Nine Lives [Open]

[Niklaus]

Niklaus was indeed more comfortable around other killers, it just seemed more natural and the fact that they weren’t as emotional or demanding in itself meant a whole comfort zone of its own. Maybe that was a Killer thing, or had to do with the individual rather but either way he never bothered to make too much of it. Simplicity was a blessing. He promptly relaxed an arm over Reka’s shoulders following that nudge, after giving a slight tug at that red hair of hers; he wasn’t going to reprimand her for having a good time. More often than not, newly turned vampires were depressed, took a while to get into being a vampire but Reka had eased in pretty well, to be honest. He wasn’t going to blame her for that.

Another visitor soon appeared, another redhead too; what a night! He hadn’t met Deirdre in person but knew of her Dragomir heritage thanks to the Dragomir Crownet. Nik found the fact that she seemed that worried about Nikolae’s gunshot wound to be somewhat cute, he tended to forget sometimes that getting shot could be kind of a big deal, just not for himself, not after all this time. Violence ended up being something considered as ‘fun’ after a while in Harper Rock. Many would agree too, he believed. “Hello there, Deirdre. I don’t believe we’ve met before”, he added, eyes on the redhead while his fingers idly kneaded down into Reka’s shoulder.

“I need to visit the temple soon too, it’s been a while. We should have a gathering or something soon”, he informed Nikolae, resisting the urge to reach out and poke a finger into the male’s wound. A bleeding shadow always seemed fascinating, their consistency itself made you want to poke a bleeding wound and see what would happen. Or maybe he was just fucked up in the head, this made more sense. Niklaus was fascinated by blood, it was their life essence and sustenance after all. Instead of satisfying his unusual needs, he took to toying a single clawed digit gently along Reka's shoulder.

[Deirdre (DELETED 5847)]

"Well, at least let me provide you with blood, if you won't have me call one of the others," Deirdre sighed, moving closer, one finger hooking under his jacket to take a peek at the wound itself. "And I think you know what I mean by that. I hope you know what I mean." Though she wasn't a Mystic, the incredibly small redhead had a couple healing tricks up her sleeves.

Eureka's question threw her off, though, furrowing her slim eyebrows and turning to look at the other woman in the small group. "I just worry about him," she said, laughing very slightly as she stepped back into Nikolae, like she was nervous or something. She couldn't explain the reaction, but she just felt...almost threatened by the slighter redhead.

She was thoroughly distracted after another moment by the appearance of one of the spirits that seemed to always follow her, reaching for her with claw-like fingers. Her silvery eyes widened even further as she moved to brace herself against Nikolae, like the woman was actually there, overlong fingers (probably manicured nails in life) moving for her throat. Her own hand moved to grip Nikolae's jacket, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, but that didn't make the woman go away.

"Help me!" she was wailing, her voice distorted as if through a wall of glass, but she was very much right there, right in front of the petite, slim Necromancer, where she couldn't get away. Though she didn't need to breathe, she found herself starting to hyperventilate, eyes opening to meet the spirit's eyes.

"I can't help you," she murmured, though she knew it wouldn't work. It never worked. When they were this close, she was stuck. Trapped. Locked. Stuck with the spirit for an unknown length of time.

She was so thoroughly distracted that she didn't even respond to Niklaus.

[Eureka]

Eureka was comfortable where she was. She didn’t know Niklaus from a bar of soap but she was comfortable there, nestled in beneath his arm. Like a fat happy cat who’s curled up on its slave’s lap, she was nice and warm and at ease. Though, it was rare that she wasn’t at ease. When confronted by something beyond her capabilities she’d turn tail and run, hissing and with her metaphorical tail fluffed like a toilet brush.

Chad had taught her as much as he could, she supposed, though there was still plenty that she didn’t know. Her ears were pricked and each word of the conversation swirling around her was swallowed and observed, her green eyes narrowing as the roles she had assumed were flipped. The girl—Deirdre—was the one bitten by the man, Nikolae. Nikolae, who’d bitten another. Eureka glanced up at Niklaus, before turning her attention back to the two across from her.

She had no idea who Raeth was. She had no idea what the temple was, or whether she should know. She had no idea what Deirdre meant when she said she could give Nikolae blood, and Eureka was half expecting him to bite her, right there on the street. That was, if he took her up on her offer. Eureka watched, fascinated, waiting, wanting to see what that would look like. Except, nothing of the sort seemed to happen. Instead, the girl started talking to no-one about being unable to help, and Eureka laughed.

It happened by whimsy. Unable to control her own reactions or act in a socially acceptable way, Eureka arched a brow and glanced at Niklaus again. Regardless of what other questions she may have had concerning all of the things that she did not know, all of them crowded, babbling and unspoken beneath her tongue in favour of her current observation.

”Is there something wrong with her?” Eureka asked. Sure, it probably shouldn’t be funny, but Eureka found it somewhat amusing. She kept her hands tucked into her front pockets, still rocking slightly on her feet, her shoulder rubbing idly against Niklaus’s side.

[Nikolae]

Nikolae was actually beginning to grow irritated with the slow sludge of his black blood pooling out of the wound. It was only an effort to be polite that had kept him from digging the slug out until this point, but now that everyone knew everyone there really wasn't much point in politeness. He shifted his stance, lifting the opposite hand to push aside the ruined shirt-edges and dig his thumb and forefinger into the seeping wound. He didn't grimace as he fished inside his own flesh to find the bullet and wrench it out of himself, tossing it toward Deirdre with a flashed grin.

"You should visit more often, Klaus. There are Dragons who haven't even met the legendary stallion in our ranks." He chuckled as he wiped his black-covered fingers on his pants casually. He slung an arm around Deirdre's shoulders, hugging her sideways as she fretted over him. It reminded him of Raeth, who would probably be just as fretting but for entirely different reasons. His first-borne wouldn't be much concerned with Nikolae's comfort, more with the risk that walking around with a black-bleeding wound might catch attention of humans. And the man would've wrenched the bullet out himself and slapped a bandaid on it without so much as an apology. Raeth was nothing if not logical and efficient. He nudged the red-haired Dragon affectionately. "Bad as Raeth with your spirits." He sighed as he attempted to get her attention. "Say hello to Klaus, Pixie. He's a fellow Dragon." He even pinched her side gently. "And I don't require any blood, I'm fine for now. I'll feed before daylight." He nodded, and it wasn't because he had little regard for his own safety - merely a succinct understanding of his own limits as well as an expectation of how the rest of his evening would go. Calmly, quietly, and probably just a little boredly for his tastes.

"Deirdre sees spirits. As does my Raeth, he sometimes uses them to play pranks on people - though he'd insist it was for scientific purposes." He drawled with a roll of his reptile eyes. "It seems to be a common curse amongst our kind..." He mused, sharing a questioning look with Niklaus. He didn't think the Killer had the particular curse, but then so many vampires these nights were afflicted with other things. There was some comfort in that - no longer were he and his Dragons the only ones cursed in this eternal life. Their own curse of reptile eyes made being noticed by humans a touch more likely, though contacts were an easy enough excuse to those who questioned it.

[Niklaus]

Niklaus grinned at Niko’s words, “I’ll make sure to drop by and meet everyone as soon as I can. I see you’ve been quite busy yourself too!” he added, wiggling his digits at Deirdre as a form of greeting. The Killer already knew Azraeth fairly well, he did kinda stalk the latter the last time he came back from the shadow realm and as a mystic, ended up possessing a female body. That was one strange experience, but totally worth it. Turning his attention back to Eureka for a moment, realizing that she wouldn’t have been familiar with most of what they were talking about. “The Dragomir Temple is in Gullsborough, Reka. I’ll bring you along when I visit so you can explore and meet the other Dragons.”

The killer had learned and mastered the use of necromancer, shadow and mystic powers along with their respective bridge powers for a while now, rejoicing in being able to do much more than just beat things up like Hodor gone berserk. Being able to sneak into places unnoticed, attacking people without being seen by humans, healing himself and others as well and summoning and teleporting things, just to name some – you could never have too many tricks up your sleeves. “I’ve heard of this particular affliction, it can really take its toll on your sanity. But then we’re all insane in our very own way, right?” he added, eyeing Deirdre curiously.

Giving a squeeze at Reka’s side as he returned his attention to Nikolae, “I’ve been dispersing and feeding on spirits ever since I discovered the ability to see them. I’m rather glad I don’t hear them, really. I doubt they’d have anything nice to say.” Niklaus was pretty normal, if you disregarded the fact that he preferred a dark crypt to a warm bed and had little to no emotion most of the time but he knew how emotions worked, at least how he thought they did. Overall, he didn’t consider any of his quirks to be really problematic and worked with them; emotions weren't so hard to replicate, after all. He had been emulating the emotions he considered he was 'okay' with and disregarded the ones he thought were more or less overrated, like jealousy for example, until it all became natural, like reflexes. Though the process in itself didn't result in a 100% genuine output, it was better than being a total zombie.

[Deirdre (DELETED 5847)]

Shaking off the sudden and honestly frightening appearance of the spectral woman was no easy feat under normal circumstances. Deirdre closed her eyes, breathing deeply, only to be interrupted by the other girl's laughter. Her silver reptillian eyes snapped open at the sound, teeth clenching as she reached out and into the spirit. An ear-splitting scream filled the Crayola-redhead's sensitive ears, causing her to wince, before the ghost faded in a glimmer of light, and she leveled that wintry, metallic stare on the other girl.

For years, she had been laughed at, ridiculed, made fun of for how bookish she was, for her lack of a family, for anything and everything the other children in her neighborhood could grasp at. For years, her only solace had come in the books she called her only friends, in the characters between their pages, the adventures they held, and her studies. The teachers loved her, her peers hated her. She brought the testing curve up so sharply that most of them had little hope of catching up unless she moved up a grade.

But that would only bring even more ridicule, so she stayed. She remained unchallenged for years, in the grade she appeared to belong in, only reaching for the difficulty she knew suited her on the weekends at the library, until she took the internship with Mr. Williamson. But that brought even more ridicule, for being the creepy girl who worked with bodies.

So when Eureka laughed at her reaction to the ghost's sudden appearance, something within the petite girl seemed to snap. She pulled that Glock from the back of her pants and leveled it at the other woman's forehead, as if she knew how to use it, when really, she didn't know a damned thing about it. She missed the target more often than not when she practiced, but at this kind of range?

Of course, it wasn't loaded. The clip was empty. She'd made sure of that, to keep from shooting herself in her own ***. But right now, she wasn't thinking quite clearly.

"Don't you ever laugh at me," she hissed.

[Eureka]

They mentioned curses, and Eureka’s lips fell open in a curious kind of pout. Curses? She wasn’t sure she had any. Did she? Maybe she was lucky. Or maybe they took time to manifest. Or maybe she was having far too much fun to notice. Was optimism a curse? No. It wasn’t really that she was optimistic all the time. That would just be irritating. It was freedom. She felt too free to care about the future or the past. She cared only about the moment, and if any curse had afflicted her she’d already forgotten about it.

All of it, everything else, was going right over Eureka’s head. They kept talking about Dragons and spirits and now that she noticed it, now that she actually looked, she could see it in their eyes. They were connected, somehow. At least, Nikolae and Deirdre were, and Eureka was this close to stepping out from beneath Niklaus’s arm to get a closer look. Except that her path was obstructed by the barrel of a gun.

There were questions, of course. Spirits? Where’d they come from? Were they dead people, and why couldn’t she see them? Or feel them? How come she never had? Were some people closer to death than others or had she simply not noticed, like there were plenty of other things she seemed not to have noticed, too? Like the fact that she had insulted this girl. Eureka blinked. She had been shot before. In the sewers. By the Hunters. She’d only just started to be able to kill them, but not often. Most of the time she still had to flee, or else be slaughtered. But that was okay. She knew she was getting better. Kind of.

”No?” she said. Her social etiquette definitely wasn’t getting any better. She shook her head. No. That probably wasn’t the best answer to give.

”I mean, it’s kind of funny watching someone talk to something that’s not there. I’m… sorry for your loss?” she said. Even as she said it she knew it was the wrong context. Still. Getting shot hurt like a mother ******, even though she knew it couldn’t kill her. She felt herself shrinking, as if trying to slink around behind Niklaus’s back. But she wore a bemused kind of expression, even if her eyes were crinkled inquisitively.

[Nikolae]

Nikolae flashed a grin towards Klaus, shrugging a shoulder at the mans remarks. "Yeah. I've been busy, I guess. Can't seem to keep my fangs to myself lately..." He admitted in a musing tone, trailing off as he considered where some of his newest progeny might be. In truth, he didn't really know. Somehow the most recent additions to the Dragon ranks had slipped from his grasp with his own black blood still clinging to their lips. He really, truly hoped they weren't out massacring innocents or causing general discord. No doubt if they were he'd hear about it - loud and with lots of snide remarks from people he didn't give a damn about, and in a toneless list from those he did.

His girl-childe had gotten upset and was now aiming a gun at the new Worthington girl. He watched dispassionately for a long moment, amused at Eureka's response. Seemed the telltale thread of wrongness that was a penchant of those in the Worthington lineage hadn't escaped her after all. Her fearlessness might be somewhat encouraging for a vampire, but her reaction wasn't what any fully sane person would have. Still, it was probably a better reaction than those of the blood from the earliest days of the lineage. It was a wonder they hadn't all just killed each other those first nights, but there was still time. Now, those that remained from that time generally avoided one another with the expectation that too much time near one another would result in violence and anarchy. Didn't Chad love anarchy?

He reached out casually, plucking the handgun from Deirdre's grasp and narrowed his reptile gaze at the weight of the thing. "This is empty." He stated simply. There wasn't any inflection in his words, but any of his Dragons would recognize the disappointment for what it was. Not disappointment that she'd raised a weapon to a fellow fledgling vampire, or even a fellow Worthington. Disappointment that her weapon wasn't ready; she ought to be better prepared for anything and everything - because in this town that was usually what one got.

"Apologies, Eureka. The ones who speak to ghosts tend to be a little touchy." He spoke quietly, shaking his head as he fished a spare clip from his bag and expertly shoved it into the gun, snapping a round into the chamber with a sharp click. He handed it back to his childe then stiffened at the buzz of his phone in his pocket. Pulling the device out, he scanned the message he'd received with a growling scowl, nearly breaking the tiny piece of plastic with a hard grip. He forced himself to shove it back into his pocket and calmly lifted his reptile gaze again.

"The alarms are going off at the Temple. A group of rogues are tearing the place apart trying to get to the lower level." He stated it all very calmly despite the promise of violence glinting in his eyes. He had no idea why he was attracting the deranged creatures, but if he were honest he'd admit it wasn't exactly a new development. He'd always been a favorite victim of the Fae, and since returning to the streets of this city he had run into more violence than he expected - and not from his fellow civilized immortals. He glanced at the women uncertainly. They'd probably get their asses handed to them or worse, killed outright. It wasn't likely Nikolae would feel guilty if that happened - he rarely felt guilt for anything - but there was a level of responsibility he felt towards them, not singularly to his own progeny. Still, Klaus would be a big help - the Killer could beat the hell out of things with a smile on his face. He debated it a long moment. "I need to go try to roust them out." He straightened his shoulders. "You're welcome to join me, if you'd like to see them. But watch your back if you do."

The warning given, Nikolae turned and walked with purpose towards his home.

[Niklaus]

The male tried to hide a grin when Deirdre drew her firearm and pointed it right at Eureka's head. The fluidity of the movement itself strange, how easily the female whipped out the gun and the way she pointed it, that lack of weight, almost as if it wasn’t loaded - ...That couldn't be right. Someone passionate about firearms would obviously pick up on that. Who would threaten someone with an empty gun, but still, cat fights were so amusing, especially when Reka instigated them all on her own. Not just once but twice now, with a different person even. “Oh Reka… You’re really out to cause trouble tonight, aren’t you?” he added with a small laugh. Watching Nikolae pump a full magazine into the Glock followed by the sweet click of that bullet entering the chamber.

Softly fondling at the back of the troublemaker‘s head, toying with that mass of red hair as he noticed Niko’s abrupt change in demeanour. He had never seen the shadow get this angry in public before so he knew it had to be something serious. “Trouble, Nikolae?” he inquired, hearing his explanation about the rogues vandalizing the Temple. Niklaus’ outburst coming out as interest rather, this meant killings and a very good way to wrap up a fun day. “I would love to join in and beat some rogue ***, to be honest” the Killer added, trying not to sound too enthusiastic. While he did feel a sense of commitment to the Dragomir, inside he was like a kid who had just been offered ice cream. He might have accepted out of politeness if invited for some other activity, but offering him to engage into some bloodshed was the easy way to his good side. Kill, kill, kill.

“If the ladies promise not to kill each other, of course” he added with a sweet smile to Eureka. “Unless… they want to tag along?” he inquired, catching Nikolae’s eyes in the process. While Deirdre’s combat skills could be questioned from her empty gun stunt, it could prove to be a rather good opportunity to test her in the field, right? As for Eureka, he was aware that she had been enjoying trips to the sewers to hunt for vampire hunters lately so this could work, right? “Unless you ladies have other things to tend to?” he added, remembering that they had more or less bumped into one another, after all. This wasn't a planned meeting. He already had his handgun and sword, probably more in the mood to use the latter too.

[Deirdre (DELETED 5847)]

Shame. That was the first thing Deirdre fully registered as Nikolae took the handgun from her grasp and calmly chastised her for not keeping it loaded. She could easily explain her reasoning, but that would have to wait. For now, all she could really think of was, why had she let it happen again? Why had she let another person's ridiculous desire to poke fun affect her so deeply? She hadn't reacted that way since fourth grade, when she'd had to get braces and everyone had called her such ridiculous names that really made no sense.

"Maybe you should think next time. Some people have history of being laughed at, ridiculed, and made fun of. That is why I reacted as I did," Deirdre said, exclusive to Eureka, as Nikolae handed her a loaded gun. She slipped it straight into her pocket, not wanting to fall into the trap so neatly laid out before her. Attack the one who ridiculed her, so that she could feel some sense of justice.

"Klaus, I'm sorry for not being...well, for not being very polite. I guess you could say I was distracted." She laughed softly, nervously, before Nikolae dropped what amounted to a bomb in Deirdre's world.

Rogue vampires vandalizing the Temple. Well, hell.

"If you think for one damn second I'm going to sit out of this while you fight for our mutual home, you've lost your mind, Papa Dragon," she all but shouted, jogging after him. "I have abilities that let me keep a distance. You of all people know that. I might be a **** shot, but I can summon zombies, raise vampires, and curse like any other Necromancer. I promise I'll be neat about it, too."

By neat, she meant avoid using zombies as much as possible. She didn't want to mess up the Temple too much. And zombies were messy. Extremely messy.

And yes, she had just called him Papa Dragon in public.