Chance Encounters (Kaspar)

[Yuri]

Backdated to 15/12/16

It was a day before the anticipated weekends, the skies had been clear throughout the day and the temperature had not been as cold as it should be with winter closing in. Many were delighted at the pleasant weather and went about their day humming to themselves or simply soaking in the buzz of the town. Fascinating how weathers could influence people’s mood. Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same way.

In an apartment at the Sanctuary, Yuri was having a dreary day. She had woken up at the crack of dawn to a fever pounding headache and a sheen of sweat coating her body. Regardless the amount of rest she got the fever refused to recede and the headache continued to pound at her head like a huge plastic hammer knocking the top of her head in a constant rhythm. Spirits were coming and going as they pleased, every once in awhile returning to stare at her. Also, there were times when she laid on her side and felt something breath down her back or caressing her, but every time she turned around she would be met with empty space. This particular happening began since the time she first set afoot in the uninhabited regions of Harper Rock for a stroll and it was starting to unsettle her. Spirits weren’t able to do anything physical so it was surely not them. It led her to wonder if she was hallucinating and if that were the case, why was it so?

Growing restlessness caused the ex-model to surrender the idea of slumbering further. Yuri got up and grimaced as her head spun from the movement. The fever albeit subsided was clearly still there. Peeking through the slit of thickly curtained windows, she notes the day was nearing it’s end. Perhaps she should get out and take a breather before it truly came to an end, and though she hated taking drugs (a dislike she acquired from childhood days spent in the hospital), if it would make her headache dissipate she would gladly get a few now. Determined to put an end to her miserable state, she pulls on a thick coat and heads out for the nearest pharmacy.

En route, the sickly 18 year old passes a lively bar where she comes across a young man with a profusely bleeding gash on his forehead looking quite the lost one among the passersby on the streets. She rushes over in concern confused as to why no one was helping him.

“Are you alright?” She asked him in concern.

He turns to stare at her as if a flower had sprouted atop her head, then looks around to see if there might be anyone else she could be talking to. When her fixed gaze on him failed to falter he looked at her in amazement.

‘You can see me?’ He questioned in return.

“Uhm, yes. Why would-” Realization dawned on Yuri then. The young man was no human which explained the weird looks she was receiving from passer-bys.

‘Please help me.’ He came up to her with a distraught expression that she was accustomed to.

Yuri sighed. Whenever she made eye contact with a spirit, there would be no turning them away after. She could always feign ignorance about their existence but it would be a while until they ran out of energy or something and disappear from her sight.

“What do you need help with?” She found herself asking despite the queer looks she was receiving from her fellow kind.

That was how Yuri found herself at the back alley of a building witnessing the feeding of a preternatural being whom she was apparently to deliver the message to.

Wearing

[Kaspar]

Hel didn't go out anywhere near as much these days, now that the album had launched and was selling well he only made a handful of club appearances, strategic outings, and gigs were in bigger venues. Very occasionally he'd still jump up on stage when beckoned by a friend, one of the local bands he worked with or actually admired. Most of his time had been spent working, or doting on his partner's and son, enjoying what time he could spare with them when he was busy managing his growing empire and planning tour dates. Life was exciting, things were happening and he'd had a free night to enjoy himself. It was how he wound up out in the alleyway, wrapped up in a dark haired man, lips over his throat as made approving sounds left his willing victim, fingers gripping at Kaspar's leather jacket. His assistant turned accidental thrall, and friend, Louis had made the most of this rare night free. He'd been pouting prettily and being positively persistent for the better part of an hour until Kas inevitably agreed that yes, perhaps it was time to grace one of their favourite clubs. He could use a good dance, a few drinks and the company of those flaky friends he only entertained when out on the scene, the kind who knew how he moved but wouldn't have a clue about his home address.

Hel had driven over to the club with a renewed sense of enthusiasm, Louis slumped into the passenger seat talking his usual amount of nonsense, waxing lyrical about the kind of new sound he was searching for when they went out looking for bands to get signed on the label. It was the kind of thing he could tune out, head nodding mechanically as he just enjoyed the British accent that turned oddly poetic when he spoke with passion rather than his usual, lazily slurred syllables. He liked when Louis talked ****, in fact he just liked Louis and while having the man his willing and eager thrall was a pretty strange shift in their friendship it now felt like it had never been different. He rarely had to strongly compel Louis to do anything, he'd always been willing to pitch in where Kas and the band were concerned.

Things from there on out had gone pretty smoothly, they'd rocked up and been greeted with the expected level of excitement. Where Kaspar acted indifferent to the attention, ducking his head with that carefully crafted shy smile that had people buying into the idea that he was flattered, modest of his growing success, Louis was a ball of energy. Lou lapped it up quite openly, not ashamed to announce how he much liked the album, how awesome he thought Kas and the guys were, or doing his normal spiel about the creative process that the hangers on drank in like they were dying of thirst. Quickly it dissolved into drinking and laughing, to dancing and people trying to capture them with kisses. When the hunger hit later in the evening Louis was on the dance floor. He had his head tipped back, tossing his hair to the music and revealing a pale throat that seemed to glow beneath the pulse of a blueish strobe light. Kaspar watched him with a renewed fascination, having escaped to a booth where he sat with some of his better friends, the ones whose names he remembered, who had held his interest for long enough to have his number. Hel couldn't help but think Louis was beautiful in that moment; energetic, scruffy and unscrupulously enjoying life.

That was it, that life. He was so human, so utterly mortal and it made Kaspar ache for it in ways he couldn't explain. He wanted to taste that life, to feel it in his own veins as a reminder that it wasn't lost to him entirely.

It took him seven long strides to reach the other man, stepping shamelessly into his personal space and making his presence known. Those blue eyes were piercing as they stared down at the shorter man with such intensity that he could see Louis' adam's apple bob when he swallowed, responding to the demanding nature Kas' arrival. His dark curls were tousled, clinging in places where they had been dampened with sweat, and he pushed at them irritability, rubbing fingers against the shaved sides absently. "Alright?" He grunted breathily, the l and r were lost, coming out closer to aight, the question broader than the single word; a sentence designed to question not only one's mood but what one was up to all with that one casual exclamation. Kaspar knew this, and all he gave was a tilt of his head, gaze shifting to the exit that lead out to a back alley. Louis grinned, the look lopsided and so full of mischief that Kaspar was beginning to wonder who here was making the decisions after all. It was Louis who moved forward first, no hesitation as he reached back to take hold of Kas's hand, tugging him along towards that exit as if he'd had the idea first and thought it was a particularly great one. He basically bounced towards that door, suddenly eager to drag Hel into the cold night air.

It took all of a minute to get outside, to move further into the shadows of the alley and for Kaspar to back Louis into the wall, the brown haired boy falling against it lazily, giving a luxurious little stretch as if he were a cat bathing in sunlight, just waiting for the sun's rays to touch him. Kaspar was his sun, his whole world seemed to come into sharp focus, every nerve ending awake and aware as he pressed closer. A steadying hand rested behind him, the tips of Kas' fingers curling into the groove above one of the bricks to stop it wandering elsewhere. The other was at his side, sliding with teasing pressure around to the curve of his lower back, pushing him forward abruptly against a firm chest. The proud blonde head lowered, bowed until lips parted against flesh with a faint sucking pressure, tongue drifting across a pulse, marking the place where his fangs quickly found purchase.

To anyone passing by it probably looked like two dudes making out in a shadowy alley out the back of a club, nothing new, but she wasn't just passing by.

The girl had stopped dead in her tracks, staring, and Kaspar felt her presence like pins and needles crawling across his skin. He looked up, staring across the small space between them and summoning up the energy he needed, preparing it use any number of abilities that could subdue her and perhaps convince her that she had imagined it. Louis, looking drunk, fingers now lazily running up and down Kaspar's back was the first to break the silence. He peered at the girl, squinting to get a better look at her as he slurred. "Who're you? We're busy."

[Yuri]

Yuri had seen her fair share of couples making out and had even experienced a few though it was strictly professional due to her profession as a model. From personal observations, she learned some were acted out of love, another out of lust and others out of want for company.

When she entered the alley, it first appeared to her she had walked in on a passionate couple, but a ghostly whisper told her to reobserve. Not thinking twice about where the whisper had derived from, she did so. Watching the pair in a new light, she soon realizes what was truly occurring, though if it wasn’t for her recently discovered heritage she doubt she would. Never had she seen them in the act as it was something private, but could not say she’d not been curious.

Now witnessing it for the first time, an inexplicable feeling bubbled within her. Despite her mind registering her act as an invasion of others privacy, Yuri found it hard to turn away. The act of a vampire feeding was mesmerizing and kept her watching like a forbidden addiction. Or had she mistaken it for pure fear in its working?

Breaking out of her stupor, she noticed she was no longer watching in secret. Quietly averting her gaze from the pair to the alleyway's wall she answered the willing victim, thankful for her fever hazed mind.

“I apologize for interrupting, I only wish to pass a message to... Hellion?” She tells the pair calmly with as much sincerity as her weak voice allowed.

Discern her as weird they might, seeing as she was calm despite what she had witnessed, but it was something she could not help at the moment and neither would she have it any other way. She was either calm, with the help of medication (or fever in today’s case), or anxious when she had to converse with her kind and she’d much prefer to be calm than deal with the anxiety in her current state.

In her own view, the 18 year old felt face to face social situations to be a plight for her and avoids them like people would a plague. It was wholly due to that fact that she’d not many chances to practice her social skills thus ignorant to her charismatic ways and the thoughts of others. Though with the past she had, no one blamed her for her insecurities.

Now with her simple task of passing the message to the right person, she could hopefully move on to the pharmacy to get what she needed. Peeking at the pair, bi-colored orbs met pools of ocean blue, watching her like she were a danger. At that moment, Yuri could not help but wonder if she would be leaving the alley with her memory of it. The thought of losing this particular memory saddened her. A childish whim it seemed. Sad eyes looked at the vampire, hoping he would let her keep the memory. Briefly, Yuri wondered how it would sound if she voiced it out loud. Odd probably, but since when has anyone thought her ordinary?

“A guy named Jack Higgers… Does it ring a bell?” The spirit instructs her to say. Yuri felt as if she might as well been possessed.

[Kaspar]

His spine stiffened, head turning slowly to stare at her as she spoke an old nickname. It was what those who followed his band ended up calling themselves, too, but before that it had been a term of endearment for the original Hellion himself. The way his posture shifted was slightly defensive, keeping Louis close and not letting the strange woman out of his sight. "A message? Why is it always me?" Kaspar groaned, reluctantly drawing back from Louis enough that he could turn to face the girl. He didn't have to worry about keeping his thrall close, the shorter man was already attached to his back, leaning against him, peering around to watch the woman with a lazy grin. He'd probably forget most of it by morning, Kas having to give him the full rundown of the night and what occurred. No doubt, he wouldn't be the only one leaning against the kitchen counter, coffee in hand, waiting to hear what the night had held.

That was still hours away, his mind jumping ahead rather than acknowledging what was happening here and now, the name on her lips familiar. "Ja. The bells are ringing... I think he is gone. He was never found." Hel muttered, leaning back into the arms that wound around him, his own folding across his chest firmly. "Who are you, anyway?" Probably not smart to carry this conversation on, especially in public, but part of Kaspar had to reluctantly admit he knew what to do if she became a threat. Even as he seemed to relax, watching her with skepticism in the arch of his brow, he was ready. Reluctant and ready. So much for a nice, lazy night out. Dancing and danger went hand in hand these days.

[Yuri]

Always him? What kind of work did he do to have even the dead scrambling to get messages passed to him? Loan shark? As she ponders bi-colored orbs observe him with careful scrutiny, and noted he had the features of a model and looked rather human for a preternatural. Interesting. Could he perhaps be someone famous?

Yuri’s thought bubble popped as a ghostly whisper relayed what to be said, ignoring Kaspar's question regarding her identity in hopes he would forget the matter after hearing what she tells him.

“Jack took a gold band from your house, it has one or two words engraved on it. He’d been planning to sell it but ended up not being able to for… reasons you should know of.” She paused, as the spirit hummed its approval before continuing.

“Your gold band is still on his person. If you’re interested in retrieving your possession, his body was dumped by the abandoned docks southwest of coastside station.” She said without a second thought. It was only a moment after she said it that she realized what had been done. She glared at the spirit. This was not part of their deal. The information she had just revealed would lead to suspicions on her person as a potential murderer.

“That’s all I know. I will take my leave now.” Yuri informed and began moving towards the exit of the alleyway.

As she neared the exit, flashes of cameras went off in her direction and the ex-model was blinded for a moment.

“Yuri!”
“What have you been doing?”
“Is it true you ran away from home?”
“Yuri, do you have any intentions to return to the modelling industry?” A small group of reporters fired questions after questions at her.

Yuri immediately looked down and shielded her face. How did they find her out here?

“Wait, isn’t that... "
"Lead singer of Hel!”
“Kaspar!”
"What were you two doing in this alleyway?"
“Are you two together?”
"Who's the dude behind you?"

The reporters questioned one after the other like the relentless waves of a tsunami.

Yuri felt like she could never be more sick in her life. Why did this have to happen now? Panic was bubbling within her. Her head felt like it was spinning and she was suddenly unable to tell where her left and right were. In her panic she used her chi unconsciously and pushed the group of reporters away from her.

[Kaspar]

"A gold band from my... Ah." He sighed, listening to the rest, feeling a sense of disappointment and dull sadness for the dead man. He cared, he did, but he couldn't feel the grief, sorrow or sheer disbelief some others might have. It barely touched him, like warmth through glass, radiating but not burning. "I would say thank you..." He said as she went to leave, "But I am not sure how grateful I am. I will ensure he is recovered, for his mother's sake." And for my grandfather's ring, he thought, but didn't say. The woman was leaving, Kas not entirely sure he should let her go but something about her attitude told him that she wasn't about to dob him in, about to announce to the world his vampirism.

He let her have a few steps before he followed, deciding that it best he and Louis take their leave too, home to the relative safety of his house and family. Besides, he knew Claudia and Grey would be there, Louis wouldn't turn down an opportunity to chat to his partner's personal assistant turned thrall. As they began to leave the alley he heard the noise and saw the flashes of lights. The man tossed his hood up, lowering his head to artfully avoid any cameras. The questions made him laugh quietly, smirking. He would answer, fully intended to but the woman did something that had them stumbling back, confused. Kaspar cursed silently, stepping forward to take control of the situation. One arm slid over the woman's shoulders, locking her to his side. He dipped his head, murmuring. "Trust me." Louis looked slightly bored, distracted as he stood behind them. Kaspar put on his most charming tone, grinning at the crowd of media. "Please, gentleman, the lady is sensitive to your flashes. No more photos. Yuri and I are friends, I am showing her around as she is new to town. You know my assistant, Louis, he is the one you all speak to when trying to get an exclusive story. With that said he kept moving forwards, drawing the woman along with him, turning around the corner. "If you want the story you call him, you know that I will tell you nothing here my friends." Kas winked over his shoulder teasingly.