S & S [S & S]

[Mordechai]

The killer sat silently, his gaze on the diminutive allurist lost to the day sleep beside him. Reaching out slowly he let one finger trace the defined curve of her silken cheek as he began to softly chant. It had happened again. Closing his eyes as the calloused pads of his fingertips committed each contour of her exotic features to his memory, he felt the flow of power trickle through his veins as his gradually entered her body amplifying and increasing her blood. The giant hand almost totally encapsulated her head as the fingers gently probed the gunshot wound, then spread and caressed her silken tresses until it was hidden from casual sight. Turning as he stood, the killer stood to his full seven foot four height, and let a stretch roll though his muscles, ending with a sharp sounding *craaack*, as he snapped his head first one way, then the other. This was the second time this week, and this was not the first week it had happened. Hunters. ******* hunters. The secret was out, and now it was even worse than before. Hunters sneaking in to lairs during the day, attacking unsuspecting, and often innocent vampires. A low growl rumbled deep within his chest as he stared down at the beauty nestled so alluringly at his feet. This was at least the fourth time since he had known and come to care for the sensuous owner of the Necropolis, that she had been attacked by hunters, grievous wounds that had taken days to heal.

She had come to him. She had left the familiar environs of her business, and come to the castle, seeking his company and protection, and he had failed her. The cowards never came for him. Three hundred forty pounds of muscle wrapped in leather and oilskin, adorned with stainless, D2, chrome molly, and the bittersweet scent of hoppes #9. He would welcome them with open arms, ,and crush then like the bugs they were. But the cowards only attacked the weak, the defenseless. Hiding in the shadows, they would sneak out when he left to hunt the lionelli, firing into the sleeping beauty as if she were a base animal, instead of the beautiful, intelligent owner of a business that actually catered more to the human infestation of this city then it did the small population of vampires that called Harper Rock home. The normally stoic countenance was dark with anger, as he slowly unstrapped the harness of the two handed claymore on his back and rested it next to the customized assault rifle tucked next to Amaranthia. Next came the matched set of Uncle Mike’s drop holsters from his thighs and the custom Bianchi leather shoulder holster. Night had fallen, the hunters would be hidden like cowards, but if they came in his absence this time she would be well armed… armed with some of the best weaponry money could buy, and mastercraftsmen could make. He had forged the blade himself, and Velveteen had reworked the rifle, while the pistols had spent nights on his bench, each surface painstakingly hand- lapped till it was mated to its bed with silken smoothness. Divested of all but the two vintage Fairbairne-Sykes slipped within the spiked NewRocks that shod his feet as he turned towards the door to the castle. Stepping outside the killer took one step them lept towards the sky, body shimmering, then transforming into a massive harpy eagle that drove its wings against the air launching into the night sky, then circling ever wider as it headed south towards the Necropolis.

Mordechai was on the hunt.

[Sage]

Sage wasn’t sure how the whole thing happened. One minute he was in the castle that really needed a huge renovation and a swat team to clear it out and the next he was standing in an alley with his hands shaking like he was the crack addict he wasn’t waiting for the tweaking to stop. His feet carried him in a repetitive pace back and forth with the weapon in his hand. How did he do what he did? He had no idea but there was no shaking that he was bleeding and there was a reason...actually three. Or it felt like three. He was too upset to think clearly.

He tugged the cheap second hand store jacket from his shoulders and patted down the pockets until he found the miniature Altoids tin and his newly acquired ‘finders keepers’cellphone. Grabbing both with twitching fingers he stuffed the tin into his front pants pocket and began hitting the raised keys to sort out what phone number he had stored that Salvador would actually answer if he called it. The random unfamiliar numbers sandwiching Sal’s name were all too easy to hit instead in his anxious state of mind.

“Bonjour!” The sound of an over enthusiastic voice filled his ear as he cradled the device on his shoulder and held it down with back portion of his outer jaw.
“****!” His bloody hand tugged the phone as soon as his head lifted to free it. “God damn it!” He growled out feeling for the first time in longer than he could remember a genuine borderline internal anger and fear filled storm rolling in.

His fingers went through the steps again dancing over the too small keyboard to bring up the contacts the phone contained. Out of forty listed there were only a couple that even pertained to him. He came into its possession the night prior after nearly stepping on it in the streets. His tangled up dusty curls flipped and flopped in the wind as it whipped around as the fall night air does before it finally gives into the full on assaulting force of winter. The slick coat of his own blood made the pad of his thumb useless since the keyboard essentially became a crimson slip and slide instead of being useful.

“I’m going to ******* die right here.” He stated with a tone of disbelief. “Sal, the clock is ticking.”

Finally another attempt was in the works as his feet carried him in a fast determined ‘need to get out of Dodge’ pace towards the first set of lights on in a visible building. Slowly he had the list of contacts moving towards the section where Sal’s name should appear. That was when his thumb got impatient and slid over the call button. The sound of a connection had him put the phone to his ear as he limped into a slow jog through the street to the other side where it appeared a place was open for him to walk into. He felt weaker with each step and by the time he reached the doors his hand roughly pushed forward with the strength he still possessed and sent it open to kick back at the wall and whatever else may be behind it. A voicemail played out in his ear. Stone something or rather was all he made out before he curled his fingers tightly around the slice of recycled manufactured platinum, plastic, palladium or who the hell knows what went into a cell phone.

A face caught sight of him and stepped around a counter that appeared to be selling everything but what he needed. Sage found his feet slowing before he was ready for them to. His damp fingers gripped the edge of the counter in front of him and he managed to pull himself up to brace the weight of his body on it. Hands at his upper arms were followed by a voice speaking with a hint of something that likely was transplanted like many were in the city. It was sharp, loud and insistent as a force started to tug at him from behind to sit down. He growled at the way it was compromising his attempt to stay where he was.

“I will be fine. Just give me a second.”

“No, Seer. Seat!” The shopkeeper protested.

His hand batted back at the interference and once again his thumb jabbed at the keyboard effectively bringing up contacts and somehow was lucky at landing on Salvador’s most current number. More pulling was met with a turn of his head and a fix of this ocean hued eyes.

“I said back off. I…” The sound of the voicemail gave him hope. It was Salvador. A beep signaled he could leave a message.
“Sal,I need you to call me back as soon as you get this.”

He groaned at the pain coursing through his body as a second set of hands gripped him and pulled him roughly into a seat. The tell tale chirp of a battery announcing it was out of juice had him looking at the cell in his hand with disgust while the screen went black. Now how the hell was he going to get through to Salvador? How was he going to let him know he barely survived getting jumped by a fang filled crew of weapon toting goons when he was trying to make a buy? And how as he going to tell him he accidentally shot some woman who was so striking in her features that she either was entirely in the wrong place at the wrong time or he was soon going to be dead meat for shooting the Queen of the Castle.

“Seat! NOW!” A slap of cold was delivered to his forehead before his eyes rolled back and his lights went out.

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

"I was this close!" Salvador held up his right hand and showed just how close he had been in terms of the distance between his thumb and pointer finger. At best someone could fit two pieces of paper between both fingers, which was ridiculous in his mind to miss the cut off by fractions of a second. "Can't you help a guy out?" He looked at the guy at the door with big, brown eyes that pleaded his case, only to get a 'sorry, man. Come back tomorrow.' The over-sized door slammed closed behind the guy and quite literally in Salvador's face as he hoped that by following the guy, he would relent.

"Hijo de puta." Salvador sputtered under his breath before he sighed and shook his head. This shelter had been his last hope, as he had been closer to this shelter than any other one in the city. And since they all seemed to close their doors at just about the same time, Salvador was screwed. Which meant Sage was too. Either they were going to rough it on the streets in some corner of some alley, or some place close to that, or they were going to have to find someone who didn't mind a couple strangers in their place, and bed.

Salvador whipped out the phone that Lincoln had got him, from the upper pocket of his white, second hand, button down, per the necessities and requirements of his job. His plan had been to call Sage to see where they were meeting up at and to relay the bad news-which Sage would in return maybe give Salvador some good news; or at least promising news, but first the voice mail that was left on his cell. It could be a client for Bitr. When Salvador heard it was Sage, he couldn't help but grin. He started walking towards the nearest train station while the message finished and proceeded to 'return the call,' as prompted at the end of the voicemail, by pressing the '7' key. Only to be disappointed by an immediate voicemail.

Salvador immediately hung up and scrolled through his contacts for Sage's number, hoping that by the time he went to all this work, that the guy would pick up. Again, only more disappointment riddled Salvador and some slight...concern. Their trio had more or less become a duo lately, the thought of being not part of Sage's life, or Roxi's life at more or less the same time scared Salvador to the core. They were his foundation, his backbone and his reason for existing. Sage had saved his butt a few times from unintentional trouble, where would Salvador be without his cuppy cake anymore?

Salvador pocketed the phone for now, and brought his hands to the back of his hair where he tightened the headband around the back of his head. He didn't wear this for any fashion sense, it was mostly worn to hide the fact that Salvador hadn't washed his hair in....four days now? Or maybe five. Lost count, but it was definitely after his last fun time with a client. With not knowing which direction to go in, Salvador kept walking towards the station. At some point Sage would try and get with him in some way. Salvador was sure of it. He needed to be sure of it and make it out to seem like that was what was going to happen. Getting to the train station kept that train of thought.

[Mordechai]

The wind was a velvety whisper as it slid across the long flight feathers of the massive eagle circling high above Gullsborough. Eyes that could spot a rabbit a mile away silently swiveling over the sharp hooked beat, take in every face he saw on the streets, cataloging it deep with in his mind. Each face was cross referenced both against the humans he had seen in the castle, and the growing folder of jpegs his security cameras were compiling in and about the Necropolis. The high definition cameras made it easy to differentiate between the upper scale, paying customers, and the street scum that were most likely responsible for the slurs, tagging, and damage that had become the norm to some, after the fall of the masquerade. The violence towards some was understandable, there were many he himself wouldn't mind adding an orifice to... But the attacks on Amaranthia had to stop... They would stop... If he had to kill every last human in the city.

There. Stumbling down the street. A dazed, drugged look on his face. Blood on his neck. This would be the start. Mordechai recognized the face, both from wandering the castle, meeting with initiates, trading his pennies, for a heaven that did not exist, to wandering the alleys near the Necro. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew that it might be coincidence, but tonight it did not matter. The hunt had to start somewhere, it might as well be with this one. no one would miss another strung out addict gone from the streets, another waste of flesh, succumbing to path he chose. The eagle spiraled closer as it watched the prey stagger into a nearby business. Spreading its wings in a flare as it entered the close alley, the eagle shimmered and disappeared. A tall resolute figure strode from the shadows cloaking the alley entrance. This humans choices were sure to end with a shortened lifespan, he just did not yet know how close the angel of death stalked his footsteps this night.

[Sage]

“I think he is coming around.”

The random voices punctured the constricting yet serene silence that Sage’s unconscious mind was held by. It effectively gave him a reason to claw free of the hold he was under. The following words were like fingernails dragging down the surface of a chalkboard. Each one grated at his senses as they improved with registering what was around him. Sirens increased quickly with their ear pinching decibels. That was enough to peel his eyelids upward in rapid response to what should serve as a universal warning for an emergency nearby. He needed to pull over, get out of the way. If he could only feel his feet he could react. Instead his ocean hued orbs rolled upward in their dry sockets then took a fuzzy glance side to side.

“Did they say how long it would take to get here?”

There was enough panic in the voice to scare him into moving from where he was on his back staring at the ceiling above him. What he saw was not familiar. And neither was the skull clenching pain in his noggin. An assessing hand cupped his forehead and set a burn across his forehead with the contact of his palm to his own skin.

“What the ****?” He groaned out as he turned just enough to the right to sit up and not feel like he was tipping over. The shrill of sirens was enough for him to look around quickly despite the bone grinding pain it caused to do so. “You called the police?!”

Sage scrambled as fast as he could to his feet. That is all he needed. He had tickets he had not paid, people looking for him and soon as his name went into any law enforcement system he would have a host of reasons they could hold him on. The sound of a gunshot ricocheted through his brain while the sensation of his trigger finger pulling back took over. He was going to be arrested for murder. They were on to him. His eyes took inventory of the shop and spotted the back door that likely would lead to an office or an alley access.

“Watch out!” He growled and swung his hands in protest as several hands started pulling at him to bring him to sit back down.

Voices on the nearby street were followed by vehicle doors closing. All of it had his feet sliding in an instant race for the rear of the shop. He felt the burn of his insides reminding him his head wasn’t the only part of his body he should be concerned about. His left hand dived down into his pocket expecting to find the cell phone he would use to call Salvador once again in desperation. Instead his fingers bottomed out and found nothing but roughly finished seams.

“HE WEEEENT THAT WAY! GEET HEEEEM!” The screaming shopkeeper sent repeated final warnings.

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

There was the faint sounds of sirens in the far distance, not that that wasn't normal in a place like Harper Rock. Salvador wondered what it was this time? A cop rushing to the scene of some shoot out between rival gangs? Running to save a family from someone who broke inside their house and didn't expect them to be home? Or maybe it was a paramedic unit on its way to try and save the life of some poor sap that had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Salvador just shook his head and stuff his hands in his pockets as he climbed the steps to the train station.

He grabbed the first, cold metal bench and claimed it with a flop of his body. The cold had the guy's eyes nearly popping out of his head, feeling the metal bite his *** practically. Salvador jumped up, and bounced around, before he moved to a large sign that relayed to everyone where each train stopped and at what time. He used the sign to fight off the blowing wind, as a sort of protector against the cold elements of Harper Rock. The train to Wickbridge came to a halt and let passengers off, before more got on. Salvador tipped his head back and wondered how much longer it would be before the train he needed would come. If it was on schedule, he had nine more minutes to go. He sighed and cowered behind the large metal and plastic sign again.

The sirens seemed to be getting closer with each minute that passed, which had Salvador's attention. He turned to look in the direction of where they would be coming, but didn't see anything. Not at first. But once he squinted his eyes, Sal saw the familiar flight of Sage, zipping by in a hurried haste. And flashing lights encroaching on him. Well, now what did his delicious little cupcake do? Salvador put four fingers in his mouth and whistled loudly, trying to get Sage's attention. This was nothing new for Salvador, he'd done it time and time again at open events in parks, and the city streets, when they tried to score free crap. "Cuppycake!" Sal waved a hand and motioned for him to come this way, as quickly as possible.