Vampires and hunters

[Lockland]

Lockland breathed in and out slowly and calmly as he stood, his back against the wall, listening to the footsteps of the Lionelli. The place was filled with them. You could walk around and probably end up spotting one. Which was why he was being rather careful. Every stride, every breath, every direction he went, was made with as much secrecy as he was capable of.

He would barely look around a corner until he'd eventually try and spot the Lionelli initiates. They were the only ones he ever had even a chance of taking on. If he couldn't beat them, he'd retreat out of there and try and come back later to take them down. This was one of the few places where he didn't have to control his instinct to kill quite as much as everywhere else.

There you are. He thought as he finally found an initiate, he stepped into the light, inciting his enemy to attack, he did, and the fight ensued. It was no easy fight, he used as many skills and powers as he knew, turn undead, kensai, anything. The fight raged, Lockland, as hard as he had tried, failed. He nearly had him, but a single misstep forced him into a bad position. He barely made it out, rushing away firing behind him to distract the lionelli. Then doing his best to use cover and corridors to get well out of the way.

He mumbled under his breath, ”These darned lionelli. Too tough to take down easy, but just barely unskilled enough for me to nearly take them down."

Lockland looked around intently, looking for anyone or anything else that might be here. He knew with as often as these lionelli fought people things were liable to get dropped or something. So occasionally he could find somewhat useful items to use later. But of course, he was also looking for other humans or vampires. He wanted to stay fully aware of the situation, avoid risking getting caught while trying to pick up something that's useless if you're dead.

[Meara]

WEARING

For the last week or two, Meara had been starting to explore new hunting grounds that she could take target practice on. The Helheim vampires that inhabited the old chemical plant were by and large no match for her anymore. Even though the shifty Admin’s lackeys deserved to be hunted and run off, Meara was looking for a challenge, so she could keep improving her accuracy with the big ol’ gun she had. She had come a long way since she first became a vampire, but Meara knew she had to keep working at her training. There was always some manner of supernatural or human-created threat that threatened to upset the apple cart. So, she had to be like a good Girl Scout and be prepared.

Off Meara trekked to Foucault Castle to visit with the other group of vampires that wanted to overrun the city and threaten the somewhat perilous level of peace that was had between humans and vampires. The building was just as you might expect. An old stone castle that had that gothic feel that one typically would associate with Dracula. So, it was not a surprise to her that vampires that sought to consolidate power called that home.

On tonight’s little gallivant through the dark corridors of the castle, Meara had dispatched some of the bloodline’s fledgling lackeys, and scored a nice fistful of bills from their pockets and the wallets she found on the floor. She never understood why there were so many billfolds in here. Did humans lured in here and then drop their stuff as they ran for their live? Did the Lionelli take the wallets of their victims and just drop them on the way back to their lair? One might never know.

As she turned the corner, Meara saw what appeared to be a vampire about to charge her. So she turned and started shooting to try to knock the creature back. However, all Mea heard was her bullets ricocheting off the wall as the vision rippled in front of her eyes. Illusionist. Meara quickly looked around and tried to find the vampire that created the illusion. She didn’t stand a chance as the illusionist snuck up next to her while she was disoriented and gave the petite redhead a toss down the hallway in the opposite direction of where she shot. Meara gave a startled squeak as she bounced on the floor and skidded into the wall. Her gun flew out of her hands and went skittering along the rock floor and into the wall on the other side of the room.

“Son of a gun.” She groaned as she rubbed her head, choosing to stay put for a few moments to convalesce over her headache.

[Lockland]

It was quiet for a moment, nobody around it seemed, though neither was there all too many things to pick up it looked like either. But then Locklands brow furrowed as he heard gunshots, a thud, and a firearm sliding across the ground in a room that connected to the one he was in. Well, who else is here? he thought as he rushed forwards and turned the corner using the wall to slow his descent. His eyes quickly locked onto the two individuals in combat. His eyes narrowed on the illusionist instinctively as it was clearly one of the Lionelli, but they didn't stick there, he cocked his head towards Meara as he heard her speak and then he paused, Both vampires. his paladin instinct rose up within him as he felt the abhorrence of all vampires come to the surface prompting him to kill them both.

His mind warped as he became confused about which to go after first, Best take the one on its feet was what immediately came to mind. He turned towards the illusionist and rushed forwards firing a few shots before inciting the vampire to attack him, forcing him into close combat. The fight was not liable to last all too long however. Lockland actually got the first two hits, cutting into its low and arm and dodging the vampires attacks. But after that everything just went downhill. He ended up finding himself flying across the room and into the wall not far from Maera.

He grunted and opened his eyes seeing both the Lionelli and Maera, Kill her, it'll be one less vampire he thought raising his sword as he turned towards Maera instead of the Lionelli and stopped his arms at full height hesitating, What is wrong with you?! Stop that! You don't know, she could be totally normal and just trying to help. She's fighting Lionelli afterall. he thought to himself gritting his teeth as his arms shook for a moment and he lowered the blade momentarily forgetting about the lionelli until he found himself slammed against the wall again as it attacked him.

Lockland shoved it back and ducked behind cover firing at it before speaking in Maera's direction, "I do hope you don't try to kill me. But the Lionelli is a bit more of a problem right now if I'll be honest. Do you mind...doing something about that?" he asked unsure if he should have explained why he was about to attack her and just sticking with attempting to get her to help out against the vampire...or at least run away or something. It was difficult not knowing if he should actually attack both or not.

[Meara]

As Meara was getting her bearings, she heard the sounds of conflict resume around her. She opened her blue eyes and saw the illusionist engaged with a man. She sort of leaned up on her elbows to watched. It started off better tan her battle, with the human getting a few hits in on the Illusionist. However, it went south after that with him winding up careening into the same wall that she was. She game the gentleman a meek smile and a half-hearted wave before he mentioned something about not killing him and maybe doing something about the Lionelli.

"Why would I kill you? You didn't do anything to me."

Meara blinked at the man a bit bewildered as she pulled herself up off the ground. She scurried away from the Lionelli, and dove towards her gun. She somersaulted once, grabbed it with her hands, and popped up onto her feet. Meara turned on the balls of her feet as she brought the large gun to her shoulder, much like she would if she was executing a pirouette and unleashed a hail of bullets from her rapid fire rifle. Luckily for her, the second shot caught the other vampire in the head, and the fourth caught him in the chest. She sighed in relief as she washed him fade into ash, unable to terrorize people anymore. Least for now anyways.

Slowly, she walked back over to offer a hand to the man back on the floor. "I assure I'm not gonna kill ya. Name's Meara." She offered him a smile as she stood there with her arm outstretched, curious to see what the stranger would do.

[Lockland]

"Just making sure." Lockland said as she questioned why he seemed cynical of if she was going to attack him or not.

He watched with interest as she moved on to attack the Lionelli. It went a bit quicker then expected, and was interesting to watch, but he was pretty sure it was because the Lionelli didn't get the drop this time. He breathed in as the Lionelli died, Good, flipping Lionelli deserves it. Yeah sure it'll be back but someone's gotta make sure they know there are people who won't allow their actions.

He looked at her for a moment before he took her hand, "I'm Lockland, sorry about the cynicism. I have an unfortunate tendency. Normally I'm very trusting, whether or not that's a good thing."

Maybe I shouldn't tell her I'm a paladin right now. That might be problematic. Or it might be fine. Ugh, we'll see, if the topic comes up I might, if not, I may end up having to just leave that be.

"Kind of came here to tryand see if I could send any of them 'back to the grave' so to speak, hasn't gone so well so far. I've been a bit of a small plague to the gangsters in the slums as well but they're a whole lot easier then these guys." He said shaking his head.

[Meara]

"Don't you know the gangsters are in bed with the cops? Kill too many and the cops will try to knock you off." Meara answered with a playful smile as she shook the mans hand. She had too done this same thing; thinking it was a good use of her abilities to rid the world of some of its criminal underbelly. This however backfired when the cops began treating her as a common criminal, so she moved on to a different type of quarry to turn into target practice.

At least on first inspection, Lockland appeared to be human. Most normal humans didn't venture this far into the proverbial lion's den, so she gathered he had to be like Flynn or Amalea. By the way he spoke when he first happened on her lying prone, Lockland did not seem to like vampires at all. What if he was like the men that had kidnapped Rowan and tried to come after her later? She could feel the hair on the back of her neck start to stand on end as those memories flooded back and reminded her how terrified she was of the supposed holy men.

Meara nervously swallowed as she went about unloading the rifles spent cartridge, then reached back into her backpack to retrieve a replacement to reload the weapon. Her actions seemed innocuous enough, but they were a cover as her mind reached out towards his and skimmed along the surface for some hints as to what Lockland was about. She quickly discovered a deep rooted hatred of vampires that permeated his actions - from what he hunted, how he acted, and even debating whether or not to try to kill her while she was down.

Part of Meara wanted to react to her clandestine knowledge and try to remove the paladin from existence. However a voice in the back of her head stopped her before she could move. Don't. They want a reason to persecute and hate vampires. Show him God's love and try to change his mind. So she offered the man a smile as she seemed to gesture him to follow her down the hall to perhaps gain a common understanding fighting Lionellis.

"The gangsters are human, so they at least stay down." Meara added with an unusually sunny smile that was as much to ease her nerves as well as convince the man all was well. "These guys? Eh not so much, but I think they're bad news. I think its critical to everyone's survival to make it harder for them to thrive."

[Storyteller]

==========AUTOMATED RANDOM EVENTS SYSTEM==========

Lockland finds themselves pushed backwards by an unseen force.

[Lockland]

Lockland nodded admittedly as she mentioned that the cops would come for you if you attacked gangsters too much. It had happened at least once. When it did he mostly just calmed down on his attacks with them until he was seemingly forgotten by the police, then later went right back at it again, though this time trying to be enough of an annoyance to the gangsters but not enough to raise to many cops to attack him.

While she may have been hiding that she was cautious of him, he was hiding that he had had the urge to kill her. She may have known, but he wasn't sure that she did. And he didn't really feel like revealing something like that at this time. It wasn't exactly a safe thing to admit when around a vampire that you nearly tried to kill them, and it was because you were a paladin.

He was about to respond about the matter of gangsters staying down and the Lionelli not doing so when he suddenly found himself shoved backwards by an invisible force. He stumbled and grabbed onto the wall with surprise, the paladin marks under the sleeve of his left arm showing for a moment, as well as those on his neck. Lockland steadied himself and looked around and at Maera with confusion,

"That wasn't you was it?" He asked instinctively, his eyes scanning for any other Lionelli right afterwards before realizing he'd made it quite obvious he might have known she had powers, whether they were vampiric or human.
He sighed, he was pretty sure she wouldn't have done that, he kept his eyes scanning for others. "Yeah Lionelli are screwed up, so are gangsters, I have to admit I feel a bit more guilty about the gangsters. They're lives are gone permanently, with the Lionelli it's just temporary. They may both deserve it, but the Lionelli's sentence' so to speak is far less extreme."

Lockland waited a moment but rolled his head around and groaned, looking to the side again trying to see if there was any sign of what might have caused him to be shoved backwards. "Ok whatever, I guess you'd probably either already guessed or would figure it out anyway." he tossed his arms out to the side dramatically, "I'm a paladin. I did in fact nearly attempt to kill you earlier, sorry about that. It's not exactly by choice. It's an instinct I've had ever since I got these powers. It's mostly subsided now. So, yeah I noticed you were a vampire. I'm not very fond of lying so might as well get all that out now."

He looked at her weapon for a moment, "I'm not likely to try and kill you now, I'll admit, if circumstances were right I might lose it. But that is not very likely. Unless you're as bad as those guys, " He gestured back to where the vampire they'd fought earlier would have been if it hadn't dissipated, "Then we might have problems. Otherwise, honestly, I'd rather we not fight."

[Meara]

Meara's eyes went wide as she watched Lockland get thrown back into a wall behind him. As he recovered, his shirt shifted to confirm what his memories suggested. The tattoos themselves were hauntingly beautiful - works of art. However, she didn't understand their purpose. It seemed they were common to all paladins; as she had seen Flynn's before too. Were they part of their initiation or training? Did they give them special powers. Curiosity was getting the better of Meara, where common sense should tell her to run away.

But she couldn't run forever; she needed to get over her irrational fear of them. I mean he hadn't killed her yet, and even if he tried, death was supposedly not permanent for vampires. As he eloquently said, the human gangsters were permanently dead. And so might he be if he tried anything. The animosity rolling off of him was almost overpowering for the young allurist, however he seemed at odds with himself. The innate revulsion of vampires with a lack of desire to fight them. Interesting.

"My gifts don't enable me to force grab people, so no that wasn't my doing." Meara started as a means of diffusing the tension that remained after his frank speech. "You are correct that I knew. However, I refuse to judge a book by its cover. Even though some paladins have tired to abduct and torture me, I have one that i cound among my closer friends as well." She paused as she ran a hand back through her waist-length red hair. "I refuse to snack on anything but blood bags. I work to improve relations between all the species, not force them apart."

Sure it might be dangerous for her to disclose her viewpoints, but how else would they seek to bring peace between the races if not transparency. Slowly she turned and moved to head down the corridor of the castle, reloading her rifle as she went. Just watching the waif-thin woman handle such an enormous weapon would demonstrate to anyone that she was not a natural at firearms, and would give some weight to her description of her pacifistic tendencies.

[Lockland]

Lockland sighed with relief, "Well that's good to know. Still kind of creeped out by the...invisible shove though." he admitted. He was still a bit worried, but not nearly as much. Felt better not having to keep any secrets. If at all possible he figured he'd probably just straight up admit to the public he was a paladin, but that even being one he still did not believe that vampires were always being treated in the same way they should be. But that would probably just paint a target on his back unless he found some official way to do it or had a reputation before hand.

He paused mentally as she turned around he frowned. She didn't seem the violent type, despite being in a place of regular violence, with a weapon of violence. He supposed then she might do this...out of a feeling of necessity? Which brought him back to something else she'd just said, Tried to abduct and torture you? What? He thought, his question didn't remain in his head too long before he'd spoken it aloud,

"Wait. Who tried to do that?" He asked following with a furrowed brow, "Not so much trying to pry about it if it's not something you want to bring up. But those would be the sort of people I wouldn't want to end up accidentally working with, if they're paladins I'd wager there are people who trust them just because they're against vampires. Which kind of screws things up for those of us who don't see things as humans vs vampires."

He hated it when people who tried to make it as simple as "Vampires are all bad, we need to get rid of them." He wasn't really familiar with a phrase that could sum up the reverse sentiments of that though, mostly because he just wasn't a part of vampire culture that he'd see anyone saying things like that. Except the crazy vampires.