The Price of Blood [Pierra]

[Blaize]

At least the introduction to this whole thing, this city and miscreants, would not be so hard for Pierra. She seemed to already know her way around, though Blaize’s features twisted incredulously as she mentioned the zombies and fun. Blaize couldn’t think of anything worse. They stank, and if you spent enough time around them, you began to stink, too. With heightened senses, that stench is hard to get rid of. Whatever dealings Blaize had had with the walking dead, he’d ended up burning his clothes afterwards. Easier to burn them and buy new ones than try to wash them of the filth.

”You’ve got a strange idea of what’s enjoyable,” Blaize said. Though if anyone had asked him what he thought was fun, he wouldn’t know how to answer. All Blaize knew was work. He’d probably reply with ‘dancing’. That could be taken in numerous different ways, depending on what the person knew about him beforehand.

What Blaize got out of the conversation, however, was that siring Pierra might not have changed much for her. She didn’t seem to have any kind of family relying on her, nor a job she needed to show up to. This was something she’d lived for, and now she’d died for it.

They eventually passed beneath the university gates, and whatever Pierra might turn out to be, Blaize was more relieved about the situation than he’d been previously. Everything was going to be okay—so long as Aleksandra didn’t freak out, of course. ”And I guess you better steer clear of the Paladins for a while now, then. They’ll want your head if they recognise what you are,” he said.

[Pierra (DELETED 10327)]

She shrugged at his comment of having an odd idea of things that were enjoyable to her, "Well everyone has their own little hobbies right?" she added simply still walking around with almost a hop before turning so she was walking backwards instead so she was actually facing him from the side and chuckling to herself as she glanced over her shoulder occasionally to make sure she knew where she was going.

"Oh the hunters? I mean, ok I guess. Wouldn't want to die...again, anytime soon right." Pierra commented letting out a little hum in her throat as she tried to think of something else to say for a moment, "Hey so just an odd little question. Is it...like a war? With the hunters I mean? Do ya'll ever like have full on battles with them. Or is it more like we just try to avoid them finding us, I mean, are they even technically an authority? Aren't they more like, you know, vigilantes I guess? I'm really kind of uncertain on what exactly we stand on legal wise?"

She asked this with a curious frown, not a frown to show distaste or even any negative emotion at all but confusion. Simply a very expressive way to show her missing understanding on that topic.

[Blaize]

Blaize thought the questions over, his pace and gait graceful as the dancer he’d always been—as if there were a melody in his head that only he could hear, and at any moment he could break out into a pirouette. Truth was, there was a melody in his head only he could hear. He practiced so much, there was never not a classical opera stuck in his brain, the cogs working in the background to figure how the routine might be perfected.

The questions were good ones, and Blaize didn’t have all the answers. He had Aleksandra, he had the studio, he had ideas for future business ventures but hadn’t looked into any underground political movements. He watched the news only in snippets. His participation in the vampiric community at large was low to non-existent.

”I guess it’s a war but not an organised one. There are groups of hunters but not an army. They don’t all work together. Just as there are groups of vampires. I’ve actually heard more about vampire factions fighting with each other more than hunters and vampires,” he said with a shrug. ”These days it’s not really the hunters we’ve got to look out for but the militia, the soldiers, the cops—if you get on their radar, even the slightest bit, they’ll shoot you on sight,” he said. It was a warning to this spark of a girl who looked as if she was going to set the city ablaze wherever she went.

”Legal-wise I don’t think anyone knows what to do with us. At the moment the city is kind of in flux, and I guess if we want the best outcome we need to show humanity that we’re not the devil incarnate. The last thing we want is for the military to decide it’s best to bomb the place,” he said. He’d turned to the left and headed down the narrow path that would lead across the quad, beneath varying trees and lit by dim, inviting lamps, toward the dance studio.

[Pierra (DELETED 10327)]

Light on his feet she noticed, how entertaining, like stepping on clouds rather then ground. Distracted her vaguely from the answers when he gave them. Really? More vampire against vampire conflict then against humans? Kind of strange wasn't it? Ah but cops and soldiers till took precedent for threat it seemed. Well, a bullets a bullet undead or not apparently. She felt herself...almost considering ignoring his last statement, to not show them that they're the devil incarnate. Meant she couldn't just...play around. Or maybe, she could, she just had to avoid letting it look like she was a vampire.

She nodded, "Hmm, alrighty, thanks!" Pierra said turning. She couldn't really think of anything else to ask just yet and just followed walking and considering. Smiling as she stared up at the sky. Ah clouds, weren't they weird? Just water right. Couldn't help but imagine just a big blob of water floating around in the air.

[Blaize]

Within minutes, less, they were climbing the couple of steps that led up and into the studio. Blaize didn’t bother turning on any of the lights – there was a light radiating from the door that led through to the locker rooms, and it was toward this door that he now moved.

As they drifted across the wooden floorboards, Pierra might notice they were surrounded by mirrors that neither of them were reflected in. This was a sight that Blaize had grown accustomed to. When he had to take classes it was a little more difficult for the students to keep their eyes on him, but that was why he didn’t take classes as much as his hired staff. It was better that he just keep to the side, watching, directing, rather than teaching.

He gestured toward the shower stalls.

”Showers are through there if you think you need one,” he said. Honestly, he’d not made too much of a mess, now that he could see Pierra in the light, properly. ”I’ll call Aleksandra…” he said. Better to do that out of earshot, just in case the conversation got heated. ”I'll be in the office," he said as he gestured at the wall, indicating that the office was on the other side of it if she finished up and came to find him.