Path of the Vampire forum

“I think the fact he’s a cop helps him blend in easier. Your presence stands out, loud and proud.”

Or maybe it was because Every had grown so accustomed to it. Freyja had left for her homeland shortly after the events in the throne room and she’d dealt with the brunt of her sire’s issues, taking it upon herself to get hit for Every’s, too. She hadn’t realized she’d taken the allurist in until it was too late and nothing had changed it until now - then again, Every always had a thing about taking in strays. “It wouldn’t be the first time I’ve done it.” She gave a quiet little snort before giving a shake of her head and falling silent as they made their way inside. The Realm had memories - both good and bad. It had been a place of gathering for the family and Tytonidae, where she’d could say she’d honed a lot of her martial arts skills and enjoyed doing it.

Neither Micah’s nor Velveteen’s reactions to their arrival surprised her. “Mind your nerves, Caligrace.” Every spoke quietly to the woman at her side as she watched the half snarl on her sire’s lips, the way that her other sire had shot to her feet. She didn’t flinch or faulter, more amused in regards to old habits dying hard. Micah stopped her defensive nature and Every lifted a hand to brush her hair behind her ear, shifting her weight. It was good to see their faces together again, the memory of their last conversation still raw in her memory as she dismissed it briefly. Once Micah confirmed her identity, she said, “My original path shifted from shadow to mystic when I died last year. I suspect when it happened in the throne room.”

It had been around the time when she’d noticed the consistency of her blood starting to change, to lighten slowly and turn from the inky, strange substance to the crimson liquid it had begun to flow. It had unnerved her at first, confused her, but at that point, she’d been more preoccupied with not being shot by every idiot in the city unwilling to learn the truth or hear any side of it. A video could only show and tell so much - it was essentially a group of people standing around silently for those that had witnessed it due to telepathic communication, and only the people standing in the room currently, as Every noticed Alexandrea’s arrival, had even bothered to do just that before casting judgement.

She thought they were idiots, otherwise.

Every nodded towards Alexandrea, the motion brief and light before she made her way to one of the couches. Her hazel gaze moved over the room, seeking for a computer of some sort if she needed to get to it. She waited for the others to settle before leaning back, meeting Vel’s silver gaze with her hazel ones and asking, “How far back do you want?” She asked, looking towards Alex and the stack of papers. At least she got that covered.

Mind your nerves.
Mind your nerves.
Mind your nerves.

It was easier said than done. The second Velveteen had moved, her eyes narrowed, fire flashing within the amber depths. Her hand dropped, fingers shifting her jacket to the side, but she didn’t reach for the gun strapped beneath. Instead, she watched, gaze missing nothing as the giant of a man steadied his wife, his voice a low, menacing whisper. He’s a rather frightening brute, isn’t he? Nine chimed, her voice a soft hum within her mind. If you only knew, she retorted, her gaze locked on the pair. She couldn’t miss the disgust in Micah’s eyes, no sooner than she could ignore the way it all but slammed into her. The repulsion wiped out any other emotion she might have felt from the others, dampening her senses for a moment.

His hatred made little sense, but she refused to speak on it. She didn’t need to know why he disliked her, why he cast a look so cold over her small frame that she feared she might freeze. His reasons were his own, but still, there was that small part of her that demanded clarity. If only to alleviate some of the darkness that was threatening to choke her in that moment. Dropping her hand from her jacket, she reached up, fingers twisting in a scarlet lock. With a sigh, she tucked it behind her ear and shifted from one foot to the next, forcing her gaze to tear from the pair the moment someone else approached. A flash of blonde, and she instantly recognized Alexandrea. Knowing little about the woman still, she didn't bother with a greeting, outside of a small nod of her head.

Instead, she tilted her head, eyes narrowing once again as she searched the shadows.

There is someone else here, another voice said, the tone deep and southern. Seeing no one - and feeling no one - she shook her head and placed her attention back where it belonged. Velveteen had a voice that reminded her of midnight, and she listened for a moment. As she did, she drummed her fingers against her thigh, deciding for now, that she would let Every handle it. After all, she was the only one in the room with first hand knowledge, the rest coming from word of mouth or, as far as she was concerned, half-truths to save their own image. There was only one person she could speak for, and after taking the hits in her steed, she supposed the one that she represented from here on out. Freyja. Thinking of her sire had her fingers twitching, but she remained as she was, waiting to see how it all unfolded. She had her own thoughts, her own opinions, but none of that would matter if this ended in bloodshed before it even began.

Not even ten minutes in, and she already knew, she wouldn’t stay quiet for long.

The scents of lilacs and jasmine caught Alexandrea's nose briefly but she was soon too distracted to wonder at the source. Rather than getting attacked as soon as she walked in, Alex had been... dare she think it? Welcomed. "I doubt it!" She replied in good spirits when her hostess joked about having always wanted to shoot Alex whenever they came together before now.

The blonde's eyes widened slightly, the only sign of how startled she was by Velveteen's assistance, and she gave the other woman a truly warm smile in thanks as the awkward stack of papers was dealt with. "these are yours to keep... or not." She whispered in the softest of voices to the woman who had at one time helped arrange many of Alexandrea's trips to the Shadow Realm.

The smallest of chuckles escaped her lips and she couldn't help but grin in good humour as she nodded back to Micah and Every each in turn. If anyone had told her 7 years ago that one day she would willingly walk into this place with this group of people she would have told them that they were off their rocker. And yet here she was. And at the moment, she wouldn't have it any other way. My how things have changed... she thought to herself. It would be truly funny if it wasn't under such unfortunate circumstances.

The one and only Zodiac revealed herself, putting into simple words what most of them were all probably thinking, and Alex sent her a silent and private welcome to the Mystic even as out loud she agreed with the Gypsy; "A fine mess, indeed."

The Allurist's apprehension was quite nearly evaporated, and she found herself a seat facing the entrance. Just because everyone here thus far didn't seem to have any intentions of attacking her, didn't mean she should let down her guard altogether.

Velveteen nodded as Every spoke of the events in the throne room. It was all starting to come back to her, the bits and pieces of information of events given to her in brief moments of waking. Much of which had supplied by Micah. “That’s right. Are you still being targeted for that?” She asked leveling her silver gaze on Every. ”Cause that **** is gonna have to stop.” There was no doubt that girl needed several smacks upside the head for her part in those events. Vel’s disappointment in Every for her part was something that was not going to be forgotten anytime soon but there was no lesson to be learned beyond what had already been taught.

Vel shifted her gaze to rest on the one named Caligrace. She noted how the woman looked at then, particularly her husband but her own gaze was noncommittal, devoid of any real emotion beyond casual curiousity. The female remained quiet even if she seemed slightly edgy, so Vel simply let her be choosing to flip through the pages of a stack of papers though she was hardly paying much attention to the words on the papers just yet.

The voice in her head was not unfamiliar to her and a slight grin caught the corners of her mouth as the woman herself appeared. Her appearance was quite difference to what The raven haired vampire remembered. Long gone were the flowing, colourful skirts and jingling jewellery that was reminiscent of her gypsy heritage. In fact all of the colour was gone and replaced with dark shades of urban attire used to blend, rather than stand out. A sign of the times. “Indeed.” She responded. “It is good to see you. Join us.” She said motioning to an empty spot near Alexandrea. “This boogie, whatever it is, is what I need to know.”

Several headlines caught her attention and she nodded, tilting her head slightly to look at Alexandrea thoughtfully for a moment before shifting her gaze over those present. “It seems many of us have faded away. Either into the shadow realm or off to parts unknown. The vampire population seems have diminished considerably or am I mistaken on that count?” She paused a moment and leaned back, looking quite relaxed and unworried about present company.

“Okay. So I know about the throne room fiasco. There was a supposed cure? Or did I imagine that? There is more military around than ever before and parts of the city look rundown and vacant. Also that dude by the gates of the quarantine zone...who is he in all of this? Who is who among the vampires now and who is doing anything about anything?” She tilted her head slightly and looked at Micah as if he would know what other questions she had. “I suspect things haven’t gone as well with the humans as some may have thought. So what all is the problem as you guys see it? Do you think things are fixable at all or should we all just hoof it on outta here?” Velveteen looked around at each of those present. An unlikely gathering for sure though if she were honest she was surprised that these few were the only ones to show. Is this really all that was left?

Micah almost snorted. He, too, felt that Every being a constant moving target was more than a little old. She’d paid for her sins. How many times was she expected to bleed for them to be satisfied? Micah was the first to admit that she had fucked up. She’d fucked up badly, but where was the outrage towards Amalea, who actually set the ******* thing free? If people were going to continue to target Every then they needed to take their frustrations out on the little human as well. Fair was fair. It was getting to the point where he was about to start shooting back even though he’d sworn he’d stay out of it.

His thoughts were pushed to the side in favor of focusing on the entrance. So he hadn’t been crazy when he had sensed someone else there. Zodiac revealed herself and Micah had to force himself not to react. He was not at all fond of the gypsy, but that hadn’t always been the case. There had been a time when he had cared very much. Back when she had first been sired by his then wife, Scorpia, who had been a pretty shitty sire. She’d been more worried about how much dick she could get then the hoard of childer she had managed to collect. Where she couldn’t be bothered, he’d stepped up and done what he could for them. More often than not, they’d drifted away and were never heard from again but not Zodiac. She’d stuck around and Micah tried to be the sire that Scorpia could never hope to be. It had been good. Until it wasn’t.

Until Zodiac made a pass at Vel the night before she bound the two of them together for eternity.

Until Zodiac got greedy and hurt his wife with her actions.

There were some things that Micah just didn’t tolerate, and hurting Vel was at the very top of his list. He would never, ever, forget the things that Zodiac had done. Vel had been crushed when she chose to leave the faction, and it just got worse from there. He frowned fiercely when his wife greeted the woman like an old friend, and he almost bit through his tongue to keep from saying something incredibly nasty but he managed to stay silent. The killer would never tell Vel who she could and couldn’t be friends with, so if she chose to renew her friendship with the woman, there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. But he’d be watching, and if she hurt Vel again, well, it wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Apparently, Lancaster was cured.” Lancaster. Micah couldn’t help but sneer at that name. There was a loser if there ever was one. But again, not the time. “His shade was running around attacking people. I heard he couldn’t control what it did.” He shrugged. “I don’t know how much truth there is to that because I really wasn’t paying attention. Like I said, I’m not the best person to fill you in on current or recent events.”

Every lifted her shoulder and dropped it, to show her indifference about it all. “Only a few still. Mordechai and Ariadne were recent. He had stopped and started up again, actually.” It was never a shock, really. She reported them to Micah, not expecting anything to be done but to keep him in the loop. “Zodiac,” She spoke when the woman revealed herself and hazel eyes drifted to the gypsy, “does as well, for that matter. I’ve shot them all back when it happens. Mortll fucked off as soon as I told her she didn’t have all the facts and Micah told her off.” Her gaze moved from Zodiac, ultimately dismissing the woman whom Lia had always spoken highly of. Her opinion of anything had become irrelevant the moment she’d started shooting without bothering to get the full story.

“They didn’t fade away, no. Most of them chose to leave or they stick to themselves from what I’ve seen.” Every crossed one leg over the other, watching Velveteen as the discussion moved further along. There were multiple things that went through her mind. Yes, the cure had been real. She considered the aura she’d felt off Theodosia, the way Bancroft’s master felt. She stood up as she listened to Micah, beginning to scroll through her phone lazily as she sought the file. Afterwards, she held it out to the woman. “Email fragments regarding the supposed cure. Ariadne, myself and a few others gathered them but I kept a different copy to update.” Her gaze drifted to her sire, “Even if he’s an asshole, I’m afraid, Lancaster wasn’t lying. He wasn’t the only one turned back - and I’ve seen it myself when the shade went after the other. Varo Ricci had also been treated. The cure seems to separate our vampiric gene, creating an entity that has its own will. It seems to have a particular hard on for the original, as well.”

Every paid attention when it hit her, replaying events over and over again. She hadn’t been able to dodge the shades attack. She frowned, setting her hands into the pockets of her jeans once she let go of the device. “The government lost track of one of their subjects, a cured one. Subject 025. I haven’t been able to pinpoint information on that one.” Backstepping, she moved to sit where she’d been comfortable. “NADUMA Captain. Military units that moved in shortly after the Quarantine zone expanded significantly. Most of them seem to be a bit useless, but they keep things locked down.” She scratched at her cheek, leaning forward as she glanced towards the others in question to see if they had anymore to add. Her doppelgänger did routes more than she did, paying attention to the faces and hiding in shadows to listen for information.

“Truth be told the humans are less difficult to deal with. They don’t bother us unless you draw attention to yourself by killing cops and guards. The sirens are the bigger issue as they’re part fae, and they failed to mention the part they played breaking ground on the labyrinth last year.” Every frowned, “The city can be fixed. There’s only a handful of us bothering to give a ****.” She glanced towards Alexandrea, “There was what, five? Six? At the meeting organized? There aren’t any who are who left. We’ve fucked up collectively at this point, one way or another. Everyone places blame somewhere, but we’ve all played our part and hardly anyone can admit it. It’s a matter of who gives enough of a damn to keep fighting.” She lifted a hand to scratch at the side of her nose, ignoring the pull and draw of her nail against flesh.

As if she remembered something a moment late, Every made a face as she looked towards the couple. “That reminds me. Speaking of sirens, you should ask Mordechai what the **** he and Prudence were on about regarding the heart. The stupid ******** tried killing me enough for it, assuming I was working with them as I sought the key. I believe it was Theodosia, but I could be wrong, however the memories she showed us seemed to be pointing that she was the heart of vampirism.” Her hand waved in the air, showing she wasn’t one way or another about it, “She crossed beneath the ocean to here.”

Her fingers twitched against her arm, and she had to take a moment to settle herself. The emotions of the room ebbed and weaved through the air, the tendrils licking across her skin, begging for entry, pleading with her to feel them, and she grit her teeth. Every motion she made was subtle, barely noticeable to anyone that didn’t know her, and she found herself wanting to fade back into the background. This wasn’t the time for her to lose her cool, to fall beneath the crushing waves of her own insanity, and so she swept her tongue across her lower lip and listened to the sounds of their voices, committing them to memory.

The almost dark, ethereal tone of Velveteen.
The bone-chilling, emotionless pitch of Micah.

It was the sudden invasion of an unknown voice in her mind that had her straightening, her dark eyes zeroing in on the woman as she emerged from the shadows. You weren’t insane after all, my little summer flower, Nine whispered next to her ear. Digging her fingers into her bicep, she refrained from trying to brush the spirit away, her body angling to step in front of Every as the answers started flowing from the brunette with ease. A small smile played on her lips, and she hid her pleased laugh by clearing her throat. It had been on the tip of her tongue to call Zodiac out the moment she made her appearance, but her friend beat her to it, the truth spilling from her lips with an automatic grace.

“Mordechai never stopped hitting me, so it is curious as to why he stopped with you, only to start up again,” she finally spoke, the words leaving her with a shrug of her shoulder. “Not that it matters. They seem to choose who they want to hit, considering Amalea hasn’t caught half of the damage Every has. Hell, I’ve been targeted more than Amalea has, and I wasn’t even involved.” She was tired of everyone tiptoeing around that particular subject. She held no ill-will for the human, but it still unnerved her that Every took so much hell for a mess she had helped create and she got off relatively unscathed. It wasn’t even her own safety that had her fingers twitching once more against her jacket, either. She had come to accept that she was a stand-in for the chaos her sire had helped bring into the world, even if no one had bothered to hear her.

It seemed to be a running theme through the crowd, which was why she was surprised that Velveteen and her husband were still standing there, calm and quiet, listening. It helped ease some of the tension in her shoulders, and she made a quiet sound of thought in her throat as she waited for Every to finish speaking. Having filled in most of the blanks in a matter of minutes, Caligrace was able to focus on the question that the Tytonidae leader posed, her nails once more tapping against her jacket as she spoke again.

“I don’t think we should run. Others have done that, and I feel like they moved without thinking. We can still save this city. We might have to do things we haven’t thought of yet, or that we thought we might never do, but I think it can be redeemed.” Shifting her attention to the others in the room, she took a moment to think of her next words, her smile genuine when she focused back on the couple. “Every is right. It will take time, it will take working together in some cases, but I think with as small as a community we have left, we can each work into building something better. It’s not going to be easy, but what about this life is? To be honest, my first thought would be trying to find out more information about the ancient badass you guys released,” she said, shifting her gaze to the shadow at her side. “As well as more about the cure, and what NADUMA is up to. That’s what we lack, really. Information. We’re pieces in a game, and we don’t have near enough between us to know how to win.”

"well... part of the reason why might be that Amalea wasn't the one who gave blood to whateverhernamewas. It was Every's thrall. And as far as most would presume, a thrall is supposed to be following the orders of it's master or mistress. Whatever happened to that thrall, by the way? Does it still breathe?" She knew hers wouldn't have after that... her face stayed neutral and the blonde's voice was low and level. And although no one in the room could have missed her speaking, Alexandrea continued to speak in the quietest of tones.

"And as far as our being pieces in a game? It may have started out that way but it doesn't have to continue in the same vein. But we need to do away with all this finger pointing if we have any hope of regaining the upper hand. I'm sorry if you have been a target. Been there, done that. Suck it up and move on. Amalea's path isn't any more easy to follow than anyone else's and I'm sure she'll suffer plenty in the long run." She kept the rest of her opinion to herself about that particular matter, however.


Alex also kept the fact that she had heard the blood thief's story herself first hand private for now. Did the blonde think the human had gotten off too easily? Perhaps... but after having been on the wrong end of retribution before herself, she had no taste for those who would 'throw others under the bus' in an attempt to soothe their own wounds.

"But I agree that running isn't the way to go. We should stay. The cat is already out of the bag so no matter where we might go, the truth will be following close behind. That doesn't mean we have to go along with the 'status quo' however. This administrator person needs to be found. And so does the master or mistress of the thrall Mayor Bancroft. My money's on them being one and the same. But even if they aren't? I'm not a fan of either one of them."

"But it's still our city. And Every is correct that there are more of us still here sticking it out then may first appear. Plus we actually do really have some of the humans on our side, or not against us at least. And I agree that the bigger issue at hand is the sirens. All of the fae, probably. They've had their fingers in a lot of the pies for a while now and I wouldn't be surprised at all to learn that they could have been behind a lot of our troubles in the past. And I'm positive they plan to be big trouble for us in the future."