Vs.

[Trahir Trahison]

Trahir Trahison Unsurprised at Doc refusing the offer of a glass Trahir leans back in his chair. He lets his focus slip from one of his guests to another as each speaks. His mind is rolling around other thoughts though. Doc had stated Jane had decided he wasn’t the one. That made sense… the one was dead. How could Trahir be that which she had in life? They were bound by blood, not love. Much as he and Shadis were. He glances to Jane now, the question brought up as to how Shadis and Trahir had met. He replays the meeting over in his own mind. His thoughts turn back to the meeting at hand quickly.

He looks over to Shadis, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. The gesture is perhaps meant to be reassuring. Trahir though, has turned his eyes over to Doc as he reaches for his glass. Raising it to his lips he drains it quickly before setting it down again and reaching for a different bottle. The dark, rich coppery smell of blood fills the room. Heightening his senses Trahir inhales as he pours, the scent of paladin blood filling his nostrils. His hunger thrums within him as he watches the liquid fill the glass and sets the bottle down. He doesn’t miss the slight change in facial expression. He doesn’t think it bodes well for anyone.

“Are you certain you won’t have some Doctor Nilson? The vintage has because much less common of late since the Order’s fall.” He looks over to Shadis in anticipation of the recounting of their first meeting.

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis swallowed the food that she had bitten off and she felt Trahir reach over to give her hand a squeeze of reassurance. Her gaze shifted to Trahir and gave him a smile that wasn’t at all forced, it was genuine. If anything, the simple gesture, soothed her trouble soul, if only for the moment. Her gaze shifted back to Dom then and a simple nod of her head was given. ”Well, funny enough, it was at Lancaster’s bar. I was new, very new to being a vampire and there were… Complications. I have to admit, it wasn’t my finest moment.” She gently placed the appetiser that she had within her hand, down upon a napkin and her fingers lightly curled around her glass.

”I was experiencing anger and feeling weak every time that I woke up and upon one of these mornings, I had a burst of anger, threw a glass and I probably would have started a brawl if it hadn’t of been Trahir stepping in to stop me.” Indeed, who knew what she would have done if Trahir hadn’t of stopped her from making a potential mistake. A shrug of her shoulders was given then as she paused in her story to take a bite of an appetiser. After a thoughtful chew, she realised that that wasn’t exactly where the story ended. Indeed, he probably would never have contacted her again or gone to Lancaster just to see her. Shadis was fast learning that Trahir didn’t do anything without a reason or a cause.

”But, of course, that was only when we first met. Afterwards, we seem to keep running into each other.” Indeed, although it was only one more meeting afterwards that they had gotten involved and it wasn’t a night that she would ever regret even though she was constantly wondering if one day Trahir would move on to another woman. A shrug of her shoulders was given then as she simply smiled at Dom, ”After that, we just sort of got involved. As people do.” People, but vampires? Her brown hues glanced over at Doc, as she remembered Trahir’s words. Doc was more likely to kill her just for affiliating with Trahir. Such as things were in a vampire’s world. Death meant so little to some that they never actually cared about what would happen to them on the other side. Trahir was one of those people, even she knew that he would kill her one day.

Finally, her gaze dropped to her appetiser and she finished it off, rather glad that she could still enjoy the taste of food even it was rather pointless. All that truly sustained her was blood and even during her hunts as of late, it was never truly enough. No matter if she fed on one or two humans, as she never killed her prey. It was a factor that played within the forefront of her mind. ”I met Mortll at Voodoo once. She was very straightforward with how I stand in
In her eyes. I feel that I have stepped on many toes in regard to Trahir, however, I feel that I have stepped on yours the most, Dom. I apologise if this is the case.” Indeed, Mortll and Shadis had spoken, but she was aware that those who were friends of Dom’s wouldn’t exactly see her in a good light. Shadis offered the woman a sad smile before she lifted the glass to press to her lips to take a drink from.

[Dominique]

The delicate random weight of Doc’s fingers that gave subtle pulls to the strands of her hair reminded her that those fingers would be welcomed in being put to use later. Radar missed them like a robust kid did when they were denied dessert. Refraining from leaning into the hand at her back to increase the contact she instead smiled just enough to offer some measure of reassurance to Shadis when her needless apology was offered.

“Don’t be silly, Shadis. You have done no such thing. I, for one, am under a clear understanding why you have captured the attention and time of Trahir.” Her dark eyes drifted to the vampire she was referring to and her smile cooled quickly. The tip of her tongue curled over the hard line of her upper teeth and stayed put for a few seconds while she stared at him. “Your appetites and intentions have been considerably rewarded. I trust that you will be nothing less than what this woman deserves and offer anything including blood to keep her safe as anyone at her side should.”

With that said her eyes drifted back to Shadis while her HOPE found the top of a thigh that was becoming increasingly familiar to the center of her palm. A brief squeeze was given that would signal attention would likely be a wise investment at that point she smiled again because it was becoming much easier to do.

“Would you care to hear how I met this body of wonder?” Her eyes sparkled and she nodded to Doc. “My sire.” She could feel it because it was that wonderful tingle that started from her lips and found its way rather easily to her toes. Yes, sharing this would be rather entertaining. Especially for her and perhaps even the one sitting beside her. Whether he was ready or not she would share. It was his option if he chimed in. Something told her he wouldn’t hesitate to. “What the hell I will share. It is the thing to do.”

She settled back while shifting the bare plain leg that was crossed over her left one. The colorful ink hid the other beneath and soon she was comfortable with continuing her recollection of how she remembered it. It could take awhile and she might as well get started.

“It was a night that had me running on empty and no prayers left to cash in. I was hitting rock bottom and looking back I can see where the signs were there screaming for intervention. Hind sight is amazing. If only we could have the benefit of it before hand. Anyways on the run I was. I had made an early and relatively lucrative career out of transferring the possession of high end custom cars from the original legal owners to others who just so happened to want them without having to go through the difficulty of stealing them with their own hands. It can get messy and the fact it is illegal tends to sour many at the prospects of doing so. I had a few notes back in the states that were outstanding invites to appear in court and explain myself. Three states actually. I wasn’t fond of being grounded as a kid and the idea of a lengthy time out behind a few sets of bars wasn’t my scene. Crossing the border seemed like a better idea and I did exactly that. It was here in Harper Rock that I was spotted trying to score a set of nothing to brag about wheels to get farther north. I was outrunning a couple of less than impressive security of the lot that I was found messing around in. I hopped a couple fences and found myself just outside the Silverlight Fairgrounds. And that is where I found him searching for...” HOPE and LESS lifted to give those air quotation marks. “ his cat.” She looked to Doc. “Isn’t that right? Like who doesn’t walk around at two in the morning outside theme parks in their smart suit and sharp shoes looking for their favorite kitty?”

[Doc]

Doc: Doc who had been staring, or rather politely ogling, his sister-in-law waved a hand in negative to Trahir’s repeated offer of liquid refreshment, when he heard Minx’ comment and saw the quote finger gesture with his peripheral vision. He turned his head and looked at her, “What the **** you mean by ‘this’?” He mimicked the gesture back at her. He knew very well what she meant. She was implying there was no cat. “There was.. And is, for that matter of fact, a cat. And for your information… I do. I like my ******* cat. She is the only one that never gives me any ******* grief!” he muttered something unintelligible about, but the words ‘believing’ ‘some pervert’ and ‘females’ might possibly be understood.

Dominique releases a low suffering meow just to work at him.

A snort of derision was expelled as she meowed at him. “I will have you know.. You are very much like her. Willful, stubborn, and too ******* independent.. That is why you’re named after her!”

[Dominique]

“This is true.” She nodded slowly then looked at him and winked. “But who comes back for tickles?” Yes, to most it would be rather odd but this was how it went between them now. Back then it was a whole different ball game. “So then he decided to set me straight because I was batting for the paladins. I was doing pretty good and things seemed to quiet down. He was hanging with the owls and I with those who were hell bent on saving the world. All was good until he caught up with me again and decided I could use a step in this intervention I was working on. He had me institutionalized. Isn’t that right?” She sniffed lightly while looking at him. “Got to hang out strapped to a gurney and subjected to routine visits from Dr. Porter.” Her face wasn’t so indifferent then. She was tight in the corners of her jaws while the tiny muscles rolled a little back and forth.

[Doc]

Doc: “No.” He held up a hand. “She is jumping the gun. One.. Yes.. we did meet late one night.. And I -was- looking for Minxie. What she glossed over, was the fact she was starving.. And living outside.” Doc gave Shadis a look, “Look at her.. Do you think a sweet young thing like this should be camping .. outside.. Near an abandoned amusement park in -this- city?” Before he allowed Shadis to answer he continued on. “I knew what lurked in the shadows, things like .. me. So I tried to tell her to get a room.. And get out of this ******* city. And I bought her decent meal. She was all eyes..”[/color]

[Dominique]

“You bought me a bowl of the world’s most god awful chili and told me it would be the best I ever tasted. It sucked.” Waves a dismissive palm at Doc and looks at Shadis and Trahir. "It’s that dive of a place in River Rock. Skip it if you can. After that it developed into a game of tag and shoot and stab. Him trying to tell me what to do, the nuns patching me up at the convent, flying toilets, at least two shoot outs at the bank that got us both in some trouble and having everything I own reduced to a single pot to cook with that had a hole in the bottom. Minus the ‘and all lived happily ever after’ of course. I lost the battle on New Year’s Eve. Kissed the cement outside West Towers and was on a tour of duty through hell I had not planned on. Eventually I saw the light.”

[Doc]

Doc: “It was not awful chili.. “ To be honest, Doc who still can’t handle human food, had at the time, still craved the smell of human food. It had a way of making a person testy, when you craved something that gave you major gastric distress. A vampire’s body does not have the powerhouse of digestion that a human has. The one time, just recently, that Doc managed to keep solid food down without regurgitating it back up, he spent the next five hours tied to a toilet as the undigested food tore its way through his dead digestive system. Will he ever eat solid food again? **** NO. His parents told him to chew his food, and now he knew why. The sheer unadulterated pain of chunks of gloppy half chewed food being expelled in a slow as gravity way, since there was no digestive muscles helping it along the track… it was worse than any gunshot he ever had.

However, Minx decided to relay only -part- of the story. “And again.. She” A sly look at Minx, before looking back at Shadis, “..glosses over the fact that she became a.. Paladin.. The sworn enemy of vampires… and it was my duty to to keep her in check.” He played the long suffering card, “I tried to warn her. But would she listen? No. I had no choice.” His tone was righteousness personified. He then smiled almost genuinely at Shadis, “But .. enough about us. You must have a great story about how you were turned.. How did Lancaster get the bite on you, that must have been exciting…”

[Trahir Trahison]

Trahir Trahison: He hadn’t heard the minutiae of Dominique’s Embrace, though he was aware that it was by no means a peaceful seduction it seemed many of the vampires of Harper Rock seemed to prefer. Listening, he tried to picture it, failing to be able to. His lack of empathy once again stopping him from being able to put himself in the shoes of another. He has nothing to add as sire and childe discuss the past. What would be appropriate? He didn’t remember his own siring and the recounting of his first and only attempt at creating a childer was basically a description of a blood fueled frenzied assault and then the attempt at correcting a mistake. He didn’t mind killing. He actually enjoyed it immensely, but his was no random storm passing through. Jonathan Masterson’s death had been an error.

As it had ended up, siring him had been an error in every facet but one. It had created Corentine. Trahir thought of the woman less and less as the nights passed by It had been some time since he had run across her. Thinking of her now, Trahir wonders if she has risen in secrecy or fallen into being one of those piteous creatures which had overrun the sewers after the fall of the Order. The latter disturbs him. Not because he worries about the woman, but because it would tell him something about his lineage. It would be further proof of the inherent flaw Trahir is beginning to believe exists within his blood, a flaw he has been quietly working to correct, thus far without success.

At the mention of the word paladin, his eyes move to the plethora of tattoos covering Jane’s body. His memory turns to the night at her farm. For a moment he allows the remembrance of that evening to distract him. He can almost taste her blood in his mouth once more, can feel her own fangs piercing his flesh… For an instant his eyes flash reptilian in the dancing light cast by the smoldering embers a short distance away in the fireplace.

His eyes turn to Shadis as Dominique enquires after her own Embrace. Trahir realizes he’s taken very little time to understand the past of those close to him. He imagines it is due in no small part to his lack of knowing or caring much about his own. Thus far his time on this earth as a mortal has not come back to haunt him. Not since wiping his memories at least and he can not attest to any time before that. In that moment though he wonders where the three others before him actually came from. Not their immediate history before their turning. Their lives growing up as what Trahir now considers food, livestock. What made them what they are now?

[Shadis (DELETED 7818)]

Shadis lifted a hand only to curl her free hand around her glass as she listened to the story. The banter created between the two made a simple smile caress her lips and she had to with held a chuckle which threatened to rise. The way that Doc and Dominique interacted with each other, both telling the same story was free and flowing. It was an easy interaction, one that was forged through history and she couldn’t help but wonder about such a thing. If she had been a paladin and he a vampire then shouldn’t Doc have killed Dom due to her position? Slowly, she lifted the glass to her lips, quietly listening as she took a sip of the thick liquid. Yet, Doc saw something within Dom to turn her. What was the something? Plus, how did Dom even find out about the fact that vampires were even real?

Paladins, it was a topic that she had yet to touch upon, to research in her own time. Plus, she had still yet to investigate the stories about the rift itself. She could feel the flow of magic, yet while it was all well and good in theory, practice was much more difficult than simple conversation. Shadis found that conversation and even some slight politics was easier than magic, than she was still determined to harness it, regardless. It was along this line of thinking that Doc mentioned something about how Dom has glossed over the reasoning behind her becoming a paladin and Shadis could only guess that it was simply because it was all rather too personal to share. Perhaps there had been an encounter or event that led her onto the path of being a paladin, but did Doc force Dom’s turn? Or did she willingly accept it? That was the part that they had also skipped.

As Doc asked Shadis about her own turning her brown gaze flickered towards Trahir and noted his eyes flashed the familiar reptilian gaze whenever something caught his thirst… Or lust. Following his line of sight, it landed upon no other than Dominique. Of course. The allurist knew that he was free to see others, however, the simple act had her withdrawing her hand from his grip so then both hands could curl around her glass. Indeed, there was much history in this room and it felt like a truck had hit her. She needed to breath. Shadis felt the forced smile return to her lips once more as she chuckled and set her glass down. ”That, is a grim story I’m afraid. Best to leave it for another time, it’s best not to spoil the mood. We are enjoying ourselves, no?”

Another chuckled parted her lips as she soon felt herself rising from her chair, ”I totally spaced once more. I forgot that Elena mentioned something about a bottle of liquor being in the car, I should get it while I remember. Sometimes, I am thankful for the girl.” An apologetic smile fell upon her lips as she moved away from the table. ”I will only be a moment, please, enjoy and catch up on lost time. Family and friends are important.” While she would have preferred to have ran out the door, she simply walked, preferring to maintain a visual that she really did just simply forgot all about it. However, it was her way of pulling away from everyone to breathe, to calm and remind herself that this was how it would be. She would be forgotten one day by Trahir after he moved onto another as she didn’t have the strength like most vampires. How could she even measure up to such standards?

However, once she was through the door, a breath rushed from her lungs. Damn Allurists feel too much, she growled at herself as she made her way towards her car.