Path of the Vampire forum

That ***** of a woman had obviously used her power to outstrip him as they both ran for the poor girl. However as things got darker and her threats fell to his ears he simply ignored her. He could see she had the girl held by her collar, her gun pointed in her direction, then there was a man - a giant of a man - behind her and as he got closer he saw that it was Jonah. He smirked now, because Yek was outnumbered - though if the tales were true, she wouldn't care and could more than handle herself. He pulled out his sword and as he neared the woman - hoping she was distracted by Jonah - he lashed out with his sword to try and cut her arm off.

However, he stumbled on somethng slimy that was unseen underfoot, due to the powers she'd used. His slash at her arm was short, and only the tip caught her skin, opening up a large gash across her forearm. She flinched and it was enough for him to tackle the girl from the woman's hold. He only had one option open to him, one free tunnel, and as soon as he turned down it he realised it was a dead end with nowhere to go. He had to face Jonah and he had to face Yekaterina..... whom he'd just cut.

"****..."

He looked at the girl who was huddled in the corner, shivering and with her hands over her head. She looked scared shitless and his heart went out to her. He needed to get her to safety, which meant he needed to make a deal with the devil - literally.

He walked back to the end of his tunnel and perred out into the darkness, pulling the shadows to him and creating a globe light so that all Darkness was gone from the area to see who was where and doing what.

"Right.... Deal. Let me take her to a place of safety. I can ensure she's fed by using blood heal, I can keep her trapped inside with claim abode. I can help her, teach her, train her. I know the ways of the vampire, I know how to teach her to keep her safe, so that she's not on that damnable list. Let me help her - as no-one helped you Yekaterina."

He was standing there, internally quaking as he faced her, but trying to appear confident and sure of himself as he stood up to her.

Seren stood strong and didnt waver. Her eyes stayed on the woman, even as she threaten the life of the one she now held in her grasp. Roberts target. The little trouble maker. She knew, somewhere in her mind that the woman wasnt on the list on purpose. No. She just had not been properly edecuated in the ways of not only the city but her path as well. Seren had some sympathy for her as she had not been either. She had to learn most of what she knew now on her own. Isabella was never there for her. Too busy getting laid and such to care about her child and since Seren didnt have the proper equiptment, she was cast aside.

Robert vanished and Seren sighed. She knew he was about to do something stupid. Just then though, before she even had time to connect and speak in his mind, the womans arm was cut. She sighed and shook her head gently. Here came the chaos she was hoping to avoid. She went to begin fussing at him in his mind but then, she saw that he now had his hands on the woman and was off. Seren stood her ground, wondering how much worse it was going to get ebfore she saw Robert come back now, speaking. Trying to deal with the woman, apparently.

Her eye, just the corner, had caught sight now of Jonah but since she had never met the man nor did she know much about him, she wasnt going to speak nor be friendly. No. This was not a time for pleasentries and she honestly had no idea the reason he was here now nor his intent. Seren did however, finally speak. "Let me take her. Im not Robert. Im not with Solace, Im not part of any groups, actually and the only thing Im concerned with is her well being. I just want her safe, secure and taught to feed and live the right way. Let me take her." She commented and it was the truth. Seren didnt believe in that Lux crap Robert did. She wasnt part of that group, nor did she have any desire to be. She wasnt a Pratt nor Pratt himself, obviously. She had nothing to do with the chaos with the blood thieves or any of that. She was the most neutral party.

"What's going on here," Katya hissed, with a flicker of a glance at her bloodied arm, "is that this feral vampire is going to help us along toward another holocaust unless she's dealt with, one way or another. I'm all for subduing and getting her somewhere she can't be a menace until she learns, though I'm not above taking her out, either." Her jaw was set as she tossed a look at the newcomer, someone she assumed was just another hunter, before it turned back onto Pratt.

"You know you're going to have to pay for that...some night," she hissed at him, aqua eyes ablaze with barely-controlled anger. Thankfully, that control was still somewhat tenable, which at least gave her the satisfaction of knowing he'd be left wondering just when and how retribution would come. "But this little... transgression aside, you're the last person any uneducated, out of control vampire should learn from. You, who have no care for the Masquerade - I don't give two shits about your views on the Crow, or this whackadoo love of whatever your god's name is - this fledgling is causing a ruckus and I for one am not about to sit back and simply watch, or let you teach her how to violate secrecy and avoid a bounty. I heard you, in that meeting about the new law, loud and clear, Pratt. As for me - not that you're entitled to know - I had an excellent educator once I was out of the Fade. Don't speak to my past with such ignorance again. Understood?"

Her gaze turned upon the dark-haired woman, all sense of playfulness about her and who she might be having dissipated with the gush of blood that had now slowed to a trickle. Her brow rose slightly as she listened to her speak, then nodded, her mouth set for a moment in a firm line. It sounded reasonable, and if she wasn't part of Robert's little cult, after all, then there seemed to be little harm if she had a reasonable way of doing things.

"I'm willing to agree to stop my hunt, if Pratt won't have any hand in teaching her anything, including all of his secrecy violations nonsense."

He'd had enough and things were getting out of hand with all manner of people wanting her and making demands. Well, he was having none of it. While Yekaterina's attention seemed focussed on Serry, he backed up into the tunnel and crouched down beside the terrified looking girl.

"Shhh. Listen, I'm going to get you out of here ok? You're just going to have to trust me."

All fight from the other night seemed gone from her and instead of a response there was just a shiver of fear. Robert's plan had been to take her back to Solace, however with Yekaterina prmising to continue to hunt the girl, he knew he needed to be more stealthy and clever. Solace would undoubtably be the first place she'd look for him, so there was no way he was going to go there. However, not only did he own all manner of buildings and apartments, but he was also a shadow who could enter any and almost every building in the city should he choose to.

Rapidly he thought of a place he could go to start with, and so wrapping his arms around the woman he held her tight to him and teleported them off to his homebound location. She struggled and resisted, but he was fairly strong, determined and well fed - and there was no way he was letting her run off to be shot down. Once his eyes focussed he let her go, watching as she panicked and once more ran for a corner. Quickly, he stepped outside of the room and used his claim abode power so that she could not free herself by simply walking through the door. Then he made sure that not only was the area outside of the room, but also the room itself, was locked down to everybody with that handy little ritual. He would keep her safe and protected, no matter what it cost. The only way someone was getting in here, was if he himself summoned them, because now, even he couldn't get out into the room beyond where he was.

Pulling out his phone once the place was sufficiently locked down he sent a text to Serry to let her know what had happened, knowing that the woman could handle herself and only feeling a little guilty about dragging her into this hunt and then abandoning her to face Yekaterina alone. If he hadn't needed all of his powers, he'd have used some to summon her away too. However, he needed to ensure the girl was safe and he hated to admit it, but Serry might actually enjoy shooting someone a few times.

"Serry, I'm gone. I took the girl and ran. I couldn't chance it with HER there, and Jonah.... well, I don't know what he was up to but he's frickin HUGE. I wouldn't have stood a chance against either and I'd have lost the girl. We're safe - make sure you are too and I'm SO sorry I left you! Love you, be safe, take care. Robert. xx"

After that, he burned through the rest of his anima quickly, summoning zombie after zombie, then spirit after spirit, feeding from the blood packs in a little fridge that he kept in most every place he frequented until he was too drained to do any more. He tossed her a sword that used against him wouldn't do too much damage, but used against a zombie would be lethal and then explained to her what to do. It wasn't long before she was happily killing the zombies with vigour, though she refused to come too near Robert himself and he had to direct from the sidelines, helping where he could.

Robert had once successfully hidden from Tytonidae for 2 weeks, and so he put every bit of his knowledge and skill into practice as every day he moved himself and the girl to a new location, trapping her inside and locking all others out and casting a haze over the area. Then using his magic, summoning her zombies, healing her wounds, helping her care for herself. Every day her bounty dropped a little further, and she tamed that little bit more - until finally, she had refound herself, refound her humanity and lost her entire bounty. Robert was so proud of her, and she was so thankful in return and finally the day came when she was able to be 'released' from her forced captivity to join the society that had hunted her.

However, unlike Robert - she didn't hate the vampiric community. She'd been shown compassion and kindness, taught how to feed, how to exist, shown that not all was Dakrness and there was no need for the violence against one another. She had been saved where he had been shown only the hatred and depravity of their kind, killed and slaughtered without mercy and compassion and so had turned against the race as a whole, full of anger and bitterness. This was what he believed should be done to all bounty offenders, not the culling of other people, other humans like they all were. He had proved it could be done, and he had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that he knew what was right and best for the vampire population. But then, in Robert's mind - he was always right regardless.