Vampire Prologue

[DemetrioMachete]

Streets of Gham, Wednesday, 6:47 PM
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Fog rolled over the streets, cracked and overgrown with moss.. it was a full moon, this night. It was particularly luminous. The street was lined with houses and stores, long abandoned by now. The silence was deafening..


Until it was broken by the sounds of heavy footsteps. There was a lonesome man walking down the streets of Gham. He was tall, almost all of his features concealed by his attire of a black, three pointed hat, a black mask around his face, a dark grey longcoat, grey dress shirt, and brown trousers. In his hands he carried a rifle, loaded and idly resting in his hands. His tense posture indicated he felt as though he was being watched.


As he progressed along, the masked rifleman noticed a blockade ahead. Why..? There was no climbing over it, it seemed.. and so he had to take a detour through a strangely tall house. It was insanely dark, he could barely see...


@Dendyne


@FrostFire

 

[FrostFire]

Athena Crow
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Spoiler

The crow flew high above the ground, her eyes scanning the ground below for a meal. It's cold eyes honed in on a dark figure, walking quickly in the growing darkness. It flew ahead, and landed in a tree in front of the coated human. The cold glare of it's eyes stayed on the human, who had looked up as the large bird landed. He was relatively young, about 20 or 21, and was walking straight and with decisiveness. Clearly sober, and going somewhere.


Perfect.


Flying up again, the crow flew towards the boy, passing high over his head. He ignored it. Which wasn't very good for him, as the crow landed on the floor, and in a swirl of black smoke, grew, as if it were folding out on itself, and as the smoke dissipated, a tall slender woman stood there, completely silent as she watched the human continue walking, completely ignorant of what was behind him. She slowly crept behind it, the feathers on her dress shimmering in the light of the rising moon.


Quickly gaining speed, and still completely silent, she was directly behind him, breathing down his neck. A smirk slowly pulled at her mouth, as she held back the cold laugh that would give her away.


Striking like a snake, her jaw connected with his throat. He yelped in shock and pain, withering as she drank deeply. His arms lashed around, and she grabbed them, digging in with her long nails, breaking the skin of his arms and drinking from there too. After drinking her fill, she pulled her nails from his arms, holding them softly now, and disconnected her jaw.


"There. Wasn't that easy, dear?", she spoke softly, although there was a sinister undertone to what she said, as she turned around the limp boy. He was still alive, although he had lost a lot of blood, some of which was slowly leaking from the wound in his neck. She pulled him in, and licked at the wound, making the barely conscious boy jolt a little.


Athena sighed, he could hardly get home alive now. Perhaps she had overdone it, although she hadn't eaten in awhile, and this one boy didn't matter in the scheme of things. Grumbling a little as she effortlessly picked him up, bridal style, and began walking.


Dropping him off at the nearest house, in a cloud of black smoke, she was flying away, gaining speed as she shot towards her new haunt, Gham.


As she flew into the city, she spotted a single figure wandering through the streets. Cocking her head, she flew down, landing on the roof of one of the taller buildings, and watched with her cold, dead eyes. He held a gun, which was a rare occurrence, she had only seen a few before. He looked as if he would be approaching the building she was sitting on. Could he not tell he was being watched? And was he so oblivious to the trap he was so blindly walking into? If crows could cackle, Athena did just that, and as she squawked out an eerie caw, 2 of her brethren flew in and perched on either side of her, joining in.


@DemetrioMachete

 

[DemetrioMachete]

As the masked man tried to enter the house, he was knocked down by another presence forcefully knocking the door off its hinges, which sent him flying backwards. He recovered, on one knee with his rifle raised at the one who knocked the door down. It was an oddly hued male in a strange outfit; consisting of a small black overshirt, a long white undershirt, and a plaid kilt that just only reached his knees. His posture was slouches and rabid, as was the loud gibbering leaving his mouth. The jibbering stopped, as the kilted one made a scrunched, grinning face, and shouted.


"G'day ye greasy rats! I'm gonna fondle ya!!" the masked man retaliated by firing the rifle, planting a bullet in the kilted one's head in a thunderous blast. The wound was clearly there, right through his skull. His head recoiled back, but he slowly recovered.. with the same devious grin on his face.


"Waste of bullets, sweetcheeks." 


It was then the kilted one lunged as the masked man attempted to reload, clutching him by the shoulders and biting down fiercely. Rather than stay and drink, he pulled his face away, ripping out a chunk of his throat. It silenced him, crippled him, and his blood gushed out onto the streets as he collapsed. The kilted one then snapped his fingers, and five equally strangely dressed folks left the building.


"Here is dinner, lovelies! Eat up." With shouts and screams of pleasure and excitement, they lunged at the fallen rifleman, stripping off his thick longcoat before tearing into him with their teeth; devouring him until there was barely anything left besides the skeleton. It was a grueling process.. five straight minutes of watching a man be eaten alive. With a snap of the kilted one's fingers, they ran back to their hiding place, as the Kilted one picked up the skeleton, licking the skull.


"I tells ya.. you're gonna make a handsome decoration.." he stood in the street, giggling to himself.

 

[FrostFire]

Satisfied with the show, Athena flew down, changing before she landed, in a fluid motion, she was standing a little ways from the other vampire, and the two crows landing on each shoulder.


"My my. How thorough you are... Although I must thank you for the show. It is not often I get to see something as spectacular as that.", her voice echoed with a dead softness, that would send shivers down any humans spine. Apart from a slight grin, her face was expressionless, and the same calculating glare examined the other vampire, with slightly more respect than she gave to humans.


"Jaruul, is it? I expect you know who I am... Pleasure to make your acquaintance.", one of the crows on her shoulder cawed, and she lifted an arm to pet it's head, her cold stare not leaving the other vampire. She was bored, and decided that this Jaruul would be more interesting than breaking a human. She had no intention of messing with him, but she felt that just being around him would deliver some form of amusement.


@DemetrioMachete

 

[DemetrioMachete]

Jaruul quirked an eyebrow as Athena flew down.. he backed up a bit, and the expression on his face indicated utter confusion.


"Being honest here?" his voice was one that was so deep and raspy.. as though he had been smoking since his birth.


"I've got no earthly clue on who the fuck you are! But uh.." he licked his own thumb, tracing the digit over his eyebrows. "I wouldn't mind.. getting to know you, know what I'm sayin?" as a show of flirtation, which reflected his strangeness, he teased some leg from beneath his kilt, winking at her. 

 

[FrostFire]

After he made this little gesture, Athena threw back her head, and laughed, the crows on her shoulders joining in. Her laugh was a cross between the squawking of a crow, and the soft and gentle laughter she had had before, so now it sounded very much like how one would expect an evil females laugh to sound.


"Oh my, you really have no idea? Well well... After all this time, Jaruul. Although I don't suppose you ever saw me, nor did we ever meet. But I like to watch...", just as soon as the bought of laughter had come, it was gone again, as if she had flipped a switch, and her eyes were now looking at him with none of the respect she had held earlier.


"I wouldn't try that if I were you, dear. Ah yes, my dearest husband. Whomever knew a vampire could be so pathetic,", she spat, "After his usefulness passed, I cut him up into little bits, killing him easily.", a sinister smile crossed her lips as she spoke. "And you would know, that is no easy feat. One must kill a vampire in a very specific way, lest they come back to haunt you.". She inspected her immaculate hand, looking bored after she had said her piece.


Since she had laughed, more and more birds appeared behind her, on rooftops and surfaces around. Noticing this, and that they had heard her laughter, and come to see what was happening, Athena waved her hand, and the 20 odd birds that had gathered so quickly and quietly, who had all been staring intently at Jaruul like he was a worm, they took off in a flurry of caws and flapping. Until only the two birds on her shoulders remained. Athena did all this without even breaking her unnerving gaze from the other vampire.


@DemetrioMachete

 

[DemetrioMachete]

Jaruul looked upon Athena with nary a trace of fear. Instead.. she seemed pretty damn funny.


"You and I, we come from two different walks of life. So before you treat me like the dirt in your nails.. lemme demonstrate something." No sooner than he finished his sentence, he grabbed his own arm, and with one motion, yanked it off. There was a crunching, tearing sound as blood sprayed, and Jaruul groaned.. and as he groaned, his veins and arteries sprung from his arms like tentacles, stretching for his severed arm, sinking into it, and slithering back to his body, and reattaching the arm. Jaruul's face scrunched up, smirking.


"I can be more insufferable than you, my darling. It don't take much." he slithered back into the building, dragging the bloody skeleton with him. Before he vanished, he patted his bottom at Athena; one last display of vulgarity. And with a laugh, he was gone.

 

[FrostFire]

Athena's gaze was unbroken, and she was unfazed. Perhaps Jaruul had missed her hint, but she had been watching him, and the other inhabitants of Gham, for a long time. As she turned away, her expressionless face changed to a sinister smile for a split second, before she was engulfed in smoke, and 3 crows flew up, perching back onto the roof of the building. A magpie joined them, and with an exchanged of squawks between it and Athena, flew off in another direction, scouting.


Yes, she had eaten already. But she was still bored, her interaction with the eccentric Jaruul only keeping her enthused for a short time. Deciding she enjoyed toying with humans more, she had sent out the magpie to see if she could spot any humans in the area that Athena could play with. She might even go so far as to help rather than harm whomever the magpie found, but that depended on how she felt in the moment.

 

[Dendyne]

The hour was growing late, the usual flow of day-time travellers had ebbed and the roads winding through the brackish, darkened woods outside of Gaum were abandoned for the night. Save for three wary travellers; a young man wearing dirty slacks, an off-white shift and grey cloak- not quite thick enough against the cutting breeze, he pushed along another older man in his wheelchair- an uncomfortable straight-backed chair with spoked wheels on either side, he wore a navy-blue coat and black slacks. On their right walked a woman with almond shaped eyes and sun-kissed skin hidden underneath a white dress shirt with matching frills running up the dark-brown bodice, an off-yellow skirt, frilly and hemmed with lace, completed her outfit.


"We'd better bunk down for the night, eh?" The young man spoke, the treeline was thinning out and a few dark buildings loomed into view.


"Yeah? What gave you that idea?" The man in the chair replied indignantly,


"Fuck you, that's what,"


"Fuck you,"


"Fuck you, you sonovabitch "


"Wha-?" The woman spoke up with a confused smile, casting a curious set of eyes on her companions.


"Fuck you," the man in the chair barked laughter, "I agree completely, but fuck you all the same,"


Now the younger man began to chuckle too,


"Truth hurts, life's a bitch too," he smiled wide and genuinely.


"Aren't you brothers?" The woman asked, casting her gaze from one to the other.


"Ayup" the brothers replied in unison, "That's how I know," the younger man quipped with a grin.


The three of them laughed together merrily as they stepped free of the woods the gaurded Gaum, the township sprawled out before them and presented the trio with an overwhelming number of options for the evening stay.


The wooden wheels of the chair creaked painfully as they began to delve into the city, many of the roofs were collapsed in and taking a look at the crumbling state of some of the buildings, as well as the close proximity of each structure, the younger man realized how easily they could get themselves killed out here, and not a soul would know.


"Hey!" The man bound tot he chair spoke up, excitment thick in his voice, "Check that place out!" he pointed out a rancher style building tucked between a townhome with rotting front steps- the walls were full of holes and looked no better, and what he assumed was once a bank though it had collapsed and stood in a careful stack of rubble now. The young man pushed the other closer to the rancher, the woman close in tow, and came around to get a better look into a blown-out window, broken furniture was strewn about and black charring scarred the far wall all the way up to the roof. A few lonely bottles stood dutifully on the shelf behind the counter and it began to dawn on the young man that this had once been a tavern.


"Oh buddy," He murmured, giving the spot that housed his liver a light slap, "We gonna work-a hard today!" he said turning back to his brother with a grin, his brother smiled back with a twinkle in his eye that seemed to speak for itself. Oh yes, we are going to work very fuckin' hard today..


"Someone's in there.." The woman almost whispered, her eyes investigating the man that had sat up from behind a broken table with a long stretch. This new being had dark, curly hair that fell down around his ears, a dress shirt with leather vest buttoned overtop and a fairly nice looking pair of slacks. He climbed to his feet and strolled across tot he bar counter, leaning over and pulling something up from out of view.


"What? What's he doing?" The young man asked, quickly and quietly steped back towards the glassless window to steal a peak.


"What's going on?" the other man asked from a few feet behind them, even if he did push up to a window they were just high enough that he would have to pull himself up to see anything. As it was, the man inside retrieved a small notebook that he had opened and inspected as he paced around the room aimlessly, once he got close to the woman at the window and she had to duck down, but beyond that he was oblivious until the man in the chair tried to turn out towards the street to see if there were any other interesting prospects. The wooden wheel cried out sharply, the young man and woman both shot a look back in surprise before checking back on the man inside. He was standing close tot he center of the room, notebook open in one hand and a quill in the other, his eyes were murky, bloodshot and cast directly on the people watching him.


"Dangerous to travel at night," He spoke, his voice creaked out in a low symphony, "You should bunk down for the night, I think,"


"Uh.. Thanks for the advice.." replied the young man,a fine mist of sweat had crept across the back of his neck and his skin prickled with goosebumps, "Hey, sorry to be spying on you, wasn't sure how friendly you were,"


"Wise choice, probably the only one you two have made tonight," The man's gaze fell back onto his notebook and he began to scribble something down in it with his quill before retreating back to the countertop, where an inkwell sat, to continue his writing. His back was too them now.


"Let's get the fuck outta here," The young man whispered to the woman, she nodded quickly- keeping her eyes on the man inside.


They turned in unison, towards an empty chair overturned in the street's gutter- one wheel still span slowly and silently, the owner was missing but a tattered rag of navy-blue still clung to the right armrest.


"Jeremy?! Shit!" The words tumbled out of the young man's mouth without a thought, "What the fuck?"


"Oh my God.." the woman murmured, clapping a hand over her mouth.


The young man turned back towards the tavern, the man inside stood very close to one of the windows now- almost leaning out, his hand stood still with the quill on the page as he took his turn watching them.


"Did you see anything? Did someone take him?" The young man asked, taking a step back from the tavern. Fear in danger of becoming panic, screamed at him to run to push Cassie out of the way and beat a mean path out of this evil place but his legs seemed to have their own agenda and remained planted.


"My eyes are dim," the man spoke in the same low tones as before, "I cannot see,"


The young man blinked back surprise,


"I did not bring my specs with me," the man inside spoke again, with the slightest tinge of a smile.


"Wha-? Fuck you! You were just standing there watching us!" Anger flashed, replacing the fear or simply hiding beneath it for another oppurtunity to strike, "Where the hell did your buddies take him, you fuck?!" the young man almost screamed at the other, taking an aggresive step forward.


The man on the inside took a step back, scribbled something down and clapped his notebook close before turning around and walking away,


"HEY! WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING!?" The young man was screaming now, climbing through the window frame as the man inside stepped into a back room, out of sight.


"Wait! Just hold on!" The woman called out after the young man, she tried climbing up and pulling herself through the tavern windown like her companion had before, but her skirt snagged a jagged piece of glass that still managed to cling to the frame and the sudden tug at her hip spilled her out onto the tavern floor without much grace.


"Owww.." The woman had split her forearm on the broken leg of an overturned table- another half-a-foot over and she would have been staked through the chest, her knee had taken the brunt of the fall and ached painfully against her attempt to stand herself up. Once on her feet she realized she was alone now, the room silent despite the fury that driven Jordan just moments ago. She crossed the room and went through the doorway she saw the two other men enter, it opened into a small landing that buttonhooked and became a descending set of stairs. the bottom was shrouded in darkness. Cassie stood at the top step for a long time, trying to push herself down into the unknown but could not find the courage to go through with it, her mind was thick with panic that grew wilder by the second.


After several long, lonely minutes on that landing, she turned around and hurriedly made her way back out of the tavern, scarlet droplets falling off of her arm in sporatic bursts, then began running into a sprint back the way they had come- trying to get to outskirts of town as fast as possible. She ran until she felt nauseous, sure she would expell the contents of her last meal- though she simply doubled over panting hard untill her throat felt raw. She threw her head back and looked up at the moon, then around her to see if she had been followed. She was alone, but she noticed something that troubled her greatly, maybe even moreso than if that man had actually given chase. She knew she had been moving towards the outskirts of town, the trees rising up over the peaks of the building were a good enough indication of that but somehow the woman thought that she was deeper into the city than ever before. She began to weep softly, but pressed forward in a lackluster stride.


@DemetrioMachete @FrostFire