Rat King [Atabei]

[Noel]

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Dreams.

Dreams were something of a bittersweet thing. They were neither bad nor good, mainly wisps of scenes that would fly by in the nick of time before Noel had the chance to grasp them. Sometimes he'd see contorted and screaming faces, highlighted in shades of pale icy blue, each carved into the backs of his eyelids. Other times, he'd get flashbacks of his life before Harper Rock, before the Zerilli, back when he was still a kid in Detroit, begging his Pop to take him to Chuck E. Cheese's for his birthday. Granted, those dreams usually ended with him going to Chuck E. Cheese's and the giant mouse mascot taking its head off to reveal Nico Zerilli, pointing a gun to his face. That was usually when he'd wake up.

He'd heard somewhere before that if you died in your dreams, you died in real life, like it was some kind of a shock to your system and your brain couldn't handle it so it just gave up. It was likely why Noel tried to remain sleeping when that gun was pointed to his face. Part of it was simply morbid curiosity, he wanted to know if it was true and hell, if it applied to vampires. Another part of him, just wanted it to be real. But no such luck. As always, his eyes snapped open right after he heard the click of the safety being shut off to the Colt Defender, Nico's signature pistol. His blurred vision adjusted on the right side, focusing up at the ceiling. There was always a second in which Noel found himself disoriented before it sank in that he'd fallen asleep in the sewers again. Mainly thanks to the stench of… well, sewage. And this time around, it seemed like he had company. Not too far away from where he'd chosen to lay, was a lithe figure with white hair with its back turned to him. That simply would not do. He didn't come to the sewers to fraternize with people, he came to them to do the exact opposite!

Fwoop!

The second Noel had attempted to rise up to his feet, he lost his footing and went careening into the nearest damp wall, landing face-first against the corroding bricks, jagged edges catching on one of the looser bit of skin on the left side of his face. he let out a low, muffled groan of pain against the wall, resting there for a second as he waited for the throbbing pain to subside before he pushed himself away and staggered around for a few steps, nearly crashing into his unwelcome company. He had to steady himself against a wall before he felt an itch at his neck that had been present since he awoke but had been overlooked in the Mystic's inevitable grumpiness.

"Mm…" He muttered as he pulled down the collar of his sweatshirt and pawed around carefully with his fingers to find the source which was eventually discovered to be two indents near his jugular. Had he been bitten? Noel's eyes widened and he pulled his collar back further, ducking his head to try and get a look, an effort that was physically impossible and ultimately, he came up unsuccessful. He'd heard of those humans, thieves of some sort, that drank from vampires but this was no mark left behind by a human. These marks felt like the ones he'd left on his meals after siphoning a pint.

His immediate reaction was to kick awake the other creature that had fallen asleep near him, the close proximity making them the primary suspect. But reason told him that no one that had drank blood from him would've stuck around and cozied up anywhere near him. Surely there had to be some kind of rule against vampires drinking from other vampires? It seemed, simply put, immoral. Noel rumbled sourly and pulling up the wrapping around his neck to cover his nose and mouth. Now he had to find two pints of blood to sustain himself for the night. No, he'd find his assailant first. He'd find them and shake them down is what he'd do. The Mystic nodded once, firmly, before righting himself and taking his first step forward… only to catch his foot against a loose brick and topple forward, landing, once more, on his poor, beat up face.

Curses, he thought morosely.

[Atabei Narcisse]

Atabei had certain 'rules' or 'procedures' when it came to living her life. She had learned from the time she had been sent to the dark place by the other vampires all those years ago. Atabei rarely traveled above ground, and if she did, Atabei rarely stayed above it, other than to do what she needed to do, before slipping back down into the depths of the earth. She picked the people she fed off of carefully. Never anyone above ground; the ones inside the vast tunnel system beneath the earth almost always seemed to be alone, and rarely taken care of. Easy pickings.

Typically, Atabei never had the desire to feed anymore. Ajamu had gifted her with a gift that seldom made Atabei thirst for any type of blood. Tonight, was a different story, however. After Atabei had spent some time in the human slums, she attained two wounds; one in her gut, the other in her right thigh. Nothing she wouldn't heal from, but it did slow her down, make the woman a little clumsy too. And thirsty. Atabei had made a trip throughout the chemical plant in search of Ajamu, but couldn't find the tan man on the main floor. Not willing to expel all her energy trying to find him, Atabei left the building and crawled down into the welcomed sight of darkness beneath the city streets.

Her bare feet traveled through the murky waters, filled with the occasional syringes and old coins she occasionally picked up when her feet came across them. When her muscle started to ache, it was a tall tale indication that she should find a quick bite to eat, and rest for a while until she regained her strength, or some of the wounds healed. The first vampire Atabei came across was a woman-she had seen her down in the sewers before. In fact, Atabei had fed off the woman before, who had taken off fleeing after shoving Atabei away. While Atabei was older than most other vampires, she was perhaps weaker than most vampires. Something Atabei came to realize sooner than later, which was why she was picky on who she fed on and where she got her 'prey' more or less at. Still, Atabei knew that she could probably get a little of what she needed off the woman before Atabei was thwarted, so Atabei slowly made her move to the woman who was bent over, fishing out the dirty rubber things that floated in the same dirty water Atabei was traveling in.

Atabei made her approach to the woman slowly, keeping close to the curved walls, and the darkness it presented anyone, while attempting to stay out of the blond haired woman's peripheral. When the dark skin toned woman was in close enough proximity, Atabei crouched down on all fours in the water, before she jumped on the woman from behind and wrapped both her arms around the woman's shoulders. The woman tried to shake Atabei off her, even pull her off as her own hands found Atabei's arms, then shoved Atabei against the wall. "Not today, asshole! The woman shrieked before once again tried to get Atabei off her with another back slam to the curved wall.

Knowing time was limited and that this was a battle Atabei couldn't fight for very long, the woman from Hispaniola buried her fangs into the side of the woman's neck and ripped at her flesh in a violent manner, much like that of a coyote that came across its first kill in weeks. The taste of blood filled her mouth as Atabei felt her bones 'pop' beneath another slam to the wall, her arms loosening from around the shoulders, as her legs found the ground. "Not you again!" The blond said as she turned around and saw who her assailant was. With a kick to Atabei's already damaged gut, the woman sent a strong message reminding Atabei just how much more powerful the woman was, than she, before she took off through the sewer system.

With a shake of her head, and a groan to accompany that, Atabei staggered throughout the sewers once again, approaching her secret alcove (home) that she had made a few weeks after Atabei found her release from the eternal darkness. She hadn't traveled all that far before she came across another vampire who she hadn't seen before-sleeping. Atabei watched the vampire, before taking a turn that would lead her closer to him, and through a small detour of the main sewer system. She made a couple loud stomps in the water, to see how asleep the vampire that may, or may not have been a male. Or female. Not that it mattered. Atabei had no preference to vampire blood-just them being a vampire was enough for the woman. "Psst!" Atabei called out, still testing the waters, before she made her move.

"Easy pick'ns waz hard ta turn down." Atabei muttered to herself before she was tasting the blood of another vampire, this time until Atabei felt nourished, and exhaustion riddled her body. The woman hunkered down a few feet from the vampire she had just fed off of, intending to move in a couple of minutes-maybe an hour, but that thought disappeared when dawn approached and claimed yet another victim to its sunlight hours.