This house no longer feels like home...

[Jessica (DELETED 4028)]

Jessica stared up at the ceiling of the apartment. It was still incomplete, still being given its face and interior, but there was something important missing. Someone was absent from the planning process, the man who'd bought the apartment.

Axel was still missing, and it made the place feel quiet, cold, and so lonely. It didn't feel like home anymore. It had at first, in the beginning, before Axel vanished. But it was too much to be without him.

With a sigh, she got up from the air mattress that had been their bed but was now hers alone and put on her hunting clothes. A white sweater, blue jeans, running shoes, and a belt with her knife sheathed on her right hip. The last thing before Jess left the house was to tie her hair up into a tight bun at the back of her head. She was ready.

She left the apartment, rode the elevator down to the ground level, and started running. She slid through alleyways until she reached the sewer entrance in Wickbridge, where she dropped down and ran again until she came to the exit that led to the Quarantine Zone. She needed to get her mind off of Axel, and the Quarantine was the best place to do it. She ran right into the Deserted Multiplex and dove against a zombie, stabbing up through its chin.

‹Axel Rosen› Dialing her number he waits for her to pick up

‹Jessica› Wrenching the knife from the creature, the zombie, she wiped it off as her phone began to buzz against her thigh. An unreasonable level of excitement built. Could this be him? Ducking into a well-shielded place, she pulled her phone from her pocket and answered. "Hello?"

‹Axel Rosen› Faltering for a moment, he takes a breath and then turns his head to the side. He looks over at the table next to him, katana in his hand. He's covered in blood, eyes blood shot. What does he say? He's not even sure where to begin. He could say that he's been arrested, but her friend would know that was a lie. Should he start with an emotion, appealing to her love, his recklessness gets the better of him, "What was it you said Paladins do again?"

‹Jessica› "Most of the Paladins hunt vampires...but I don't. Too reckless, too risky," she muttered softly. "Why...why do you ask?" Her white long-sleeved tee shirt, blue jeans, and shoes were splattered with zombie's blood, the hunting knife still in her other hand still had a bit of eye stuck to it, and the right side of her face had been smeared by a reaching zombie. Her hair was the only thing pristine about her, knotted at the back of her head. "God, I've missed you so much."

‹Axel Rosen› "I've missed you too... And don't ask why." He takes an unneeded breath to not only convey his distress about the situation.. Well not about being a vampire. He loves that ****. Something about making a whole building quake to his will. "I just want to know why you run with a crowd that doesn't share you ideals."

‹Jessica› Her relief is present in her shaky, breathless sigh. "So I can protect myself if they attack me. Or you. I saw a chance to be able to protect myself adequetly and jumped. I'm a survivor, Axel...I always have been. Survived bullies in my youth because I needed braces and glasses, and even beat 'em back from my brother until Mom sent him off to a Deaf school. Broke six pairs of glasses that way." She chuckled. A twinge in her gut warned her of an approaching creature. "Can you...hang on a sec? I'm in the Quarantine..."

‹Axel Rosen› "Take all the time you need, I have plenty of it." He makes a joke, and then leans back into the cushioned chair. He's not sure what his sire or gransire would say about him speaking with this woman. Surely their statements would not be postaive ones. He looks down at his phone with a silent chuckle

‹Jessica› With ease, Jess set the phone on a little shelf, flipping the knife around until the blade was angled from the pinkie finger and standing up to stab the zombie that had approached through the top of the skull. It went down far easier than it really should have, but she didn't want to pull out her gun. That would get even messier than usual. After a moment, she sat down, laying the knife on the floor, and picked up the phone. "I swear, these things are smarter than they look," she muttered. "To be honest, that ain't saying much, but they have some...basic instincts to them, and senses. How...how are you?" She was glad he wasn't dead, but still...she had to know.

‹Axel Rosen› "I am alright, went home to gather my things, feeling pretty good about being back in Toronto." He lies, and he feels bad about it, but what else is he to tell someone that hunts vampires and enjoys killing them. She says she doesn't hunt vampires, but why hang out with them when being a blood thief is just as... disgusting. Now that he's thinking about it. Both paladins and blood thieves disgust the man. He looks down at his phone, taking a breath. "How are you babe?" She seems more upset than him, but that's because he's been gone for almst a month without a phone call or anything. What ******* horrible boyfriend. "I'm sorry that I didn't call... Family things got me carried away."

‹Jessica› If she hadn't been covered in yuck, she would have wiped the tears from her face. But she couldn't. Not when goo and blood covered her almost head to toe. "I've been fine. Just worried about you. Sara said you'd gone off the grid completely, not even using your phone. You got a new one, I guess?"

‹Axel Rosen› "My old phone got run over by my aunts car, sorry, took me sometime to finally pull your number out of my memory", he lies again, but doesn't like it. His eyes close, finally letting the conversation take its course, the way it probably should.

‹Jessica› She laughed a bit, swallowing down any sobs that might have escaped. Her head poked up over the counter, checking for any other undead creatures in the room. But there were none. That was a reply she could accept. She hadn't really had the number long since moving to Canada, and often forgot it herself. "So you won't be coming back, then? Will I be able to visit you sometime?" It was said in the tone of the desperate, the overly hopeful. What she truly wanted to know was, Is there any hope for us?

‹Axel Rosen› "I'm coming home eventually, but we need to have a few more talks first. One in person next." He smiles into the phone, excited to see her and terrified at the same time. Not just because he assumes that she will try and attack him, but because if she finds out he's a vampire, then he will have, broken the law of secrecy.

‹Jessica› Coming home eventually. That was promising on some level. But there was another matter. "You should come home as soon as possible. I could do with your body pressed close to mine at night." Her hazel eyes closed as she recalled the increasing number of phone calls as of late, notifying her of death after death in the sewers that the paladins who did hunt vampires called their home. "So many are dying now, babe...the one I spoke to directly in order to get the powers, Lena, is...she's dead, now, too. Too many are dying, and the vampires, they just keep coming after them. I'm terrified that I'm about to be found, about to be killed..."

‹Axel Rosen› The fact that she wants him close to her does warm his dead heart, but there's another thing she says, and continues on about. He opens his mouth, makes a sound then goes silent. His eyes close, chosing not to voice his opinion. He does however say, "Is there a way to denounce your fellow paladins?" His eyes stare blankly at the wall. He knows that vampires will kill paladins, just as paladins plan to kill vampires. It's in their nature to war, and it's in his at the moment to war with her; though he doesn't really want to. It's why he's keeping it contained.

‹Jessica› "I've made it clear to them that I'm neutral," she replied easily, "but I can't deny that I've made friends with a few of them. Lena's the first one close to me to die. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. I don't hunt them." But something about the way he said it was making her nervous. "Is there anything you aren't telling me?"

‹Axel Rosen› "Nothing of grand importance that I can really think to say." This lying thing is starting to get on his nerves, make him on edge, blood thirsty. It doesn't help that he hasn't eaten this evening, though he has seen her out in the QZ, watching every so often. More often than not, he tries to keep his distance, something about remnants of a human life, but something got him in a twist recently. The fact that she said not all paladins hunt vampires, yet everytime he goes into the sewers he gets shot at. It's more than enough reason to kill a few of the fatherless pricks.

‹Jessica› She couldn't put her finger on it, but she was very, very sure that something was very, very wrong. Not like she could do anything, but she had to say it. "You know you can tell me anything you want to, right?" she said, very softly. "I'm not judgemental at all and I'm fully willing to listen to your problems. We...we should meet, face to face, as soon as possible. When can you be available?"

‹Axel Rosen› "I'm in the QZ now." He looks down at his phone and places it on the ground, "Deserted Multiplex. Come if you'd like."

‹Jessica› The Multiplex. Why was it always the Multiplex? First she met Meka and Luffy there, so soon after being turned, and here she was again, stooped behind what had once been the concession stand, and Axel was this close to her. But she hadn't seen him. "Where in the Multiplex, babe? I'm over behind the concession stand. Shocked that I didn't see you come in, too."

‹Axel Rosen› "I've been in here. I'm in the back. Go north, toward the last theater on the right." He smiles and tosses his phone at a zombie, lodging it in the rotten flesh. It groans and he sarcastically groans back at it, "Shut up, before I kill you again." The zombie is just torso, laying in the corner, all it's limbs cut off, seems Axel's been testing things.

‹Jessica› She stuffed the phone in her back pocket, grabbing her knife and running around the stand, past a shadowy beast and a corpsified vampire, a unique grin on her face. She was ecstatic and so enthusiastic that she slashed through a zombie's head on her way down the hall and somehow hacked clean through his brain. The corpse dropped to the floor with a satisfactory thump, just as Jess started to draw near to Axel. In her happiness, her senses went ignored, but every cell in her body was screaming. Her body knew, but her brain and heart denied it. All she could think was, He's come home!

‹Axel Rosen› As she approaches him, he's torn. His eyes watch her, hacking her way toward him and in his mind, each and everyone of those zombies could be him, well less strong versions of him. Tapping the blade to his boot, he waits and watches her, examining her combat tactics. He hopes it doesn't come to that, but it might, and hat's bad enough.

‹Jessica› She almost ran right to him, still holding the knife in her hand tightly, before remembering that he couldn't heal quite as fast as she did. Or at least she still believed so. She tucked the knife into the sheath she'd attached to her belt and leapt up, flinging her arms around him. And that's when it hit her. The sensation of fear, awareness, and above all, adrenaline. She let go of him, falling to a crouch, but never made for her knife, though rage glowed in her hazel orbs. "Who did this to you?" she hissed.

‹Axel Rosen› "Did what?" His hand tightens around the katana, though he hates the oriental blade, would rather have had his double bladed sword. It broke the day he had it made, piece of **** forger. His eyes watch her, not too suprised that she has taken a new spot on the ground. His eyes watch her hand, making sure that she doesn't try and make any irrational moves. He sniffs the air, he knew she was here the whole time, just didn't bother to sift through the other smells.

‹Jessica› Slowly, with a shaking breath, she straightened, the rage cooling to an icy stare with which she gazed straight into his steel blue eyes. "Who made you into a vampire?" she asked coolly, sliding her thumbs into her pockets. "I told you, I don't hunt vampires. Looks like you didn't believe me then, and likely won't now." She would not refer to vampires as his kind. It simply felt wrong. No, he was hers, her kind, her beloved. But he's dead, the paladin enchantments screamed via every cell and nerve in her body. Sure, he was dead. Species change. Like in those House of Night books Luke liked to read.

‹Axel Rosen› "Even if there were such thing as vampires and even if I were one, wouldn't there be laws against blurting sensitive information like that out just willy-nilly?" He looks at her, trying to keep his calm. If she could just put it behind her, not ask any questions, it would make this first meeting easier. Well, kind of. Beside the fact that he would talk to his sire about it. Well. He would talk, and Jesse would write on index cards or something. He wishes, at moments with his sire that he were what his kind called a telepath.

‹Jessica› "You know full well that vampires exist, Axel, and that I can sense when I'm close to one," she said, slowly starting to circle him. "I doubt you've forgotten that I'm the one who told you all about it, and you swore you believed me. And then I took you to meet Ivy. Another vampire. One who doesn't feed on humans, but instead on the blood of her own kind. Goddess alive, why do you have to be so stubborn? Though if you weren't, I probably never would've fallen head-over-heels for you." With that out of the way, not caring that they were in the middle of a zombie hunting ground, she ran up, grabbed his cheeks, and kissed him. Hard.

‹Axel Rosen› Her pacing around him makes him more uncomfortable than he was when she was approaching him and he tilts his head to the side. He causes little rumbles under their feat, preparing to use the earth to throw her off balance. But then the kiss happens and he opens his eyes wider, not sure what to do or say, just stand there like a dumbass.

‹Jessica› She couldn't help herself. She continued kissing, lifting herself off her feet and wrapping her goo-and-denim-covered legs around him, sliding her tongue over his lips. Goddamn, she'd missed this, missed him. Her heart was racing, from her love and her instinctual fear.

‹Axel Rosen› Frozen, still, not sure if this is a game to get to an attack. In his head several days have passed, but here in the real world it's only been a few seconds. The kiss is just the way it used to, maybe a tad bit warmer. Still he hasn't fed yet, and holds himself from doing so. He, doesn't quite kiss back with such feroicty as her, trying to figure the situation out.

* Jesse Fforde || Ancients and Zombies don't provide much of a challenge, these days. The Quarantine Zone is a place where I used to go, but a place that I haven't visited for months. I return now, only because there are things that I need for rituals, and I'm not the kind of guy to continuously ask others for support. I'd prefer to gather my own **** rather than expect that it be given to me. As I'm passing by the Multiplex, I feel a slight tremor beneath my feet. Curious, I change course and instead step inside the dilapidated building - I cast a cursory glance around its innards. A movement catches my attention, and I slowly move toward it; the St James broadsword is comfortable in my grip. The closer I get, however, the more I realise the movement isn't a threat. Rather, I soon conclude, it's Axel - with a woman. I stop, smirk, and lift grimy fingers to lips. I let loose a loud and echoing wolf whistle.

‹Axel Rosen› The whistle, he can hear it, the sound ringing in his ears,. His eyes snap open and he scans the room. Quickly, he struggles to get the woman off him. It’s about fifty-fifty embarrassment and fear that he knows she’s a paladin. Once she’s unclasped from his waist, he places her on the ground, as gently as he can before looking to his sire. He hopes that the man has a small notebook on his person when he’s not at home or at the shop. Axel doesn’t sheath his blade, because he’s sure that it might be a sign of weakness or something like that. Once he sees the blade that his sire has, he looks down at his own like he were a self-conscious teen in the locker room. He opens his mouth, but waits until the man comes a bit closer, yelling across a place full of gnawing zombies just seems ignorant. Even though they’re dead, they still seem to be able to ear.

‹Jessica› A whistle. At the sound, Jessica blushed a vibrant shade of pink. The man who had executed the whistle was familiar. It took her a moment to recall the day. A silent man at a computer, communicating through typed messages rather than vocally. She'd handed him her card, and he'd introduced himself. Of course, once that hit her, another thing struck her. Axel knew him, had known him before meeting her. He was Axel's tattoo artist. Jesse Fforde. Vampire and owner of True Love Tattoo. Though she itched to reach for the hunting knife sheathed at her hip, she knew that one wrong move would lead to her death. So she remained silent, using her cleaner hand to rub the back of her neck gently. But Jesse's sword was familiar. Jess couldn't place where she knew it from, but she was certain she'd seen it before.

[Jesse Fforde]

I grin as Axel drops his girl like he’s just been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. At first I find it only amusing; I like to think I’m getting to know Axel, after spending the last month or so with him, training him. What, does he think I’m going to be angry with him because he’s getting a bit of nookie instead of killing zombies? Not ******* likely. A man is a man, and he’s got to satisfy his desires.

Of course I’m curious. Is this the same girl he’d talked about while in the chair? Jessica, he’d called her. As I get closer, I expect that my curiosity will be answered. I expect that Axel will no doubt introduce us, as is socially acceptable. But it’s as soon as I lay eyes upon the woman that I realise who she is. Maybe it’s the way the face connects with the name. I might have struggled, otherwise. Axel had talked about a Jessica—it’s a common name, so it didn’t cross my mind that it might be that same Jessica I’d met once in that internet café. In fact, I hadn’t thought about that Jessica at all since that night. That is, until now.

Because it’s the same Jessica. I remember it vividly. I remember those tattoos that I assume she still has. I remember them because they’re tattoos. I’m a tattoo artist. I don’t forget tattoos easily. And now I remember why they’d looked familiar to me. Back then, I’d been keeping to the catacombs. Since then, I’ve taken to the sewers, where I meet with Paladins and Footsoldiers on a nightly basis. And those tattoos—those are the tattoos of a Paladin.

Axel was dating a ******* Paladin.

By the looks of it, Axel is still dating a ******* Paladin.

It takes only a fraction of a second to react. One second I’m grinning, willing to indulge Axel his desires. To tease him, even. The next I’ve got the tip of my blade levelled at the Paladin’s throat. But I’ve also pulled the golden glock from the holster beneath my arm—this, I have levelled at Axel’s forehead.

I could kill them both. I really could. For a fraction of a second and the twitch of my finger on the trigger, I’m about to. But I hesitate. Only because there’s that thing, that comes with family. That thing called care. ******* insidious thing it is, creeping into one’s soul uninvited. I turned Axel because I thought he was too good for death. And I stuck to that notion over the past month or so, actually growing to like the guy. It’s not hard to like him.

And it’s only because of this that I hesitate—that I give him the opportunity to explain himself. I glare at him, before cocking my head in the direction of the female. I keep my attention on her, too, even though it may not look like it. If she so much as lifts a weapon, I’ll lop off her head.

[Jessica (DELETED 4028)]

Jess was remarkably calm for facing a sword so obviously from one of her brethren in the sewers, the ones putting their lives entirely on the line by facing the vampires outright. This vampire, Jesse, was very likely a murderer of paladins and wouldn't see anything wrong with killing another. Especially not in the middle of the Quarantine Zone, a lawless part of the world where the highest form of law was kill or be killed. She was outnumbered. Even though she was maddeningly in love with Axel, he was still a vampire and she knew what that meant.

If she gave him an opening, he would kill her.

She couldn't trust him anymore, not unless she became one of the undead herself, and it broke her heart. She hadn't seen him in so long, and he was so different now. He still looked the same. His strength was still fundamentally the same. But he wasn't her Axel, not anymore. He belonged to another world now, as much as she might deny it. She couldn't ignore the way the air felt, pressing on her like a thick blanket of smoke.

No, he was no longer her Axel. But she would try her damnedest to bring some sign of him out, make sure that his soul was still intact. She hadn't realized he'd had such a deep black darkness hiding in him.

"Jesse," she said quietly, "I'm going to remove my weapons and place them on the floor, sliding them toward Axel. Don't kill me, okay?" She slowly unhooked her sheathed hunting knife from her belt, removed her rapid-fire handgun from the back of her pants, placed them lightly on the floor, and slid them halfway to Axel with her feet.

This ******* sucks, she thought, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. This reunion could have gone well, if this ******** didn't show up. But that left one question to her.

Why did he give a ****?

"I have to ask," she said, "did you turn Axel? Make him a vampire? I swear to every god and goddess worshipped on this hell of a planet, I will do no harm to you. I do not, under any circumstances, hunt vampires. I only have these powers for protection. I'm a survivor."

Her mind was in overdrive, running through every second she'd spent with Axel, every kiss, every touch, and even further back, to her childhood with her brothers and sisters, the torment of being the youngest, the mutual protectiveness between herself and Luke, the bullying they'd both endured, being told they weren't really part of the family just because they were different.

She didn't regret a moment of it.

She knew she would very likely die right here in this zombie's playground, might ******* die today. But it didn't matter. She'd had a pretty decent nineteen years, and she'd had love. The love of her brother, Axel's love...if she did die, she would die happy.

She'd had love, and she had seen Axel one last time.

If he was part of her death, it would only seem right.

[Axel Rosen]

That grin on the face of Jesse doesn’t make the young vampire feel any better about the situation that has happened and the one that is to come. The fact that he moves close, he takes a few more steps away from the human woman with the tattoos on her body, looking at his sire. Axel doesn’t have the chance to move much farther than a step as his eyes watch the expression on his sire’s face change. There it is, the reason he would have prefered to just say his goodbyes to the woman in the room and go about his way before anyone in his family came to see him. The maggot on his cheek mirrors his current feelings, burrowing itself into the shelter of his pale skin, healing instantly. If Axel could he would have put his head in the ground. He doesn’t have the ability or speed to hide, as the gun is pointed to his head. The man’s eyes go wide, looking down the barrel of the pistol. The black pit, he wonders what all changes the color of his eyes. Luckily they haven’t changed yet, they’re still that steel blue that they were moments ago, but he wonders if fear would change his eyes. If he’d known his eyes were still the same steel color, he’d be a little thankful.

Now his mind is running through the gears, not sure what he’s going to do. Jesse can’t really talk to him. He could yammer on and on about what he had come here for but there were only two ways that Jesse could really respond to Axel’s words. The first way that Jesse could respond is the one that he fears the most, shoot him, not just once but several times until he’s a pile of maggots and ash on the ground. The second way of communication was archaic hand motions. The ones that he had used to communicate with him before, hand motions mixed with a pretty decent unspoken understanding of one another. Glancing from the hole of the barrel up to the gaze of his sire, he doesn’t even think about moving, because doing so at the moment would be suicide. So instead he opens his mouth to speak but he realizes that Jesse hasn’t shot yet. This means that the man that turned him, is actually going to give him a chance to talk through this.

Opening his mouth to speak to the man with the gun to his head, he feels that he is being cut off. The woman to the other side, the sword against her throat, she speaks first. Jessica does just as she says she is going to do, but Axel can’t help but wonder why she would kick them over to him. He shakes his head a little bit, shooting her a look of, ‘really?’ Is it not obvious that he too has a gun to his head? Is it not obvious that he too is almost in as much trouble as her during this situation. If it weren’t for the fact that he were looking into the abyss of a glock barrel, he would have attacked her himself. His anger at her in this moment isn’t enough to change the color of his eyes, but it is enough to make his compassion for her be overcast by a desire to punish stupidity. Instead of attacking her, because moving would be it’s own stupid action. He slides the weapons at his feet over to a kicking distance, and kicks them over behind his sire.

He goes to speak again, and there she goes again, speaking to his sire before he gets the chance to explain himself. She’s asking quite a few questions that are really ones she shouldn’t ask. One for her own personal safety and two because at the moment it is none of her business. She should be more focused on the fact that there is a broadsword in her face. Not to mention that she is speaking to his sire in a way which is, in Axel’s mentality, disrespectful. His gaze shifts over to her and stays there, almost glaring a hole into her head. The whole spiel about not harming Jesse doesn’t really matter at the moment. He’s sure that Jesse won’t trust her. She’s a paladin. It’s part of the reason that Axel himself is on edge around her at the moment. Her being around makes him uneasy and the way she keeps talking is just like digging her own grave. He takes a breath, as it seems that she is done talking. His mouth opens one more time, that millipede that he’s grown tired of hunting, scurries from his mouth up into his nose.

“Jesse, I’ve had her come here to say my goodbyes.” He looks at his sire, then to the pile of weapons behind the other tattooed vampire. His weapons, the two long swords, one in each hand, have not been put down, but are not raised up at the ready. He just looks at him. Axel hopes that his sire will understand that he had not come here to keep this charade up any longer with the paladin. Yes, that is the title he would have to use from now, as ‘girlfriend’ won't fit anymore. It shouldn’t have fit to begin with. He’s not sure what Jesse will do in reaction to what he has said. He’s sure that Jesse will see that meeting with the paladin at all is a danger to himself, but he hopes that the man could understand why a face to face break is more honorable than one over the phone or something like that. He waits for Jesse to make his reaction to the whole thing, like a prisoner waiting for a verdict. “Strictly my reason.” His eyes look at the barrel of the gun again.

If Jesse were to attack the woman, Axel can’t decide if he would aid in the attack or not. If he were signalled to attack the woman or to help in an attack, he would do either of those things. This is the only reason his weapons are still out. If Jesse told the paladin to leave in an unlikely moment of mercy, Axel would step aside and let it happen. All of the rest of Axel’s reactions are purely dependant on Jesse, the man who turned him into what he is now. The loyalty he feels for his sire is far greater than any other feeling or notion in his mind at the moment. The blade closest to the woman, points to the ground and in her direction. The blade in the other hand moves behind his back.

[Jesse Fforde]

The paladin takes it upon herself to address me by name. As if we’re old friends and this is just some chummy get-together. I scrutinize her, making no effort to hide the utter disdain that I feel for her, and the reassurances that she feels it necessary to utter. She asked that I don’t kill her, and that simple request has my fingers itching. I want to kill her just because she’s asked me not to. But then, I’d also like to hear her beg.

I don’t answer the question that she asks. I have no obligation toward her or her curiosity. What the **** does it matter, if I turned Axel or not? It doesn’t even matter to me that she’s no longer armed, or that she’s making some effort to appear harmless. In my mind, she’s harmless regardless of whether she’s armed or not. Although the majority of my attention remains steadfast upon the Paladin, I still watch Axel out of the corner of my eye. Should he make any move, I’ll shoot him. I know that he’ll heal. I might not make it a critical shot. I’m tempted to shoot him anyway. Any good mood that I may have had is gone now. Vanished. I am subject to a rage and a blood lust so strong that it’s really, very ******* difficult to stand as still as I am.

I wish I could tell the Paladin to shut up. I’m not interested in her excuses. I’m not interested in anything that she has to say. I do not trust a single word that comes from her mouth; I even scoff, when she tells me she doesn’t hunt vampires. Any Paladin would say that to save their necks; any Paladin might say that to try to sway a vampire to their side. To infiltrate the vampire community. There’s no way in hell I’m going to let her anywhere near me or my own.

No, the only explanation I’m interested in is Axel’s. It takes him a while, but finally he speaks up. I still don’t move, don’t even look at Axel. Oh, how his words could be misconstrued. He came here to say his goodbyes, did he? To Jessica, or to me? And, if the latter, perhaps he wishes to say his goodbyes to this mortal realm, too? But no. He didn’t ask to meet me here. This meeting was not predetermined, not on my end. So it could only be assumed that he’d come to say his goodbyes to Jessica.

This, I have to say, makes me smile. I doubt it’s a smile that the Paladin will find warm or welcoming. Instead, I find Axel’s explanation to be permission, of a sort. No, it won’t be Axel saying his goodbyes to this mortal realm. It will be the Paladin who will have to say that last, final goodbye. She’d better hope those powers she has for ‘protection’, as she said, will help her now. As quickly as I had drawn both weapons to begin with, I’ve got them both aimed at the Paladin. I’ve got one finger squeezing the trigger, the other hand swinging the heavy sword in a flourish of an arc.

If she doesn’t run, if she tries to defend herself, she’s surely going to die.

[Jessica (DELETED 4028)]

She'd known Jesse wouldn't be able to answer verbally, but she'd hoped for some kind of acknowledgement in some form to her question. Being ignored was nothing near what she'd expected - until the gun swivelled her way. A sharp intake of breath, a quickening of her heart rate, and that classic deer-in-the-headlights look.

She was terrified. Fear, in the form of adrenaline, flooded her veins. If she fought, she would die. Hell, if she stayed, she was pretty ******* sure she'd be just another corpse in the Quarantine. Running was her only option, and even that wasn't a half-decent choice. She could see the mistrust in Jesse's eyes and knew he wanted to murder her.

Her hazel eyes flicked over to Axel again, just in time to catch sight of that millipede. Her stomach twisted, disgust suddenly overtaking her face as she doubled over, retching all over the floor. She was glad her hair was tied back, that this place was already disgustingly filthy. She'd hate to have had this happen at their apartment.

The one thing she hated doing was cleaning up after throwing up.

She couldn't continue lying to herself. It had been a flimsy lie at the start. Vampires were nothing like humans, nothing like any of the romanticized images pressed upon her by Hollywood. Vampires were a perversion of one of the world's most beautiful creations - humanity. Vampires were an inhuman race that should truly be expunged from the earth. They wore the faces of humanity, pretended to be like them, but humans were as cattle to the undead beasts.

The first tear slipped from her eye silently, sliding against the curve of her nose as she slowly sank to her knees, completely aware of the gun and sword coming straight at her. As she inhaled, her breath shook, and as she exhaled that same breath, it hitched, further tears sliding down her grimy face. She swore she could feel her heart shattering, splintering like a fine crystal vase dropped from the roof of a skyscraper, and it hurt. Her hands moved, almost subconsciously, to her heart as she sobbed through the pain.

There was nothing left to do but work on an escape. But how could she do this? They were both undead, paranormal creatures, and she had no idea which kind they were. They were all difficult to deal with, but she knew some were worse. The warrior ones could easily move in the blink of an eye, the assassin types could literally melt into the night, some could burn with a single touch, some could read every thought, and some could even use zombies to fight for them. It all depended on which type these two men were. Did the types run in bloodlines?

Why didn't I ask Lena that ****? she thought, still trying to calm from her sobbing.

[Axel Rosen]

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

‹Axel Rosen› Watching the events transpire, the vampire looks from paladin to his sire. The fact that his, now ex, girlfriend has just spilled the entire insides of her stomach to the floor, doesn't even seem to affect him. Her tears don't do much to pull at his heart strings either. His only real focus is on the blade, as it comes down. In his head, he wonders why the woman is even still sitting there. Then it makes contact, slashing her arm.


* Jesse Fforde || The girl doesn't run. The way she drops to her knees, however, means she dodged the bullet that fired from the gun, sound richocheting off the walls. I've still got the sword, however; I am only momentarily distracted as puke splashes across the floor, splattering my shoes and legs. It's yet another reason why I think she ought to die - no one throws up on me and gets away with it. And so I bring the sword down in a wide arch--relishing the moment that it makes contact, addicted to the feel of cold steel peeling through skin. I only wish it were the skin of her neck rather than the skin of her arm.

[Jessica (DELETED 4028)]

The wound brings the world back into focus with a faint gasp, cutting off her sobbing. Jessica's hazel eyes, filled with a burning hatred, flash to Jesse's sword. How dare he turn a blade of the St. James order upon a Wiccan bearer of the order's marks? Clenching her teeth, Jessica quickly snaps her leg out, kicking the custom-made rapid fire handgun and the simple hunting knife down the corridor. With those far from the pair of vampires, she lifts into a low crouch, running between them and sweeping the weapons up with her hands.

The lyrics of a song seem to fill her mind, even as she runs, reminding her of her feelings for the bug-infested vampire she has left behind, all but telling her to turn back. Her instincts urge her toward the door. Her heart urges her to turn back.

Rather than succumb to either, she veers off, tucking around the corner toward the place this had begun, the hiding place that had once been the concessions stand, stuffing her gun back into the waistband of her jeans as she rips away the sleeve of her sweater, studying the wound even as her lips move instinctually in the rhythm of the cleansing prayer Lena taught her. The blood of the undead beasts that roam the Quarantine was in her own bloodstream now, needing the cleansing more now than ever before. She could practically feel the disgusting, dead blood flowing through her veins. It made her want to throw up again.

It wasn't natural, to be in this situation. She wanted nothing more than to run away. But she wouldn't. She couldn't.

Not until she was absolutely certain that her Axel wasn't hiding somewhere beneath the surface. It was likely he was; he would have impaled her when she jumped onto him and kissed him earlier if he wasn't. But she needed to know how deeply he was buried.

[Axel Rosen]

He thinks for a moment that the smell of blood may put him into an inconsolable violent rage; however, it doesn’t, and it seems that his worries about turning into a blood lusting berserker are null. Those emerald eyes of the girl on the ground, glare up at his sire and his mouth lets out the beginnings of a chuckle before stifling it. He wants to look down at her and say in a patronizing manner, ‘so cute when you get mad’, but he’s sure that once the paladin has left the room that he’ll be the next under the whip. Axel isn’t sure if his sire would shoot or hit him for this, but he does look rather irritated. The weapons that were originally on the woman’s body, slide and clank down the hall. She moves to crouch before running between the two of them and he thinks about taking a slice out of her himself. His arm moves, but not quick enough. As she runs past him, his blade just barely misses her legs. He wonders if he was too slow because of his subconscious not wanting him to attack her, some shred of moral dignity, or if it was because she was a moving target and he didn’t move forward with the swing.

Once she is out of sight, he’s not sure if the two of them are going to follow her or not. If he were to be honest, he doesn’t really want the trouble of tracking her down just to attack her again. That could come at another time, when it matters and there’s something to be gained from it, or if she gets in his way. His two eyes, dull blue like clouded skies, look to his sire, waiting for whatever may happen next. Wrists flicking, twirling motion, the two blades in either hand move to their sheaths. The sound of the hilts hitting the top of the sheath makes a faint metallic pop and then a click. Instead of opening his mouth to speak or willing his body to move in any direction. Not even his arms move nor his toes within his shoes.

It’s not like Jesse can really speak so this can really only go down in a physical manner. Jesse could walk away, leaving Axel there. This would probably crush his spirit due to the implication that is behind it. The implication of: ‘don’t come around anymore’. Axel hopes that’s the one thing that doesn’t happen. Then there is the possibility of Jesse attacking him, which is better than the previous thought. He’d rather be attacked, bleed and atone than be abandoned. Then there was the possibility that Jesse would walk away, yet motion Axel to follow. The young vampire, is fairly certain his sire would not do this. It must be the way that he so viciously attacked the Paladin that leads him to think this way, and in his mind it’s a pretty astute thought process. The waiting, even though it can’t have been more than a few seconds since she ran down the corridor, is killing him.

[Jesse Fforde]

The flash of anger in the Paladin’s eyes is unmistakable. I suppose that anyone would be furious to be slashed at and wounded. The anger is a far sight better than the pitiable creature who’d fallen to her knees in front of us—I suppose there’s no honour in killing something so weak. It’s demeaning. Not to her, but to me. I’d prefer she fight back, and I’m almost certain she’s going to, with that look in her eye. It’s that look that proves that I’m right. She was just saying what she needed to in order to save her own life. She was trying to gain the trust of vampires with filthy lies. It’s that same look that I’ve seen in the Paladins as I slaughter them in their dens, or down in the sewers. Nah, I don’t believe it, one bit, that she doesn’t mean vampires harm, that she became a Paladin just for ‘protection’. What a load of ********.

She doesn’t defend herself, or return to the attack. Instead, she makes a run for it, taking her weapons with her. Axel’s blade swings down, the empty sound of steel against concrete proof of his failure. Did he fail on purpose, because he doesn’t actually want to hurt his ‘girlfriend’? Because that’s what she was. And I assume it’s her who told him all the knowledge I had to kill him for. Oh, if only I could talk—if only I could let her know, somehow, that she’s lost Axel. That he’s become the thing she hates. And it’s all her fault. If she never told him anything to begin with, I wouldn’t have had to kill him. I would have left him human, blissfully unaware.

I don’t hesitate to make Axel fully aware of my fury. The sword remains lazy in my grip as I turn the gun toward him. My finger is hasty upon the trigger; I fire a couple of shots, one thunking satisfyingly into Axel’s thigh. The guy has already sheathed his weapons—he’s obviously not going to attempt to fight back. And again—there’s no honour in attacking someone who’s not going to fight back. It’s demeaning. I’m certain that he gets the point. I’m certain that he understands that I’m furious, and why. Although he’s said that he came here to make his goodbyes, and although there was that lacklustre attempt to wound the fleeing Paladin, there’s a small ounce of trust that I’ve lost in Axel. And I don’t know how to get it back.

And so I level the gun at his heart. It won’t kill him, even if I do shoot him again. It’ll just weaken him. But I want him to explain himself, fully. He’s hardly uttered a word this entire time, and now is his chance to use that talent of his—that talent with words—to get himself out of the hole he’s dug himself into.