Floating along (Shalayna Davis)

[Zodiac]

A typical October evening. The gypsy drifted along the streets taking in the ambiance of the night. For once, she was not hiding herself under a hoodie and dark, boring clothes. Her feet moving to give the appearance she was walking rather than defying gravity could just be seen peeking out from under the colorful, flowing skirts she wore. Besides, it was near Halloween, and others were heading to and from parties in costume, so who would truly pay attention to a gypsy girl in such an environment as this? Another festive person off to a party somewhere.

By her feet, a large, black cat kept pace with her as she moved like some silent bodyguard. It skillfully dodge the feet of others and the tip of the walking/wizard’s staff the girl used. There was nothing magical about the staff, but hiding in it’s core was an iron rod that would be most useful if she was forced to defend herself.

The cat, however, some would debate the idea if it had magic or not.

It felt good to move in this manner. Too many trips normally involved fadeportals, summoning, tomes or teleporting in her nightly activities. The elimination of walking might sound good at first, but if one – like Zodiac – had spent the majority of their lives traveling step by step from points A and B, it becomes part of you. A part one feels odd if not part of their normal goings on. So what if the soles of her feet no longer touched the ground, the general motion of appearing to walk was satisfying.

A trilling noise caught her ear. Her hand slipped into the pocket of her skirts and pulled out her phone. Besides the cat, it was perhaps her second constant companion. For a person who could not utter a single word, it was her way to keep in touch with the various enterprises she ran and those that worked for her. The device chimed two more times before she got it into view and brought up the messages. Problems, decisions, appointments, special orders and the like. Anything her ‘second in command’ could not handle came to her. She glanced over the texts and dashed off replies. As she did that, a couple more texts arrived. Deliveries arriving tomorrow and what should head to storage or to be stocked now. More calm and direct answers were sent. Once finished, the device returned to her pocket without another thought.

”I should just turn it off, right?” she glanced down at her cat. ”Oh Lawdy, the panic that would cause.” she laughed in her thoughts. If Ginny (the cat) had any opinion on the matter, she kept it to herself.

[Shalayna Davis (DELETED 12735)]

Shalayna walked out of the house. The parties were boring. She had no interest in them. Honestly she just went there for the drinks. Being 17 wasn't easy. Especially when she was homeless.
She watched as a gypsy girl walked down the street. A black cat followed her. The girl put a phone in her pocket. A phone would be useful. Shalayna sighed. She was still a little ditzy from the booze, but she thought she could pull it off.
She quietly snuck up and grabbed the phone, running. She ran as fast as she could.

[Zodiac]

She felt it.
Soft as an evening breeze, gentle as butterfly wings. Zodiac turned and saw a girl dashing away from her. Her hand swept past the pockets of her skirts and discovered what the would be thief had claimed.

’Getting old, Angel,’ she smirked. ’To let a child get so close.’

She focused on the cat at her feet for a second and pointed the way the girl had fled. Miss Ginny began to follow. Her natural coloring made her melt into the darkness and would not be easily seen. As the cat ran around the corner, the gypsy darted into an alley.

Assured she was alone, she jumped up. Vampire powered legs lifted her up to the rooftop. She ran to the edge and spotted the cat on the street below still following their prey. Zodiac followed above super jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She didn’t need to see the girl. Ginny did and was following the child like a guided missile. When the cat turned, she jumped to follow. Almost anything else in her pockets she would chastise herself for letting her guard down and move on, but not the phone. Too many things in that toy just to fall into mortal hands.

To say the gypsy was not happy would be an understatement.

[Shalayna Davis (DELETED 12735)]

Shalayna laughed as she ran. Looking behind her she stopped. "Good I lost her." She looked at the phone and started to figure out to password. She felt eyes watching her.
Shalayna turned to see a cat. She tilted her head and stared at it for a while, before going back to the phone.

[Zodiac]

Sharp eyes watched from the rooftop. The girl was trying to get into her phone, and the mystic smirked. A swipe pattern and fingerprint to enter the device-neither she would feel inclined to give the child. She had to give her credit for getting so close as she did. A softer touch and she might have gotten away with this.

The girl had stopped her attempts as Ginny emerged from the shadows. Of all of her allies, the cat never failed her. Now to make a proper and impressionable entrance.

Without hesitation, Zodiac stepped off the ledge and began to free fall. Halfway between her and the sidewalk she began to slow down. She had learned her limited power of levitation acted like an air brake of sorts when she fell for a distance. Slower and slower till she hung suspended a foot above the ground behind the girl.

Her hand shot out and grabbed the girl by the wrist tightly. She made no effort to disguise the anger on her face with her eyes glowing and fangs on full display.

’There is 2 ways we can do this,’ she shouted into the girl’s thoughts. ’One, give me back my phone and I will forget about this and you can run free, or refuse and I will take my phone back and you can start a eternal nap in the Dumpster. Your choice, kid.’

As if in agreement, Ginny meowed.

[Shalayna Davis (DELETED 12735)]

Shalayna winced and tried to tear her hand away. Vampire. She'd heard of these creatures but she never had encountered one. Maybe this girl would turn her. Help her with her life.
"Please let go. I got your phone fair and square. This could sell for a lot of money and get me off of the streets. Please!" She yelled and kept trying to tear her hand away. Tears started trickling down her face. She cursed herself. Why was she crying now! She was supposed to be strong. This proved that everyone was right. She was really just a weak kid. She looked at the girl with pleading eyes.

[Zodiac]

Add guts to the list.

Perhaps Zodiac was not the largest or most terrifying vampire in town, but anyone else in the girl’s situation would not be reasoning ‘too bad, so sad, it’s mine now’ and arguing with her.

With a growl, she snatched the phone free of the girl’s hand and let her go. ’And why does your situation concern me? If you needed help, you could have asked for it. There are shelters in this town that will feed you, give you a safe place to sleep. Show some desire to do more, they can help you find a job. A place to stay.’ she dropped her phone in her purse and zipped it closed. ’Save your tears and don’t bore me with a hard luck tale of whine. I lived my own and I made it through-even before becoming this.’ She whistled audibly and the cat came to her feet.

’Don’t try it again, or I swear, I will hurt you.’ The mystic turned her back to the girl and began to move off. The cat following her. Over her shoulder she tossed several 20 dollar bills and a business card for one of the local shelters.

[Shalayna Davis (DELETED 12735)]

She snickered. "Shelters are useless to me. Keep your money. I'll stay in an abandoned home for now." Shalayna started walking away. "By the way. If you are trying to come off scary. It's not working." She smirked to herself and walked past the gypsy girl. Shoving her hands in her jacket pockets she hurried out of the alley, looking around before taking a left.

[Zodiac]

’Prideful little *****,’

She thought to herself as the child stormed out of the alley. She wondered if the girl was one of those ‘my way or the highway’ types. Of course a shelter don’t work if you consider it a long term option, but for a night or two to get yourself balanced and form a plan it beat freezing in the cold.

Zodiac shook her head. The last thing she needed was to get involved. Too many others, just like this one had turned into disasters when she tried to help them. Of course she wasn’t scary. She never claimed to be. Too many took her kindness as a sign of weakness was the problem and when those she tried to help figured they could push her around…

Well, she imagined a few of them were pondering ‘How the hell did that happen?’ in whatever afterlife they ended up in.

She cursed in Romany. Now she was curious. She wasn’t going to learn anything following her around.

A smile came to her face as she pulled her phone back out. She unlocked it and there the girl was in a picture the phone took for a failed attempt. Mentally she cackled as she began to send out texts to a few mortals who had done work for her on occasion with a simple list of instructions. It told what area to start in and the following.

Do not approach-just observe and keep track

See who she talks to (if anyone)

See what she does (besides steal. BTW watch your wallets around this one)

A reward and my gratitude will follow your success.

She sent the pix and the text out. A night or two should give her more information to work with if they found her quickly enough. Just as she bent over to pick up the money the girl scorned, a reply hit her phone.

Am in that area-will be watching

She smiled and send a hug and kiss emoji in reply. Another replied in the positive as well. The hunt was on.

[Shalayna Davis (DELETED 12735)]

Shalayna walked up to a person and began talking. She wasn't interested. She slowly slipped the phone out of their pocket. The man walked away and she smirked. "This is too easy." She felt eyes on her. She shrugged it off.
A burned down apartment complex would be a great place to stay for the night.