As Above, So Below ((Lincoln King))

[Eska Morreau (DELETED 8550)]

"Linc?"

Eska glanced briefly at her friend, noting the sudden abruptness to his voice. The vampire was quite possibly long gone but the paladin pulled out a small flat grey stone tied to a piece of black string and held it up in front of her. The stone was a grifter, something she had picked up from a sorcerer a year or so ago. The stone seemed to hover for a few minutes before it spun in the direction of the street in front of her.

"Got you," she whispered, tucking the stone back in her pocket. The air was warm and a cool breeze was moving through, stirring up leaves and rustling through the trees overhead. Eska allowed herself to remember each detail she could about her mother's murder. She was almost sure she had the same person.
The question was why?

Her mother had been nothing short of an open book, she had shared nearly every piece of her life with her children and the paladin was sure she knew everything there was to know about her. How exactly was the vampire connected to her mother? Or the dead girl she had just seen. The sound of police sirens floated on the air, another one for the boneyard, Eska thought with no measure of pleasure.

The city was rife with vampires, people were just starting to realize that and even though she knew paladins who were of the opinion that not all vampires were sinister creatures, she knew otherwise. A vampire had taken her mother and a vampire had taken her sister.

The only real family she had left was Trinity and Eska felt almost as if each day brought her perilously close to losing the girl.

"Hey!" Her arm arced back in a well aimed throw, sending the dagger in her left hand flying between the fleeing vampire's back. He turned briefly, snarling at her and she could see his clothes were stained with blood. The whole incident felt as if it was running on slow motion and she would hear someone shouting 'cut!' anytime. No such announcement was made and Eska sprinted into the alley way behind the vampire.

Cornered, the vampire turned, trying to lunge at her and she side stepped, rolling safely out of reach. The blood in her veins was pulsing, adrenaline coursing through her and the paladin felt as if she could do almost anything. It didn't matter if she got hurt nor what happened, Eska was finally taking revenge and it felt good.

[Lincoln King]

Outwardly he was chipper, the only note of the internal struggle that was going was a barely there twitch at the corner of his too sharp smile, the wicked expression faltering for no more than a heartbeat before he had it under control. Lincoln fought the darkness, he struggled against but it was hopeless; Kingsley had his hands wrapped firmly around the reins, he was in control and he wasn't letting up that easily. Kings tipped his head up to the sky, taking a deep inhale through his nose, breathing in the smell of the city. It felt good, and he was in no great hurry to chase after Eska, let her do the hard work, he'd catch up for the fun parts. His lips parted on the exhale, tongue flicked out to run the seam of lips, wetting them as his appetite for violence rose. He wanted to press his fists into flesh, to feel it gave way beneath him. Sweet, sweet retribution. It was acceptable, whatever it was they followed after was clearly scum, murderous scum so why not make it ache? Make it's body bend and bones snap, he figured it would heal if they didn't send it dissolving into darkness. They did that, they healed.

Eska was already off like a shot, Kings not really paying much attention other than to lope after her, that sure tread carrying him in the direction she'd scurried off to. He looked at her more steadily as he saw the gleam of a dagger, her arm reeling back to let it fly through the night and bury itself in a vampire's back.

It bled crimson, which intrigued him, the colour a dark stain spreading out from where the metal pierced his skin. "That..." He pointed decidedly at the wound, tongue running across his teeth, sucking at them briefly and making a wet, clicking sound as his mouth relaxed. "Has got to ******* stung." His laughter was stark against the stillness of the night, the man glancing at Eska right before the vampire made his move. "You're ******* insane." He barked, as if he was one to talk, just as Kingsley coiled his body inwards and then with a flex of muscles he was charging forward. She'd rolled aside, lucky her, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway. The two men, one sorcerer and the other vampire, were tumbling together across the street, Kingsley managing to get himself above the wounded creature. "Hello, gorgeous." He quipped, looking like a devil, manic glee stamped across his face as fist found flesh. He pounded down on the vampire's face, driving home a solid hit that had something cracking and the vampire's skull bouncing off the concrete. "You need a bit of colour in that face!" He wasn't above a makeover joke, it seemed appropriate as he made over the creature's face with another vicious punch. His knuckles split, but he didn't care, he resorted to the use of elbows, of knees driving home against ribs.