Slip n' Slide [[Azraeth]]

[Flynn]

[Note: This is a continuation of a previously started thread in regards to Longslade. Original can be found here]

While Flynn was perched against the tree trunk, he couldn't help but to contemplate Azraeth's words. Truth be told, Dragomir and Worthington meant very little to the Paladin, just as the vampire had stated, but he was sure it was safe assume they were the bloodlines he was connected with. Knowing the names didn't provide any information on what that meant he stood for, or what principles he lived by, though. Except, he had just stood there and made what sounded an awful lot like a declaration to stand on that metaphorical island with him. And that was just crazy, because they were complete strangers. Well, complete strangers may have been pushing it, because they did at least know each other on a first name basis, but strangers, nonetheless. And he had said it to a Paladin, to boot. Which brought the train of thought back to the vampire being potentially crazy. But, who was he to judge? He willingly threw himself in with vampires...and one of them being willing to trust him without much convincing was kind of a nice change of pace.

Only when he heard the word 'cheese' did he blink away his clouded thoughts, and just in time to see Az drop his phone down after taking the selfie, and from the angle he had held it out at, Flynn was pretty sure he was in the frame. His mouth fell open as if to ask, but it was promptly shut as he thought better of it, instead silently watching the vampire tap away at his phone...and it was a novel of a text, too. Though, he had to give the guy credit for how quickly he managed to get it out and sent, and only then had Flynn offered an answer to his previous question. And for the second time in the span of five minutes, Azreath managed to surprise him, smoothly commenting on the lack of effort the Paladin needed in order to pull off a suit better than the other men at the firm, to which he quirked up an eyebrow. So, in other words, he thought Flynn was attractive. Or... the human was making a pretty huge leap, which was entirely possible.

There was no time to say anything about it as Az went into his nightly activities, and the list was relatively long. Before the other man even said it, it was pretty easy to gather that he was an academic. The kind of guy who found learning enjoyable, and wanted to pass along his knowledge. While that wasn't exactly Flynn's cup of tea due to his lack of patience, he could see the merits of such. Plus, anyone that was so eager to tell a stranger just how 'nerdy' they were (though, he wouldn't have used that term), clearly knew and accepted who they were. For better or worse, Azraeth just possessed that aura of self-confidence.

The vampire positioned himself in front of Flynn while pulling his phone free again to send another text, though a signficantly shorter one, and then his hand was thrust out, again. Flynn's gaze dropped to the pale hand, then to the vampire's face and proceeding past it to the entrance. It was now or never, apparently. "I wasn't aware we were playing a game, rather than simply making conversation. Though, if you insist...I'm an open book," he said with a nod, pushing off from the tree so that he could stand up straight with a roll of his shoulder. That may have been an exaggeration, but he wouldn't lie in regards to what he was asked, etiher. "Let's get in there, then, hm? I'm not going to take your hand, though..." he said, shooting the male a smirk on his way past him for the entrance.

"So, you said slip 'n slide...too bad I didn't bring a change of clothes..." he muttered aloud as they moved for the door, somehow hoping that the dark humor would make the situation feel a little less serious. There was a tense anticpation filling him, attempting to prepare for whatever he was going to find inside. And, the second the doors were pulled open to reveal the chaos of the ground the floor, he momentarily paused to take it in. Everywhere he looked, bodies clashed in combat. The ground was decorated by the various casualties of war, the once pristine floors now covered in blood. So, maybe slip n' slide wasn't totally inaccurate. "Rough..." Eloquent, as always.

[Azraeth]

“Don’t those two things mean the same thing?” He asked. Game. Conversation. There were some people in the world who would have said that everything was a puzzle, riddle, or some kind of stage play. Az himself wasn’t nearly so cavalier in his approach. In fact, during the last town hall meeting, where a group of vampires (and at least one lovable human) had been discussing the state of things, there had been an interesting moment when it looked like the general consensus was to play the human game. Integrate. Get into politics. Go in for the long haul. Ripper had been there, and he’d said that it seemed like the decision was being made out of fear, a viewpoint which Az certainly understood. Conformity meant giving up a certain amount of independence and individuality. It meant cutting out all the sharp edges, and there was an argument to be made that Ripper himself was one of those sharp edges. Azraeth had responded that fear was a good thing, because it meant a person had something to lose. People who weren’t just out to take care of themselves had to make more conservative choices.

And yet there Az was, about to head into a building to shoot up some government types.

Maybe he wasn’t really so different. Or maybe all vampires, at the end of the day, were willing to act first and think later because they knew they had immortality on their side. Just how dangerous did that make them?

“Either way, Mr. Open Book, I have no problem reading you if I absolutely have to.” Which meant that he had to actually think up a question. Flynn didn’t take his hand, but that didn’t really shock Az. He tended to be a lot more comfortable with physical contact than most people. There were a lot of myths about vampires, and one of them was that they were these inherently cold beings, but the mystic really just saw vampires and humans as two sides of the same coin. One light. One dark. Different faces, but etched into the same metal.

And then they had stepped from Kansas into Oz. Well. More like from Harper Rock into one of the movies from the Saw franchise. He hadn’t been entirely exaggerating when describing just how blood covered everything was. The building itself was pretty minimal in interior design, utilitarian. Which was good, because it meant there was a surprisingly small amount of objects inside to utterly destroy. The lights remained fairly steady, an eerie glow. It created this awkward juxtaposition between clinical and catastrophic. “Yeah. Next time we do this, remind me to wear a poncho.” He murmured as he picked a direction and began that way. He needed to get access to the next floor somehow, and he wasn’t going to do that surveilling the scene.

“Quid pro quo.” He said as he glanced back to the Paladin. “How did you come by your nifty magic tattoos? I mean really. Not the surface level ‘because a guy had an ink gun and determination’. Like it’s clear you know what you’re about. I get why you took them on, but I figure you have to be at a certain place in your life to voluntarily go down that rabbit hole.” He could hear activity down the hall, and so he pulled his gun, pressing his back against a wall so as to cut off a potential field to get attacked from. He didn’t see much point in being truly quiet though. Not with everything going on. Pandemonium. Helter Skelter. If only Charles Manson had been there to see it.

[Flynn]

The way the vampire phrased his words, 'if I absolutely have to,' made it sound like he wasn't the one who had suggested they were playing the game in the first place. That he was somehow being forced into learning more, into 'reading' the Paladin. As it stood, Flynn was a relatively guarded individual, content to keep his distance from others. There were few people who could honestly say they knew him on a deeper level, understood where he came from and how it impacted his life. If asked, he wouldn't lie. There would be no attempts to alter the truth, though he was a master of misdirection. It tended to add a level of 'mystery' in the eyes of others, women particularly. And maybe he had exploited that fact once or twice. The fact that others were easily deterred, so long as they conversation was about them, wasn't his fault.

Though, quality misdirection seemed like an awful lot of work when in a situation as stressful as this. And, if he had to guess, Azraeth wasn't one to fall for it, anyway. That only left honesty, and Flynn was just as good at that. Some would call it brutual, at times, but the reaction of others to his words wasn't his problem to contend with. It was their's.

As the vampire walked off stating something about a poncho, Flynn followed him only with his gaze, at first. His eyebrows came together in confusion, lips pursing briefly before he silently mouthed, 'Next time?' Who said they were going to have a 'next time,' anyway? As far as he was concerned, there shouldn't be a next time. In fact, he was more than content to lay low once this whole thing died down...if it died down. There was no saying what kind of backlash the events taking place would bring about, though he doubted it would come close to normal. Or, well...as normal as Harper Rock ever was. With a determined shake of his head, he set off in pursuit of the other man just in time to catch the next question in their 'game.'

The vampire came to a stop, back pressed against the wall and Flynn came to a halt just beside him, shooting a glance in the direction they had come from to ensure they hadn't been followed by any other humans who might have happened to spot them. "I met a guy with a tattoo gun and determination," he replied, bringing his attention back to the vampire in front of him with a lazy grin. He went quiet, then, if only to try and catch bits of the commotion going on in the distance. Sadly, his hearing was not anywhere near as good as that of a vampire, and he hated being a disadvantage. So, he took a step away from the wall in order to lean past Azraeth to glance down the hall. "Let's leave it at the fact my childhood wasn't rainbows and glitter. As a result, I developed a skill set well suited to their cause, and so I was recruited by a...friend..." his voice was low, seeing as he was practically stationed near the vampire's ear, but he wasn't looking at him. Instead, his focus lay in the distance and the clashing group gathered there.

Stepping back, he finally pulled his pistol free from under his jacket. Switching off the safety, he glanced to the vampire and nodded in the direction of the hall, "From what I can tell, there's at least a couple vampires, but the rest are human. Maybe another Paladin in the mix, somewhere." Spotting the vampires was the easiest part for Flynn, thanks to the uncanny ability to Paladins to know them on sight, like an instinct. Of course, while that would have been great, were they his targets...it was the humans presenting the problem and so those ability were, in essence, useless. "This doesn't count as my question, but...are you the kind to go in guns blazing, or actually make stragetic moves? That's the kind information I should probably know if I'm supposed to have your back." And it had been awhile since he had been responsible for covering someone, and he would rather not **** it up. Vampire or not.

[Azraeth]

Az was so intent on paying attention to what was going on down the hall, that he actually missed the Paladin’s approach. He didn’t feel him getting close. Didn’t hear it really. And then his brain registered the words, so he turned his own head to shoot Flynn a scowl. As if to say ‘Nope! Try again!’. Except his newly made friend wasn’t hanging out behind him. They were nearly touching. He was greeted by the other man’s profile. His own lips, twisted into that displeased expression changed abruptly. His eyebrows conveyed surprise, but his mouth itself opened just a little bit to let out an unneeded breath. And then he schooled his features carefully. He also had to resist the urge to inhale lightly against that spot where a pulse thrummed under skin. It was right there. But he figured that wasn’t the sort of thing you did when you were trying to make friends with a Paladin. Flynn was already sticking his neck out for the Voodoo Dragons enough as it was. Pun totally intended.

So instead, he just appreciated the curve at the corner of the other man’s mouth. The strong line of his jaw. The intensity of his expression.

Flynn really was going to give everything to do what he thought was the right thing. Wasn’t he? “C’mon, handsome. You can’t just say something like that to me.” Because it just made Az want to learn more. What exactly had happened to Flynn to make him the way he was? What had shaped him into the man in front of the vampire? The problem was that Az tried really hard not to overstep his bounds as much as possible. Sure. There were times when he didn’t mind asking something crass, if it meant breaking the ice or getting to the heart of a matter. But for the most part, Azraeth was a creature who respected boundaries. “The good thing about life, is that the past doesn’t really define the future. Maybe your past wasn’t rainbows and glitter, but there’s no reason your future can’t be. I mean. If you’re down for that sort of thing.” He said in a whisper against the human’s flesh.

Fun and games were on the menu, but not just the back and forth, the game of questions, but the larger picture as well. And even with the brief distraction, Az’s attention never fled from the point of their being there. It was looking like it would be interesting as well, because vampires could tell each other apart fairly easily. Would Flynn end up getting attacked because he wasn’t one of them? Would someone assume that just because Flynn was a human that he was up to no good? He realized that he was going to have to stick close to the other man’s side to ensure none of that happened. “Mixed group. Sounds fun.” He murmured. “I think we’re mostly looking for the government types, which works in our favor. They should be fairly easy to tell apart from everyone else. Military gear. Lab coats. Off-the-rack suits. I suspect they are all going to have some sort of identification on them at any given time, to make it easy to access another floor.” He murmured. It was really just a stream of thought spoken aloud. Az did that a lot. He had this tendency to ramble, when he was trying to order things in his mind, and sometimes it was just easier to organize something when it was out in the open, and not trapped bounding around in his brain.

“Okay so I say we approach slowly...and to answer your question, I usually prefer to plan. That’s actually most of what I do when it comes to a fight.” Because the truth was that Az wasn’t the fastest. He wasn’t the strongest. He had his wits and his reflexes - and that was the only advantage he’d ever been given in a combat situation. Thankfully, he’d had some good teachers along the way. Nikolae was a beast, a shadow. And Az had gone through a few turf fights with Mordie and Pru in the past. Both the brobdingnagian man and the redhead were great at calling the shots, about knowing what to do in just about any situation that called for violence. So Raeth had shamelessly learned little bits and pieces from them. “So tell me. How do you think we should approach this? I can fade into the shadows and scout ahead if you want, just to see if everyone is in the same area, or if they’re split up into different rooms. Maybe there’s a way to sneak up on them. Oh. And if that wasn’t your question, then what is?”

His head tipped back just a little bit, to allow a hint more space between them, though he couldn’t seem to pull his gaze away from that distraction right in front of him. So a hand slipped, and he used a finger to tip the other man’s chin around enough for him to be able to stare right into the Paladin’s eyes. There we go.

[Flynn]

If the Paladin hadn't already been hyper aware of the vampire's presence before, the sensation of the breath against his neck would have done the trick. It was a testament to how close they were actually standing, and when he had moved in, that hadn't been the intention. He couldn't exactly look down the hall and simultaneously place a comfortable distance between them without outright standing in the entrance. That was a good way to put a big flashing sign on his forehead that said 'Here we are!' And that would have just defeated the purpose, entirely. So, sacrifices had to be made, and that meant both of the personal bubbles being effectively popped. Not that he was getting the impression Azraeth minded all that much, since he sure as hell wasn't protesting. Actually, he'd even just called Flynn 'handsome,' like a pet name...

"That's not really my style." A future of rainbows and glitter sounded as terrible as a childhood without them, if Flynn was going to be honest. Having spent much of his life constantly going from one thing to the next, sitting idle in any way just seemed... boring. And he was a man that did not handle boredom well. At all. In fact, most of the sticky situations he had managed to find himself in in the past could be chalked up to boredom, not that it was any excuse. As it was, he had learned from those mistakes and knew better than to allow himself to become indolent for very long, lest he find more trouble than he could drag himself out of. Which he could very well be doing right now, getting in the middle of a situation that he had every reason to walk away from. Though, he did have someone else capable of dragging him out of said trouble if he couldn't do it himself, in this instance. Not that he intended to need the assistance. Hopefully.

Without turning his head, he glanced to Az out of the corner of his eye while he rambled. Flynn had assumed as much, but it didn't hurt to have his own suspicions confirmed. If they were going to gain access to the next floor, then it would only make sense for one of the lab coats, at the very least, to have an access card. "That's sounds like a pretty fair assessment. I would assume not many of the vampires are carrying them around...but we are welcome to test that theory, if you would like?" he replied, unable to help the sarcasm from leaking into his tone. Of course the government types and lab coats had access cards. Or, at the very least, a handful of them did. Why those in the lab coats had come down the chaos of the bottom floor in the first place was beyond him, as they were certainly less equipped for this than the agents and military personnel running around.

His head fell to the side as he considered the situation once the other male mentioned that he was a planner, rather than 'shoot first, ask questions later.' That wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but considering the literal chaos of the ground floor, Flynn could see any number of ways that a carefully laid plan could backfire on them. Especially when there was no way of knowing who else could come charging into the situation while their backs were turned. Still, it wouldn't hurt to have a better idea of what they were up against, and if Az could get that information for them, then all the more reason for him to give it a shot. Before he could voice it, however, there was a finger pressing against his skin, guiding his focus away from the hall to fall directly on a pair of uniquely blue eyes. Whatever answer he had had on the tip of his tongue flew out the window, leaving him to stare blankly for just a moment too long. "I...uh," he stammered, blinking rapidly to try and bring his thoughts back into focus, but the action felt...personal. Intimate.

"Pause." And, that's when he jerked away, swinging back around so that his back hit the wall with a soft thud and his focus sitting on the opposite one...or at anything other than Azraeth. There was a less than subtle shake of his head, like he was physically clearing away the temporary fog the moment had brought about, his chest rising with a deep inhale. One, two, three... "Uhm, seeing what we're up against sounds like as good a start as any, and we can plan from there..." he finally managed to voice on the exhale, slowly returning his gaze to the vampire, almost hesitant. "As for the question... he said, pausing briefly to consider what direction he wanted the question to take. "How long have you been a member of the exclusive Club Undead?" That was a safe topic. Yeah, they could go with that. And then the vampire could go do his shadow fading...thing...and the Paladin could calm the damn near erratic beating of his heart that had nothing to do the chaos around them.

[Azraeth]

He was staring into a field of endless green. The truth was that Azraeth hadn’t really gotten a chance to properly look Flynn in the eyes until that point. Not really. Outside of the facility had been too dark to make out more than features, each revealed at different times, which the vampire had been able to stitch together in his mind to Frankenstein an image of the human. After getting inside, the vampire’s attention had gone to the spectacle of blood, violence and noise. The moment he turned the other man’s head, he was able to well and truly appreciate that solemn gaze. But there was so much more to it than what hovered right at the surface, and the vampire found himself smiling just faintly when he was able to glimpse around the metaphorical wall and into the deeper place within. Oh no. Rainbows and glitter wasn’t Flynn’s style, but neither was a life of austerity.

The moment was cut short when the paladin called a literal pause, and Raeth’s hand dropped away while the human attempted to put some distance between them. Beside him and yet with this sudden gulf between them. Like someone whose ship has just snagged a jagged rock and is taking on water. Flynn had a bucket and was trying to get the invasive water out before he sank. Az’s head briefly tilted to one side in thought, because there was something going on there. The problem was that even with such an obvious response, the human was difficult to read. It was entirely possible, for example, that Azraeth had triggered some kind of really negative reaction due to Paladin instincts. The vampire honestly didn’t have a lot of personal one-on-one experience with the special breed of suped up humans. Well. At least not the kind that didn’t involve a lot of bloodshed.

There was part of the vampire though, that believed it was something else entirely. However, the time for speculation about personal matters was not when they were attempting to break into a government facility. So he kept his distance and let his new friend regain his composure. Not that it took very long. “Six years.” He said, when the question was finally asked. Of course, by that point, his head had tipped back and he was staring up at the ceiling, trying to avoid the harsh lighting, hands at his sides, form pressed to the wall. “I was twenty-three at the time, and a blond, if you’ll believe it. I was in school at the time, and was attacked by the newly turned Nikolae, my sire. He himself had just been turned by Chad...can you imagine that? Ancient vampire by the name of Chad.” He couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. There were a lot of people who disliked the Worthington bloodline, and who disliked the one who had brought it into existence.

Az wasn’t one of those. He’d never understood the blind rage and hatred. Chad himself had been dealt a pretty crap hand, turned just before being sent to the Shadow Realm for hundreds of years, only to return to a world that he didn’t know and didn’t understand. Of course he’d made mistakes. People living their lives normally made mistakes. “I kept trying to get away from him, but everywhere I went, he tracked me down and drained me bit by bit, until I was too weak. Then he drained the last of my life out of me and replaced it with the darkness that runs through my veins, with the hunger, the thing that I personally believe you Paladin guys sense.” He admitted. Then he shrugged. “Nikolae is absolutely insane.” He said as he pulled away from the wall, and began down the hall, his form slowly fading into the shadows cast against one wall. “And he has been one of the very few constant things in my life. Murderer. Maker. Father. Son. Brother. Lover. He is always there and never there. Like the way most people think of god.” His voice grew more and more distant with every passing second.

The only way to tell he’d made his way down the hall was the silence. And it seemed there was a battle ongoing. The ones he and Flynn had picked up on before were on the outskirts of a large room, in either hall leading into it. They were using the shape of the building to stay tucked behind the barest outcropping of wall so they could shoot around it. It seemed like nobody was actually getting anything done though. They were just taking turns wasting each other’s ammo. But what luck. Az seemed to have stumbled upon a group of soldiers. Most of them were crouched low so that if a stray bullet did ricochet down the hall at chest level, it would end up well above their heads. However, when one moved to stand, searching for another clip of ammo (he didn’t have any more), the vampire seized on the opportunity.

Cool, slender fingers curled around a forehead, pulling it back to rest against his shoulder, and then he dug his blade into a throat, cleanly slicing it wide open. Blood blossomed out like a flower as the shadows around Raeth seemed to thin and reveal the undead. “You’re safe to come down this way!” He called back. Which was when the group of soldiers really took note of him. He glanced own to them and used the dying man’s hand to wave to them, before he let the soon-to-be-corpse fall to the floor. His blade descended like the fangs of a striking viper, slamming into the top of one man’s head - the unfortunate fool who had opted not to wear his helmet. Maybe because it got sweaty and gross. Public service announcement material there.

The gunfire from the other side stopped, and Raeth could hear footsteps rapidly drawing closer from either side. One set, he assumed were Flynn’s, and the others he assumed were the vampires the soldiers were locked in combat with. Speaking of the soldiers, they had all but scrambled to their feet and fled in different directions, realizing they were effectively surrounded.

Alright. Best to get ahead of any potential shenanigans with the Paladin. When the ragtag group of vampires rounded the corner, he put up one bloody hand. “Okay. Hey now. Slow down. So there is a human coming down this hallway. Okay. He’s with me. When he gets here, I want you to memorize his face. Got me? Like I don’t want any of this ‘I thought he was a snack’ ********. He’s helping us out here, so it’d be a huge favor if you didn’t go trying to kill him. We good? We good.”

[Flynn]

When he had asked the question, Flynn hadn't expected to get the full story behind the vampire's creation. In fact, he hadn't expected much more than a number, a period of time that marked just how long the man's heart had sat paralyzed in his chest. It actually took away more than once potential question that he might have asked as a follow-up once his turn came back around. Though, the human doubted he would have asked the how, in the end, which apparently didn't matter. Azraeth was more than willing to share, and his story was so like any other. It seemed that more often than not, the turning process was violent and undesired, and that was generally the reason Flynn would have rather left them alone. That wasn't to say he often had the time to ask, seeing as more often than not, the vampires he came across were more likely to get a blade than his name. That wasn't the point. He just happened to think that those details were somehow private, and more than likely attached to emotions that he had no desire to take on and make sense of.

And, of all the details to zero in on, his eyes locked on the vampire's hair. Twenty-three and blonde. Flynn made a mental note to circle back to that one, because his current company had already begun to wander off down the hall. Rather than move to glance down in the direction he was headed, the Paladin's head fell back against the wall. Now that he was alone, relatively speaking, he allowed one brief moment for his thoughts to spiral. What was it about the vampires in this god forsaken city, anyway? Why, in two out of the three instances with the vampires he had taken the time to really speak to, did he feel as helpless as a newborn kitten? No, backtrack, that hadn't happened with Dhara. That just meant Az. What the hell... This was not happening. Not now, in the middle of a damn warzone.

Thankfully, that was the precise moment that the man in question called out, forcing Flynn's attention back to the matter at hand. He could worry about unpacking his reaction to Azraeth later, because now he needed to actually do what they came to do. Using his shoulders as leverage, he pushed off from the wall to peer around the corner before making his way forward. Running towards him, like a bat out of hell, was a soldier. Choosing that exact moment to step out from behind the wall, he allowed the soldier to collide into his side, forcibly bringing the man to a stop. With a hand on each of the man's shoulders, he offered a polite smile. "Leaving men behind? Shameful..." he chided, to which the man immediately began to protest. Something about vampires surrounding his team, to which Flynn raised a single finger up to his lips, effectively silencing the clearly terrified man. He couldn't have been more than twenty five, and definitely lacked the standing to possess a keycard to get them to the second floor. Without another word, he reached out for the pistol in the poor kid's hand. "You can keep that big guy on your back...I'm gonna borrow this." His gaze shifted from the Browning in his hand after checking the magazine to the young man's face, his eyebrows raising in question. "You're still here?"

The soldier didn't need to be asked twice, immediately taking off in the direction that Flynn had come from with Az, and he turned back down the hall to head in the direction the soldier had come from. There was no way of knowing just what he was about to be walking into, but clearly it had been enough to scatter the soldiers that they had already known to be down there. Which probably meant that there were more vampires that he had initially thought. Or, Azraeth's appearance in the mix had really just managed to surprise them enough that they felt they had no other option but to separate and regroup. Which...was entirely possible. The shadow thing was kinda cool, and more than a little terrifying to consider being on the opposite side of. Poor fools. They didn't understand just what they were up against when it came to this city.

As the paladin came to the large room, he came to a halt at the entryway rather than move further inside. He scanned the area quickly to take stock of the situation. First, he sought out Az, doing a quick visual sweep of the man to ensure he was alright. The vampire was to the far side of the room, seemingly conversing with the group of vampires that had no doubt been the ones that had 'surrounded' the soldiers. Turning his attention to the rest of the room, he took note of several bodies that lay strewn about, marking the battle that had ongoing up until the point his companion had arrived to change the tides, apparently. And that's when he saw him. A lone soldier crouched at the end of the opposite hall, gun aimed and ready for the group of assembled vampires. To be more accurate, aimed at Az. He must have doubled back to the room after fleeing, seeking out a new vantage point once their guard was down. Not that their guard should have been down in the first place, but Flynn would bring that up with Az, later.

"****... he muttered to himself, pressing his back to the wall as he dropped down low to avoid catching anyone's attention, vampires and soldier, alike. Yelling out a warning was not an option, as that would only give soldier a reason to react and fire, his finger already poised on the trigger. That left only one option. With the stolen Browning in hand, Flynn flipped off the safety and took his aim on the soldier. With a deep breath in that he continued to hold, he waited. Merely moments later, the soldier shifted out from behind the wall. It couldn't have been more than a second before the soldier pulled the trigger that Flynn fired his first shot, causing the soldier aim to go wide of the group. That first shot missed the soldier, but as he turned to find the source of the gunshots, he opened himself up, leaving the safety of his crouched position. Squeezing the trigger, the Paladin fired off three more shots, each of the landing squarely in the soldier's chest.

He could only watch as the soldier staggered a few steps, and finally stumbled to his knees before collapsing to the ground. As if finally remembering to breathe, Flynn released the breath he had been holding, his gaze locked on the human. The first of many he would likely kill in this **** hole. That's when he cut his gaze over to Az, his expression twisting into one of annoyance. It was the kind of the look that clearly conveyed his thoughts, 'Seriously?' "Maybe, just maybe, we save the chit chat for another time?"

[Azraeth]

It was a scene played out in slow motion, like one of those important action sequences in film, and during it, Azraeth said the world’s most drawn out ‘whaaaaaaaat the aaaaaactual ****!’ Perhaps it was adrenaline to blame, released into the blood stream and instantaneously carried to every muscle, feeding into the brain to sharpen senses to the quality of crystal clarity. The whole thing started when a shot went right past him. It thankfully didn’t land anywhere on his person, but it did ricochet of a nearby wall, only for the slug to get buried in the flooring. He whirled, eyes widened, pupils visibly expanding like the spread of slick oil across the surface of otherwise serene waters. Fangs were bared. But he never got a chance to tear out the throat of the one who shot at him. It looked to be a soldier, and quick as a whip, Flynn sank three bullets right into his chest. This seemed to naturally cause the vampire’s expression to change. His brows both lifted in question, lips (which had only just uttered the offending phrase) formed a slight ‘o’. And then everything just seemed to relax. As if he’d been about to dive into fight or flight (most certainly fight in this case), and someone had hit the pause button. “Oh.” He said, watching the way the human moved. “Oh.” He repeated, which was pretty smart, as far as he was concerned.

And then Flynn was looking at him, and he didn’t look at all pleased. Oh right. Hadn’t he just a few moments before extolled the virtues of careful planning? Well defense was one of the key components of careful planning, and had totally just been caught with his proverbial pants around his ankles. He mouthed a ‘sorry’ to the Paladin, and when Flynn approached, Azraeth made a gesture to him. “So yeah, this is the guy I was talking about. I’d consider it a huge favor if you guys didn’t try to kill him, and maybe spread the word. He’s clearly helping us out, as you can tell by that guy over there.” He gestured with a hand towards the collapsed soldier who was bleeding out on the floor.

Blank stare. Blank stare. Blank stare. Yeah okay. Well they didn't have to be Einsteins to understand 'No Kill Handsome Human'.

“Good talk! We’ll just be headed this way.” He said, gesturing down the hall in the direction opposite to the way the other vampires had been headed. He didn’t even bother to rifle through belongings on the corpses, because the men there were all grunts. He doubted any of them had the clearance to penetrate deeper into the facility. No. They were looking for someone with a little more clout.

He put some distance between him and the other group of vampires, careful to remain at Flynn’s side as they traversed the halls. “Thanks for that, back there. I should have been paying better attention. I owe you one.” Because the truth of the matter was that Az probably had more experience with militant situations. That wasn’t an assessment in judgement of Flynn by any means. It was just a fact of life in Harper Rock. Az had been there when Cobb had been taken down, when some of the early ‘wars’ had occurred, when the Broussard family had made their move to try and take power by force via drinking vampire blood and ‘stealing’ their powers. Being a vampire in a world that didn’t want you, which wanted to control or kill you meant having to learn how to take care of yourself one way or another. Then again. Maybe Flynn had served in the military or something. Been a gang member? Either of those situations might have produced similar results, and the vampire found himself watching the way the mortal moved. Did he walk like someone who had been a soldier? And that was what brought him to the realization that it was his turn to ask a question. Which. He had admittedly almost forgotten about in all of the commotion.

“Okay, so you totally have some slick moves. Where did you learn all of that?” He asked. And then a pause. “Unrelated, but I think if we can find whoever has command of the troops down here, we can find that key.”

[Flynn]

The apology offered did little to sooth Flynn's mood, at that point. On one hand, he wanted to chew Azreath out for not sticking to his own plan, and allowing his guard down in such a chaotic environment. but on the other...he was just glad he had spotted the solider when he had. Sure, there was no way that he could have known what was going to happen had he not been there, but he could take a pretty decent guess. Before sending a single man into this facility, the Paladin was positive that they had been briefed on dealing with the undead supernaturals, and the best methods of attack to incapacitate them. Other than managing the removal of limbs (which was no small feat), that left landing headshots. It wouldn't kill them, by any means, but it certain disoriented them and that made it significantly easier to bring them down. With the vampire's back turned and totally unaware, his head made for an unmoving target for a trained shot. And the last thing Flynn planned to do with his night in this bloodbath was walk around with a ticking time bomb of disaster in the form of a vampire with a gunshot wound to the skull.

His approach to the group of vampires was slow, his gaze trained on those that weren't Az. It might have been a hint of paranoia, or it was just his natural repulsion to their kind, but he didn't trust them as far as he could throw them. In either case, he kept a safe bit of distance with his current vampire companion situated in the middle. The placement wasn't so much a means of using the man has a shield, of sorts, rather than letting him act almost like a mediator and interceptor should one of the two parties (the Paladin or the vampires) decide to move in on the other. From their blank stares at the request he be left alone, his bet was on the vampires being the first ones to test the waters. Not that they had the chance, with Az ushering him away from the group and in the opposite direction. A final glance over his shoulder had his gaze landing on the soldier where he was hit with a sudden wave of guilt. But, it wasn't guilt over the fact he had killed the man. No, his guilt stemmed from the fact that he didn't feel guilty. Well, ****...

The male voice cutting through the temporary silence brought Flynn's attention back to the vampire beside him, blinking only once as if he didn't fully comprehend what had just been said. The human considered giving the verbal lashing of a lifetime, but he wasn't this guy's father or sire or...anything and it wasn't his place to scold him. "No need. I said I would have your back, didn't I? If you had any doubts before, I think this is evidence enough to the contrary." That wasn't to say he thought Az had any, but at this point, it was pretty clear that he would stick to his word. With the mild frustration still settled in his chest, he offered a quick and tight-lipped grin at the vampire as to suggest he was forgiven for lapse. At that point, he gave nearly all his attention to the end of the hall, where they would no doubt be met with more bloodshed, more bodies clashing. "Can we, at least, avoid a repeat? It would be pretty terrible if I had to save your *** twice in one night."

Without turning his head to his companion as he spoke up again, the human tucked the 'borrowed' gun behind his back in the waistband of his pants and shrugged. "It's...a hobby?" The answer came out as more of a question than anything, and it was hardly believable, but it wasn't a lie. It just a small fraction of the truth. Growing up, he had always had a fascination with guns, as many boys did. However, it would have been a lie to say he had been a member of a 'gang' per se, but he and his friends had their scuffles and it was counter intuitive to show up to a gun fight with only a knife in hand. So, needless to say, he had learned how to use one fairly early and he generally made for a pretty decent shot. As demonstrated.

His lips pursed as the mention of finding the keycard with the access to the next floor that they were looking for, and the person who would, no doubt, have it on hand. "Then, I suppose we had better start looking for the one with all the bells and whistles..." he mused aloud, already resigned to what that would mean. A commander would not be found alone in these halls, nor would he merely have grunts at his side. He would be protected with his best soldiers at his side. It would be a fire fight to reach him, and it was going to ******* suck. "You ready to run into a hail of gunfire, then? Or, do you plan to pull out some more shadow business for the sake of a true sneak attack?"

[Azraeth]

How about we save this talk of what you’re going to do with my *** for another time? He didn’t say the words because despite his immediate attraction to Flynn, he knew very little about the other man. Like if he was even in to other guys that way. And much as it would have been absolutely hilarious, it frankly would have projected the wrong image. There had been a time in his life when Az had been fine with the idea of casual hook ups. Then one day (or night, rather), he’d woken up and just hadn’t been interested in all of that. It was like the slow march of time had caught up with him and the values he’d had as a young man had all but dissipated. He wanted something real, and experience told him that most people in his age bracket - who happened to be vampires or be associated with vampires, just weren’t really into that. Not on a deeper level. Not really. So yeah. Cute quip. It went unsaid, though the amusement of it remained like dancing light behind his eyes.

”That’s a hell of a hobby.” He murmured. He was skeptical, but who wouldn’t have been in that position, after seeing what Flynn could do. Though he supposed it made a certain amount of sense. Someone with an interest in firearms could visit a range, or make a range for themselves. Target practice could be done with pretty commonplace items and didn’t necessarily have to be learned ‘on the job’, which was how the vampire had picked it up, and probably why he’d struggled with it for so long. ”And here I was thinking that archaeolexicology was an interesting way to spend my evenings.” Which was totally a joke. In his entire life, Az had never met anyone who was as fascinated by ancient and dead languages as he was. Some of that had turned into his interest in the Fae Language, and attempting to decipher the meanings behind the phrases ritualists shouted at captured demifae. However, even before he’d been a vampire, he had loved words for years. Loved learning the meanings for them, and hearing them in stories.

”Is that your question then?” He asked with a bit of a grin, his brows lifting, which totally betrayed the playfulness of the words. They totally had important things to focus on after all. Like actually getting off of the ground floor and deeper into the facility. Az could only guess how many floors there were, and he suspected not everyone they came across was going to be so easy to dispatch as those soldiers earlier had been. Which meant he totally needed to stop flirting and actually get his head into the right place. Which. Well. That was proving more difficult than he thought it would be. It wasn’t pride that got him onto the straight and narrow, it was responsibility. He had to be worth a damn in a fight, and that meant he had to be at his best. ”Yeah. I could probably scout ahead. You sit tight. I will be right back...promise not to **** it up this time.” He seemed to fade into the darkness one more time - the last thing visible being his eyes and that too big smile.

And then he was progressing down the hall. Last time, he’d jumped into the fight because he essentially knew he could take whatever was thrown at him. The thing was, the soldier Flynn had killed revealed something. It just took one man with a gun to do some pretty serious damage to a mortal, and Az was pretty sure that even all suped up on fairy juice, or magical tattoos (Or however Paladins worked), Flynn could still be lethally injured. Which meant that even if he didn’t necessarily mind taking some risks himself, he had someone else to think about.

He figured someone with that kind of access was going to be surrounded by men. Which meant he should be both easy to find and hard to take out. It was a good thing he was essentially invisible, because he basically stumbled onto what he was looking for by accident. They were set up in an intersection of hallways with three points of entry. There were barricades set up with metal piping holding together what looked like heavy bags of sand. Clearly improvised and designed to take gunfire. There were at least a dozen of them, with guns aimed in all directions, backed to a wall with eyes on all forms of ingress. Right in the very middle was a man barking orders into a walkie talkie, and it seemed that he more than had his hands full not only getting commands from ‘above’, but handing them out to the sporadically placed installments of troops on the first floor.

He ducked behind the line of a wall so that even if he had been visible, he would have been hard to spot as he held his hand out with his phone to deftly snap a few pictures. He couldn’t actually see them, so he took as many as he thought would give an idea of what he was looking at. Then he hastily brought his phone and had back so that he could send the images to Flynn along with a text that read On my way back!