City of the Truly Dead Dead [Open]

[Lancaster]

Emotions thrummed and vibrated from the woman like a fly bouncing off the strings of an electric guitar, lying on the ground and still plugged in. As if she were distracted, as if she could not focus on the one emotion at a time, which was fine. This was the kind of symphony Elliot got from a lot of people. Everyone played a different song. Everyone was a different song. Each and every person he met, Elliot wanted to know. He wanted to hear their song.

It also seemed that there were things that Charlie didn’t wish to say. There were things she was omitting from her part of the conversation, such as what her hobby was, and what exactly she was getting that helped her to save lives within this hobby. Elliot tried his best not to take up hobbies that would even bring him close to taking lives—but then, he was in that raid. And was in every other raid. And taking lives was a way to satiate the beast within—if you curb one addiction, another pops up in its place.

The expression that crossed Elliot’s face as Charlie started talking about True Blood was one of confusion and ignorance. There was a TV in his mausoleum apartment, but nowhere else did he own one. Never was he in the Mausoleum apartment, anyway. These days he stayed with Pi at the crypt, and the only entertainment was the entertainment that he gave her, sitting behind the piano. If he ever watched TV, it was to catch up on the world news, or indulge in some documentary or other. And even that was rare. There was too much else to do.

”I don’t watch too much TV,” Elliot admitted with a shrug. He narrowed his eyes, and shook his head. ”And anyway, they’re just TV shows. Fiction. We can’t do what they do because life is not fiction… as much as it might seem like it sometimes,” he said. Whatever his graces might be, bullshitting was not one of them. Elliot told the truth always, the whole truth, and never held back. Even so, he spoke with a calmness that did not hint at annoyance. He was not annoyed. He liked a good debate, and he allowed others their opinions, though he knew a lot of the time he inspired defensiveness rather than an equal urge for debate.

They were lingering by the doorway to the raid, and he didn’t think it was a particularly good place to linger. Pushing his fingers through his hair, he began to lead the way down the path, around the corner and into the vast room that would eventually lead to the door to the mausoleum. He was craving some fresh air. He didn’t leave his company behind, though. He waited for her to join him, even eager to continue their conversation.

”And don’t worry. Get me started and you’ll want to slap me to shut me up,” he said. And, even though he did not mean to prove a point, he did continue:

”…because yeah, sure, we might be more powerful than them,” he conceded, ”But let the whole world know about our existence, how many more hunters will be spawned? You yourself said you don’t like taking lives. How many do you reckon we’ll have to take if we ‘come out of the closet’?” he asked. He was being serious. He was willing to have his views changed, were she to express a persuasive argument; he turned to her with a raised brow, waiting for her side of the story.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie sighed ever so quietly, she was really getting tired of people telling her something was fiction when look at them. People would say vampires are fiction, that fae are fiction, and yet, there they were flesh and blood. Well in some way. Still, Charlie followed along, the guy had helped her with the Zombiefide wolves. Another thing that was supposed to be a work of fiction that was reality. He told her not to get him started but she was much the same way, and in a way, she had already started. She understood what he had to say to a point, but he was missing the other side of things, something that gave her a way to bring it up when he said the phrase 'come out of the closet'. "I think in our case it would be 'the coffin'." She teased a little before she went on.

"But using that phrase, think about that. How many people that only a couple decades ago feared coming out and saying they were in love with someone of the same sex? How many people feared telling someone that they felt like they were one sex when physically they were another? Now look at them. Yes there are people out there that attack them, that do horrible things to them still, but they aren't hiding in shame, in shadows. They are coming out and saying 'This is who we are!' And the best part is, they are supported by people unlike them just as much as they are attacked by others that fear change."

"You fear the hunters growing in numbers but you fail to realize that if we came out, even if just half of us came out of the shadows, out of the coffin as-it-were, that there would also be a grow in numbers on our side as well. Not only that, there would be people that, though they may not wish to be vampires themselves, that see it as an injustice to attack us, to shame us, to kill us. They too would fight for us in a small part. Protect us." She said as she looked at him, it was clear in the way her eyes shimmered that that was something she deep down and truly believe in. There could be a way. "That is what I believe. It may be stupid, or childish, or make me a 'hippy' but it can happen. It can be good." She said as she ran a hand through the unbraided part of her hair.

She realized that maybe she was a bit too passionate or pushy about what she thought and said and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. Then she pushed the door to the mausoleum open and took in the night air. She may no longer need to breathe, but the action, the cool night air filling her lungs, it centered her. "I'm sorry if you don't agree, I'm sorry if I'm pushy, but this is how I am. This is what I believe and if it weren't for people like me in history there would still be slaves, woman scared of loving outside their own race, men, men and women scared of coming out and saying they love the same sex as themselves, men and women scared of coming out and saying they were raped."

She looked at the man and slid her hands into her pockets. "We don't have to hide. As a hacker I know that sometimes, the best way to get things done is to expose the truth the government is hiding, or anyone is hiding but as a thief I do also understand that sometimes the shadows is best for some people. Really though, shouldn't that be up to the individual person? Not a whole group? And think about this, if someone willing step out of the shadows, they know the risks and they are ready to fight for what they believe in. Yes, hunters will come, but I say if they want to come, let them come, I will kill or try to kill anyone that comes to harm me or mine but that is the only time I will take a life, other times I won't hide from the innocent if it will protect them." She sighed again and looked up at the sky, the clouds hiding the moon from view but its light still was shining through the cracks.

[Lancaster]

”I don’t know about you, but I don’t sleep in a coffin. I sleep in a good ol’ regular bed,” Elliot said with a smile. By this point they’d reached the outside world. The air was fresh, especially here, at the edge of the city. Elliot afforded a quick glance around, but it was late. There was no one else here but them. No one else to overhear this debate of theirs. He was happy to linger, so that he could continue with the debate. He was rather enjoying it; rather liked hearing the other perspective—and Charlie seemed like a good sport, too. She wasn’t getting overly passionate. Just letting him know her point of view. When he continued to speak, to offer rebuttals against her point of view, he made sure to keep his tone modulated, to keep the smile on his face; starting a debate was a bit like approaching a stranger’s dog, hand held out in front of you—you didn’t quite know whether they might lick you or bite you.

”Okay, so I see your point. But it’s not really the same thing. As you said before—it’s a power thing. We are stronger. We are…hell, we grew up with the stories of Dracula, right? Regardless of all the new **** that’s out there now, traditionally, vampires are the bad guys. We are something to fear. We have superior abilities. We come out to humans? They’ll want to keep us contained. Only way for vampires to come out into the open is to take over completely. And that wouldn’t be good for anyone. Not good at all. Homosexuals aren’t a threat. They’re not dangerous. They’re not predators. Of course people were bound to realise that, sooner or later. And as much as I’d like to say that we’re not dangerous either, it would be a lie. There are those like you and I who don’t like killing, who don’t…well, we’re the minority,” he said. He, too, was talking a lot. He stumbled over his words, in the end. A frown furrowed his brow. He was starting to wonder whether he was physically unable to lie. He shook the discomfort away, didn’t mention it. Wouldn’t want to admit to it.

Elliot had to narrow his eyes, though, had to consider those words—if there weren’t people like me. Wanted to ask – what? I’m not like you? I’m a person who endorses slavery and violence against women? Instead, he just nodded.

”I’m not saying it can’t be done. Sure, it could be done. But seriously, honestly, have you had a really good look at the other vampires in this city?” he shook his head. ”I’d be horrified, horrified if any of those people came into power. Can you imagine what might become of humanity? Within a few years there’d be no one left. No one,” Elliot said. The **** that went down in this city, the things that people did? The way they’d just… murder someone, sentence them to death, just for stealing something. Just for an accidental wound. He could imagine that any human who’d stand up against vampires would find themselves swiftly slaughtered. No, he didn’t believe it would be a good idea. Not at all.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie was content with just standing there, and she had to admit that what he had to say, there was logic to it. That is, until he got to that part about homosexuals. While she agreed with what he said, she knew for a fact, being a girl from a small town (in a big state that was 90% still in the past) that was mostly Christian that not everyone believed that people that loved those of the same sex were safe to be around. While she thought about that she almost missed the part that she definitely agreed with. Of course, she had only really met a couple vampires that cared nothing for the lives of humans. Right in this very place to be exact.

"You have your points as well, and the Logic is sound but there is one thing you are wrong about, at least when you talk about the kind of fanatics that would join those we already fight - the hunters, the paladins - is that to them, someone who is a homosexual is a dangerous predator, a vile creature that needs to be kept away from the rest of the population." She said softly and then looked at him again "I know this because where I am from, most of the population is strictly Christian. The kind I often refer too as stick-up-the-*** Christian. Hell, most of the population acts like it's still the 50s and that African Americans are dangerous too. Anyways, my point is that yeah, people will see us as predators, and yes we are powerful predators, but we were also human not that long ago. At least I wasn't. We can and from the few vampires I have met, minus one or two, still act almost human. Till they use a power, but going on... Just like us, humans in power could do horrible things. And often do. So to say that we shouldn't come out because vampires that are truly the worst of us could come into power is like saying humans shouldn't be politicians. Hell that's one thing I agree with."

She gave a little shrug and tucked her hands into her pockets as she continued on. "Really, like you said, it can be done. We just need to work on the how, saying we shouldn't because it will be a difficult road is silly. Saying we shouldn't because some are evil and corrupt is asinine. Imagine if someone with the right mindset within our kind became a politician of some sort. With how we can see so many other things, imagine the things that could be put in effect for vampire and human kind that would make things better." She sighed and once again she was running her fingers through her hair. "Maybe I just am wanting to see the silver lining of everything. I'm insanely optimistic sometimes. I'm just hoping that more of the population of vampires in this city are better than the two that killed those children here not that long ago. Maybe it's silly." She finally said as she fell silent and looked up to the sky again. Was it so wrong to want to be proud of what she had become. Well maybe not the criminal part, but that was just fun for her... and lucrative.

[Lancaster]

Elliot shook his head. Yes, he knew about the religious zealots who still dictated that homosexuals were evil and wrong, who sought to keep their children away from them for fear of ‘infection’, or some kind of harm coming from them. Lunatics, all of them, in Elliot’s opinion. Those kinds of religious zealots reminded Elliot of the dickheads that infested the sewer systems—the hunters, and the paladins with their hoodoo tattoos. They were part of some kind of cult. They’d been brainwashed. It didn’t matter how much you talked to them—and he’d tried to talk to them, on several occasions—they’d never see your point of view. They’d never admit that vampires were still human. They only saw vampires as once being human, but who were now monsters, only fit to be killed.

”The only difference being that, save for a very small minority, homosexuals—at least in this day and age—aren’t hunted down and killed because they’re believed to be demon-possessed monsters who only deserve to die. There are hoardes of hunters already on our tails, who won’t listen when you try to tell them that this life isn’t one that you chose, that you hate it, that you are still very much, and very thoroughly human. Some of them offer their sympathy, but still believe you’re infected with some fatal disease that can be caught and passed on. And the only way to get rid of it is mass disinfection,” Elliot rambled, his voice dancing, swaying, almost, with the raw emotion that always existed, right there beneath the surface. He wasn’t talking generally. He was talking from experience. He’d suffered so much, had lived through so much—he’d lost his faith in any notion that humanity would accept him for who he was, and not for what he was.

”Look, it’s harsh to hear—but you said you were new to all this, right? Don’t get your hopes up. Sure, I know a few good vampires. But the majority I know? They’ll skewer you, kill you outright just because you may have stolen a camera, or hit on someone you shouldn’t have. If you do something accidentally and don’t immediately try to rectify it? Watch your back, ‘cause they’ll send you straight to the shadow realm. I used to be just like you – insanely optimistic. I’m not so much anymore—any optimism I have is guarded, and reluctant. It’s not silly, to have hope. Not at all. But what you’re imagining? It’s not entirely… realistic. Not just yet,” Elliot said. He, too, pushed long fingers through unruly hair. He knew he was getting morbidly morose. He tried to smile, and even achieved something genuine.

”I’m sorry. I’m being a bit of Grinch, aren’t I?”

[CharlotteC]

Charlie nodded a bit, as he spoke and she wondered if she should mention that in her case, she did choose those life. Everything that she had done thus far had been her choice. She had chosen to rip off Killian, she chose to follow him home, she chose to be the Alice to his white rabbit and follow him down the rabbit hole into the wonderland that was this world. And like wonderland, she still got lost at times, and like the Matrix she had been opened and freed and now she knew the truth. Yes there were hunters and paladins up the yin-yang but she still believed that coming out would mean more numbers for the vampire race as well. She looked at Elliot as he continued to go on and she couldn't help but smile at the infection part of his rant. It made her wonder if the paladins and hunters ever been inside the Quarantine Zone before.

She smiled a bit as he continued on, he had his points but then, just because there were bad vampires didn't mean that coming out would give them free reign. There were just as many bad if not worse humans in the world. When he finally took a breath she laughed softly. "Grinch? Nah... Maybe a little set in your ways and jaded but if what you say is true then I will probably be like you in the long run. However, till then I think I will revel in my insane optimism because really, it's all I have left of my human life. Plus, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being optimistic that in the long run that we can have a vampire pride day."

Charlie realized that she was still holding her gun and quickly safetied it and tucked it away in her bag. "That said, I don't walk up to strangers and say 'hey! I'm a vampire!' Mostly because I still remember how crazy I thought my sire was when he told me the same thing, but being assured that if I wanted to tell someone or someone figured it out that I won't be dismembered and bled dry would be nice. Till then I stick to the zombies." She said as she nodded to the zombie that was heading their way. "Do you want to take him or shall I?" She asked as she slid her hand back into her bag palming her gun, her thumb resting on the safety so that she could hit it. All the while she never took her eyes off of the thing.

[Lancaster]

Elliot scoffed. Jaded, yeah. That’s a good way to put it. But attached to the word was the connotation of some punk teenager holed up in his room, hair dyed black and nose pierced, writing lyrics about death and dying. Elliot wasn’t quite that bad. Sure, his songs could be a little on the morose side, but he had a few upbeat ones, too. And, mostly, he didn’t sing about his existence as a vampire. He sang old songs. And he wrote songs about the people around him, or the characters he made up in his head, rather than about himself. And regardless, it was always a good way to vent.

He had nothing much really to argue against in this last round. He hoped, for Charlie’s sake, that she could keep hold of her hope and optimism. Elliot still had some, and it was growing in strength by the day. He’d fallen to the deepest pit of despair, a murky blackness that only Pi had been able to pull him free of. Since that day, he was slowly returning to his old self. Sure, there were set-backs. Plenty of them, that threatened to send him spiralling back to that dark place again. But he fought against it, with all his might. Every day, he fought to embrace his dual nature, and to come to easy terms with the gruesome that needed to be done. He didn’t have to like them, and so long as death was always a last resort, he could strive to be happy.

And anyway. He had a lot to be thankful for. He had Pi. He had a number of people who respected him, and who he could respect in return. He could only count them on one hand, but that didn’t matter. He had eternity—and he’d never been the sort to keep a large cohort of acquaintances anyway. He had Lancaster’s, and Curlew’s, and the weapon shop. Businesses that he never thought in his wildest dreams that he would ever own. But he does, and he loves them. Wouldn’t live without them. And he would always have music. That, at least, was a saving grace.

Charlie gestured toward a zombie, seeming unsurprised. Elliot, however, almost jumped back, as if he’d seen a ghost. Had they… what had they done?! Had they left a door open or something?! Here they were, top side, beside the church. Never had he ever seen a zombie up here before. He’d only ever seen them in the QZ, or down in the catacombs. Never out here. He didn’t care which one of them took care of it, so long as it was taken care of.

”What the **** is it doing up here?!” he barked. ”You take care of it. I’m going to check the door,” he said in a hasty rush of breath. He loped off toward the entrance of the catacombs, not too far from them.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie watched - with a mild amusement - as Elliot nearly jumped out of his skin. The only thing that kept her from the same sort of reaction was the fact that she didn't know this was something that didn't happen often, or at all. That and the fact she had been looking in the direction and saw it coming. As Elliot jumped though she got the distinct impression that this wasn't normal. He told her to take care of it as he went to check the door. Since she had asked first she simply nodded and lifted her gun, taking aim. The first shot missed, the second got the shoulder of the thing, then finally, she hit it in the head. The thing let out a growl and fell dead to the ground. She moved up to the body and looked down at it for a moment before she glanced around to make sure the three shots that echoed into the night hadn't brought anything she or her new companion couldn't handle.

When she felt safe enough to lower her guard, she dropped to a knee and began to feel around the dead corpse, feeling till she felt something, a relic of some sort. She glanced up at Elliot as she slid it into her bag along with her gun. "Does that not happen? It's an old place the door can't be very secure." She said as she stood up, turning her head slightly so that the wind caught bits of her hair and brushed it out of her face. She had seen so many zombies roaming the streets of the QZ, she wondered how more people didn't know about it, see it. Especially since there were buildings that could look into the QZ. She pulled herself out of her thoughts and looked around again.

"I don't think I will ever understand how zombies even exist, then again there is us..." She said with a shrug as she stood up and once more glanced around. She pulled out her phone and glanced around again. With a quick check to make sure nothing pinged off of whatever was watching them 24-7 she closed her phone and stood up. "I guess we could toss the corpse into the mausoleum, but have you ever wondered what happens to them? So far in my short time here I've had to kill at least a hundred, where do they all go?" She asked as she looked down at the corpse once more, her eyes taking in the features, as if trying to figure out who it used to be, how they used to live. "So..." She was at a loss now but she wasn't quite ready to give up and run for it, she didn't know a lot of people, especially like herself. It would be nice to talk to someone for once.

[Lancaster]

The door was slightly ajar, when Elliot checked. If he’d had warm blood running through his veins, it might have drained from his face at the thought that he’d left it open. Was he the last one out, or was it Charlie? And then he had to wonder, too, why he cared so much. He concluded, in the end, that it all came down to this deep-seated, unwavering, unconditional care he seemed to feel for anyone connected to him. Hell, not even just for d’Artois, but for anyone he liked. Anyone he knew. Even if he didn’t like them so much. It was a constant battle for Elliot, that he cared so damned ******* much. He was empathic, sure, but he still had to wonder why that meant he ought to be cursed with care. Just because he was always aware of what others were feeling, didn’t mean he had to care for them, right?

But that was just it. He knew what they were feeling. Whether good or bad, it didn’t matter. It made him feel connected to them, as if he knew them better than they ever intended him to. And so he cared—he projected his own woes onto others, believed that everyone, somehow, was at least a little like him. He shook his head… no, he couldn’t wrap his head around it. He was so damned dismissive of so many, and yet… yet, he refused to think about it.

He nodded as Charlie suggested throwing the body back into the Mausoleum. He waited until she was done with it before, with a disgusted grimace on his face, he dragged the disgusting thing back through the door, before shutting the door tight behind him.

”No. I suppose it’s an unspoken rule that we shouldn’t let them out. That this city should remain almost completely oblivious to anything not right. Not just vampires. And my theory? I reckon the mooncalves eat them. Those ugly ******* bastards… makes sense if they have a diet like that,” Elliot said, then stopped, holding up a hand, half smirking at Charlie, …and if you’re going to ask me where they keep coming from, I have no idea,” Elliot said. It baffled him, too, that there were how many vampires in this city? And how many had he seen, down there in the catacombs? By now, one would think the catacombs would be cleared. But no, the things keep respawning, somehow. Maybe they just come back to life. The zombies? Well, maybe too many humans get too curious.

This might have been the moment they took their leave of each other. But Elliot could tell—whether it was by that strengthening sense of empathy he had around others, or just due to general demeanour and body language—that Charlie didn’t want to leave. She was lingering, that single uttered So… an indication that she was hoping he suggested some new place for them to go. Elliot cleared his throat, and glanced down at his attire. He was smeared in gore. Charlie’s own shirt was tattered at the back, and her back all bloody. They couldn’t exactly just walk into a public place to sit and socialise. Still. Elliot genuinely wanted to appease Charlie, to help her, if that’s what she needed. He pushed his hands through his hair, feeling how dirty it was.

”Tell you what. Meet you at Lancaster’s in an hour? Go get cleaned up,” he paused. She might not know where it is. ”It’s in Redwood. Just down the road from Swansdale Station. We sell… well, the stuff you’re able to consume, if not an Allurist…” he suggested, waiting to see if Charlie was open to it.

[CharlotteC]

Charlie watched in silence as he moved the body of the zombie back into the mausoleum, this time making sure the door was closed true and proper. She could see on his face that it wasn't the most enjoyable thing he could be doing. In a way she could see his point, well at least about the zombies. And those 'mooncalves' that he mentioned, she had had one of two run ins with them but never had a clue what they were even called till this moment. She remembered the first time she saw them, it was the same time when those kids got caught up between those that wanted to kill humans because they 'knew' too much and those that, like her, thought they could talk the kids into thinking whatever the hell that it was. Now though, she had a name and the first thing she planned to do was google these creatures and find out what in the hell the myths had to say, clearly if these creatures existed someone had to have found them out way before she even got to this city.

When he brought up asking about where they came from she smirked a little, she actually hadn't thought to ask that till he mentioned it. Of course he stated that he didn't know in the next words out of his mouth but that was neither here nor there. Amusing as it was. She watched him silently, he seemed almost thoughtful to her and she had to wonder what it was he was thinking. It was one of those times when you wish for powers that were impossible. But given what they were, was it really so impossible? Her boss, Mora, and one or two others she had come a cross had been able to speak through their minds, so was it possible to read the thoughts of others?

Charlie pulled herself out of her thoughts, giving the male before her a once over. Especially after he had cleared his throat. Yes, it was clear that both of them were going to need a wardrobe change before they went anywhere else. He brought up a place called Lancaster's, she had seen it before so she knew where it was. She smiled and gave a slight nod, "I know of the place and I am an Allurist." She said with a wink before she started for her car, she stopped though and glanced back. "See ya in an hour." Then she turned back for her car and jogged for it.

Back at home in record time - not that she lived far - she walked in the door and glanced around spotting Temp, on the couch, playing with her new gaming console that a Fledgeling she helped out got her as a thank you gift. Apparently he was doing really well. "Templeton, I need your help." She said as she tossed her bag on the chair next to him. He paused the game and looked up at her as she pealed her shirt off. "What in gods green earth happened to you?!" He asked as he moved to get the medical kit he had for occasions like this.

Charlie sat on the bed topless, knee drawn up to her chest as she leaned over, showing her Thrall and her Roommate just what happened to her. "Had a run it with some sort of zombie wolf. I swear, the zombie apocalypse is already here Tempy."

"You freak me out sometimes, and don't call me Tempy!" He said as he sat behind her and began to clean out, dry off, and sew up her wounds before dressing them. Once that was don't be tossed the towel at her, it was still damp enough and clean in some areas for her to clean off the rest of the dirt and grime which she did quickly. She came out again, pulling a slightly modified, black shirt that was redesigned to follow her curves. Jim Morrison's face was in a white design across her torso. Temp was waiting for her on the couch. She handed him the bag. "Sell this for me when you come too." He nodded, rolled his eyes then bared his neck. When she was done feeding, he got up and left in a trance like state. She didn't know where or when he'd come too. Only that he would eventually. After that she was on her way to Lancaster's.

Charlie was right on time as she pulled the door to Lancaster's open. She walked in wearing a clean pair of pants, her Jim Morrison Tee and her work boots. Glasses finished off the whole 'music nerd' look as she moved to the counter and sat down. She'd wait to be joined before she ordered anything. It was only polite.