Path of the Vampire forum

Meka was oblivious, but she generally stayed in a state of perpetual non-issue. Plus, what really was t here for her to be afraid of. She was one of the walking undead, a scourge of the night, a mystical being with magical powers, whose only downside (as far as she could see) was the fact tanning, was totally out of the question. And since she was born with more than enough tan to make that downside about as redundant as jandals in winter she wasn’t too terribly fussed about it. The sun was cancer inducing piece of overrated nonsense as far as she was concerned (okay, this was probably a bit of a lie, cause Meka wasn’t quite sure how she felt about the whole, can’t go to the beach thing – but she figured a bit of delusion helped it all go down well, and why not).

It was a warm night. It was July so the night was actually bordering on tropical. Just enough of a slap of humidity that you didn’t really need to wear a jacket (and she didn’t). And she wore clothes that were cool, breathable and wouldn’t be ripped off her body when she went kamikaze on Ancient Zombie asses. That was not the time to be having no wardrobe malfunctions, or the time to be wearing no flimsy *** summer thing that could be ripped up by looking at it.

She was glad she wasn’t in Georgia no more though, cause then she’d be eating the humidity like it was day old grits; a warmed up, gluggy mess. And if she wasn’t so stubborn Meka would have admitted that she was glad she wasn’t there anymore, or largely hadn’t lived there at all. She didn’t really think five counted as an age you could call the place ‘your home’ especially when you spent nearly thirty years somewhere else. Nope, this was good, right here in Harper Rock where she’d spent the large part of her formative years. Not so hot you wanted to chew your own face off but nothing arctic cause she also didn’t think she’d make a very convincing Eskimo.

And she was walking because she felt like walking (and she didn’t own a car) and she’d just left the Eyrie and was heading back to the Catacombs for her nightly ‘Hack a Ho’ with Ancient Zombies. She wondered again how she managed to live her whole life and not know she was going to school, elementary, middle and High, on a hot bed of magical activity. Although, to give credit to the act of secrecy if the history was anything to go by, vampires had only just managed to escape back into this world through some sort of other plane rip in the space time continuum or some star trek **** like that. Meka, obviously, hadn’t listened that well during that part of the Vampire 101 tutorial.

She was new, and didn’t mind learning slow and easy. (well, slow and easy meaning ‘when she wanted to and how she wanted to’) She had just learned what it meant to summon a spirit and when she summoned one she had to get told what in the hell it was, and what it meant and what the Holy Mary and Joseph she was meant to do with it. Frowning the considered the metaphor she just used and wondered if she’d mentally stuffed it up.

Meka stepped out of the wilderness, her brow knit with thoughts no more pressing that ‘did I stuff up that inner dialogue metaphor… something aint right with it’ because, she just didn’t comprehend, how anything could possible go wrong in her world. She was a vampire (she did mental ninja moves in her head for this thought) and she was a member of the biggest baddest damn gang ever (more ninja moves) and by the looks of things, they were about to get, a damn sight more bad *** and well, yeah… she was feeling all just a little bit invincible right now.

She was closing in on the Catacombs when she felt it. Okay, maybe she didn’t feel nothing. Maybe she was getting indigestion or something she ate didn’t agree with her. That dude she snacked on earlier reeked of something really funky. Maybe he was a pot head, he had that sour smell to him. Maybe his funky dun rubbed off in her mouth and given her *** the heebie jeebies.

“Uggggh.” She said out loud and a small hand dropped to rub her tummy, as if that redundant organ really did have something to do with the feeling. But she took no more notice of it as she kept walking. Why would she. Meka had only been a vampire 3 months. She didn’t know jack about ****.

Chad had been gone for a long time; too long. But his research on The Crow was too important, even more important than his bloodline. It was hard to imagine that since his love for them was of that of a father toward his children, but as long as The Crow was online, there would forever be strife disrupting the ability of all vampires to be able to get along. He wasn’t sure why anyone would believe some disembodied spirit of a supposedly long dead vampire would be omniscient knowing when and where vampires broke the masquerade. That is ridiculous and just set vampire against vampire, opening us up to attacks by hunters. Nothing in his mind could be more evil, and nothing more sinister had led to more fighting among those within his family. But he knew he was on the right trail. He would find a weakness for this creature and send him to the great beyond where he should be. He just needed a little more help.
Etienne was sired for a specific reason, solely for his knowledge of history for this area, and his knowledge of the occult. He would have been a perfect companion for this mission, but alas Chad had lost his trust and loyalty. This was extremely hard for him to deal with, but he had to press on, and with some searching and luck, he found another great candidate.
Alexander Dupree was a small simple man. The kind who was interested in the occult from the time he was introduced to it as a Dungeons and Dragons player. Then he was able to role-play out his frustrations about being a skinny little man, by creating characters larger than life who participated in epic adventures which saved the realm many times over. His interest in the occult grew and his own adventures began as he came across more and more ancient tombs and writings. He was introduced into the underworld where there were truly mythical creatures and powers to be gained. This was his way to greatness, beyond that of someone small and simple. Upon finding this Frenchman, Chad reached out to him over the internet teasing him with knowledge of strange events happening in Harper Rock. And when he reached the city Chad revealed himself to him and their courtship began. He told his story, showed his abilities and Alexander was immediately smitten. Chad had found himself a new childer at last who share his quest.
The turning was nothing special, Chad embraced him and Alexander knew what he had to do. Feed. It was important and he had been instructed well on how to do it as safely as possible. And to ensure that nothing went wrong, Chad decided to follow him around watching from the tops of the single story buildings in the area. It was then that he ancient vampire got a sense of foreboding. Something wasn’t right. Lights dimmed and flickered down the street darkening the area, and above a shadow covered the sky. Moving in front of the moon it was easy to notice that it was like crimson and then it stayed in place, like a glow or halo around it. This was surly unnatural.

The man moved with grace as he chased softly behind the group staying a distance not to draw attention to himself. From rooftop to rooftop the bounced across the city like a pack of dogs. The burnt paper fell on the rooftop as they all suddenly stopped. With a quick side step John had moved from sight as they turned around. ' How`d they know I was behind them.' A sickening feeling came over the man as he looked around the corner.

'Gone?!' He had lost them or so he thought. He felt the blade to his throat as he slowly turned looking back to a black robe Everything about him said to rip his head clean off. No sudden movement was made though. His eyes narrowed as another hooded man stepped out of the darkness and slapped the giant across his face. The black tints fell from his face. He say in that moment what they saw. The reflection in the glass showed him exactly what he never wished to see again. He felt the blade thrust through his flesh, as another slashed up into him.

John staggered back as he looked at them his eyes still fixed onto the glass. slash after slash shredded his shirt as he moved to avoid there attacks. A low growl came from the man as he side stepped a swing and rammed his fist threw one of the attackers. Holding a beating heart on the other side as he dropped the dead man off his arm. Crushing it in his palm as he pick up the blade and threw it with the force of a car into the back of his now fleeing other attacker. Skewering the man across the rooftop.

Pain was something that John hadn`t felt in some time. The blood ran from every cut and scar on the mans bare chest. He wasn`t healing. Even being immortal it wasn`t working. Picking up his glass Glasses and looking into them he finally got a good look at himself. The Flesh itself was gone. Rotting muscle was the only thing holding him together as he looked at himself. His teeth were that of a shark. Fanged razors lining his Jaw. His hair was gone. His eyes bled for the pain he felt. In that moment his instinct took hold of him. 'Kill.' Was the only word that floated in his mind.

Robert stood at the window looking out over the city as the cloud cleared from the moon, forcing his eyes up to meet the glowing orb in the sky..... that was tinged red. His eyes widened at the sight, having never seen it before, and he stared and wondered what could be going on. However, it wasn't long before he started feeling a little strange, different, ill - right before the pain started. His face seemed to be trying to leap from his body in different directions while his hands almost dried out and became dessicated like that of a mummy. Those hands lifted to his face and he found that it too had done the same thing, as if all moisture had suddenly been sucked from his body.

Panic set in there as he wondered if there was perhaps some new ritual or power that had been found that could do this to someone. Hurriedly, he looked around to see if perhaps there were a demi-fae standing around doing it's magic and turning him into this mummy like, hideous, monstrousity. There was nothing, he could see no reason for it. Immediately his mind went to Ivy and Lizzie and he tried to summon them to him.... Nothing. He tried again. Still nothing. He tried to teleport. Nothing again.

"****!"

He had to go hunting for his phone, trying to remember where he'd last used it and what he'd been wearing as he rummaged through various pockets and bags of weeds. It took him a good ten minutes or more before finally his fingers closed around the smooth, rectangular surface of his phone. It was dragged from the bag he'd obviously tossed it in and a text message was brought up, ready to be created and sent to both Lizzie and Ivy at once.

"No idea what's happened. At West. Not well. Been..... transformed. No idea what's going on - hope you're safe and ok! Find me if you need me!"

He hit send and then looked out of the window, seeing some sort of commotion happening in the park as some poor vampire was being attacked - also having transformed as he had, only a little differently. Something big was going on, and he was honestly.... scared.

Her sword drew back and dove through the woman's leg as she smirked, the main artery had been severed and she would bleed out soon enough. However, she wasn't going to make her last moments too pleasant for her - she was going to play with the woman a bit first. Once more she tried to cast confuse, but all that happened was that the woman lifted her blade and tried to cut CC's nose off. She stepped back, blinking in surprise and frowned. She wasn't going to stand for the fact the woman was trying to attack and was refusing to fall under her powers - that she struck out with her sword and drove it through the woman's chest.

Once the woman was dead, CC stepped away and thought things over. Her power of confusion had never stopped before, never not worked on someone. It was really fairly easy to confuse the plebs around here - so why had it failed? She just shrugged her shoulders and went looking for another person to smack this **** out of. She rounded the corner and entered another room, only for a hunter to look up and beging to approach, calling out to his friend.

"Well, look what we have here! Isn't she an ugly ******! Worse than their lot usually are!"

She stood and stared at them, absolutely outraged that they'd dare talk to her like that. Fair enough, she wasn't the best looking woman on the planet. But there sure as **** wasn't anything wrong with how she looked, and she'd seen a hell of a lot worse in the city. Aidan for example was a right munter of a woman! She went at them, losing her control and simply roaring with rage because tonight was not the night to piss her off. They fought two on one and she of course, lost.

A sword ran her through, stabbing cleanly through her leg and she howled in pain - wondering what in the hell was up with people wanting to ruin her legs! Before she knew it, she was in their arms and restrained before being summarily ejected from the building, landing in a bloody heap. She rolled over and sat up, poking and prodding at the wound in her leg - waiting for it to close up like it usually did.

And she waited.

And she waited.

And she waited.

But nothing, it just continued to bleed and she continued to lose blood. She looked at what she was wearing and didn't have anything to rip from her clothing to make a bandage from, so picked a few pockets to find some hankies to tie together to create a bandage. Once she was all wrapped up, she decided against going back into the raid - but she was still annoyed about the comment the hunter had made. She pulled out her phone, took a picture of herself and then checked it out.

And screamed.

She needed help. But she had no idea who to turn to. She was stuck and her face looked like it had been stung by a thousand bees and she'd come out in an allergic reaction. The elephant man had nothing on her right now!

“Get out of here! You can’t come in here looking like that!”

Madison winced as the shopkeeper shouted at her. She had never seen one look so irate at her presence before. Sure they had turned her away previously when she had been grievously injured but none of them had looked at her like that. This one though, he was absolutely livid that she dare enter his shop looking like she did. Not wanting to cause a scene or have him remember who she was after she was healed, Madison left the shop and turned the corner of the building before leaning against it. How bad could it really be? She had bandaged her arm where Ivy had severed it, there wasn’t even blood showing through. The slash to her leg had been bandaged and covered by her jeans, only noticeable by the limp she had when she walked. Her head….well Brick had done his best to bandage her head. Ivy’s blade had damn near gone completely through her skull, right through her face. Almost half of her entire head was wrapped in gauze and it completely covered her left eye. Madison knew she looked a bit rough but could it really be that bad?

Pulling out her phone from her pocket with the hand that she had left, the blonde used her thumb to unlock the screen and pull up her camera application. Another tap of her thumb and the camera went from the main camera to the one that pointed towards her face. A gasp escaped Madison’s pale lips and the phone started to slip through her fingers. She scrambled to catch it, forgetting that she only had her one hand as the cellular device fell to the ground with a clack. Quickly she picked the phone back up, making sure that it wasn’t damaged and brought it back up to her face. Something was wrong with her face! Her skin, while always pale now had an ashen look to it. Far more gray than it normally appeared. She actually looked dead with darkened rings about the eye that was uncovered. And her fangs were showing! Never did her fangs show unless she wanted them to and as hard as she tried, she could not get them to disappear. Something was wrong. Very, very wrong.

Shoving her phone back into her pocket, Madison decided that she was going to feed and then go back to the d’Artois portal room. Maybe someone there would know what was happening to her. Could attribute her appearance to a power someone used on her or possibly a ritual. Hopefully someone would be able to help her but first, she needed to find her night’s meal since the shop refused to sell her any blood packs. Luckily that wouldn’t be too much of a problem as Madison had figured out how to lure prey to her using her telepathic abilities. All she had to do was search for humans nearby and press subconscious thoughts into their minds for them to investigate something where she was. It always worked, no matter where she was and considering she was in Wickbridge, that wouldn’t be hard at all.

Closing her eyes, Madison focused on drawing a meal towards her. Minutes passed and no one came. She tried again. Still nothing. Opening her eye, Madison saw a person walk right past where she was. The man didn’t even glance in her direction. Her brow furrowed and pulled skin tight beneath the bandage on her head. She didn’t understand what was happening, why the power wasn’t working. Pushing off from the side of the building she began to follow the man who had passed her. She tried to read his memories and got nothing. She tried to push a nightmare-ish vision into his head. The man just kept on walking. This was starting to get frustrating.

Madison followed the man for several blocks, continuing to test the powers she knew that she possessed on him. Nothing seemed to work. Nothing seemed to faze him. The only thing that anyone seemed to notice was her as she walked by. People on the sidewalk scrambled out of her way as she followed the man past the casino. They gaped and they stared, fingers lifted up to point at the ghoulish sight that she was. That too was starting to make her angry. She knew she should get off the streets before someone who knew what vampires were caused her problems. But first she was going to get her night’s meal. As the man passed by the Metronome club, Madison hurried forward to catch up to him and grabbed hold of him, dragging him behind the building. He tried to fight her but even in her weakened and powerless state, the vampire was too much of a match for the mortal. Fangs slid effortlessly into the man’s tender flesh of his neck and Madison drank her fill. What she didn’t realize though was the small silhouette peeking around the corner of the Met.

Finished feeding, Madison pushed the man back towards the street and watched him stumble before she turned to head towards the sewer entrance. She needed time to think. Slipping into the sewers, the telepath started down the tunnel that would lead her to a secret passage that held the door to the training room. So wrapped up in her own thoughts as she tried to figure out what had happened to her that she didn’t realize that she was being followed. It wasn’t until she had almost reached the secret passageway that she heard footsteps behind her. Whirling around to face whoever was behind her, Madison pulled out her gold plated pistol, the only weapon she was able to wield with one hand.

Staring down the barrel of her weapon, the female vampire found herself looking at a group of well armed men, one of them naked and covered in tattoos, signaling him to be a paladin. Another looked to be a foot soldier but the other three she wasn’t too sure of. All except for one had weapons aimed at her. Not waiting for a single one of them to get a shot off at her first, Madison rushed the group and began to fire point-blank at any and all of them. The men scattered, diving out of the way, ducking behind corners. She only managed to hit the foot soldier but that was better than nothing. Two bullets blasted through his face, splattering his brains across the sewer and his fellow comrades. His body slumped to the floor, weapon clattering to the ground.

The sewer tunnel erupted in a cacophony of bullets being fired. Madison ducked and rolled, ignoring the pain shooting through her leg as she launched herself back upright towards the paladin and let off another few shots. The paladin ducked and bullets embedded themselves into the tunnel walls. Getting to his feet, the naked man looked at Madison and outstretched his hand quickly, casting a spell on her. Madison was still trying to move forward but suddenly she felt her entire body begin to twitch and lock up, making it increasingly difficult to move. Forgetting that her powers weren’t working she tried to block the paladin from using anymore powers on her. Reality of her powerless condition set back in as the paladin cast another spell and a wave of blue energy came crashing towards her. A deep guttural scream ripped out of Madison’s vocal chords as her body burned, feeling like all the blood within her was drying up and her veins were shriveling into themselves. It took all she had to keep from falling to the ground and she dove into another tunnel.

The firefight continued and the longer it went on, the more disoriented Madison became as the paladin hit her again and again with his powers. All of her shots were going wide and she hadn’t hit a single one of them since she had killed the hunter. It didn’t help that one of the dressed humans seemed to have his own powers, aiding in Madison’s disorientation and sluggishness. Her head was pounding and her vision was blurred. There wasn’t time to pull out her tome and use it to get her out of dodge. She would have to put down her gun, be able to open her bag, dig for it and then read off the words. By the time she even got her bag open, the four remaining men would be on top of her instantly. It was possible though that she may be able to rush them to get past them and into the secret passage. She wasn’t stupid enough to show them where the door of the training room was but if she could get through that passage, then maybe she could get to the quarantine zone and from there, hopefully use the monsters within to her aid. It was a long shot but it seemed like the only shot she had.

Pushing herself up against the wall, Madison left the cover of the corner and gun blazing started firing at everything and everyone that moved. Return fired followed and she felt bullets pierce her flesh but this didn’t stop her from trying to bum-rush the men to get past them. Somehow she made it through and was just about to enter the secret passage when the paladin hit her with one of his spells once more. Her entire form seized up and she fell to her knees. Again and again he cast his spells on her until Madison could do nothing but spasm on the sewer floor. Feet began to appear around her and she tried desperately to raise her weapon to fight them off but one of them kicked it from her hand. Another wave of pain shot through her body and she flipped onto her back in convulsions. The men stared down at her, the paladin being the closest to her head. She glared at him and tried to open her mouth to speak but no words came out as the naked man raised his sword and brought it down upon her. And then the world went black.

The steady beep of the machines were all that he heard, all that he paid attention to. Everything else in the world, just did not matter anymore. All that mattered to him was Verity. What he had done to her and the fact that he would not leave her side. Not until she was better. His face was buried in his hands, exhaustion, both physical and emotional must have taken hold, for he had dozed off.

“Sir...” a soft tap on his shoulder roused him.

“Hmm...what?” he asked and slowly lifted his face from his hands.

“Do you wan...OH MY GOD!” the nurse shrieked, clipboard dropped to the floor as she backed away from him.

“What the **** is your problem?” he growled and stood, his tongue tapped his fangs and he felt weird.

“STAY BACK! DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!” she screamed again, her fear charged actions took her closer to Verity and in her haste to get away from Nolan she knocked down one of her IVS.

“NO!” he roared and charged for her, his hand about her throat as he pulled her away. “YOU CLUMSY *****! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!” he shouted, his hand about her throat began to squeeze the life from the woman, though he did not seem to care. Only thing that he noticed was how she was still breathing and how he could not feel the pull of the shadows anymore. Before he could even begin to understand what was happening, security showed up.

“OH ****! WHAT THE **** IS THAT THING!”

“I DON'T KNOW,” the sounds of guns being drawn, hammers cocked back. “SHOOT THE ******!”

The woman he had been choking was shoved away, while he turned to face the guards, “Not in here....not in here....I'll go with you...but not in here....” the fangs were hard to speak around, made everything sound like a growl.

“Whatever you are, you are coming with us...ok?” his hand shook while he kept the gun on Nolan.

He tried to call the shadows to himself, to hide within them but he could not. Something was wrong...so very wrong.

“I'm sorry,” he said with a look to Verity before he ran and jumped through the window. The glass shattered all around him, lucky for him, her room had been on the first floor. Already he could feel the tiny beads of glass as they worked their way into his skin and did not heal, one bit had managed to work it's way into his side and sliced him open rather well. Up on his feet, he stumbled a bit before he took off running for the nearest ally, he had to get somewhere safe. Needed to figure this **** out.

While he paused to catch his breath, “Hey Mister you ok?”

“Go away kid,” he snapped.

“Sorry...can't do that,” then the kid giggled and before Nolan could react his body convulsed and he collapsed to the ground.
“Must be one of the younger ones....he panicked and made quite the scene at the hospital....” the voices around him chuckled.

Then the world around him went black and Nolan was left with only one thought, “I'm sorry, Verity.”

They were screaming. Okay, the baby was screaming (baby being a 2 year old and who brings two year olds to the movies anyway, they were noisy and fidgety and always ALWAYS had a fit when they weren’t supposed to, like this one, staring at her and pointing. And screaming.

Didn’t that baby’s Momma teach the kid that it weren’t polite to point, neither was pointing, staring or screaming. Of course, if the Momma were anything to go by she weren’t no better, that woman looked like her eyeballs were gonna fall out her head.

“What?” Meka said, staring down at the blonde chippy until the other female gulped and turned away. “Yeah.. you aint seen a black woman before? Dayam!” she muttered pushing her way through the crowd.

Okay, and she didn’t know why they were screaming. Maybe they’d just finished watching some scary film about some kick *** black woman, kick *** beautiful black woman (she corrected herself in her head).

The crowds were parting for her, which was odd. And they were all looking. Which was even odder. Meka wiped her chin, checking for any drool or something cause she was getting eyeballed like she was a roast chicken thrown into a den of hungry carnivores. No, actually, they were staring at her like she had grown horns out the top of her head and was dancing the Achy Breaky heart down towards the popcorn stand.

In the end frustration made her stop and turn to some dude who looked like the glasses he wore were carved out the bottom of a coke bottle.

“What in the HELL are you all staring at?” she growled, giving her best Meka stance. Hands on hips, her chin stuck out in a belligerent angle. “You aint never seen a girl with tits before?”

The man stuttered, or maybe he hiccuped. Meka wasn’t sure. But he looked like he about choked on his own spit and then attempted to speak through a series of incomprehensible guttural mouth burps. Maybe Mr Coke Bottle Glasses was agoraphobic. Maybe she’d just made him swallow his tongue cause he aint never had a girl talk to him before. Maybe, she should just punch him in the face for being stupid. Meka glared at him, her brown eyes flashing their irritation.

His friend saved Mr Fat *** from getting her fist in his face. Mr Good Friend had a friendly (if plain) face. Nothing to write home about. She imagined he was just a regular Joe out with a mate at the movies and if his T-Shirt was any indicator (it was a meme ha ha about anime and the dunces that didn’t understand it) – he was probably also your average Mr Stay at Home and Game type too.

“Ummm…” Mr Good Fried answered, his eyes taking her in, a full body scan she didn’t expect from Mr Plain Face. “You just come from a Cosplay convention or something? Because, that…. is some seriously realistic make up you got going on.” And then he reached out to touch her face like a toddler reaching out to capture a wandering finger.

“Hey!” she exclaimed, her hand coming up to her face and feeling around. “Don’t touch the goods!”

****! She thought, there was some seriously bad juju going on with her face. Her hands fumbled across her mouth and cut themselves on her teeth. Her FANGS! Triple ****-a-doodle. Mr Fatty and Mr Good Friend stood watching her, fascinated as she goggled them back, horrified at what her fingers were finding. Something, something was very very wrong with the world. Her world. Her Meka world was coming up Fang Faced.

“Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaah.” She said finally, “It’s make up… for a convention and I came in for… ummm nothing really.” She ended lamely, backing away. She tried for a grin, but she didn’t want to flash anymore fang so instead what was produced was a painful grimace.

“And I better get back there cause.. you know. Bella and Eddie and Joshia want to go out and see a movie, and what’s why I was here and umm I play the hot black woman vampire you didn’t see in the movie.”

“There was a black woman.” Mr Fatty interjected, his voice a mere squeak of a sound, obviously mentioning Twilight was a singular motivator for him.

“What?”

“There was… a black woman?”

“For reals?”

“Um yeah.. you’d know that…cause.. you… you know… are at a convention for it.” He replied, giving her a suspicious look.

“Oh yeah, I’m her… that black woman… in Twilight… ummm”

“Judith.”

“What?”

“Her name was Judith… the black amazon… in Twilight.”

“Judith?” Meka blinked, her voice reached a paniced crescendo as the conversation veered off into a unlikely tangent. “What the hell kind of name is that for a black woman vampire. A white woman musta wrote that book. Cause no black woman wanna be called .. JUDITH. What the damn hell.”

“That’s the name of the actress.. Judith Shekoni… the character in Twilight was called Zephrina.” He corrected again, enjoying her discomfort and making he want to punch him in the face again.

“Oh.” She replied weakly, feeling her cover story falling down around her as her failure in Twilight trivia was given sieve like holes to a gleefully know it all fat guy with coke bottle glasses.

“Yeah, Zephrinia.. that’s me… bad *** black woman amazon vampire from Twilight at a convention down the road… thing. So yeah… BYE”

She mumbled and turned and ran. It probably helped that Mr Good Friend yelled after her. “Love the costume!” cause everyone who then parted to let her through just looked at her like she was some gamer weirdo and not like she was about to eat their annoying screaming two year old for dinner.

Holy ball bags batman, she thought to herself, she totally gotta go see Velveteen, cause she musta done something really really bad… and she fully expected her White Momma for another Mother (okay, did that make sene?) to fix it.

Red moon
Red moon
Red moon....

She stood in crimson light, which confused her perceptions. So used to the washed out tones of the darkness, the hint of red was unusual in itself. She looked up into the night sky and saw Mother Luna hanging above her giving off a rosy glow and suddenly was afraid. She knew this for some reason. Zodiac shook her head as she tried to remember how she knew. Something old, not of vampire legends, but a older source. Her Nanna had taught her much in the ways of their craft but she could not remember everything.

Something about a blood moon. They happened enough, but why was this one filling her with a sense of dread?

Shapes moved along the streets. Her eyes focused and was repelled by what she saw. Thing that seemed to have escaped from a movie screen shambled about. Gaunt faces, long talons, their entire demeanor malformed and grotesque. She stepped back into an alley and watched the erratic parade go by. The more she watched, the greater her distress grew. The gypsy felt she could recognize parts of these things/people.

But they were all wrong. Emotions without mind. What the hell was it that was nagging at the back of her mind? Once the things had passed for the most part, Zodiac stepped back from her vantage point and made ready to return to her home when the crimson light fell upon her hands. Silent screams escaped her lips as she saw her hands now morphed into mockeries of her hands. Carefully groomed nails now like the claws of some predator. The flesh broken, withered and almost rotting in appearance. She lifted her hands to her face and felt the same upon her cheeks.

She jumped. Bolting upright from her 'purple throne' in her reading parlor and fell to the floor. She laid their gasping and trying to focus on reality again. She was in the reading parlor of her shop. Obviously she had drifted into a trance of sorts. It had happened a few times before (the last being a vision of what lurked in what some called 'The White Hall Incident') It bothered her she had no control over these events now. When alive she could set herself into a trance with ease. Her best guess was the mindset she needed now fell under certain conditions. She was not sure what these conditions were, but they usually happened when she relaxed after doing several readings.

"Zoey?" a voice from the doorway broke her attention. She looked up from the floor and found her shop manager, Jennifer running to her side. "Oh my god! Zo, what happened? You okay?"

"I'm fine. Just my dignity took some abuse is all," she whispered to the girl's mind as she helped her to her feet. She felt weak and unsteady suddenly and groped for her chair. Vertigo hit. Something she had not experienced since before she was turned.

"You sure you okay?" Jennifer persisted. She had never seen Zodiac looking like this before. Ever since she discovered her employer and friend was an actual vampire, she had never seen the woman look anything less that fit.

"I honestly am not sure now," she admitted. "Do me a favor, dear. My Nanna's tomes? Bring them to me."

"All of them?"

"Yes. All of them. I will know what I am looking for when I see it in the pages," her hand wiped at her eyes and smeared the colorful patterns she set around her eyes daily. Her head felt foggy for some reason. She waited with more impatience than normal for Jennifer to return. Why was she so edgy suddenly?

A squeak of familiar wheels pulled her back. Jennifer had simply loaded them all onto one of the handcarts and brought them to her. She began laying them carefully on the table. "Can I help in any way?" she asked.

"Yes you can. Start working your way through them and find any references to a blood moon or a red moon. Some variance on that."

"Blood moon?" the girl laughed. "There is one out tonight." she walked to the windows and took hold of the curtains. "I thought you'd be all up doing some ritual or spell under this one,"

"NO!" Zodiac bolted from her chair and literally tackled her thrall before she could open the drapes. "Do NOT open those curtains. You understand?"

"Well, yeah. Of course, Zo." Jennifer looked up into the normal serene face of her friend and saw hints of what she truly was for the first time. "Zodiac, you are scaring me."

Zodiac sat up and grabbed her head. This was the beginning of it. Soon she'd be pacing and thrashing about till she stepped outside into that light and then.....

What indeed would happen?

"I'm sorry." She pulled the girl back to her feet. It was obviously some kind of spell at work here. Why and for what she could not be sure. She only felt inside that if that light hit her eyes, the intended effect would be complete.. "We need to work quickly, love. Please, help me search."

She took her seat in her purple throne and began to skim read the pages. Searching.
Searching in desperation.

She could hear screams echoing around the city. There were gunshots echoing in the sewers, there were odd noises coming from somewhere else - like metal on metal, echoing around the streets. The city wasn't right tonight and there was something going on that she wasn't a part of and had no clue about. To be honest, she wasn't sure she wanted to know about it, it terrified her.

She realised she was shaking in fear, and her head was absolutely pounding. Her eyes cast up at the sky and she noticed the moon for the first time, the blood red moon. Her face broke into a grin, which was an odd reaction she thought after the fact, and she admired it's beauty. However when another round of shots were fired from somewhere closer to her, she decided this wasn't the place to be anymore. She was far too out in the open, far too alone.

Her mind raced as she tried to think who to call, it didn't take long however, because she didn't actually know many people in town. In fact, really, she only knew her boss, and only through work. So she pulled out her phone and with shaking hands, dialled the woman's number and waited for her to pick up.

Iris was just closing up the last of the business day report. It was never too far off from the day before. Even and consistent profit margins meant the company she created would continue into the next month. It was all she really asked for. He skin started itching the exact same moment the business phone started ringing. She scratched the top of her hand without looking down at it and reached for the receiver and answered. "Voiture et Livraison Courier & Transport." She stepped around so she was facing the desk as she should be dealing with business. NOw the itch was increasing at an annoying rate and she slid a finger beneath the neck high collar of her victorian period traveling dress.

"Hi, Iris. It's Charlotte." She knew her voice was shaking, but there was absolutely no way she could control it, no matter how hard she tried. "I wasn't sure if you'd be at work. But you are. Can... Can I come round? Maybe do some sweeping. Just while you're there?" She knew how pathetic it sounded - but she needed the company, she couldn't be alone while the city was rioting or whatever it was that was going on tonight.

Iris looked at the darkening sky from the widow to her left then pulled her wide cornflower blues to the old grandfather clock in the dark corner at the far right. It was definetly late. Late enough that she was the only one still in the office and that was going to soon change. It was time to start home. "are you okay?" She asked turning to find the chair behind her safe to sit her bottom on for a few moments that the phone call would take.

"I'm just.... I can't sleep and there are gunshots and screams and all sorts going on around me" As if on cue, another gunshot rang out and echoed around the streets, making her squeak with fear and surprise. "SEE! I can't take it. I need company. And I'm sorry, I know you're my boss, but, well, you're the only one I know in the city really - which is why I thought I'd come and put in some work" Her face was bright red and she was totally rambling and she knew it.

Iris felt the itching crawling up the back of her thighs and beneath her arms and really was wondering what it was that was coming over her. The woman on the other end of the call sounded terrified. "You can come to the office, of course. I have an hour left before I am due to be elsewhere. Would that help?" She was unbottoning the ivory bead like buttons at the wrist of each sleeve. This discomfort could no longer be ignored.

"Oh goodness! Yes, hopefully whatever is going on around here will be over by then. I don't want to be any trouble. I am sorry for bothering you! I'll be there as soon as I can!" She hung up then, not wanting the woman to change her mind, and then began to run as fast as she could with her head down towards the office.