Failure to Launch [Prudence]

[Vexen]

Attire

Tick, tick, tick.


Closing her eyes, Vexen listened to the sound of the clock above her register, the click of the minute hand counting down until the moment she could escape the quiet and rather monotonous evening of paperwork and shelving. She loved her job, she really did, but there were those rare times when being caged within Novel Idea’s four walls were more stifling than relaxing. This was one of those nights. The pile of newly shipped historical romance stared at her from the cart, their crisp spines begging for her to run her fingers along them, and yet her eyes were on the window. The sun had begun to set, bringing with it the cool touch of the moon, and still - she was inside.

“Daydreaming again, Vexen? You know, you would get out sooner if you finished your task.”

Her boss’s soft whisper snapped her from her thoughts, and she spun to face him, her hand flying to the first paperback she could find. Of course, he had known she wasn’t working - yet still, she automatically jumped into action, as if she could hide the guilt with some feigned appearance of labor. Realizing her mistake, she crinkled her nose in her usual adorable, childish manner and allowed her hand to relax, the book falling to the counter with a soft thud. “You know I love this job, and I am thankful for everything you have done for me, but look at the sky…” Trailing off, she sank her teeth into her lower lip as her blue gaze sought the window once more.

“There is something different about the energy this evening,” she finished in a hushed voice. His answer came in the form of a sigh, before she felt the weight of his weathered hand on hers.

“Go. There are not many customers tonight. I can handle it from here.”

His smile was as warm as it had been the night they met, and his eyes, though greyed with age, still shined bright with the energy that she felt. In his day, she was certain Mr. Wright was a dream, but the years had taken their toll on him. However, he never allowed it to make him bitter. Even now, when there was work piled to the ceiling, he refused to allow her to feel trapped. Torn for but a moment between the need for freedom and her need to help the man who had given her a chance to start a new life, she decided to take the gift he gave her. “Thank you. I’ll come in early tomorrow and finish. I promise. Don’t you dare try to climb that ladder on your own!” Keeping her tone strict, she leaned over and pecked his cheek before grabbing her bag from the counter, her feet already in a run towards the door, leaving nothing but his laughter to follow her into the night.

-----

“Oh, come on, Vexen. It’s not that far of a jump. The book made it seem so easy.”

It had been over an hour since she had left work, and in that time, she had gone swimming, adopted a dog, and now - she was atop one of the highest buildings, one foot dangling over the edge. The street looked so small beneath her, and as she held her arms out at her sides, she wondered how it would feel to fly. For just a moment, she wanted to have no restrictions. If she stepped over the edge, she would surely die - but she could always jump, right?

The idea had come to her swiftly, a memory from one of the more poorly written romance books she read in her free time. The heroine had jumped from one building to the next in a frantic attempt to save her one true love. Of course, their was no one waiting for her on the other side, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to feel the wind rush through her hair, or the excitement of the challenge as it thrummed through her veins.

She just needed to actually do it.

Running her tongue over her lower lip, she took a step back, and then another - until she was halfway across the roof. The fabric of her leggings gave her enough room to manipulate her body as needed for the task, and as she dug her shoe into the cement, she found she had the traction. There was nothing stopping her from attempting this act - except dying, of course.

“What would Jeremy do?”

The single question fell from her lips, the name of her brother enough to solidify her reckless idea. With one last shake of her entire form, she bent her knees - and took off. At first, she couldn’t believe what she was about to do, and then the edge crept closer. She almost stopped. She almost forced herself to turn - but then her foot was on the ledge, and she was airborne. The loss off the roof beneath her feet felt freeing for all of two seconds, and then she realized her grave mistake. Though the distance between the two buildings hadn’t been that far, the second was was just a bit taller, throwing the entire jump off course.

She was heading for the ground, and there was nothing she could do.

[Prudence]

"What's with that?" Prudence turned around to look at Ryker, who was pointing at her hair. Prudence knew what she was asking about, but just shrugged and rolled her eyes at the thrall. "Nothing is up with it. It's just a ******* color, Ryker." Prudence turned, making sure to whip her head a little more than what was needed, only to show off the new streak of color in her hair that seemed to have her thrall's full attention. "Your not turning into one of those types of girls, are you?" Ryker asked as she leaned over the bar and cleaned the top of the wood grain with a damp towel.

"Your tits are hanging out. Ya ain't turning into one of those types, are ya?" Prudence mocked her thrall before flipping her a nice one finger salute. The thrall immediately pulled her low v-neck shirt up at its top after standing up and doing a little shimmy and bounce to make sure her boobs were back in place and in check. "It's just a color. Now go get Benny and bring up the beers we're low on from the cellar." Prudence said as she moved to her office near the front of the bar.

Ryker had struck a chord with Prudence, though she would never show it. Instead, Prudence opted to grab her light denim colored coat and leave the bar for the night. Prudence knew exactly what Ryker meant by 'one of those types,' which meant Ryker wasn't a fan of the current trend Prudence was sporting in her hair. "Going out, fuckers." Prudence said as she flipped them all a finger and headed out of the bar, not having been bothered with snapping the coat shut. Why? She felt the cold, but it didn't bother her. Her body temperature was cold, who cared if it was a few degrees colder, already? No one was touching her but her husband who was also...dead and a vampire.

When she was outside, Prudence pulled her hair out from being trapped under her coat, grabbed the lipstick in her coat pocket and applied the offshoot of red-some berry color that Prudence couldn't remember off the top of her head. Maybe she was becoming 'one of those types.' Her eyes narrowed as Prudence stuffed the lipstick back in the pocket of her coat, because while she didn't mind being that 'type of woman,' anymore, people's perception had definitely changed about her. Mordie had said it, and Levi implied it a time or two. She was getting weaker and not the woman she was five or six years ago. **** it. **** them too.

Her typical place of hanging out these nights was the caverns. Those disciple guys just didn't really pose a challenge for her and the castle didn't have the nice, expensive jewels in it that Prudence needed to make some good money. Deciding to walk, Prudence stuffed both her hands in her coat and started making her way through the coastside district and over to wicksbridge. It was funny how a few blocks changed an entire look of the city. Clubs and small warehouses around her 'turf,' while skyscrapers lined the skies of wicksbridge.

The woman started crossing the street when all of a sudden there was clanging noise from behind her on the cement crosswalk. Prudence turned, a hand reaching for the small glock under her armpit, expecting to see something coming at her. Only, all she saw was a set of keys, that looked like they belonged to an apartment, or maybe an office building even. And that was it. Nothing else. No one near her and they sure as **** were not her keys. So, who the **** tossed some keys at her? Prudence looked left and right, pulled her hand out of her coat and moved to the keys. She grabbed them up, took a few steps back and called out, "Uhhhh, hello?" Prudence asked before she looked up and saw...just.what.in.the.****?

Wearing: http://cdn.hitfix.com/photos/5652085/da ... _large.jpg

[Vexen]

Without risk, there is no reward.


There was a danger to the way she lived her life. For a human, she was as careless as she was intelligent. She lived her life by only a few loose rules, each one more insane than the last. If there was something to do, something that she could have possibly missed, some grand adventure that threatened to pass her by, she’d latch onto it with everything she had. The thought of living her life as a shell, without laughter, without light - it was quite possibly her biggest fear.


That wasn’t to say that she wasn’t afraid to die. Even for all of her reckless actions, the thought of taking her last breath haunted her. It was that panic that filled her now, the cold grasp of the reaper curling tight around her throat, constricting her airways. The air rushed past her, filling her ears with a shrill whistle, yet she never parted her lips. It was as if she couldn’t bring herself to scream. Had she finally accepted her fate? Just how much pain was waiting for her at the end?


The mere thought of her bones shattering into dust finally pushed her into action, and she twisted mid-fall, her fingers outstretching to claw at the brick. The grit bit into her fingers, the crevices ripping her nails into nothing, and yet, she couldn’t find purchase. It was a foolish thing to do, but there was that point in time, where she no longer cared. It was the fight for survival that was embedded in her very DNA. Breathing in a painful breath of air, she finally managed a hoarse cry, just as her body hit the overhang. The black tarp ripped beneath her weight and came up to embrace her, engulfing her in a darkness that she couldn’t break. Throwing her arms out, she tried to untangle herself from the mess, but she was moving again.


When she hit this time, she caught a glimpse of red through the shadows, before the pain blinded her from anything else. Her breath left her in a quick gasp, and try as she might, she couldn’t breathe back in. The panic was gone, the feeling in her hands were gone - her legs, her toes. She was completely paralyzed, and yet, she was drowning in the agony. The rich scent of copper filled the air, the taste so strong on her tongue, she nearly gagged from it. Too stunned to even attempt to move, she tried to do a quick assessment of her injuries, but she could only stare at the remaining tatters of the overhang as they blew carelessly in the chilled wind.

[Prudence]

Even with her vampire powers of badassery, there wasn't really anything Prudence could do to stop whatever was about to happen. She didn't have any floating powers. She didn't have wings, so she couldn't fly and this woman wasn't anyone Prudence knew, so she wasn't someone Prudence could summon at the last minute. There was **** all Prudence could do, but watch and see how this went down. Which, judging by things---not very good.

"That is gonna hurt." Prudence said as she eyed the woman who was free falling through the sky, barreling down towards the cement a few feet away from where Prudence once stood. Then, in some second thought act, the woman decided to fight her impending fate, her body contorting and flapping around as she tried to fight the fall of doom. By some stroke of luck, or determination, the woman managed to land in some overhang at the front of a building, which slowed her momentum down---but not where it would do anything miraculous for the woman. The fabric ripped and tore and Prudence felt a magnetic pull to head in the woman's way, just to see how ******* bad it really was. The splatter. Was there blood and guts everywhere? Brains too? It was something she had to know and see, but couldn't because of the black material that clung to the woman in all sorts of places.

"UHHHHH! HELLO!" Prudence shouted down at the woman in black and some fluorescent color of blue, before Prudence pulled what tattered remains were wrapped around the woman in various places, off of her. When she finally was able to see the woman completely, Prudence stepped back a little. It wasn't pretty. "Woah! **** lady." Prudence said as she shook some black fabric that clung to her while the wind blew gently, to her arm. It hit the ground and then wrapped around her ankles, before Prudence attempted to kick it off, but decided '**** it' in the end.

"Can ya move?" She asked before she offered a hand, then decided against it. Prudence already suspected the answer, because if the woman could move, wouldn't she have already? "I think, you're totally gonna die." She confessed, before thinking about her own siring. She didn't think about it a lot, but in that second, it almost seemed to mirror her own. She had been practicing for a show, when she fell off the line and damn near broke everything in her body before becoming a vampire. "If, we don't get ya sorted." Prudence wasn't overly spiritual, but wasn't this just ******* weird? She had to do something! "Think you would make an okay vampire? Not looking for great, but okay is better than some of the bitches I made into a vampire a few years ago." She confessed before Prudence crouched down. "Blink your eyes twice if ya don't wanna die."

[Vexen]

From the moment she had been deemed old enough to venture safely out on her own, she had calculated every possible and logical way she could die. Fire, drowning, animal attacks, and even the occasional mishap with a vehicle of some sort had made the list. At the top of it, however, penned in bright ink and underlined a dozen times, was the word ‘falling.’ For every jump she took, every mountain she climbed and building she scaled, her chances of falling increased. It was something that she knew she should be fearful of, yet she had never allowed the fear to impair her adventures. Instead, she allowed it to fuel her. She was, after all, confident in her ability to handle anything.

During all of her planning, through all of her lists, she hadn’t brought into consideration how it would feel when her body collided with the unforgiving ground. She had thought she would die instantly. It wasn’t something she thought to plan for, nor was it something she found in the thousands of novels she hungrily consumed with her eyes each night. It was too late now, as her body laid broken on the ground, her mind screaming for her to move her fingers or wiggle her toes, for her to plan for anything. The worse had already happened, and there wasn’t anything she could do about it.

At her side, she heard the familiar someone speaking, but the blood that was rushing in her ears – and out of her skull – didn’t allow for her to make sense of the words. The accent was sharp, the dialect familiar, but the tone belonged to someone she had never encountered. That was something she knew, even before the redheaded creature stepped into her line of sight, her brow raised as she continued to speak. There was no true worry in her gaze. It was as if she had witnessed this a thousand times before.

How often did women fall out of the sky?

Choking on a mouthful of blood, she managed to finally pick apart one of two words until she strung them together to form a sentence. Blink twice if you don’t want to die. Who in their right mind wanted to die – and why was she sitting – no, laying – there, debating it? Finding the last molecule of her strength, she gave two slow blinks, even as her body began to shake, blood spilling from her lips.

[Prudence]

Prudence had seen a lot of fucked up **** in this city, so whatever the woman did or didn't do, wouldn't phase the redhead any. Some people were meant for this life, and others...weren't. Some would never be anything more than food; cattle in her eyes. Not that Prudence was planning on slaughtering humans, but that's how she envisioned most humans. Walking meal tickets. Nothing personal, just how the food chain worked. If Prudence went into the ocean and swam with sharks while alive, if she got bit and potentially eaten, it would be her own fault and no one to blame but herself, knowing the creatures were much larger and known to attack people for various reasons. How life worked.

There was a slow blink and then, finally another. "Smart choice. Get ready for it." What 'it' was, Vexen would have to find out when the time came, for now, Prudence had to act and act quick. She wrapped a hand around the woman's shirt and then, without much warning, 'it' came. Prudence began to drag the woman out of the middle of the street and towards a building where it could offer a little more privacy than being smack dab in the middle of the road. When she got to the curb, Prudence hoisted the woman without much effort up and over it, before they were next to the building.

She crouched down over the woman, one knee on the ground, the other tight to Prudence's chest as she looked the woman over. Who knew how she might end up, but the redhead was hopeful. She had been injured like this woman when she had been sired, though not as severe. Becoming a vampire had healed her broken bones, but could it heal massive internal damage? Not that they needed their organs, but what about her brain? They still needed that.

She was choking on her own blood. Which wouldn't be a problem if Prudence was going to leave her there to die, but she had to be sure that her blood was going to find a way inside of the other woman. Prudence glanced at the wounds, more specifically where bones were popping out and decided not to risk it. If it wasn't done right, then the woman would die and there would have been no point in even trying. The redhead pressed two fingers to the woman's cheek, then tipped her head to the side, allowing all the blood in her mouth to spill out, before she let go, leaving her head angled away from her. A small blade was pulled out from Prudence's left, calf length boots, dragged across her skin and then she wrapped four fingers around the woman's jaw and turned it back towards her.

"Drink fast." Prudence suggested before her forearm was brought to the woman's mouth and allowed to flow freely until Prudence was almost positive some of her blood had been absorbed by the woman. But, just to be safe, the redhead released her hold on the jawline of the blonde woman, her index finger bit and then she shoved her finger into the woman's side. Right where a rib was sticking out. "For good measure." Prudence said with a nod of her head, before she stood up slowly, glanced around, then with both arms grabbed the woman and tossed her over her left shoulder. "Time to go." Prudence imagined being shuffled around probably didn't feel very good, but unless they both wanted to be under a microscope by some form of government, they needed to get out of here sooner than later.

[Vexen]

Get ready for what?

The question rang loud in her mind, formed across her tongue, and died on her lips. Even as she parted the bruised flesh, the only sound that emerged was a wet gasp as crimson splashed across her chin. It wouldn’t have mattered, though, because the moment the strange ethereal beauty had uttered the warning – she had hoisted her up off the ground like a ******* rag doll. The pull of her shirt against her shattered ribs had her screaming out in her mind, the shrill sound ricocheting like a broken symphony against her cracked skull. Outside, however, there was nothing but silence as her jaw snapped shut.

Dim eyes watched the darkening sky as it bounced with each movement, and she barely felt the gravel that scraped across her back as the woman carried her from the streets and into the shadows. She should question why she wasn’t struggling to pull her over the curb, or where she was taking her, but when Death was right at her door – who was she to question the fiery haired angel saving her life? When the darkness descended on her vision, she tipped her head back, until her skull met the cool floor of the building. She could feel the air against her heated skin, smell the scent of old cardboard and metal as it assaulted her nose. As far as her last memories went, she supposed it could have been worse.

Fighting to keep her eyes open, the blue searched the creeping darkness until they landed on the pale features of the stranger. Bloodied lips pulled back into a smile, and she found herself trying to laugh, even as pain encompassed every nerve-ending and sapped her energy. She wasn’t sure what she found amusing – it couldn’t have been the way she felt a bone crack and puncture her lung, or the analytical gleam in the woman’s eyes as she searched her from head to toe. It was the situation. That had to be it – the fact that she, the Queen of all things Reckless and Crazy, had finally been defeated.

The laughter died before it truly began as her head was pushed to the side, allowing the crimson that was slowly drowning her to wash from her throat. There was a word of thanks on her tongue, one that was never uttered, because as she was pulled back to face her – she caught sight of the glinting metal in the dark. Narrowing her eyes, she – what was she going to do? She couldn’t move. She could hardly pull air into her lungs, each breath trembling and rattling as if she had swallowed a mouthful of marbles. No, she couldn’t do a damned thing as the crazed woman pulled the knife free – and slid it across her own skin. T he blood that welled to the surface matched her own – and before she could protest, it was replacing the blood that she had just forced her to spill out onto the concrete beneath her.

She was a well-read woman, despite all of her faults. She lived her life in fantasy, her worlds written between pages that she could lose herself in. She knew what this was – she knew what the woman was. It had been tickling the back of her brain, but she had refused to believe it. Even as the rumors had circulated the town since she had come to Harper Rock, she had laughed them off. At least, in person. When she had gotten home, she would wake up her laptop, and scour the pages for proof. So, there was no panic when the woman pressed her arm to her lips and forced her to drink. While most girls dreamed of the dream – with the white fences and two children – she often dreamed of adventure. What better adventure than to become a vampire, and live her life eternal? You’re truly losing it.

The command broke through her dying thoughts, and she tried to say something, but the sudden pain had her screaming again – this time, out loud. The sound echoed off the walls as she was suddenly hoisted from the ground and tossed carelessly over her shoulder. If she survived this – if she wasn’t dreaming this as her soul flooded her body and headed for the light – she was going to smack the woman. Hard. Just as soon as she could move.

[Prudence]

There were a couple places Prudence could take the girl who liked to take swan dives into the asphalt at. She had thought about taking her to the trailer, but with the dogs and Nathaniel and the fact there was no bedroom but one...Prudence decided against it. Add in the fact it was on the other side of town. "Beta it is." Prudence said with a solid nod of her head, as if she needed some sort of confirmation (even her own) to head that way.

The tall red head turned left once they got to the end of the alley way and headed towards the tallest tower in that district. Once she got past the river, the building almost served as a beacon of sorts, saying 'Bring her here!' "If you're still half with me, it's pretty important ya stay quiet." Prudence warned as she shifted the weight of the woman on her shoulders. Since they were approaching a bustling area of Wickbridge, Prudence decided to pull the surrounding shadows around them and carefully move around walking pedestrians, and moving cars as they crossed the streets.

When they got to the apartment complex, Prudence grabbed the front door, which dropped the sort of invisibility cloak around her. A woman who was on her way out from the lobby moved far to the right, and stared between Prudence's face and the body slumped over her shoulder. "Total lightweight." Prudence confessed before she gave the woman on her shoulders a nice firm slap on the ***. For a chick, she had a good one. "Come on, off to bed with ya." Prudence decided to keep the conversation and explanation very short not that she needed to give one. But, just in case the woman made a big deal about it now, or later, Prudence was covering her bases. She called the elevator to the main floor, got in and swung the pair of them around quickly to press the number '8.'

"You're in for a long couple of nights, girlie." Prudence warned the woman as the doors closed and took them up to the floor Prudence needed. She took a sharp right off the elevator and then a left, grabbed a key from her pockets and slid it in the lock. As soon as the lock made noise, Annie made her presence known. "Well, howdy there partner." She whistled and gave Prudence a once over. "That outfit get any shorter and I'll be able to see Christmas!" Prudence ignored the wraith for now, until all three were inside the apartment. "Not now, Annie." Prudence warned the wraith as she moved to the smaller of the two bedrooms and plopped the woman down on an all white comforter. "Who's yer friend? Can tell she's one of them citified folks." Annie said as she floated around the bed, observing the woman who would more than likely stain the comforter, but that was life as a vampire.

[Vexen]

When she had been a child, she had dreamt of adventure. She remembered running alongside her brother as he raced into the forest that surrounded their home, his excitement contagious as he disappeared within the thick trees. He had been her hero from the moment she had been born, his eyes the first she had seen as he held her to his chest, fingers cradling her fragile skull. The color had been unlike anything she had ever seen – a green so bright, it threatened to consume her with its awesome power. After he died, she remembered searching the crowd for a flicker of color so immense, but she had always been left disappointed – until now.

When the woman had tossed her over her shoulder, slamming what was left of the air from her lungs, she had caught that color in the shadows. At first, she had thought she had lost her mind, but as she forced her eyes to remain open, to focus on the darkness that the stranger was leading her further from, she watched as they separated – and her brother emerged. It’s not your time, little vixen. You know I can’t let you come home, he spoke, his voice as sad as the eyes that stared at her from the abyss. Even though he followed them, he still seemed so far out of reach – but that didn’t stop her from trying. As the woman muttered something about silence, she lifted her hand – only to feel something snap, sending a fresh wave of agony through her. Can you ever just behave, sis? It’s going to be okay. You’ll be okay.

Why wasn’t she stopping? Did she not hear him talking to her? – How was he talking to them? He was ******* dead. She had watched the light fade from his eyes, had listened to the monitor as it sang it’s last long chime and counted down the last few beats of his heart. She had held his hand as his chest deflated on the last breath – so he couldn’t be here. He couldn’t be talking to her, or staring at her with those unique eyes that she had grown to love more than life itself. Closing her eyes, she shook her head against the woman’s back, the last of her strength ebbing as she all but melted against her shoulder, covering her like a blanket would. There was no use of her muscles, no twitch or flick of her fingers – even as her hand came across her ***.

For the most part, she was dead. Her heart still beat, however weak, and her lungs still pulled oxygen – but even as the woman tossed her onto the bed, the comforter moving to surround her weight, she didn’t move. Her eyes remained closed, even as she listened to the soft lilt of her brother’s voice, his pleas falling of deaf ears. He had abandoned her – and now he was telling her to fight, to hold on and take everything the woman had to offer. She knew that it was too late, that she had already welcomed her curse into her veins. She had read the stories, after all, she knew what she was to become. She hadn’t even thought to ask a single question. She welcomed the touch of blood to her lips, and she would deal with what came, but not because he insisted she fight. No, it had nothing to do with him. She wanted to live for her – he had given up on her the moment he allowed himself to succumb to his wounds.

She wouldn’t be that weak.
She would live for them both.

Forcing her eyes open, she fought past the pain that consumed her, and searched the darkness that edged around her vision for that flash of red that was becoming familiar. Once she found her, she parted her lips, her bloodstained teeth flashing beneath the pull of her battered lips. "H-how... l-l-lo...long?" She wasn't sure the question made sense, and she could only hope that the woman would pick apart what she meant, to know that she wanted to know how long she had until she either succumbed to her wounds - or rose from the ashes to start anew.