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The creature's growl intensified as it pawed through the rain, sniffing for the movement it had sensed just now. Like a tiger on the prowl, it leapt through the window of the room Maryl was hiding in, breaking off the last of it's glass loudly in the process. There was no hiding from it, though Maryl had a plan in mind. A plan that would work brilliantly, or fail horribly. She knew she couldn't go toe to toe with this -thing-, no matter how powerful she felt. This moment required cunning. Harnessing shadowy energy between her hands, she spoke an incantation that she had once spontaneously spoken, but had now mastered, even though she could not comprehend it's origins. With a swift hand motion as she jumped from behind the wardrobe, the words echoed loudly in both her own voice, and a voice that was not her own: "Rakh uzhael nefeir iisha!"

(Power: Blind 2)

A purple-glowing shadowy essence coalesced around the creature's eyes, blinding it just as it jumped towards Maryl, whom quickly attempted to tumble underneath the creature's leap. She scrambled on the floor hurriedly as the creature completely obliterated the wardrobe, and she scurried out the door, and into room nine. There was not a lot of time before it would give chase, relying on it's other senses. Maryl began to focus intensely on the room she was in, shadows from the walls and corners of the messy motel room moving eeriely towards the window and door as she muttered more incantations repeatedly: "Domecer vecuth ngillid var kanir.", in the same, haunting and unnatural dual voice. As the creature stomped closer and closer, the mutterings went faster and faster... until it was right in her face. This dark monstrosity, hungering to sink it's vicious claws into her, now abated by an eldritch barrier that was keeping it at bay.

(Power: Claim Abode)

She breathed a sigh of relief, even though it did not really do anything for her, and took a moment to sit down and rest as the creature unceasingly attempted to enter the room, now claimed with this strange power. As if in a bloodlust, the shadowy creature continued to try and break through the barely visible barrier, to little effect. After a few minutes, she had gathered her strength, and begun to search the room, desperate for clues as to where her old friends may have gone off to, in their search for Lisa. However... unbeknownst to Maryl, deep in the nearby forests of Harper Rock, small, barely perceptible green lights began to awaken. The Fae had noticed this display of supernatural powers...

The Puma huffed. The storm raged on. At this rate, it would be daylight before the storm let up. The feline’s head turned toward the direction the female went. It was a curiosity, what she was doing there, who was she looking for, and most importantly, why this night? Why a night that was so nasty man nor beast wanted to be out in it. The cat yawned, alright.. Maybe a beast would be out in it, but then again, even he was seeking shelter in a recently vacated and dilapidated motel.

Yawning the Puma stretched and got to its feet and padded across the room in the direction the female went. The storm played havoc with the smells, which was one of the ways he liked to track. His acuity with scents and smells had become heightened since he was turned, and he honed the ability of tracking by scent over the years. Odors permeated clothing. Even other vampires gave off scents, even if they didn’t realize it. Mordi was big and could move more silent than anyone he have ever met. But occasionally, after Mordi had been to his shop, he gave off a faint hint of gun oil and gun cleaner. The same could be said of Minx, except her scent was more automotive oil and weed.

But tonight, that type of tracking failed him. Or, he was bored and he didn’t feel like the tracking the hard way. So He did it the easy way, by checking every room. The Puma was exiting the third room along the corridor when, he heard the shattering of glass. Stopping immediately, the feline waited, and then heard the growling. It felines could smile, the Puma was smiling. The female found another nasty in the night, and this one wasn’t as sociable as the Puma.

Easily following the sounds, the Puma paused as it spied the monstrosity trying to enter a room but seemingly unable to. Apparently she found something she wasn’t looking for. Resting on its haunches, the Puma watched. There was no reason for it to engage the beast, at least yet. Maybe the girl had right were she wanted it? Maybe she was toying with it? Maybe she had a plan. It would be uncouth of him to step in without being invited. A gentleman never arrived without an invitation, and he was a gentleman. At least.. In public. If he felt like it. And it suited his needs of the moment.

The Puma waited.

Steadily composing herself, she'd began to look about the tattered room. Soggy papers were spread across the floor, in a mess. The bed was torn apart and moldy and the very walls had places where the rain found a way inside through the many cracks of the building. She knew the barrier was working, but there was no telling what the monstrous creature several feet away could truly do, she had never seen it before in all her time around Harper Rock, or ever before. Hurriedly looking for anything of use, she began opening drawers only to find the first one falling apart almost instantly, with nothing but junk to fall onto the decrepit floor. She delicately opened the second drawer of the night stand she was investigating, only to find two small objects within, a keychain with several keys and decorative hangers, and what seemed to be something wrapped in leathers. Without thinking much of it, she grabbed both and secured them within her trouser pockets, knowing she might lose her jacket in the escape.

The escape... had not, however, been a part of her initial plan, as she'd now finished searching the room with little to show for it, and was staring down the monster that was yet attempting vigorously and violently to enter the decaying motel room. Swearing under her breath, she calmly attempted to shout out for the puma, uncertain if it had even followed her outside. Though it seemed curious, it did not seem too riled up by the circumstance, whatever or whomever it was. "Hey! Uhh... I don't know what to call you, puma! If you're out there, I seem to have gotten myself... a bit stuck! Do you think you could make a distraction for this ********!? Give me a window to get out of here!? Promise I'll explain my situation to you?" she calmly remained silent for a moment, awaiting an answer while a familiar voice nagged in the back of her mind: 'He's not coming to help you... he doesn't -care-. No one does. It's just you... and me... out here. Why did you bother coming here? Do you honestly expect your friends to care for you... after all this time? ... in your current state? No one cares about you... just give up. Just... give... in....' Unbeknownst to her, she'd muttered those words to herself, another sign of the control over her mind slowly going into a downward spiral, ending the conversation by muttering to herself to shut up, as she tried to glance outside, waiting to see if the puma had heard her plea. She hated being a damsel in distress like this, but she wasn't exactly left a choice...

The Puma hadn’t been able to fight the ones he wanted due to the storm, but the night wasn't going to be a total washout. He would get the answer to what she had been doing there.. And he could fight. He had been asked before by others, why he didn’t just spar at the arena, that was why it was there after all. But he could not put into words, that it wasn’t the act of fighting that he liked. No it was the act of ending a life, that he was addicted to.

He had been addicted to death, from an early age. But he also knew, that the wanton indulgence in it, could .. no. Not could. Would eventually bring him down. So he had to manage those urges judiciously. He killed things in the Quarantine Zone. Zombies. Feral and rogue vampires. But these creatures do not give the satisfaction that he likes. It appeases the urge to kill, because they are already dead. So he hunted and killed those in the city that showed no moral compass. Criminals that the law couldn’t control. Gangs. That was what he had hoped to find this night, except the torrential downpour, would keep the criminals inside.

But now.. A fadebeast. It wasn’t what he really wanted, but it would. Therefore, in answer to the female’s shouted request, the Puma gave a reply in the form of a growling snarl. That snarl, immediately gained the attention of the huge beast that had been trying to get into the room the female was in.

The fadebeast moved fast. So fast that the Puma nearly missed seeing it. The Puma’s body seemed to react on its own, without conscious thought. It slunk down, preparing to spring to the right, in order to miss the beast. However the Puma was too slow and the fadebeast slammed into the Puma.

As the two rolled, the Puma’s claws sank in and began to shred the Fadebeast. In a roar of anger, the fadebeast’s meaty appendage connected with the side of the Puma’s head. The Puma whirled, and sprang backward. The Fadebeast moved toward the Puma. The Puma ran forward, leapt to the wall, using it as a springboard to land on the fadebeast’s back. The Puma’s teeth sank into the back of the fadebeast’s neck, pull and ripping. The Puma’s claws digging and shredding.

The fight continued, with the fadebeast flinging its whole body into anything in it’s path, in order to beat the Puma from off it’s back. The Puma tenaciously hung on, slashing with whichever appendage could do damage as it clung to the beast.

The fadebeast finally roared and slumped down, the flesh of its body too badly damaged. As its breathing slowed and finally stopped, its body came apart as though the shadows had been the thing keeping it together. All that remained was a pile of bones and massive mutilated human-like appendages, covered in black blood.

The Puma limped away from the pile of remains, wounded but triumphant.

After some moments of waiting, the response had seemingly come swiftly, as shortly after the puma's growl, the fadebeast sprinted away. From her position in the room, she could hear the sounds of the struggle, and did not hesitate to move from her position, running out of the motel room and swinging herself off the railing, to drop down to the ground below. She glanced towards her right hand side to see the puma engaging the creature, and as she kept on running, the puma had almost seemed in trouble, until it managed to get the upper hand and eliminate the fadebeast entirely. As it disappeared into it's decrepit remains, she'd stopped running, and turned once again towards the puma that now seemed injured. A thought toyed in her mind, to just leave whatever it was behind without having to explain her end of things. It would've been much simpler... yet with a soft sigh, she made her way back towards the puma. "Are you going to be allright? The **** -was- that thing!? ... oh right, no words..." she calmly been glancing down towards the remains, morbidly curious as to what they contained. "... well, a promise is a promise, I suppose. Even if it'll feel like I'm talking to myself. Let's head back inside?" she asked in the rain that had quieted, but was still present.

The Puma had no come away unscathed. The fadebeast had been strong; and had flung the Puma about like a rag doll. Had the Puma not held on tenaciously slashing at it, it could have been a very different ending. Taking stock, the Puma surmised it had some broken ribs, a concussion, and fractured fore limb. It wasn’t exactly how he saw his evening going, but he had been victorious.

As the female spoke to him, asking what it had been, then discounting his reply, he replied via telepathy. Yes he could have done that before.. But what was the fun in that?

~It’s a fadebeast. The union of a Vampire and vampire.. Or a vampire and human. Nasty things. They aren’t born. They rip out of their mother. So word of warning.. Sex can be painful..~

The Puma gave a her golden eyed look, before limping back inside to await her story. Once inside, the Puma gingerly laid down, soundlessly snarling as it ribcage met the ground. Closing its eyes for a moment, the Puma concentrated and then healed it’s broken ribs.

The relaxed look on the Puma’s face would be telling to the onlooker to see, and realize it has eased its pain. He sent her another telepathic message ~What are you looking for here? It’s a wreck. Anything here, was scavenged weeks ago.~

He wanted to ask after her sire, but he would wait until she fulfilled her promise.

She'd raised her brow in surprise at the telepathic message, and smirked amusedly. "Well now... I'd heard of telepathy being a thing, but that doesn't make it any less -new- to me. And... thanks for the uhh... warning? I guess?" she nodded a little as she followed the puma inside, though glancing at the decrepit seating, she'd decided to lean against the counter of the reception area they'd passed by earlier, instead. Since it'd spoke of vampires, she presumed it to be one, which only raised more questions, though she didn't want to seem like the fledgeling that she was. Though she did recognize when the puma seemed to be feeling better after a while, knowing she could do the same, and quietly wondered what else vampires were capable of. "Well, first of all, I had no intention of being a damsel in distress today. But still... thank you. And secondly... I'm err... well, I'm here to look for my friends. They'd presumably stayed in this motel several months ago, though don't ask me why it looks the way it does, now. We were supposed to be looking into a friend of ours that'd gone missing, though it seems there's even more to look into, now. I was on my way to Harper Rock to join them until..."

She fell silent at that point. Being turned was not a pleasant memory, nor was half of the things that'd happened afterwards. And even searching for clues in her own way had brought unwanted attention. "I did find some things, that'll help in the search. But I'll be fine on my own for that, really. I doubt these... -fadebeasts- are everywhere, right?"

The Puma looked smug. ~It was amusing to make you wonder.~ he replied telepathically to her comment about telepathy. The Puma closed it’s eyes briefly, as it healed the broken ribs. Feeling an immediate relief at the healed fractures, it now opened its eyes and watched her intently as she explained what she was doing.

~So you did, make the connection right? That the reason you can’t find your friends, is because they are mostly dead, or one of us,.. And not having the best of experiences if they are one of us. It isnt an easy adjustment for most..~ The Puma sent her that thought as she fell silent.

~I am not saying that you should forget them. But it is a two edged sword. If they died by vampire.. You are the embodiment of their demise. How quickly you would go from grieving friend to suspect, if you go public.~

When she spoke again, she seemed quite content and confident in herself, only to have the Puma inform her telepathically, that she was wrong. ~You would like to think that wouldn't you? Unfortunately, you are a vampire. You are close enough to the wilderness that Fae will sniff you out and **** you up. The fadebeast back there, was nothing .. compared to the Fae. And there are quite a few fadebeasts erupting about the city.~

The Puma yawned, ~The old code outlawed sex between vampires. Probably for that very reason. Fadebeasts. However, the Fae, hate vampires. They are nasty deadly things. You do not want to be in the wilderness. The only reason I am relatively safe, is because I am in animal form. But if i were to display any powers, they **** me up too. And I am a hell of a lot stronger than you. You’re a fledge. They could send you the fade.~

She'd frowned at the Puma's comments about her friends, but not only in a way that she was disturbed by the thought, but mostly just in a way of 'do you think I'm an idiot', because the thought had clearly crossed her mind, before. But there was no point in sitting back and making assumptions on their whereabouts, Maryl had to find out on her own. It was, perhaps, a bit difficult to explain, or perhaps she didn't want to be an open book to this stranger, even if they'd aided her at their own risk. Though the pursuit of her friends was one of the few things that still kept her human, that still kept her in control. For she'd seen many glimpses of that other side of her, of the monster that she'd become should she let the insanity take more hold within her mind. Such issues and more had been swirling within her mind for many months now, so she seemed a little offended when it was presumed that her actions were thoughtless, and without reason.

For a moment, she stood there eyeing the Puma with a lightly skeptical look on her face. "Old Code? ... Fae? What -is- the fade? No one's exactly... stuck around to explain me, well... anything, really... I've had to make do on my own..." she said, rubbing her brow as she began to take it all in. So it was true that vampires had been around for a while, but for how long, she wondered. When she'd heard the word Fae, her initial thoughts were of faeries and leprechauns, creatures of fantasy and imagination. Though she could no longer be skeptical about their possible existance, her vision on such things had changed long ago, now. But the Fade... -that- was an interesting subject, if anything. If there was a different world of sorts out there, it's study might explain the strange powers, or even the origins, for it seemed that the Puma indicated that is where vampires went when they died. Not like Maryl knew, she'd come close to death as a vampire a few times, but had always persisted, determined to stay alive. "I'm Maryl, by the way. Maryl DiVosari, curator of the Harper Rock Museum of Occult History. So you can imagine that this is all incredibly interesting to me, despite my... condition... and you are?" she'd asked, still taking in the scope of the world she'd become a part of, so many months ago...

The Puma watched the emotions play across her face. As she absorbed what he told her. The one thing she had going for her, in the Puma’s estimation was that she wasn’t full of bravado like some many other fledges. He had seen it, time and again, a young adult turned to a vampire, and they discover they are strong, fast, have abilities they only read about in comics. Then suddenly they have those powers, they always read about. The power goes to their head. They think they are indestructible. They think they are omnipotent and that noone can tell them anything they do not already know.

But not Maryl DiVosari, curator of the Harper Rock Museum of Occult History. No, she was a scholar, and scholars researched and discovered. The Puma looked at her. He was hardly the one to ask. His own information was gleaned by his own studies. None of the older sires that he met, even bothered to share their information with the younger generations. And the Elder vampires, most of them were hiding away, or refusing to be seen or heard. They were jealously guarding their history, unwilling to share it. There was the odd exception to this rule, but for the most part the elders avoided all.

~Alright Maryl, I am Charles Nilson, most know me as Doc. The fade, the place where you will go if you get ‘killed’. It’s not heaven, it's not hell. If you are strong enough, you can fight you way back. If not, you go mad, and drift aimlessly for eternity. The old code. The code by which vampires lived centuries. The masquerade, pretending they did not exist. Siring only with approval by others. No sex between vampires. There was a hierarchy of vampire. The ones on top dictated to other ones below.~

The Puma paused, then clarified, ~At least, as I have come to discover on my own. No one follows the old code now. There is very little sharing of information among us. It is very competitive. No one wants to share. People sire and throw their spawn to the world with no information. To sink or swim on their own. The Fae. That one is much harder. Most of my information is hearsay, not much is first hand from my point of view. The ones I have seen, are small but deadly. I understand there are varieties. But the one common thread, is that they hate vampires.~

Once more the telepathic communication faded off for a moment, as if the Puma was debating. ~Stay out of the wilderness Maryl DiVosari. You’re not strong enough. And feed regularly. You do not have to feed from humans. There are places, you can get contraband blood packs. There is one in Wickbridge. A shop there. One in Bullwood. There is a mark on the door, an arcane symbol. You will know it when you see it.~