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This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening...

These were the only coherent thoughts the vampire sometimes known as Xian had, thoughts that sometimes spilled into whispered mumbles, his lips moving, teeth gritted. He pushed himself into the corner of the store as much as he could, head down, arms around his knees.

Just hours ago, he had found himself inexplicably in the middle of a mall, with no recollection of how he got there, or even what he was doing there. He only had the vague idea that he needed to be there, for something, that he had some purpose for being there. But as to what that was, and even where he was, he had no idea.

Then it struck him that he didn't even know who he was.

He fought down the rising panic, and wrapped his arms around himself. A bump from behind him told him he was in the way of a few rushing shoppers, and he moved to one side, struggling to get a grip on himself, and what had happened to him.

A name. He needed a name, he thought, and he fought with his mind to discover the secret of at least his name. Kevin? Bob? Stewart? Why those names so familiar, and yet none of them belonged? A name. A name. I need a name. A name is a four letter word. There are four sides to a square. A square is the same number multiplied by itself. Math, variables, unknowns. X.

X. It seemed odd, but it also seemed to fit, though more like a loose glove over a very small hand. It had to do, he decided, and he clung to it as the one floating thing in the sea of chaos he had found himself in. X. An unknown, incomplete, random, something to fill in the gaps.

All around him, people walked and rushed through the mall; a late night sale? he asked himself. How could he even know that, and know nothing else? How did someone suddenly forget who they were while walking in the middle of a crowded mall? He shook his head.

Focus. Focus.

Finding nothing familiar, and yet everything vaguely so, he decided to walk on like nothing was wrong. That maybe something would stir his memory and he would have a clue to what had happened to him, where he was, and why he was there.

That was hours ago, and now here he was trapped in the middle of what had turned into a war zone. The moment the first explosion had sounded, he had blanked, and as others followed, he retreated into the corner he had now found himself in.

This isn't happening, this isn't happening, this isn't happening.

What kind of person would lose everything about who they were, and then find themselves trapped in the middle of a war? Unreal, a bad dream, this isn't happening. He repeated this mantra, and willed himself to wake.

But it was all too real.

And deep inside him, Xian's Other screamed for release, even as the sun rising in the east slowly stole his will.

Harry

The old man saw Alexandrea take down the intruder and he moved before he even thought about it, swearing under his breath as he did so. It wasn’t an ‘order’ and no one was twisting his arm. But his instinct was to protect the Allurist and to a lesser degree, all the occupants of the shop. And in all the commotion, no one had thought to resecure the entry. Harry slammed the double glass doors closed and locked them even as another man slammed into the doorway, shaking the frame and cracking the glass. The glass was tempered glass and the impact of the force of the human attacker didn’t stop at just one crack, spiderwebs of cracks appeared in the glass begging for just one more whisper or two to be shattered into a million pieces…

Ruby

While Harry had hurried forward to the front to secure the still open door, Ruby had taken a few steps backwards before any of the others had noticed her standing there. Once she was again in the backroom; the flame haired woman leaned against the wall by the shelves of bongs and glass pipes, sighing as she rubbed her temples. Charlie was a good guy. A great guy, even. And a looker to boot. Ruby hated to kill him but she knew she had to try. She’d never met a ‘Blood Thief’ before but if that blonde that Harry introduced as Alex was correct about what would happen if she was to fed Charile some of her own blood, then letting him live long enough to talk couldn’t be risked. But what could she do without risking her own ‘cover’?

Getting ‘holed-up’ with a bunch of blood suckers had NOT been the plan but as long as she was stuck in there with them, she might as well make the most of it. The shop had been on the list of places to clear anyways. And the road to hell was paved with the best of intentions. She didn’t even know why the commissioner of police was mixed up with vampires now but his concern for Ruby had got her into this situation and as much as she did like Harry, Ruby was prepared to put his life as well as hers on the line if it meant furthering the cause.

She still had Angus’s backpack, she knew it had to have something inside she could use. The redhead checked to be sure no one was in eyeshot and set the bag down, unzipping it open to inspect it’s contents, Ruby couldn’t help but grin. Inside was a miniature armory. Complete with a half a dozen hand grenades. She wasn’t trained to use them but she did know how they worked, so Ruby stuck a few in her pockets as she looked at the rest of what Angus had placed in the bag. Blowing herself up along with everyone else was a last resort. She’d like to figure out a way to live another day if she could.

The sounds of more glass breaking, and VERY close by, stopped the Sorceress’s train of melancholy thoughts; and she went to peer around the entry from the back room and into the main room of the store.

Outside the door (Jack)

Jack smashed his nose as he hurled himself towards the rapidly closing doors. He was stunned into seeing stars for a moment but gathered his wits about him quickly, and after taking a step back he covered his face and his bloody nose with one arm as he beat on the weakened glass with the hilt of his sword that he held in the other. Two swift smacks, and the vampire hunter got his wish as the twin doors gave up the ghost and rained glass down upon his arm and the right side of his body. It could have been worse, they could have had time to have lowered the security gate. Now, that would have really messed up his already twice broken nose.

Jack wasted no time in knocking the old man in his path out of the way and went right for the biggest vampire that he could see and the most obvious threat (also one of the few standing) in the room, Odin. And out of the corner of his eye as he closed the distance between himself and his target, he saw a familiar redhead poking her head out of the backroom. But not willing to risk sparing a glance her way just he shouted out to her; “Ruby! Whose side are you on???”

Ruby

Jack’s arrival was well timed, and as the other human yelled out her name and questioned her loyalty, the woman gave a shove with her Chi force towards Harry, in hopes of knocking the old man out of the shop and clear of what was about to happen. If he wasn’t safe, Ruby didn’t really care but she had tried. The woman rushed forward at the same time that Jack dove at his own target, sending a Sirocco Blast directly towards Charlie as bolted up the stairs inside the QCC. Halfway to the top, she yanked a pin from one of the hand grenades and threw it down on top of poor Charlie, who was still being sat upon by that same blonde vampire, as she scrambled to get the rest of the way up to the second floor and then get out of the upper level of the store’s entry into the mall.