[ARPC] The Bag Lady

[Ripper]

Belly filled and with trickles of warm vitae running down his face Ripper pulls backwards from his now laconic victim who lies there passively once the Feeding takes hold. Bones crack and shift dangerously under place as he straightens his legs underneath him and pushes himself to rise up standing position.

He draws the newly imbibed lifeblood deeply inward to that empty abyss of his nature and pushes the warm liquid through veins cold as ice until they burn with the surge of the heat from inside. Anima surges through his body, repairing the tiny puncture holes and rips of laceration in his skin as it courses through spreading its stolen life throughout the many broken circulatory canals.

The vampire steadies himself, facing with feet planted in the opposite direction of where the drama behind him played out. He firmly connected with his inner being once more and steadied his feet in a stance as he sent out an embodied thirst that hungered with a desire to draw near.

[Simone Leclaire]

Simone thought everything was going really well, nice and smoothly, as she legged it as best she could away from the massacre. At least, she thought she was running away - it wsn't until the.... was that a skeleton?!.... walked out into her eyeline that the ball of panic tightened up in her gut again and made her feet stop moving. She stood there and stared at the, she guessed at woman from the length of the hair, and had no idea what to do. If she was the gullible type, she'd have guessed that what she was looking at was a vampire. The very sort of vampire that the man had been raving about before he was shot in the head. However, as she wasn't gullible, she was sure that she wasn't a vampire and was instead a very ill woman. In fact, maybe the man who was now dead, had been holding her hostage. She might have been his captive and was only now free.

Carefully, she took a couple more steps forward and then called out to her.

"Are.... Are you ok?"

Her voice was clipped with a gentle, lilting Scottish accent and she tried to smile, tried to make the woman a little more at ease. Her hands slipped into the back pockets of her ripped jeans, her toes clenching on the twigs and dead leaves that were underfoot now as she waited. She was obviously still nervous, her eyes and head turning side to side to see where the shooter was. She could hear that that police had arrived. There were car doors opening and closing, feet clomping on the tarmac the other side of the trees and they were obviously getting organised and sorted before barrelling on in. So she stood there, looking at the woman who seemed..... eerily calm. And that only added to her supposition that this woman had been a captive who'd escaped, and just made her all the more willing to help her somehow.

[Phoenix]

Stepping out of the bushes had been Nix's bid to not startle the approaching human - because that's clearly what the woman was: human - and yet in even that small, relatively simple task, the redhead failed. Everything about the inked woman's approach screamed uncertainty, and Nix found it very, very difficult not to groan out loud. Are you okay? mocked the voice lurking somewhere deep inside her mind. Would you like a hug? A kiss? A pat on the head? Pull your **** together, Skelecia. People have been staring at you like you're a ******* freak ever since you started school. You are a freak. Embrace it. Use it. Grow a ******* pair.

The words only she could here had her steps falter. That cruel, mocking ***** had been silent for so long, and her silence had been glorious - at first. Nix'd thought she'd beaten her malicious little demon down, but as it so happened, in seeming to win that singular battle, the redhead had lost the war. That cruel, bitter creature was what she'd become; there were no need for sinister whispers in the back of her mind when the forefront was occupied with such darkness. Hearing that mean little voice after such a prolonged silence nearly made her smile. She was safe, sane and... well, it really wasn't the time to be pondering all this.

Her head gave a shake, more to clear away her own thoughts, but she supposed it worked as answer enough to the human's question. Her features schooled into something approaching nervousness. It wouldn't do to have Tatted Tourist questioning what had just happened more than necessary.

"I'm alright - just in shock, I think. That... I can't believe... I was just hanging out with my... Then that," she waved a hand in the direction of the carnage. "I hid in here... It's over, yeah? Did you see the police shoot him?!" her voice went more and more shrill with each word. After a second of seeming hyperventilation, she turned to head back beneath the branches, motioning for this human to follow her. "There's a park through here, just on the other side. I need to go home... yeah, home. Find out who's where... " She continued muttering to herself as she plunged deeper into the woods, finally whipping back to find Simone with those honey brown eyes. "Unless you want to spend the next 24 hours dealing with police paperwork, this way is your best bet."

Just as she turned around to continue her trek through the woods, Phoenix's foot caught on an exposed root. She stumbled - the uncharacteristic action knocking her bag against a low hanging branch. Somehow, in the flurry of movement that ensued, half the bag's contents ended up strewn across the forest floor. Mostly it was standard items - makeup, money, phone... but there amid the pile of personal items lay a shiny silver handgun: Dilemma.

[Ripper]

Although he didn't hear the sirens rolling in closer to them the strobing of blue and white lights lit up his vision as they pasted the nearby walls in the color their brilliance. Ripper wasn't positive with Serenity's location at the moment. As a newcomer on the scene and an obvious non-combatant involved it was most likely she would be escorted to safety by the brigade of peace officers rather than taken into custody.

The British killer would be afforded no such leniency if he were to be discovered on the scene. Already one of responding officers had recognized his face and profile as one that was circulated throughout law enforcement and without more than a shout of "Halt!" began unchambering the rounds of .38 ammunition without so much as waiting for a pause to comply. The rest of the squad members soon joined in with supporting fire that sent him scrambling and dodging behind cover as the bullets impinged around him in ricochets that spat and flashed upon exposed metal.

Snatching up again on to his feet and sliding over the long hood of an abandoned parked car, the vampire puts this cover and the terrain between him and the advancing swat team. Hunched over nearly double and moving very quickly while low to the terrain keeps him out from the line of fire; though it was a relief still that there had not yet had sufficient time for them to set up any snipers in a vantage point that looked over covering the area; otherwise this dead haul across open ground would be easy pickings without any safety zone of obstacles to provide protection between them.

After he had covered enough ground between them that standing up and raising up straight into a two legged run once more seemed like an option again. His sprint come in to a dead halt though and he almost skid into a stop as he came across the two figures standing there. Nearly doubling back upon path, the vampire was momentarily unsure of which direction he was more hesitant in facing : the armored patrol of police in full riot gear or the sight of Phoenix Altaire when her weapons are ready and drawn.

[Simone Leclaire]

The woman's steps seemed to falter, and Simone frowned in concern and took another couple of steps forwards. She shook her head, and Simone guessed it was in answer to the question 'are you alright' that she'd asked. So with a negative response, she began to close the gap between them, concern painted on her face as she tried to answer the questions.

"Yeh, I hid too. But who were you with? Did.... did they... get away? No, the police just arrived. Someone.... someone else shot him. I don't know who did it...."

The woman was vanishing further into the trees, telling her to avoid the police and to just get away. She stopped then, frowning and looking back over her shoulder to where she could hear more shots being fired. She was going to stay, tell the woman they should give statements - but more gunfire was echoing from tree to tree and she didn't want to hang around. She could easily go to the station and give a statement tomorrow right? Once she was away, and safe, and not shot dead.

She looked back to the ill woman and nodded her head, following her quickly and watching as the woman turned to lead the way. It meant that she was watching as the woman stumbled, and she reached out and caugt her, steadying her so she didn't fall. However, she wasn't able to stop the woman's bag from emptying - she'd have to sell her a better bag, or just gift it to her - and spilling it's contents on the ground.

"Are you ok? Do you need to rest for......"

Her words almost choked her as her eyes found the gun on the ground amongst the spilled items. Her hands dropped from holding the woman and her feet took her back a couple of steps. This was where in the films, the young woman asked stupid questions, gave the 'bad guy' time to get to their senses, get the gun, to then shoot them dead. But, as this wasn't a film, the thoughts in her head that were asking the who, what, when, where and 'are you the ******* shooter' remained in her head - and her feet turned her around then made her run as fast as she could away from the woman.

As they were in the woods, off the path, in a place she'd never been before. She had no idea where she was running to or if it were the best way to go. She just knew one thing, and that was that she needed to get 'away'. So panicked, and intent on 'away' - she never saw the man who'd turned up from nowhere as she turned from the woman. She was calling on all her years at school, when she was on the track team, and using everything she could to just leg it away - to leave them both behind her. Only issue was, it was quite a few years ago and there were a LOT of alcoholic drinks, cigarettes and junk food consumed between then and now. And this **** HURT!

[Phoenix]

Annoyed was an understatement. Not only had she tripped - something a sure footed ******* vampire never should do, but she was being touched by a goddamn stranger. Livid, Phoenix began collecting items off the floor, tuning out the words and trying to ignore the woman's touch. Midway through her collection, the woman's hand had left her arm and her voice had trailed off. Her phone, a dime here, lipstick there, two twoonies pushed under some decaying leaf matter, a receipt for a new pair of shoes, a platinum VISA... and Dilemma. As soon as her hand closed over the cold metal, Nix's eyes flicked over her shoulder. In that second, she knew why the hand had fallen away. This human woman had seen the gun. That in and of itself was proof of nothing, but here was someone capable of identifying her in a lineup.

That lost puppy look vanished, replaced with her typical predatory gleam. She could almost hear Doc's voice in her head, something like 'This is a liability and we cannot afford liabilities, now can we?' That voice in the back of her mind snickered. When had murder become the best alternative. By the time her things were stuffed back in the bag, Simone had bolted.

"****... ****..." she hissed emphatically; she'd have screamed her frustration, but that would have served no purpose other than to draw attention. Attention wasn't something she wanted, not right now. Instead, she focused her attention on meticulously avoidance of the underbrush she'd tripped over in the first place. Sure, the human had a head start, but she'd do herself no good sprawling face down in the ******* underbrush tangle... again. As she picked her way out of the thicket, her eyes landed on a figure. The closer she got, the more the form resolved itself into one she recognized. The closer she got, the more her annoyance grew.

Of all the ******* people she didn't want to see right now, Ripper topped the goddamn list. Perhaps it was just bad luck on his part, but what had started out as a good deed had ended up landing her in hot water, and her mood had flown south just as fast. As she approached the edge of the forest, a plan formulated in that keen little mind of hers. Dilemma came up to eye level, those honey brown eyes focused on her vampiric target's cranium, even though she knew the shot was far more difficult than when attempted on a mortal. She inhaled, and then in a split second, a bullet was squeezed off. The single gunshot shattered the night air, followed by a meaty thud, but Nix wasn't paying attention to the fruits of her labor; she'd hit him somewhere nice and firm, and that's all that mattered. The gunshot would draw police in a matter of seconds and she had no intention of being present when they arrived. Instead, the handgun was stuffed in her bag which was strapped securely to her person before closing those honey brown eyes.

Calling on her energy stores, Phoenix's body shifted in the darkness. Where once stood the pale wraith of a person, an ocher eastern screech owl now stood. After stretching its wings and giving a few practice slaps, the minute owl took to the air on the human's trail.

[Ripper]

Ripper staggered and took another heavy step forward to regain his balance. He was not entirely surprised that the voraciously aggressive shadow woman had started to fire upon him and at that moment all seemed strangely at sense with the world as his body absorbed the shock of her attack landing.

Not one to pause and let pass up a perfectly good chance at retribution, Ripper drew free the sheathe on of his various expendable knives and hurled it at the diminutive owl form as her morph took wing in flight after the pursuit of a fleeing human.

The hilt caught and glanced off the branch of a tree, deflecting it's trajectory from the target and sending it off flying in a random direction to be lost among with the forest leaves.

Cursing his apparent inability to ever manage and land a solid blow on the *****, the irate Killer decides at a pursuit after the Altaire and her quarry were as acceptable direction to flee towards as any of the other places he might have chosen to escape from the cops.

And speaking of his entourage, where were they now anyways? Ripper progressed just enough into the growth of the woods to afforded a glimpse of himself allowed to his official pursuers and trailed just ahead of him enough to leave them with the occasional glance at him in the distance to keep them wanting to come after him.

A dark humor had settled over across his previous ire as he fangs showed plainly clear and broad as contemplated catching up again with Phoenix and the murderous clench of his grin showed plainly his intentions once he did manage to.

[Simone Leclaire]

Another gunshot rang out behind her, and she immediately bolted to the left. The bullet that had been fired didn't hit her, so she figured her dodge had worked. As she didn't know the man had been there, she'd simply presumed that the bullet had been marked for her. Her feet carried her along, deeper into the trees once more as she wove around the trunks, left and right and as straight as she could manage. It wasn't long before she was coming out the other side of the copse of trees, they were thinning with every step she took and she thought she might actually find someone who might be able to help her. Instead however, she was coming out by the river. She looked left and looked right, and had no idea which way to go - so simply chose one and ran.

She'd headed to her left, following the curve of the river and was running towards Gullsborough. Over the top of the trees in the distance, she could see the top floors of some sort of tower block. She kept following the river however, deciding that at least then she could only be taken by surprise from one direction in this way. Her eyes were wide, trying to peer into the darkness, her head darting to look towards any noise or glimpse at every movement that might have been nothing more than the wind, or something more sinister.

She was heading south - she guessed - and she could see lights up ahead and felt like she could cry with relief and joy. There was another tall looking building, slightly posher from what she could tell, and where there were lights on, she could see within and it looked like a hotel. She could hear noises like the sounds of traffic, people, life.... just, everyday life. A couple of tears did run down her cheeks then, as she pushed and shoved her way through the hedge to explode onto the street. She stood there, blinking in the light, looking around and trying to work out what to do, where to go.

She spotted a cafe that said it was the Riverview cafe, and ran over to it - her bare feet hurting on the gravely tarmac more than it had on the twigs and grass and such. She burst in through the door and ran to the counter,

"Please. Can I use your phone? I need..... I need to phone the police! The park! Guns! Redheaded.... skeleton woman! Oh my god the blood!"

She was waffling, and gasping between words. Her adrenaline was pumping through her body, but her lungs and muscles just couldn't quite take it and her legs wobbled and threatened to give up - right before they did, and she ended up on the floor with one hand holding onto the counter while the employee who was on tonight called the police for her.

[Phoenix]

Of course Ripper would stoop to attempted owlicide; of course he'd have no respect for the exact level of adorable that was a screech owl, regardless of who it was inhabiting the body. Hmph. As was usually the case, the burst of energy through her veins always brought on a sense of euphoria. This was no exception, and the wind through her feathers hardly hindered the experience.

"I'm kindly going to suggest you **** right off," she sent to Ripper via telepathy once she'd reached an appropriate altitude to avoid most weapons' fire. Instead of lingering, those keen predator's eyes quickly found the fleeing woman and tracked her progress. With lazy flaps of her silent wings, the owl followed her along the river and then down the street in Gullsborough.

When Simone made her way into Riverview Cafe, Nix settled in a tree across the street to watch. The window afforded a lovely view into the illuminated coffee shop/internet cafe, and so settled in to watch, much like one would watch fish in a brightly lit tank.

OwlNix couldn't read lips any better than NixNix could, but by the frantic motions, the gasping, the collapsing, and all the post-barge-in drama, it looked like Tattooed Human was pretty riled up. Not surprising... When the cashier picked up the phone, she could only guess at what was going on. One ear cocked in the direction from which she'd come, the little red owl ruffled her feathers and settled into her branch to watch the show; she'd just follow the human home later, once the police had determined she was absofuckinglutely insane. Telepathy would help with that. Nobody ever suspected the owl.

[Ripper]

"I'm kindly going to suggest you **** right off,"

Phoenix's voice intoned silently in his head, bypassing the way around his broken eardrums. He dismissed the suggestion with a mere chuff; as if retreat right now were still an option anyways!

He put on another burst of speed drawing distance between himself and his pursuers fell behind him in the overgrowth. Running ahead without his intentions becoming any more of a plan than a reaction to events, a quirk in his situation gave him pause to his reasoning as reached an end to the wooded brushline and watched Simone as she ran free across the open clearing and sought to find sanctuary in the structure of a river side cafe tucked in beneath the shadow of the adjacent Hotel West building which it was nestled up beside.

A quick scan of the sky showed no talon ed bird of prey still in flight behind her and he could see no conceivable advantage in continuing to chase the heavily tattooed woman into a position where they could be easily surrounded from the outside.

He was unsure just what interest the fiery Phoenix had that set her attention upon the disheveled human she was after. Whatever the reason might be for it, the intent of pursuit in the shadow was apparently obvious and Ripper knew both from reputation and by experience the doggedness that his rival displayed would easily persist until she completed whatever objective which was in her agenda. That would mean how she wasn't yet finished with the terrified human and shadowing that prey would eventually their paths would recross and connect him with the one that was hunting her.

Purpose now shifted subtlety to come up with a plan of action that better resulted with how the scenario at hand had presented itself, Ripper sought then to elude his pursuers by collecting around him the darkness of the forest like a cloak that wrapped around his body and scaling the trunk of a tree upwards until he had reached the very top branches and settled into a nook inwards that afforded him of a better view of his surroundings from the perspective of an exalted perch.