When It All Comes Down (pm for invite)

[Trahir Trahison]

Nicolette rushed through the marina, heading toward her master’s boat. It was easy to see, different in the others in that it was all wood. It looked like a miniature galleon of something out of Pirates of the Caribbean. She was late and she knew he wouldn’t be happy. Late even through the strange couple had given her a lift and then ditched her for some reason after she accepted a job offer from them. It was all so surreal and weird. She wondered if her life could ever get back to normal. Between the terror of her master’s wrath, her forced submission and subsequent slavery, her boss being a blood drinking succubus or something, and weird porn movie making siblings popping up out of nowhere to give her lifts in the middle of blizzards, she just wanted one day where the most exciting thing that happened was something she saw on a television screen.

She ran up the gangway, slipped and fell, bashing her knee and letting out a string of profanity in her native tongue before getting up and hobbling toward the hatch to head down below deck where Trahir no doubt was waiting.

She hoped Dominique would be there at least to help curb his wrath.

It seemed so strange, looking for a vampire to save you from another vampire, but there it was. The truth was just that.

[Dominique]

Dominique’s lips slowly formed a pink bunched up bow of flesh while Trahir went on about his writing. While her teeth entertained the habit of pinching the inside layer of her cheek between her sharp teeth her mind was trailing along. He had her attention enough so that her gut was knotting up and trying to pull her elsewhere. It was the part that had her thinking twice before getting up from where she was sitting and darting out the door on a wild goose chase. She had been there and done that. It was not on her list of things she cared to repeat. Her blood was invested deep beneath his skin but that didn’t mean she had lost her mind. He was just as dangerous and unpredictable as any other fanged predator and night dweller. While his hand did somersaults in the air for effect she felt her eyes roll off to the right. Small knots of flexing muscle rolled beneath her skin by her jaws. Instead of being relaxed everything within her was rising for an unexpected war.

“You mean you kept writing things down even after burning the discs?”

Her hands came together and her elbows went to her knees. Her forehead rested at the tips of her extended thumbs. It likely would be for the best not to look at him. The truth was there in his own words. The short but sharp nails began to sink into the surface of her forehead while the thought of everything he claimed to be within the bound book was floating around while he sat calmly in his boat like someone else was responsible for going to get it.

“This is where I should remind you how I was supposed to be the huge risk to your existence not so long ago and you made sure to point it out and go to extremes to prove it.” Her eyes lifted to find him around the hands lined up down the bridge of her nose that appeared to be ready to participate in some sort of prayer. “Suddenly there is a written record with all of this information of those considered close to you and it has found it’s way into the wrong hands? What happened to dead men telling no tales or not speaking the names of your kind or whatever are the rules in this never ending game?”

The sound of her hands clapping the top of her thighs announced she was standing up. It appears it was becoming some sort of mind bending, life altering game. The kind no one wanted to stumble into if they knew what she did. Is this how it rolled? It went from being certifiably fucked...to worse than that? She was finding it nearly impossible to stay seated with the energy coursing through her as the anger increased. The taste of blood came to her as she took in the air around her until her useless lungs were tight enough to burst. Trahir was far too intelligent to have something so negligent happen. He certainly was not the type to be vying for the top spot on the New York Best Seller's list.

“What the hell are you really up to, Trahir?” She felt the chill spread through her while her narrowed stare fixed on him so hot that she wondered if she summon the flames of hell to set his *** on fire. "No hand waving distracting rambling ******** either. Understand me? What the **** are you up to?"

[Trahir Trahison]

His eyes remained downcast as he listened to her tirade. Trahir was used to Jane's temper and gave no reaction initially as she spoke. Of course he hadn't ~continued~ to write things down after burning the discs which had held incriminating evidence. Of course he had stopped writing. He'd simply gotten caught up in other matters and had forgotten to destroy the journal. He wasn't about to explain that to her though. Not at the moment. For one he didn't like to address his failures to anyone. Admitting them to himself was a rarity, admitting them to others was all but unheard of. He had once tried to do exactly that with another vampire and the result had been less than heartening. It likely didn't help that he has less than no respect for the swollen headed ignoramus.

For another, he had been on his way to reclaim the journal, take it to his adopted sire and lay his soul bare to her. Even though he hadn't had the chance, Trahir figured intent was only a precursor to deed and the decision to do so, the long and taxing process of coming to terms with the decision and weighing the potential ramifications already had him doubting his usually steely reserve. Though his emotions were a dull and distant murmur within his mind, all of them nearly washed away by the unyielding and ever-present hunger for blood that had consumed most of his humanity, he did react near the end of her speech. When her words turned into the lowbrow speak of the uneducated and crass. A flash of indignation and irritation gripped him for a moment. He fought it down and reminded himself of the situation at hand.

"That language is beneath you Jane. I've warned you of this before. The journal likely would not be taken seriously unless those with it in their possession were to investigate a few things that could confirm parts of what is written within. It needs to be reclaimed and the humans neutralized before they decide to try to play detectives."

He looks up to her from his seated position, she is standing already, no doubt anticipating reprisal for her language of a physical nature. The last time he had slapped her for the affront of her verbosity being launched in his presence. It had served its purpose, but at the moment, correcting her behavior would do nothing but waste time.

"If the sun rises and we have not retrieved it the risk of our discovery rises exponentially. We are wasting time."

[Trahir Trahison]

It was into this scene that Nicolette entered, stumbling down the steps into the stateroom, half-frozen and stilll stunned at the events of the evening. Her eyes searched the dimly lit room, alighted on first her seated master and then his mate, standing over him like an angry school mistress. The look in his eyes told her his mood was darkening. Any moment now they could turn reptilian and an explosion of vicious inhuman temper could explode forth. ****.

Her master didn't even glance over at her arrival. She calmly (she at least hoped she appeared calm) made her way to his jacket reached over and slowly withdrew the hand-written note from within while murmuring an "Excuse moi monsieur, mademoiselle".

She gave Jane a curious look and appeared on the verge of opening her mouth to say something else, but then glanced to Trahir and thought better of it. She backed away from the two, much in the same manner that her master used when departing a conversation with other vampires, only with less grace and formality, her right hand reaching out backward, searching for the railing which would lead her back up the stairs and into the blizzard she wanted nothing more than to avoid. If avoiding it, however, meant staying contained here with two very angry looking vampires, either of which could kill her accidentally at the best of times, let alone when they were furious and fighting, she would take the blizzard.

She froze when Trahir raised a single hand which hoisted a single index finger in her direction without even glancing at her.

Oh **** ****!

Nicolette waited, feeling fear gripping her throat so hard she couldn't breathe. The thoughts garbled inside her head and she felt as though she may swoon. Fighting her all-too-human weakness she put her hand out against the wall to steady herself as her heart pounded and her breath came in small, shallow gasps.

[Trahir Trahison]

The two humans were sleeping in separate rooms. They were either roommates and the guy had no game to speak of, or they were related. The woman was attractive enough, the male had some features making him worth a second look. The rogue vampire wasn't there just for pleasure though. She wanted to know what the vampire Trahir Trahison had wanted with them. What had grabbed his attention. Still enshrouded in the shadows, the female vampire made her way through the house, looking for signs that linked them to anything that might attract the Killer's attention. At first there was nothing. Perhaps he had simply been looking for a feed after all. That's when her eyes fell on a book sitting on an end table nnext to a fairly comfy looking chair.

The book was bound in a type of leather she had never seen but she could likely guess what it was made from. The pieces fell into place. The humans had read the vampire's writing and he had stalked them no doubt to take it back and likely murder them. She could the feeling from the way he had stalked and pursued her before that he wasn't the type to simply let things go. Even if she killed the humans herself and took the book she figured he would be hot on her trail come nightfall. If he wasn't one of those vampires that could walk in the daylight. If he was, she could only imagine what she would wake to if she was could while laying torpid with his journal in her possession.

Indecision grasped at her for a moment while she weighed the risks of leaving the journal and the humans alone, taking the journal and leaving the humans alive, killing the humans and then calling the cops to let them find the journal, or just killing them and claiming the book for herself. She could always hand it over to the murderous Trahir herself, maybe he would even give her a reward for helping him.

Likely as not he would simply kill her again. He seemed fond of using that gladius-styled sword of his.

She stood there, invisible in the darkness thinking. The sewers were less than a block away. She could be gone before anyone was the wiser. Trahir obviously couldn't enter the homes of mortals or he would have been here already, the humans would be dead and the journal reclaimed.

She began to fabricate a plan that could put her ahead.

[Dominique]

Dominique really had no issue with her choice of words. Trahir sometimes acted as if he was sitting on the oversized throne in some castle she never heard of. She came from New York. Perhaps he was not aware that despite her parochial education she learned more about language arts on the streets running cars than she did sitting in those pain in the *** desks. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that sometimes saying ‘I am disappointed’ didn’t cut it half as much as a hard delivery of ‘what the ****’ did. there was no question she could feel it when she was on the receiving end and she felt better when she was delivering the message loud and clear. Her brow raised as he gave her that look. So, she felt better. Was that a crime too?

Nicolette slipping in did not go unnoticed. Dominique tracked the brunette's smooth movements and said absolutely nothing. It was a walking visual and answer to her earlier question where the lead tattoo artist for her shop was. Once the inked hand disappeared into the jacket the parisian reached for then withdrew a piece of paper her curiosity only raised a little more. He was up to something alright. The woman left as quietly as she arrived. In her wake was the sweet hint of fresh injury. She was bleeding but not profoundly and certainly not enough to debilitate her.

“I am not the one still sitting.” She pointed out as she watched him waiting for him to move. “As for my language allow me to suggest that you need to come out of your castle, M’lord Trahison, and step into New York. You would learn how colorful communication can be. Your hand gestures may even be appreciated and earn you a few in return that you have not seen before.”

The shadow thought about rolling her wrist to mirror his early hand signal and allowing her hand to curl all but one finger down. The more she looked at him she figured that would delay this whole ‘let’s go see if it’s really true’ field trip they were about to take. She embraced the shadows and went unseen in their protective embrace while he stayed fastened to the leather sofa beneath him. Dominique was not sure what he had planned but the last thing she was going to do was walk into the company of humans leaving a face to remember. She had more than enough of that.

[Trahir Trahison]

As Jane disappeared from sight Trahir looked over to Nicolette, frozen as she had been in her panic at the mere motion of his hand. "If we do not return by break of day, you scout the house. If it seems we are in need of assistance you give it. Our freedom is paramount. The journal is secondary concern. Do not expose yourself to unnecessary danger. You are of no use to me dead or imprisoned. If something untoward happens, wait one week and one day, return to the Crypt. If I am not there, or if Jane is not there, you get in touch with Velveteen at the number written behind the painting of Jane here in the boat on the port side bulkhead."

With that, the vampire finally stood, as though he was being dragged into a task he didn't wish to undergo. A task that he was undertaking of his own goodwill rather than correcting a dire mistake on his own part. His first instinct was to use Celerity to arrive at his destiniation, but Jane was doing her Shadow thing and if he just disappeared then it may irritate her. She was prone to random acts of Jane as it was and he had heaped a pile of problems at her feet without really doing much to request her assistance. He'd simply expected her to help.

In all fairness if the situation were reversed, he would give his all in whatever endeavor she asked or needed him to partake in. Still...

Once more he ignored her soliloquies and her horrific language for the moment. There would be time after the ordeal before them was over for him to explain to her what exactly it was about without her debasing herself with such gutter-worthy-talk. For the moment, the acquisition of the written material trumped his minor irritation at her lack of decorum.

[Trahir Trahison]

Nicolette watched her life-line disappear into nothingness. As Dominique vanished, her eyes moved to Trahir. As the vampire spoke her head nodded incessantly. He'd not exploded yet and she didn't want to be the only thing in the room living if he did. "Yes master" was uttered with reverence at the end of each sentence. Her agreements were near frantic.

Then they were both gone. Dominique had simply vanished while Trahir seemed to take his time, walking out of the area, even pausing as if holding the door for someone after him. When finally the port hole was closed, Nicolette let out a long sigh of relief.

She looked at the paper, the addresses weren't too far away. If there were no problems then she could make it to each and be in and out before noon. Of course if there were no problems, she would not have the paper to begin with. Initially it appeared that Trahir had wanted her to simply make headway at befriending some people. Now though he seemed more concrete in his wishes and he anticipated danger. Nicolette was no heroine. She wanted a comfortable life given by her beauty and photographs taken by men who wanted nothing more than to find a way into her pants. She'd yet to lower herself to ******* a photographer.

Those she worked with had referred to her as an ice-queen because she had refrained from putting herself in any dangerous positions.

Now she wanted to laugh at that. The one time she had extended her neck, the guillotine had dropped.

[Trahir Trahison]

Moving quietly through the house, her course of action planned, she went straight to the room occupied by the female. She guessed the sleeping female was the sister of the man sleeping in the room adjacent. She reached to her back withdrawing the hunting knife, really more of a Survival and Rescue blade, the edge razor, honed to a thinness which would be equally adept at paring or gutting. Fish, pork, beef, long pig, the meat didn't matter. The blade would separate flesh, cutaneous tissue and tendon like a hot knife through butter.

In absolute silence she drew the cover back. The woman was obviously used to the gesture, she'd had a lover in the past who would do the same, likely exposing her before going to work on her in those intimate ways that were allowed and available to those still of the human condition. She was a vampire and to take on the love of a man, be it human or one of her one kind, was to court disaster. Fadebeasts. The thought would have sent a shiver down her spine if the dead nerves there still fired the same way they had when she was a breather.

The gesture was quick, efficient and practiced. The blade moved out, her hand making the gesture as naturally as a model taking a brush to her hair. It's trip across the humans throat is a quick gesture, biting deep into the flesh and for the first instant not even disrupting the woman's dreamy and waiting smile. The panic, that took a full two seconds to set in. The body sent a signal to the brain that oxygen and blood was no longer reaching where it needed to. Then smile vanished in a gulping attempt to breathe, to gain that precious substance given by the atmosphere needed to survive. The eyes flew open and the hands moved to the gaping slit in her throat. She tried to struggle to a vertical base but never even made it to a sitting position.

Marsha passed from the world of the living with no more fuss that a stone dropped into the ocean. A few minor ripple dissipating into nothingness and joining the rest of the stillness or turbulence of her surroundings.

The rogue had stepped away to avoid the arterial spray, then had stood mutely watching the female human in her death throes. As she turned and walked out, intent on the bedroom the next door down, Marsha's toes twitched one more time before sending her bedroom into total stillness.

[Dominique]

Trahir obviously was in a mood that likely was not too far off from her own. Dominique was rather irritated and less than pleased with the prospect that she was having to chase down something like a journal that likely contained information she would be happy to never know. What she heard was within the pages was more than enough. Some were into knowing everything they could and the dark haired shadow was not one of them.

Telepaths. Their powers made it possible to invade their targets thoughts, review where they had been, what they did and with whom or what. On a whim they could know more about you than you likely did. It was invasive and incredibly annoying. She did her best to avoid them and keep to herself if at all possible outside work. The human world had the police and the government. The vampiric species had mind benders were the It was an ability she would be glad to avoid mastering if she had any choice in the matter of what powers she picked up.

Despite the shadows that had swallowed her up and left her invisible as the air around them she still could feel the coolness of Trahir as he moved beside her. She looked up at his silhouette then back to the route they currently were hiking rather quickly out of the docks.

“Trahir, I need to bring this up just so we are clear about what happens when we do get the journal back.”

Dominique was hoping what she was about to suggest wouldn’t add insult to injury when she brings it up. At this point she was pretty sure nothing more could happen that would make it any worse than it currently appears to be with his journal in human hands being passed around like a game of hot potato.

“It needs to go up in flames.” She stepped faster in a stride that was unseen by any eyes around them. “Instantly.”