Once Bitten and Never Shy-(Closed)

[Satine]

Satine groaned as she rolled her petite frame into a ball of angry muscles and rocked back and forth. Her body was not agreeing in the least with her latest attempt to deliver an impressive display of power. One that hardly did more than anger the creature to turn its focus on her. The move backfired. Her first thought was if she did this long enough perhaps that monster sized gash to her side would seal up. Stop, drop and roll was universal to put out flames yet the inferno in her side was not extinguishing.

Satine’s awareness in being put in such a compromising position was rising. She was supposed to be kicking it’s *** not vice versa. Adding insult to injury was the prospect it was going to possibly do away with what she had been pursuing. It did not come as a complete surprise that she was finding her way rather clumsily from the stone surface beneath her. It was not like her to stay down for long, sane or not. She clearly lost the round with the beast. Now it was dealing with it’s own upset and was forced to multitask in it’s defense between the two that were actively invading its coveted space.

“Easy for you to say.”

Satine hissed feeling every layer of her less than living flesh stretch to complete the effort of standing on her feet with his assistance. The warmth of his arm giving her the extra boost reminded her that this was not going to end well. The weight of her gun remained in her hand shifting awkwardly as she found her weak footing. Her hunger spread through her following the fading path of pain that had no chance in governing her or what she was. The scent of him filled her with the reminder she was still needing what he had to offer. It surpassed any emotion or sensation. So, who was leading who? Her mind was increasingly dark in how it processed the one who came to her aid. She made the choice. She had to let this work for her.

“And thank you.”

Satine managed to offer the courtesy of some sort of verbal acknowledgement because that would be what most would be expecting. She curled her arm around the wound in her side. She hoped that nothing would add to it before she got out of the bowels of the city that seemed intent on reducing her to ashes. It took awhile getting to where they currently were. That meant it would take that much time getting back out.

The sound of flames roared to life in the young necromancer’s mind while she went with the warm prompting of the good samaritan. Was he truly that kind and brave for a stranger that came out of nowhere? Or was he that prepared for such an event and brilliant in his current execution? Who was the hunter and who was the prey? The unknowing was a factor that only added to the rush building behind her chosen plan. With each step they took Satine fed her minds fire to achieve that temporary calm it offered. It was all going too perfectly to ruin it now. The condition she currently was in left her unprepared for another battle with an underestimated opponent. Soon the reward would come. The only question that lingered was when?

[Hunter (DELETED 2392)]

Hunter began moving the instant he felt no resistance from the woman. He was content with holding her arm and dragging their limping bodies back through the Mausoleum from whence they’d both came if she had no problem with it. Entering that abode at the North end of the Mausoleum didn’t seem practical now and there was no way of knowing if it belonged to the woman beside him or if she would even be able to enter. Some Vampires seemed repelled by private residences, like there was a strange power preventing them from entering. Hunter didn’t get it, but, if it was a fact he was more than happy to exploit it. He didn’t need to question the whys and the how comes, just so long as things didn’t change. People often accused Hunter of being too laid back and it wasn’t hard to figure out why. That kind of attitude of his tended to get him into trouble with others, but ironically, Hunter didn’t care. Life was too short to create a fuss with people, especially with monsters like the ones in Harper Rock running around.

Hunter retreated back into the Catacombs with the woman in tow, his pace slowing almost to a complete stop in the doorway. His eyes weren’t great in the dusky light, but even he could figure out his surroundings. The trap he’d set not two minutes ago was gone – triggered or dispatched by someone. This happened frequently enough to become an annoyance, but not a deterrent. Hunter gave a slight snort of disapproval, looked back to the woman with a light shrug, then continued to lead them toward the sewer’s entrance. Hunter didn’t think about what kind of impression he was giving the woman as he pretty much led her through the Catacombs. In fact, Hunter wasn’t thinking too far ahead at all. The only thing on his mind was the need to get out of here and back onto the streets. Those streets could be deemed safer than the sewers, Catacombs and the Mausoleum, but only marginally. There were plenty of creatures who walked sidewalks and boulevards which were plenty capable of killing you. As it happened, even Vampires weren’t entirely safe up there either. Was there anywhere in Harper Rock that was safe?

“So… what’s yer name?” Hunter asked with a bit of a stammer.

It wasn’t that he was bad at talking to people, but the situation was a little weird. Ordinarily he wouldn’t jump to give his name out to people he suspected as Vampires, but then, she had tried to jump in to save him so maybe she wasn’t all that bad. Maybe he could put his prejudices aside just this once and live not to regret it.

“My name’s Hunter,” he said with a bit of a smirk. “Apparently it’s ironic because I can’t hunt for ****.”

[Satine]

Satine was young as far as being a vampire went. Young but not entirely naive to what it meant. Last she heard it was pretty stupid to give out your name to a total stranger and Hunter was still just that. He was supposed to be her happy meal but it turned out he was shaping up to be more of an unexpected knight in shining armor. She really would be limping far more than she was had he ignored her presence and instead hauled his *** on fast feet out of the catacombs.

Hunter did the human thing that most were known for and generally turned out to be their biggest mistake. Acting noble and compassionate. She knew how that was. It was easy to remember. The feelings were a set of weakness to her that she couldn’t afford to entertain any longer. Not that she was noble when she arrived. Noble people don’t chop guys named Chester into pieces with an ax and stuff them in the family deep freezer. The seven foot anger management dropout who slowed her pulse to a dead stop taught her quickly how fast those things called feelings could shut down your circus. Chester. The sound of his pathetic cries were in the back of her mind as she took in what she could of the warm body beside her while she limped a little more than she was before.

“Alice.”

Satine took what came to her quickly for a name and really it pretty much fit. She sure as hell was not announcing her real name. This young guy was not bad looking. He was far too kind for his own good. He also wasn’t fooling her by his acts of bravery. The man was hanging where only those who knew something was down below ventured. It didn’t end there either. He had some quick moves under his belt and she witnessed them first hand. His eyes were clear and his grasp on her wasn’t jumping and twitching like he was finishing off the rush of an all day tweak session from the local slums. Hunter had some skills and perhaps a little more to him than met the eyes.

“As in Alice in Wonderland.” She winced to make the gait she had next to him more believable. The wounds hurt but she could still walk as if it was all merely flesh wounds if she had to. However, being that much closer to the warm blooded Hunter gave her every reason not to. “Ever hear of that story?”

[Hunter (DELETED 2392)]

Now that they were out of the Catacombs, and back into the sewers, Hunter slumped his back against a wall and let go of Alice’s arm. They could stand around and chat a while, at least until he caught his breath. A light mist of perspiration was set on his brow and he was grinning and bearing the pain in his chest. Hunter was still sure that something was broken when that Mooncalf had struck him, but he wasn’t about to announce his injuries. Announce his name, maybe, but not his injuries? It didn’t have to make sense, he was tired and aching. Hunter couldn’t give less than two shits if Alice was lying to him or not either because, if he was lucky, they probably wouldn’t see each other again after this little encounter tonight. The sewers were something of a hunting ground for people like Hunter anyway, and he felt a bit safer here than down in the Catacombs where only monsters presided. Granted, if this suspected Vampire named Alice was going to try anything shifty, the sewers would probably be one of the best places to do it. Your average Human wouldn’t go poking their nose down here, assuming quite logically that this was just where your **** went after you flushed the toilet. Thus, the chances of Alice being spotted, and subsequently being reprimanded for any shifty dealing, were certainly quite low.

Hunter sighed to himself on that thought and figured that he desperately needed a distraction. It didn’t take long to find one. Blue eyes looked over at the skinny, raven-haired female when she asked a question. Hunter grinned back at her, rolling his shoulders slowly and gently against the brick wall.

“Well, ain’t everybody?” he asked, or rather stated. “I guess you’re in the wrong kind of rabbit hole tonight though, Alice. There was mention of magical, disappearing cats and caterpillars that smoke too much, but there was never any mention of great hulking beasts that wanna rip your head off. Nope, nope, nope and yep. Definitely got the wrong rabbit hole.”

Hunter gave her a smile, blue eyes sparkling with knowing even though there was a secret part of him that begged for the truth to be an illusion. He wished he’d fallen asleep in a field somewhere, under a tree, and that this was all some terrible dream. He wished it was a dream that his mother had lied to him about his dead father. Hunter wished his father wasn’t a Vampire, that his sister wasn’t so crazy and that he’d never come to Harper Rock. What he would give just to wake up in a hospital bed somewhere and be told that he’d been in a coma for months. Oh how he wished he was just like Alice in her story…

[Satine]

Satine leaned back against the wall behind her. The putrid scent of what had been deposited to the depths beneath the city where they stood was an unpleasant reminder. No matter how much the world as she knew it had changed so much of it would remain the same. The scent of waste would always catch the necromancer’s attention no matter how many times she took in the aroma of death and the **** it left behind. The cruelty of a certain fate and the unfair hands that it dealt would continue play out until she was stopped. Piercing cries and drops of blood would be left behind but all of their sources would never be forgotten. She knew this despite how young and ravenous she would progress to be. Somewhere in some random moment a reflection would inevitably take place and what once was would be again even if it would be in the darkest depths of her mind. Two would be the actors of the impending scene but one would be left to remember. Who would it be?

Satine looked away and searched the shadows that waited in the distance. It was always on her mind as to who could be watching her. All it took was one set of eyes and a voice to recount what she did. There was no huge sense of guilt that had her suspicious of what was out there waiting. It was the heightened awareness of how the world really was and she had only recently discovered it. Those hard lessons had arrived in harsh steps. She witnessed them with her own eyes.

Not everyone celebrated a birthday. Some drank through that particular day to forget the one that was born, what they had done, or perhaps what they gave up and what they ultimately should have never kept. Not every bed was shared out of love and just because there was a roof above it didn’t make it a happy home. Not everyone had a friend or someone besides the reflection in the broken vanity mirror to confide to. Not everyone who experienced all of that felt sad, cried themselves to sleep or resigned to cowering in a corner until they were rescued. Some looked in the mirror and chose to make their own world for better or worse. Satine would not miss what she never knew to begin with. Not enough to let it break her completely. Her scuffed heels fixed on the stone beneath her said as much. Down, out temporarily perhaps but never broken.

“What about petite beasts with unheard of appetites?” Silver eyes followed the natural waves in the man’s hair while she chuckled as if she was joking, which she wasn’t.

Hunter cared to keep it the style short and clean cut. Her blood red nails wiggled lightly as she pressed her open palms to the surface behind her. She wanted to slip her hands through it and lock each finger tightly so that her grip held him in place while he looked into her eyes. It was back with a vengeance. That insatiable need that was with her constantly. Her mouth was dry and parched, the scent of sweat stimulating her gums to itch as they stretched slowly. She clenched her jaw tight and the mouth full of fangs settled back. She cast her gaze to his cheek and gradually worked her focus down to his neck. In her silence she felt that desire to take and penetrate her craving within him fangs deep. Deeper than anything he had ever known. She wanted him in ways he would never comprehend for reasons he would never accept. The possible rush in satisfying her urge had her scratching the tips of her nails in frustration against the wall. The craving was flooding her with an intensity that said it would not be ignored. Her eyes were fixated on his profile as she pushed her body away from the wall behind it.

“Don’t underestimate the small and incredibly curious, Hunter.” She wanted to feel his neck beneath her hand, his wrist. She was so cold and he was filling the air with warmth between them. “We are all monsters given the right circumstances.”

[Hunter (DELETED 2392)]

It could be said that Hunter was not the most intelligent, observant or even the most sensitive of men. Even in spite of all his supernatural gifts, which were supposed to make him more than just your average Joe, Hunter was still at the disadvantage. He bumbled through life, reacting to things on impulse and making his mind up on the spot. There was little planning, little strategy involved in his life unless somebody else was making the call. Hunter followed orders very well, he didn’t have much of an initiative, and maybe that was why he was perfect for life as a soldier. Defending the weak helped his ego a lot and since he was never opposed to violence as a last resort, he really was pretty perfect for the role he was in. Hunter was also the happy-go-lucky type, who fell into wins and victories and equally stumbled into problems and disasters. Like tonight, when all he thought about was going out for a stroll, for a patrol even, and how he’d found himself battling a Mooncalf and rescuing a damsel. Only, that damsel wasn’t in as much distress as Hunter had first imagined and it looked as though the tables were quickly turning again.

Alice, as she’d named herself, was looking at him like how a wolf would size up a deer, or maybe the way a drug addict regarded its next hit. Steel eyes made a definitive trail down from curious blues to the pink of his neck. Hunter swallowed hard and tensed instinctively. He didn’t know whether he should reach for a weapon or not as she pushed herself off the wall and came a little closer. Hunter definitely felt like she was stalking him and thanks to the wall at his back, at least she couldn’t slip behind him and attack. Blue eyes kept a stern watch of the female. He felt a chill in the air, not the kind a cold wind would whip up because it was actually pretty humid in the sewers, but the kind of ghostly chill that comes out of nowhere. The fine hairs of Hunter’s arms stood on end and he felt his skin break out in gooseflesh. He was expecting to see his breath mist next, but even the air in his lungs seemed to freeze inside of him. It was like Alice was enchanting the oxygen with her words, chilling it enough so that when it entered his bones, he froze on the spot.

“Are you threatening me, Alice?” Hunter asked, suddenly finding himself thawed. “After I just helped you out back there?”

He was being cocky and he knew it – not the smartest plan when dealing with a Blood Sucker, but Hunter just could never help himself. Even when he knew he was outmatched, he still gave it a go before tucking his tail between his legs and running. Hunter didn’t have much proof besides the way she looked at him, the way she seemed to breathe in the air about him and savour the smell of man-meat in the way a child might drool over the aroma of freshly baked pastries. Hunter didn’t have much proof that she was a Vampire but for how she seemed to take a massive hit and keep going, or how she was even aware of the Catacombs and its monsters. She just seemed too at home in this place and that only came from desensitisation. She had a lot of experience here and your average Human was not even aware this place existed, let alone fought off its inhabitants and lived to tell the tale. Hunter didn’t have much in the way of proof, but he could get that proof if he needed it. If Alice was going to threaten him, for instance…