A step in the right direction (open)

[Jacey (DELETED 6681)]

Jacey stared at Peter, her wide eyes focused, her mind trained on the man, taking in every word he was saying to her. A slight frown tugged at the corners of her lips.

You must always trust me, that I will look out for you. Trust him? Jacey did trust him. But then, Jacey trusted almost everyone that she met. It was a character flaw. Jacey was the girl that, had someone come up to her claiming to be missing their puppy or offer her ice cream from their truck, she would have willingly went with them, regardless of the consequences. It was something that caused her mother and her gemma much concern. When she was younger, the two had to keep a very close eye on the blonde. Stranger danger had never been something Jacey understood. In fact, there were no strangers that Jacey knew of. Just friendships waiting to be made. However, she wouldn't tell Peter that she already trusted him. It might cause him to be concerned about her sanity, or at the very least, her judgment. That tended to be the reaction Jacey got.

Come inside. I will show you a place you can stay, and where you can get blood from. So you don’t go hungry. A place to stay? One without creepy bugs? That sounded great! Up until now, she had been hopping from hotel to hotel, country to country, except for the day that Peter had taken care of her. Some of those hotels were not the best, that was for sure. Run down, in not so nice neighborhoods. Cockroaches, bed bugs, and mice running rampant. It would be nice to be somewhere that she didn't have to check the showers in. Or the bed.

At the mention of drinking blood daily, Jacey paled, more so than she already was. The idea of having to take blood from another person, either by bag as she had been shown or by biting caused Jacey to feel distressed. Jacey was someone who didn't harm a fly. Literally. While she disliked bugs, she would do her best to shoo them out. If shooing them didn't work, she tended to avoid the place that they were until they decided to make their own way out. Unless she absolutely needed wherever or whatever the bug was on. Then she had to suck it up and remove them by hand. He had mentioned that feeding would keep her sane. Could she go a couple days without feeding? Or did it absolutely have to be every day? Surely he was exaggerating, right? Determined to find out, Jacey decided to ask. "Do I have to feed every day? One day couldn't make me go insane, right? And do I have to feed off of someone? Or will the bags be okay? Like that guy showed me?" All important questions, Jacey thought.

While she waited for his answer, hoping for his answer to be no, that there was another way to feed, Jacey moved with the man toward the building behind them. Or, as Jacey thought, her new home.

[Peter Parkman]

Peter cringed, inwardly. The thought that someone might not feed every single day at the same time made him want to shake them, but he couldn’t push his own habits and neuroses onto other people now, could he? Jersey had gone along with it only to keep him happy, probably, not because she herself thought that it was necessary.

Hunter followed along behind them, bounding through the front door as soon as Peter opened it. The large dog loped into the Asylum, in search of his comrades. The dogs all knew the place quite well by now, and Peter was glad for the peace, at least for the time being. There were things that he had to show Jacey, and tell her. He could do without the distractions.

”Every night, if you can help it. If you go without blood, you could become rabid. There are feral vampires locked up in the Quarantine Zone. I think that’s what we must turn into, if we don’t feed every night. The hunger takes over and… well, you could lost control,” Peter explained. He hoped that Jacey would take his word for it; that she wouldn’t take the warning lightly. He didn’t want to have to tell her that he himself had lost control, and even now the guilt tugged and plucked at him, wanting to thieve his attention. He didn’t let it. He forged on.

”I have mine delivered. You might have noticed the other night that I passed out. I can’t deal with the sight or smell of blood but I have to drink it. So I have it delivered, in a Styrofoam cup, with a thick straw. If you stay here, I can organise to have yours delivered, too? An hour after sunset…” he said. He paid well for the service, and so far had had no problems.

They were by now walking down the entrance hall and into what must be the lobby of the Asylum. And that’s what it was—an Asylum that had been bought and appropriated by Keara, used only by her family. At least she had made it feel more welcoming.

[Jacey (DELETED 6681)]

Practically floating as she followed after the man, Jacey's eyes darted this way and that, trying to take in everything all at once. She could get use to living here, especially since there were no bugs. Jacey was an avid animal person, loving every single one for their various qualities. However, there was one thing she couldn't bring herself to love. And it was bugs. Specifically, spiders and cockroaches. And during her stay at Harper Rock, she had encountered more than her fair share of the both of them. Much to her dismay. If she had been thinking, rather than allowing her head to drift into the clouds, she would have focused more and actually noticed that they occupied the same space that she was intending before she had actually stayed.

At the sound of Peter's voice, Jacey pulled her attention back from the room to focus on his face. Her mother would be very proud. He had begun to warn her about the feral vampires, which sounded a bit odd to her. She had thought that all vampires were feral, considering that they fed off others. But her view was apparently wrong. There were worst things than vampires? That almost made her blood run cold. Almost. Jacey made a mental note to ask Peter about them, once he had finished so that she wouldn't interrupt.

Then, just as she was about to give up on the thought of not having to bite another person to stay alive, Peter brought up the idea of delivered blood. Already drained from the person, so that she wouldn't have to. Jacey's heart began to feel as light as a feather. The guilt she had begun to feel about having to bite another person lifted.

Bouncing on her feet in excitement, suppressing the urge to throw her arms around the man once again, she let out a squeak. It was embarrassing, to say the least, that the emotions couldn't contain themselves and had to force their way out of her body. But at the moment, she could not care less. "I'm so relieved! I don't want to bite anyone. . . Yes, I would very much like to have blood delivered. Just like you."

"You mentioned feral vampires before. . . Why are they feral? Does everyone go feral? Do they come out of the quarantine zone? Are they dangerous? What exactly IS the quarantine zone? And why are we in an asylum?" The tips of Jacey's ears turned red. She should be embarrassed for bombarding the poor man with all those questions, but she had to know the answers!

[Peter Parkman]

The questions came hard and fast and Peter struggled to retain them; but he had to answer them. Every single one of them. He even laughed and held out his hands, fingers spread in either surrender, or a bid to get Jacey to slow down a little bit. He could laugh now, he realised. It was fine to laugh. The relief allowed him to laugh where he might not have been able to before. Peter led Jacey through toward the elevator, which would take them up to the floor where all the portals and amenities were built. And he’d show her to the room that was his own – that she would have access to, if she wanted, though he couldn’t claim that it was much.

”I don’t know what causes a vampire to go feral. I can only assume it’s… a lack of training or care. If they don’t feed, maybe it’s like… if you lose too much blood or when your brain is deprived of oxygen for too long, you can get brain damage, right? Maybe something like that happened to those vampires. Or maybe they stick to the Quarantine Zone because the zombies affected them badly. I’m not sure. But they don’t leave the Quarantine Zone,” he said. There were the raids, of course, but then they stuck only to the one building. It was strange, the way the creatures in this city worked. The way they seemed controlled, somehow, but then completely uncontrollable at the same time.

”They can be dangerous if you aren’t strong enough to kill them. I… don’t go anywhere near them,” he said. It took him a couple of seconds to remember what the other questions were. There were so many of them. The elevator doors ‘dinged’ and he got out, making sure that Jacey was following.

”The Quarantine Zone is… well it’s just that. There are zombies inside, and the government tries to keep it secret. Zombies, yes, like in some… popular movie,” he said. It sounded ridiculous now that he was talking about it. ”But there are ways in and out. Vampires like to go there to train. But… I don’t go anywhere near it,” he said. It was a theme. Maybe he was coming across as some kind of coward, but he just abhorred violence. All kinds. Against all creatures.

”Why we are in an Asylum? That’s something you’ll probably have to ask Keara. It isn’t a question I’ve asked her. It was a building she took over, and it doesn’t really act as an Asylum anymore. It’s… home, for us,” he said, gesturing around the main floor.