vampire.” For a moment, all the men stood there, staring at her in a strange awe.

“Wait I minute! You don’t get to make the rules around he—“ Jay stepped forward, but Rob place an arm across to stop him.

“You prove to me he’s a vampire, and I’ll walk out of that door and never look back.”
 

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