Double, Double Toil and Trouble [Open]

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis growled as she woke from her sleep. The sun had just set and she pushed herself up from the bed, pulled her clothes from her body and dressed in a pair of black pants and a simple black t-shirt. She ran quick fingers through her hair before she pulled on a pair of black heels. Then, without putting her hair up, she stood and began to pace along the floor of her room. Strangely enough, rage was not exactly something that she was used to feeling. However, after yet another sleep she still felt weak, weaker than when she had first been turned and she couldn’t quite work it out. The sounds of her pacing thumped upon the wooden floor and she was likely to break a heel, but the fledgling couldn’t bring herself to care. Rage was fuelling her form at that point and she could barely bring herself to care about anything at that point.

A frustrated sigh parted her lips and she made her way out of her room, but instead of simply closing the door, she slammed it shut behind her. The woman began to stalk down the hallway towards the stairs, her brown eyes glaring as she went. Shadis looked like a crazy woman, with her hair sticking out in crazy directions, her haphazard dressing and the scowl that turned her lips downwards. She was a vain creature, but at this point in time, she just couldn’t bring herself to care. Sleep was disappointing and no matter what she did, no matter how much she address how she slept, in bed, on the floor and even under the bed. Nothing worked. The woman constantly woke up weak and tired, on this particular night however, she woke up on the wrong side of the bed... So to speak.

The woman made her way down the stairs and crossed the wooden floor to the bar. A soon as she approached, she seated herself down upon the stool and ordered a whiskey. She hoped that having a drink would help her settle down, to shake off the rage that boiled underneath her skin. Every muscle was tensed and taunt, almost as if she was ready to throw a punch. Or, maybe she would just walk it off. She didn’t know just yet, she just hoped that the familiar sounds of the bar that surrounded her would help. The familiar clinking of ice tumbling into a glass, the balls on the pool table being smacked around. She closed her eyes as she listened to the humans laughing and their hearts that beat within their chests. They were so ignorant, they didn’t realize that a vampire was among their midst and it only made the whole thing a little sad.

Finally, her drink arrived and her brown hues focused upon the drink that had been placed in front of her. It was then that she realized that even if she did drink it, chances were, she would throw it right back up and a hiss passed her lips. What was she thinking? That’s right, she wasn’t and she growled under her breath. Her rage returned and her right hand moved forwards to pick the simple drink up from the bar top. Silently, within her own mind, she knew it was simply because she just didn’t get a good enough sleep, but she couldn’t help but feel the rage that flowed through her body. It was almost as if the rage had possessed her body and she turned to throw the glass at a wall. A cry of frustration parted her lips and a snarl soon followed.

”Why?” The woman hissed out and she felt a hand fall upon her shoulder. Shadis straightened up and turned to view the human that had dared to come near and her lips twitched downwards. “Miss, please calm down. Perhaps you might want to talk about it.” The gall, she thought to herself and her fingers also twitched with the anger that she felt. Anger that needed to be channelled and she was more than happy to channel it into the human that stood before her. ”Calm down huh? Calm down?” She gritted as she fisted her hand ready to throw a punch. ”I’m bloody tired and I woke up in a bad mood, I’m not going to calm down just because you said to.” She ground back and lifted her fisted hand to throw a simple punch.

[Trahir Trahison]

The Paths. The initial defining attribute of the vampire. To be turned as a Killer usually meant a slow degrading of one's emotional attachment to the world around them. It meant the you were soon able to withstand the rays of the sun. It meant being able to tunnel through stone, dirt and concrete. It meant being death. It meant a palpable aura that wanted others in the area that a predator walked among them seeking that death.

Trahir was an apt student when he put his mind to learning things. He had been, as long as he could remember, granted that wasn't to far back, a voracious reader. Everything about vampires that could be googled, found at a library or seen in a museum had been scanned through by ice blue eyes in search of each and every nugget of truth about their kind throughout history. Trahir was studying the occult.

His studies also encompassed his daily interactions with others of his kind. Usually content to ignore the other vampires of the city, Trahir had recently taken an interest in others of his ilk. He'd been planning on siring lately, he was only giving the idea time to sit and fester in his mind to weigh the pros and cons as he researched those things he would need to teach her. Each Path contained it's own problems. He needed to know them all. There was no guarantee that each vampire sired by his would turn to the Killer Path, he had noted that so far, each had.

The research fresh in his mind, when the young woman walks in in a huff, displaying signs that she may be able to lose it, drawing every eye in the place to her Trahir guess Allurist then rose to his feet to draw closer in case there was a problem. A pissed off vampire was like a fast acting toxin to the Masquerade. The last thing Trahir wanted was a huge debacle he would likely get caught in caused by a vampire he didn't even know. She did look familiar though. He thinks back and places her face at the dingy bar he'd wandered into the other night. His first thought is "Rack-feeder".

Trahir has in his head, developed his own language for things of a vampiric nature. He doesn't see them as mortals anymore at all. From the moment a vampire opens newly turned eyes until the end of either time or their own lives, Trahir judges each vampire he meets as just that. A vampire. With a strong sense of morales, twisted though they may be, any vampire that violates his perceived notions on how a proper Kindred ~should~ act, quickly is quickly lessenedin the young Killers esteem.

This young vampire in front of his is showing signs that she is about to get violent. She has the look about her. She smells of trouble. As Trahir pushes his way to the woman she proves his thoughts accurate, launching the glass against the wall sending tiny glittering shards dancing into the carpet to embed and hide there, waiting for the unwary to reach out and spill their precious blood on the crystalline edges. Now he moves faster. Not so fast as to appear unnatural in the eyes of the kine who played unwitting spectator to the byplay that was being laid out before them. Fast enough to reach out though with what appears a casual maneuver to onlookers, his hand laying on top of her forearm and his grip around it firm enough to hold her for swinging, light enough not to cause pain. If she was going to "vamp out" right then and there, Trahir didn't want his immediate actions to read as an attack in the woman's mind.

"Not here dear. You don't want to get us thrown out of the place before we even have an appetizer do you?" Trahir throws the opportunity to calm down and resume the act of being human and normal out there for her should she choose to be reasonable. If not, it was worth a try.

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis felt the hand that had seemingly come out of no-where, grip her forearm and her gaze was drawn to the hand. She drew in a deep breath, feeling the simple motion expand her dead lungs before she exhaled and listened to the words spoken. It was then that she noticed, however, that as she looked up at the man who held her forearm, that he too was vampire. He had no heart beat and a frown descended upon her brow. She didn’t recognize him, at least, she didn’t think so. A blink followed as her gaze flickered over the man’s face and noted the blue eyes paired off with the wavy brown hair that stopped short by his shoulders. ”Food really isn’t what’s on my mind right now, but…” She forced her fisted hand to relax as she closed her eyes, suddenly feeling a wave of weakness crash over her once again. It felt as if she had started to become weaker every day since she had turned.

Slowly, she lifted a her free hand to tuck a stray black lock behind her ear and managed a smile towards the human that she had been about to punch. ”My apologies, I really don’t know what came over me, I don’t normally get angry like that. I’m just lucky that my friend here was able to catch my mistake before I regretted it.” A nod soon followed her statement as her gaze shifted back to the man that held her arm. Who was this vampire? She didn’t really recognize him, but then again, she didn’t know anyone she met in Harper Rock. Elliot seemed to be caught up in his own family to recognize that she was struggling, not that she bothered to let him know about it. That was the prideful side of her and for the life of her she just couldn’t figure out what was wrong with her. Elliot was drunk most days, so asking him would be pointless.

The human male nodded his head and moved off to the bar. This left her and the stranger alone. Well, alone as anyone could be in a room full of humans. ”I uh… Thank you for stopping me back there. I doubt Elliot would be too pleased if I started a brawl in his pub…” She paused for a moment to glance over behind the bar, just to make sure that he wasn’t lurking behind there. ”I honestly don’t know what came over me, it’s unlike me in a big way. I’ve been feeling… Unwell lately.” That is downplaying it, she thought to herself as she tried to recuperate some kind of dignity. Her free hand lifted then to gently press to the man’s hand upon her forearm and her gaze lifted to peer into the man’s blue gaze. ”You can let go now, I think that I have it under control.”

Whether that statement was true or not would be seen as the night wore on, for now though, she truly did think that she had a hold of it. At least Elliot hadn’t been around to see this, he had enough on his plate as it were without his childe adding to it. Shadis held a hand up to the bartender and the familiar man nodded his head before she glanced back to the stranger who had stopped her from making a fool of herself, more than she already had. ”The name is Shadis and whatever drink you want is on me,” she said softly as she moved to seat herself down at the bar. her gaze still had not wavered from the man, who was he exactly and what brought him here? Lancaster’s normally drew in the regulars and Shadis had been going to Lancaster’s ever since she had turned. She didn’t recognize this man at all.

”Tell me, why did you stop me? You don’t seem like the type that helps out random… People.” She had said ‘people’ because there were too many humans close by within earshot and she remember Elliot’s words about keeping the vampiric community a secret. Well, she was glad that she had remember that at least, but then again, this man had given her time to take a breath and gather herself before she blew it wide open for them. Pride told her that she should leave, because staying was just shameful. How could she not have handled her rage? Perhaps it may be because it had been building up over the past couple of weeks. She pressed her hand into the bar, palm flat to keep it from shaking. Her gaze however, flickered back over the man’s build and she bit her bottom lip. Shadis would be lying if she said that she wasn’t interested in the stranger. He was handsome in his own way.

[Trahir Trahison]

Releasing the woman’s arm when she asks, Trahir arches a brow at the sudden plethora of interrogatives spilling forth. Why, what’s, introductions, things that Trahir usually has taken care of before ever laying eyes on a person. This one, he doesn’t even know her lineage. A creature of habit, a habit which includes research before acting, Trahir finds himself at a bit of a loss in the initial exchange. Falling back on his instinct for such situations the Killer gives a slight inclination of his head to show he is following her line of questioning, a simple acknowledgement without answer, and then turns and ushers the woman away from prying ears, closer to the dance floor as it were.

One hand comes up, an invitation for her to place her own in his grasp and the other arm moves forward, his hand coming to rest on her lower back. Though Trahir is not much one for Irish traditional folk music, the scene before him is what it is. Ordering a drink in an easily spillable Martini glass is likely to attract more attention than it is to disperse it. For all anyone knows outside of the two of them, they are a pair of lovers on the town, perhaps friends that share a passion for dance. He hopes she knows how to dance.

The Killer looks at her, his expression deadpan, his eyes resembling the eternal empty stare of the dead as he speaks, quietly, just enough to be heard at such range over the music and overall rumbling of the other customers.”I’m a firm believer in both the Masquerade and the belief that it can be upheld merely by our kind having a touch of class in a town without.”

The young Killer gives a half-smile, an expression that finds it’s place on his countenance with the easy of a sycophant but his posture that of one used to being catered to in both ego and affection. He is no Allurist, the aura of danger emanating from him in waves, the same aura keeping other couples out of earshot, tells his Path with no words needed to those “in the know” about such matters. “Where is your sire while you are going through such… troubles?”

With the topic on his mind, he can’t help but be curious. He wonders if Corentine or his childe Revelation had gone through such growing pains.

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis had been momentarily thrown off guard when he had dragged her off to the dance floor and held out a hand to her. Slowly, she placed her hand into his and she felt his other hand come up to rest upon her lower back. Her other hand lifted, only to gently place it upon the man’s shoulder. She was no stranger to dancing, but she didn’t really know why they couldn’t have had the conversation by the bar where she could maybe force herself to learn how to keep down liquid. Her brown hues looked up at the man, her eyes looked into the man’s own blue pools as he spoke. If they were pulling off some charade, then she might as well play along with it. He spoke of a Masquerade and another frown descended upon her brow. That was until he asked about her sire and where he might be.

A sigh caressed her lips as she angled her head away from his gaze so then she could view the humans that seemed to stay back and away from the two. It was strange, but then again, the vampire that she danced with gave off a vibe, a dangerous one. The fledgling wasn’t sure whether she should be talking with him, let alone dancing, but he did stop her from doing something stupid… ”How about we play quid pro quo. I’ll tell you something that you want to know and then vice versa, comprende?” She paused for a moment before she spoke once more. ”Elliot is… Probably getting drunk. I’m sure Charlie is probably near to keep him company though. The last time I followed him to make sure that he wouldn’t do something stupid, Charlie ended up showing up. Someone who he had adopted. Elliot is going through… A rough patch and I just don’t want to add to that. I can’t help him because his problems date back before I even came to Harper Rock.”

The swaying of their steps allowed her to continue looking at the crowd and not at the man who seemed distant. She didn’t even know his name and yet she was talking to him. It was strange, for she had never needed to talk to someone before until now. Until the frustration of her sleeping patterns were beginning to send her into fits of rage. How much longer before she goes into a rage that no one could stop? However, the simple movements of the dance they were in seemed to calm the rage that she had felt from before. She looked back to the man, her brown eyes challenged him to not answer a simple question. ”So tell me, do I get the pleasure of knowing thy name? You did after all, saved me from pulling a stupid stunt before. I just woke up angry and you kinda made me stop and think. Gave me a head space to pull out of.”

It had been lucky that he had even been there at all, otherwise she would probably be fighting off the bouncers. She wasn’t exactly sure just as to how she would have told Elliot about it if that had been the case. Shadis listened to the thump, of the heart beats that surrounded the two and she was reminded that the two of them were both predators in a room full of prey. The fledgling leaned forwards to rest her head against the man’s chest, this was just so then she would be able to sell the whole ‘lover/friend’ angle. Not only that, but for now it held her in place, it ordered constraint. As tired and weak as she was, strength to restrain herself was running on low. So, she simply drew upon the strength of the one she danced with.

[Trahir Trahison]

As she spoke about people having breakdowns and others coming to the rescue, the emotionally dulled vampire furrows his brow. Though it is done with a mixture of confusion and vague resentment of the weakness embodied by emotions he suspects the expression is not far off one of concern, probably the correct reaction to the flood of news coming from the woman in his arms.

As her lips move Trahir watches them, pictures them screaming. He tries to picture the tone of her voice raised to a frantic pitch, tries to picture a hybrid of terror and pain in her eyes and him standing there watching the light leave them, her body smoldering and turning brittle as flesh chars into ash to be blown away in the wind.

As she asks after his name he gives a small smile, more at his thoughts than the question itself and he says simply,"I am Trahir Trahison."

She seems lost. Vulnerable. The predator within him perks up. It's a pity she is not a mortal. He is in a mood to snap bones and had recently decided to avoid killing his own kind. He spins her slowly, drawing her back in to settle against him once more. His name was circulated on Crownet by his adopted sire, though the other names she mentioned, Elliot and Charlie were unknown to him. They likely mingled in different social circle and venues.

The last thing she says though, it sparks his attention. Woke up irritable. That had happened to him months ago, only the comfort of the grave had been enough to assuage the beast and return strength to his dead limbs since that day. "I've heard of such a thing. I think it had to do with sleeping location. Have you tried resting in a more... traditional locale for our kind?"Trahir Trahison Another PC Difficult Intellectual Shadis Determine nature of restlessness/irritation Succeeded

Though he himself abandoned his first childe, his recent interest in creating an equal to his only glorious nature as a predator brings a frown to his face hearing her words. That, combined with a healthy case of megalomania mixed with a pinch of judgmental nature causes him to shake his head slightly. "Really Shadis, your sire should be more attentive to projects he begins. The first few months are... formative."

Was she taught enough yet to be out on her own? Trahir wondered if her sire, like his own was useless and absentee.

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

The man had spoken and called himself Trahir, something that she nodded in response to and filed it back into her mind. Shadis was very good at remembering people, it was one of the many qualities that she possessed and was thankful for. It had helped her more than once to remember important information that also came with remembering a name. A smile graced her lips as he spun her outwards, only to draw her back in. This time however, her hand rested upon his chest and she angled her head so then her brown hues could peer into his seemingly dull gaze. ”Trahir, I don’t mean to come off as rude at this precise moment, but I didn’t even think that our kind existed until I changed.” She turned her gaze elsewhere then and she caught the gaze of a married man sitting beside his wife. Shadis only knew that he was married by the gold ring that graced his left hand, a dead give away really.

His own brown hues had been watching her and Trahir dance and she offered a smile to the man. Shadis chuckled softly as the man looked at his wife who seemed to be more concerned with the menu, before he looked back to her. He simply smirked as he swiped back his short sandy locks, before she glanced away from the two and back to Trahir. ”So I’m not exactly sure as to why you seem to think that I would know what the traditional sleeping locale for our kind would be. Elliot seems to sleep just fine in his bed and I just don’t know why I simply cannot. It is a puzzle, that is for sure. However, I need for it to be resolved if I am to begin rituals.” Indeed, she needed a level head if she was going to begin rituals. Begin to put theory into practice. The woman had been putting it off on the account of her condition and her being so new to her life, however, Elliot always seemed to be dealing with his own problems of late.

”My… Situation is a little different than the more willing that were changed. I guess you could say, I was the unplanned child.” She cast her gaze back over to the married man and another smile graced her lips for him. The man was watching the two dance from the corner of his eye while attempting to be attentive to his wife who appeared to be talking. ”I happened along at his worst time and although it was bad timing, he changed me anyway, because he cared.” A sigh graced her lips then as she shook her head, ”I can’t really blame him for not really wanting to pay too much attention to me.” Which was the truth. Well, her own truth anyway. She didn’t want to bother him, plus the pride within told her that she shouldn’t beg her own sire to help her with her own problems.

The fledgling thought that it would look weak in his eyes. Who on Earth wanted a weak childe? After the fiasco with some stranger that Elliot had apparently known, she wanted to become strong because her blood burned for revenge. No one laid a hand upon her and expected her not to retaliate eventually. She wasn’t going to let the slight go unpunished. Shadis’s angled her head to the right before her gaze returned back to Trahir after she had made sure that she had caught the human’s attention, it simply wasn’t her fault that the man was unfaithful. While it was true that she could simply not be an antagonist in the situation, she just didn’t care. His matters concerned her none because she just simply didn’t know the human. Why care about someone that she didn't know? Besides, all that she really wanted from him was breakfast. ”Tell me Trahir, what does it matter to you if my sire teaches me or not?”

[Trahir Trahison]

A can of worms. That was the suitable expression for what the young lady had just opened with her last question. What did it matter what he sire teaches? Well... "I am walking down the street minding my own business. Perhaps I'm coming from an operahouse. I just witnessed the glory of Renée Fleming performing her famed role in Capriccio. I'm minding my own business but suddenly I'm surrounded by hunters. They don't care that I'm content to lead my simple existence watching the stages come and go or trying to grow the perfect White Baneberry out on my farm. They care only for the fact I am not as they are. I am a Kindred and they are hunters. The only link being that they sat across a packed bar room at Lancaster's and witnessed a woman with fangs who didn't appear in their make-up mirror punching a bartender in the face. That glance which told them said woman was not normal also showed them that I wasn't. Had your sire taught restrained the mirror would have remained in the purse and I would not be getting accosted at an opera house."

Trahir motioned over her shoulder toward a woman who at the moment is nonchalantly fixing her makeup in a small handheld mirror. "Even if that seems a little far-fetched, it's the reason why that woman will not survive the night." He spins her so she can see the potential threat over his shoulder.

"Even if you were turned last night there are iconic things signified by what we are my dear. Blood, coffins, a fear of sunlight being but three of them. I believe you should attempt to sleep in one of those. Which of them I will leave up to you but if you choose the third I recommend a spot out of sight of the Kine. You are not your Sire and will have different... proclivities... than he."

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis moved with the spin and her brown hues caught sight of the woman with the mirror. A simple smirk found its way to her lips as she was pulled back in and she glanced back to Trahir. ”You sir, is quite interesting… To a point.” Her hand found its way back to his shoulder and she simply shook her head. ”Only simply because you mentioned an Opera house. I don’t know anyone, apart from you who would bother with such things.” A soft chuckle caressed her lips then as she glanced over her shoulder towards the married man who had been her target. The fledgling was quite aware that Trahir meant to kill the woman with the mirror, but it was none of her business to interfere. His scenario was a valid point however, because she knew that she would appear as a corpse in the woman’s mirror.

A corpse which she hated to think about. The woman preferred to think about what she once was before she was turned. Maybe it was a vain thing, but that was exactly how she was. She cared about how she looked to herself, she couldn’t give a damn about what others thought about her. Shadis wasn’t exactly sure just as to why they were dancing, but the man liked Oprah, so she guessed that it was normal to see him dancing or dancing with someone else. ”So, Trahir, I know that you planned to end her, but how would such a predator like yourself do it?” She didn’t specify just as to who she meant, but she was sure that he would understand just as to who she was talking about. After all, it was he who had said that the woman with the mirror wouldn’t last the night. She did wonder though, if death was the answer to it all.

If death did have to be the answer, then wouldn’t everyone have to die after casually peeking into a mirror? Unless of course… Shadis’s brown hues glanced back over to the woman with the mirror, was she a vampire hunter? Or did she know of any vampire hunters? Was she there to scope them out before notifying vampire hunters that they were vampires? It was at this point that she wished that she wasn’t so new to this whole vampire thing. Perhaps the best way to learn was through trial and error, something which she was mostly used to doing. Suddenly, she pulled away from him then and swayed through the crowd towards the bar. Shadis was tired of dancing and she wanted a drink. At least, she was tired of simply talking and dancing. Silently, she glanced over her shoulder towards him and smiled then before she approached the bartender.

The bartender stopped and placed a simple drink upon the bar, ”Thank you for holding on to my drink. You’re a true gentleman in this world full of brutes and rude patrons. I apologize for before…” She paused then as she leaned forwards to rest her forearms upon the bar counter. The woman looked up at him from underneath her eyelashes and her brown hues reflected a sense of pleading within them. ”If you could do me a tiny favour, please don’t tell Elliot. He has a lot on his plate as it is and I want nothing more than for him to not have to worry about this little incident. My friend here has already helped me out greatly, so Elliot really doesn’t need to know about this.” She lifted her hand then to take the glass of scotch from the bartender's hands and offered a smile to reassure him. The man gave a nod of his head, smirked and then moved off to serve other customers.

Silently, she turned around and pressed the small of her back into the bar, however, she offered a smirk to Trahir then. Oh she was more than comfortable in her skin and knew just how to position her body to get what she wanted.

[Trahir Trahison]

The vampire's eyes narrow slightly at the sudden retreat Shadis offered in the middle of their dance. The over the shoulder glance though, that catches his attention. He watches her move through the crowd. She was an Allurist. Trahir had no doubt of that. His gaze wanted to follow her, his eyes seeking her out when dancing bodies get in the way. Without anticipating his own reaction he has started on his way toward the bar. None of his Bloodline had turned to any Path other than Killer and he interaction with other vampires had been almost exclusively in groups or with Shadows like Doc, and Dominique, or Necromancers like Mortll and Velveteen. It was strange to be around an Allurist, to feel drawn in. He imagined being a mortal trapped in an Allurist’s aura, feeling drawn in as if a fly to a venus fly trap. It gave him a newfound respect for the Path. Perhaps they were more predatory than he’d initially been led to believe. There was also the fact he wasn’t feeling the all-too-familiar pangs of aggression that being around many of his kind brought out within him lately. Trahir stopped at the fringe of the crowd, a space of a few feet left between him and Shadis.

He wondered how her blood tasted, what memories were in each thick drop.The thought was sobering. He’d never craved the blood of another of his kind except for one vampire’s. Trahir immediately shifted his thoughts elsewhere. The thirst still burning with the thought of fresh blood be it vampire or human. Human only, he admonished himself mentally. Remember your place. You are a predator upon the herd, not to the others of your kind. The Killer was a sensual creature in his own ways. With his powers he could see the smallest of details, heightening his perceptive abilities to a level that had to be literally seen to be believed. The scent, the feel of things fascinated him, but taste was his main sense.

Right now though, it was sight that had his attention. The fledgling was as adept at using her looks to get her way as any older vampire he’d seen. Still, she had been about to cause a scene that could have exposed their kind. While Trahir didn’t believe the woman he’d pointed out was a hunter, or that she had noted them as being different, the lesson was there waiting to be taught. He let his eyes move pointedly from her face, down over her neck, a neck that, had she been human, he would have enjoyed nothing more than to sink his fangs into. They continued down the body, taking in the swell of her breasts, the concave curves of her waist and the flair of her hips, the length of her legs.

He draws his eyes back up the length of her body and to her face. “Aren’t you just… alluring.” It’s not so much a question as it is a statement. “How would you do it?” The question of course refers to the murder of the potential hunter in their midst but after his gaze has devoured her anyone nearby would likely be thinking other thoughts. They’d likely be considering other things with just the Allurist there.