Path of the Vampire forum

Lofyn settled back into her seat, folding her hands on her lap and smiling faintly. "Desiree, I am so, so sorry. I should have taken you home with me after...." She realized at that particular moment that the girl had no idea who she was. "It must have been that traumatic for you. It's the most distinct memory I have."

She inched closer to Desiree on the couch. "You see, Desiree," she said, "I was walking and I...caught the scent of blood. Your blood. Someone had tried to kill you. They'd left you for dead in an alleyway. By the time I came upon you, you were unconscious. I made you into a vampire to save you from dying. Death isn't fun.

"As for leaving you, the only excuse I have is that I wasn't ready for a childe. I know, pitiful excuse." She looked over at Alex pleadingly. "I could have brought you to my sire. To anyone I knew was more experienced. Instead I left you on the street."

She leaned forward, resting her head in her hands.

"If I could go back in time," she muttered, "I would fix it. I wouldn't leave you like that."

Watching Desiree closely as Lofyn tried to explain, Alexandrea felt for them both. She gave Lofyn a few encouraging and genuine smiles as the woman spoke, she DID understand. The only difference would have been leaving the girl to her own devices. Alex's sire had given her a crash course in the ways of the night and then taken a powder. Until Alex joined the SoA, she had been entirely own her own. Oddly enough, Alexandrea found herself getting into more trouble now than she did as a fledgling.

But she was not in denial when she said two of the four trips she had taken to the Shadow realm were really NOT her own fault. One was due to getting knocked up and the other time she had been set up.

After looking up Desiree on the Crownet and reading the girl's memories? Alexandrea knew that this child did not even know how to feed without killing however. That just.. would not do. It was not Desiree's fault she did not know what she was doing, and it was up to Lofyn and Alex to help.

The young woman was just staring at Lofyn, eyes wide. Alexandrea felt the two needed some time alone to talk to just each other. So she excused herself and went back to the computer, printing up several maps and then getting busy with several different colours of highlighters, to outline safe areas to feed, to hunt and places to lower one's bounty.

As she worked, she over heard Desiree finally speak to Lofyn. The young woman was as timid in voice as she was in mannerisms.

"I think I screwed up. I... I'm sorry. I... I just did not know what to do and I was scared and alone..."

Lofyn couldn't help the sigh of relief when the girl spoke. "I made the first mistake. I left. I shouldn't have. I should have brought you right to someone I knew could handle having childer. Every mistake you've made...it's on my head, too." She dropped her head into her hands, elbows suddenly on her knees. "I'm so sorry, Desiree. So, so sorry."

Apologies would never be enough. But they were a starting effort.

She'd escaped the sewers in Moss End without so much as a scratch from the hunters that liked to use them as their hunting grounds. After replacing the manhole cover Oria slipped behind the houses and into the small park on the other side. Eyes checking the space between the factory and the office blocks and across the street near her destination; the "pawn" shop, before she took a running leap and landed in the alley by the door that was coated in shadows. After the brief exchange between her and the usual associate she pocketed the small wad of cash she'd earned from repaying the kidness of the alley dwellers then headed quietly out the door.

She paused outside, considered going over to the bank and then returning home, but instead realized she was only a few short blocks away from Willow Court, where Alexandrea lived. She'd stopped by there once to drop off a tome during the holloween season last year, but hadn't stayed around long as she was tired. Now she and Mischa had an invitation to stop over and play a game and just... hang out? Usually being someone that avoided being around a number of people exceeding two, the invitation was still there and could be cashed in at any time. O could swing by while out and about, see if Alex and Kira were up for that offer - if not she could pop back home to Mischa, never the wiser.

Slipping into the space between two of the shops gave her a safer shortcut than jumping up ontop the building and over to her destination. After she squeezed through and emerged on the other side the petit woman again surveyed her surroundings, spying the home in question. It was only a few short seconds before she was across the street and going up the drive into the luxerious town homes, and a few short more until she was walking up the drive to number seven and knocking on the door with a good mood in her stride.

Alex had gotten busy on her computer, printing maps of the city, the QZ and the catacombs. She took out highlighters and colour coded thing for the fledgling and then got up to set them down on the coffee table. She waited for a chance to explain the printouts to them both.

Lofyn was speaking to Desiree, and seemed genuinely sorry for having left the young girl alone. Before Alexandrea could hear Desiree's reply, there was a knock on the door.

"I'll be right back, ladies. Keep talking, you have a lot to catch up on I think."

Now who could that be? Alex wondered to herself as she glanced at the computer screen to see what her hidden webcam outside was recording. "Oria?" Alex said softly to herself and went to open the door. Was that game night with Mischa, Oria and Kira supposed to be tonight???

Alex opened the door smiling but stepped outside. "Oria, so wonderful to see you! Did I mix up the dates of our game night? I'd ask you in of course but I have some guests I don't think you've met. You are welcome to come in and join us if you want to but just want to warn you it's a rather... emotional reunion going on between a sire and childe."

From inside, the voice of Desiree could be clearly heard as the young woman juped up from the sofa and shouted back at her sire: "Sorry? Sorry you turned me or sorry you just walked off and left me? There have been people hunting me! What's that all about? Did you send them?"

The amount of time that passed between Oria knocking on the door and Alex opening it was rather brief, which pleased her to no end as she'd been slightly concerned that Alex wouldn't even be home. In the short span of time she had thought it may have been better to call ahead to make sure tonight was indeed a good night. Though that was one of the benefits of a tentative invitation, you set a date then when it came up made sure that both parties involved were still available. That lack of forethought had been her undoing once or twice before, but apparently this time it worked out just fine.

As Alexandrea actually opened the door and stepped just outside of it a smile played across Oria's features, lighting up her otherwise generally dull brown eyes. Despite being slightly confused as to why Alex stepped outside to greet her she played it off exactly as it turned out to be, there were other guests within. "It's good to see you too, Alex. No, you didn't exactly mix them up, we'd set the first of the options as today." She paused then and took a needless breath through her nose, tasting the air more or less. She could smell two of her kin within the house, one of which the thought smelled familiar - it was always hard to tell exactly who it was when there was more than one.

Her mouth opened to respond once again at the same moment that the apparent childe accused the supposed sire of sending people after her. Oria's head tilted to the side questioningly while she considered her words before replying. It was true, she didn't usually do well in social settings and this seemed like it could be a rather heated topic, but the caring person within her told her this might be the sort of thing she may want to be involved in. "Hmm..." she questioned herself before settling. "We could reschedule, take one of the other days we had in mind for the game night but... Might I ask what exactly is going on? Sounds like the reunion isn't going to go so swimmingly, maybe I could help? If she's being hunted and has a bounty, I could help with getting rid of that?"

"Desiree, I didn't send anyone after you," Lofyn said, blue eyes flashing with anger. "I would never send anyone to hunt my own blood. That's what you are now. My blood. Do you understand? And what I'm sorry for is leaving you. I could never be sorry for turning you. It saved your life."

Lofyn turned slightly to see Oria, and grinned slightly, before returning her attention fully to her childe. Her snake, which had slipped into her bag without her knowledge, slipped out, heading for Alexandrea. Lofyn watched, rolling her eyes. "Don't let her out," she said, in general.

Her blue eyes focused again on Desiree, fully, as Baby made to climb up onto Alexandrea's shoulders. "Do you understand?"

Alexandrea shut her eyes and sighed as Desiree made her out burst but the blue green orbs opened quickly and she focused on Oria, as the women went on after explaining that Alex hadn't screwed up the game night date.

After the other woman finished speaking, Alex nodded. "I think it would be best to make game night some other time, as Kira isn't home. But you are welcome to come in if you want to."

She debated how to explain. She did trust Oria, they had been in the Daughters of the Triple Moon together for quite awhile now. But the discussion of Bounty Hunting? It had never come up between them. The rule at the DTM was, however, IDIC. Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations. The whole idea of the coven was for strong woman of various backgrounds, paths and politics to get together in a safe place to get to know each other. So why didn't Alex know Oria well enough to know how she would react to Desiree?

Oria said she would help. That, Alex hoped, meant to get Desiree off the bounty list and not give her a free trip to the shadow realm. After thinking about it for only a moment, Alex nodded and waved Oria in, whispering to her as she did; "Yes, she does have a very healthy one. Somehow her sire... lost track of her and now the two of us are trying to calm her down and explain things. Her name is Desiree. Her sire is Lofyn, a.. friend of mine from another... club."

Lofyn's voice distracted Alex, and she turned to see a rather large snake making it's way towards her. Stepping lightly to the side, Alex closed the door quickly. She guessed that the snake was the 'she' Lofyn was referring to as Desiree was not the one heading for the door.

The snake made to climb up Alexandrea, and the woman grinned. She let the reptile settle around her shoulders and stroked it's lovely scales. "She's beautiful. What's her name? And ladies, this is my friend and sister from mu coven, Oria."

Meanwhile Desiree had calmed down until a new face appeared, she got ready to run but her sire's words had made her want to stay. She nervously chewed on a finger nail before just nodding at the woman. "Yes, I understand. I just don't want to be shot at anymore."

"Her name is Baby - I got her when she was just about two months old, and she's been my faithful companion and dance partner ever since," she replied, waving slightly at Oria with a faint smile.

She'd never wanted Desiree to end up so much like her. She was much the same, but with a higher bounty than Lofyn had ever accumulated. The blonde stood, moving to sit next to her childe and wrap a soft arm around her.

"If I have anything to say about it, you'll be safe. I'm not the strongest or the fastest, but I know that this...society has issues. Severe issues."

Baby nuzzled into Alex's cheek, obviously liking her. The boa constrictor was definitely very docile and pleasant.

After the invitation to enter was fully given, Oria stepped around Alexandrea and further into the home as her eyes settled on Lofyn - the Delacroix she thought she had smelled as well as her childe. When she realized approximately how old the newest was she sighed, her age striking a cord within her. ”Lofyn and I are actually… related? She’s Harisa’s childe, who’s my sire’s childe. And my wraith has a… thing for her.” Biting into her lip she raised her hand, waving back to her ‘relative’ before pulling her phone out to determine how large the price was.

It only took a few moments to reach the information she was after, but when she saw the substantial amount of money on the adolescent named Desiree Whitmore she groaned before slipping the phone back into her pocket. ”That… is going to take some work to get rid of,” her gaze landed on the dark haired teen. Just over a thousand dollars before the girl would fall completely off the radar, at $25 a piece for the three zombies she could bring forth… That would take forever, not to mention that she could only make enough to drop off $450 of it in one day before she was spent.

Death would be the other option, and that was an option Oria didn't want to have to deal with. Tytonidae were quite like the animal they took their name from, swift for the kill. Hiding from them wasn't impossible, but it was rather difficult. The only other real option required Desiree to be able to kill the feral vampires or mooncalf’s that were in the Quarantine Zone - something Oria wasn’t entirely sure she would be capable of. Turning her left arm so she could see her watch, finding that they had a few hours before they would hunt and when things reset for the day she pondered possibilities.

”I can summon zombies, which can be… exterminated, and they reduce some of the damage caused…” She paused, letting that hang there for a moment, it was an offer that she wasn’t sure how well Desiree would do with it. ”Or the other two options aren’t exactly any better…” Her gaze turned up to Alex and the Boa on her shoulder which brought a small smile to her lips. What to do… what to do.