Path of the Vampire forum

Kira flinched like a cat that just got sprayed from a water bottle when she had a voice in her head, yelling. She growled at first, her eyes shifting but then she realized it was Lexy. She blinked, staring at her as she healed the man she just hurt. Once he was healed, she pushed him away with her leg.

"And you should have just killed him...all of them for that matter." Warrior's voice taunted her.

She closed her eyes for a moment. "Take that as a warning not to touch me." she said simply. She sighed softly, 'Sorry, that's why I need someone else with me when it comes to these things.' she sent to Lexy's mind.

She crossed her arms, "If crippling if off the table then there is really no other choice but to leave town." she said, "Otherwise, you will all end up dead."

Max stared at the girls for a long time. "You'd have no reason to make any of this up.." he said, looking towards Hubcap. "If its all true...maybe we should skip town for awhile."

"And when you do return, stop being so damn reckless. You might as well live your vampire life thinking that someone is always watching for you to **** up and kill you for it." Kira said, "Don't do anything to draw attention to yourself, feeding, using powers."

She leaned forward. "I should also point out that we're putting our lives in danger by even trying to help you. If the bounty hunters find out, they'll kill us too. They need very little of a reason to kill anyone. They are the bullies of the playground."

"The shadow realm is not where you want to spend your time." Kira added, stiffening at the thought of it.

Hubcap watched as the blonde called Alex took care of his buddy, Snake. If he had still had any doubts that the woman was trying to help, her actions after her friend had set fire to Snake removed them. She didn't say anything to the taller blonde who still stood on the bar like a queen holding court but she shot her friend a look that spoke volumes. Hubcap couldn't see Alex's eyes directly, just her lower face and lips but there was a darkness to her features and a wave of almost mailable anger that radiated out from the small blonde. He took a step back and swallowed hard. This was a chick he rally wouldn't want to fight with. She might seem softer and smaller than the one called Kira but she had steel in her, there was no question.

Kira leg pushed Snake off balance, even as Alex was still trying to calm him down. She caught him before he fell and led him to a chair, his eyes still healing from the burning Kira had given him. Gently, she placed her hands on him as she had done for Hubcap and let him share the same memories before leaving him and climbing up on the bar beside Kira. She was pissed at Kira for the shoving of Snake after having just healed the man. Alexandrea believed it had been completely unnecessary.

Kira spoke into Alex's mind, reminding her that the reason Alex was with her was to help keep Kira calm. Alex gave her a short nod, lips set firmly in a frown as she sent back to her Kiwi. *We'll talk more about this later, in private. I'm really unhappy with you right now. You've added insult to injury with these men and we need them to listen to us, not get all macho and ****. So you have made yourself the bad cop. I'm about to play the good cop. Don't take it personally.*

She spoke out loud this time, meeting her friend squarely in the eye. "Kira. I said enough. And I meant it. You have gotten your message through. You're a bad *** and you don't want to be touched. Fine. But we didn't come here to make new enemies. So chill. I don't want to have to fight you again after what happened last time but you know I've been training a lot more than you have." *Not too mention how much energy you just wasted on swaying all those humans* Alex spoke the last part privately in her friend's mind.

Turning as Max spoke, Alexandrea addressed the room at large. "Nope, we do not have any reason to make this up and besides letting us cripple you or kill you? Skipping town and laying low for a few months is the best way to go. We can help with that, or at least I can. I have substantial financial resources and can let you know when the coast is clear, so long as you stay out of trouble and stay alive. You don't want to dye outside of town. You won't be able to come back."

Kira spoke again, this time she seemed a lot more calm and Alex sighed in relief. She nodded to most of what her friend had to say until the end.

"She's right. Her and I have both been hunted down before for trying to help others we knew a lot better than any of you. We really are sticking our necks out here. But in the interests of full disclosure, it isn't purely for altruistic reasons. There is a power struggle going on right now and it's in our best interests as well as yours to help you avoid being killed by the bounty hunters. I have already shared my memories with Hubcap and Snake. Anyone who doubts my honesty? Just step right up and I'd be happy to show you what I showed them."

Alex hadn't really expected anyone to take her up on the offer but from a dark corner of the bar a huge man stood and moved towards her. How could he have gone unnoticed? He was a huge imposing figure and he practically oozed charisma. This then, had to be the 'leader'. She was as certain of that as she was that the vampire in front of her was also a fellow Allurist.

"I'll play your party game, little girl." The huge biker said with a cocky smirk as he stood in front of Alex. Even with her standing on top of the bar, his head came up to her chin and swallowing hard, Alex reached out to touch him and show him the same memories she had shared with the other two.

The hulk of a man stepped back as she finished and all Alexandrea could think was it was a damn good thing anyone that big hadn't been turned to the killer path. It wouldn't have taken long before he grew into a giant.

" You two. Go wait outside, take a few beers. My boys and I need to talk and we might be awhile." He turned away as if there was no question in his mind that he would be obeyed and returned to his seat, apparently waiting until Kira and Alexandrea left before he was willing to say or do anything else.

Alex looked at Kira and shrugged. "Shall we? I could sure use a smoke right about now..."

Kira had thought Lexy was done healing the guy but guess she had been mistaken. She sighed softly, closing her eyes in an attempt to keep that urge to keep fighting down. "Sorry.." she muttered.

"Don't ******* say that! We should be killing them all!" Warrior's voice said in her head.

Kira gripped the bar counter's edge tightly, trying to keep focus. Thankfully she was distracted enough with the big guy showed up. Holy ****.. she thought. And she thought she felt short before. She wrinkled her nose at Lexy brought up having a smoke but didn't say anything. She quickly hopped off the bar and went outside.

She went to the nearest tree, slumped down under it. Resting her head against it, closing her eyes. "Goddess help me." she said softly. She relaxed against the tree, running a hand through her hair. The cold air was doing her good at the moment.

---

Snake rested in the chair, he didn't want to find out what it took to cripple someone.

"Whatada think boss?" Max asked, stepping town sounded good right about now.

Kira beat Alexandrea out the door but didn't take any beers with so Alex jumped back down behind the bar and helped her self to four, two in each hand. She gave the bartender a wink and her best smile as she hurried out of his reach and followed Kira outside. Perhaps it was just in her imagination but she could have sworn she saw him trying hard not to grin.

Parking her tail in the grass next to her friend, Alex handed her one of the beers and put the extra two down on the ground before opening her own. She had caught the Kiwi's face as the mention of smoking so refrained from pulling out a cigarette. "So that could have gone worse... a lot worse. Do you think they'll leave us out here too long?"




Meanwhile back inside the bar, the discussion between the Bikers was already growing heated. The leader of the gang sat silent as his brothers started to argue back and forth the second the two blondes had left the building. Max, Snake and Hubcap weren't the only ones that believed what the women had told them but there were a couple of guys that didn't want to leave town and would rather go on the offensive and try to find and take out these so called bounty hunters before they came to them. There was one guy that just didn't like the idea of a couple of chicks telling them what to do. And one who outright didn't believe a single word of what Kira and Alexandrea had told them.

The topic went back and forth for almost an hour before the huge Allurist had enough and stood up. The room went silent immediately, there was no question about who exactly was in charge.

"Max. Hubcap. How did you meet these boards, anyways? Did you make sure when you brought them here that no one was following you?"

His voice was low but it was slightly menacing, and it wasn't just his tone. The man spoke like someone who was used to not being questioned and having his own questions answered without hesitation.

Hubcap spoke up first. "We saw the bitchy one first, she was riding a hog and tried to race us. At first we thought she ate the front end of a semi and was roadkill. So we split. Later on she turned up again with her friend. They acted like they wanted to party, they were both hot and Max and I wanted to nail them. So when they said they were looking for a good time, we brought them here. I was in the lead so I don't know if we were being tailed or not, Boss."

The man looked contrite but didn't apologize. And he wouldn't unless he had to, it would be like showing a sign of weakness to a pack of wolves.

Kira stared at the ground, wondering if they had to worry about the fae here. She took the beer bottle but had no desire to drink it. She thought beer smelled and had never tried it. When she gets home she was sure going to have some wine though. She played with the bottle cap. "It's a lot to take in and decide." she said, "But the faster the better before the killing party shows up. Have no desire to see that bloody place again." she said, closing her eyes for a moment, running a hand through her hair.

---

"I didn't see anyone following us." Max added, everything else had been told. "What harm will it to lay low for awhile? It's like a free vacation if that one wants to pay for it."

Some of them started to look at it that way, it would be just a vacation just in case.

"Either we put it to a vote or we just all go where we want." someone said.

"Yeah I don't want to die." another commented.

Their leader towered above the rest like a redwood rises above a pine tree. His eyes were narrow slits as he nodded at Hubcap but then scowled at Max. "You don't THINK you were followed." The Allurist said with a sneer. "But you don't know for sure, do ya Max?"

He kept his voice low, as always. But there wasn't any doubt that the man was barely containing his fury. He was able to project his voice so that it carried to each and every pair of ears inside the bar even without needing add any extra volume. He went on talking even as Hubcap pulled back, swallowing hard as the larger man gave dark looks to the guy that mentioned taking a vote and the one that was whining about not wanting to die.

"The one with the bank roll already admitted that they had reasons besides saving our bacon from the fire for being here. They both mentioned having been hunted down themselves for trying to help others to go against whatever this bounty hunting group is. How do we know that those bimbos aren't being watched? If they have a history of messing up these so called bounty hunters, chances are they are on someone's radar. I know if it was me running that group and I knew who they were, I'd have a tail on their asses all the ******* time!"

The giant paced back and forth for a few minutes, cracking his knuckles. Every time he passed by Hubcap or Max the two couldn't help but flinch. At last Hubcap spoke up, breaking the uncomfortable silence.

"Look, Boss. What's done is done. Yeah, maybe Max and I could have handled this situation in a better way." Hubcap grit his teeth as he spoke, it was as close to making an apology as the man wanted to get.

"But whoever these chicks really are and whatever trouble they are into, we saw ourselves on the news and we saw our names on that list. There ain't no getting around that. If Ms Moneybags is willing to pay our way to lay low outside of town, what can it hurt to go travel a little?"

The Allurist grunted and gave a short nod. "Alright. Fine. We'll take a ******* vote if it makes you Nancys happy. But if we do split town for awhile, one of them is coming with us for insurance."





Back outside, Alexandrea was getting bored. She had polished off three beers while Kira still hadn't touched her one. Resisting the urge to ask her friend for it, Alex got up and fished out her pack of Cloves. She walked some distance away from Kira to be polite before she lit up and took a long drag.

"Yeah. I hear you, Kiwi." She said with a sigh. "I've already seen the Shadow Realm more than enough times. Let's just hope those guys figure out what they want to do before any company shows up. Otherwise, we'll have to go ahead and take the next step."

Max was pretty sure they weren't followed but didn't say anything, just stood his ground where he was.
Although as the big guy started to pace and glare at them, he was starting to lose his nerve.
If they had been followed, he would have thought they would have been dead by now.

Taking one of them with them sounded like a plan, although Snake sure didn't want the one that burnt him, that's for sure. Then again if the other one could keep the other in check, why not take both of them.

In the end, the voting was in favor of skipping town for a few months, since it was a paid for vacation, why not.

"You think one of them is going to come willingly? Might as well be the blonde that's paying for everything." one of them said.

---

Kira left the beer by the tree, getting to her feet as she was getting far too restless sitting down no matter how much she tried to keep calm, she started to pace. "What's the next step exactly?" she asked, she wondered if she could teleport her bike if they needed to split really fast. "I'm not about to die for them." she said, hopefully if bounty hunters did show up, they would be far more interested in those with bounties then them who hadn't any.

"The next step if we have time, that is... is to cripple them. Would have been nice if we had some backup. Even just a few humans that we could have used 'Mob Rule' on."

Alex fought to keep her tone neutral, but she was still a bit pissed that Kira had sent the humans off. By the way the Bikers had acted, the chances were nearly 100% that the humans with them had already known about vampires so there really wasn't any reason for it, in Alexandrea's opinion. Now... with no back up? The odds were stacked against just two vampires taking on a whole gang, no matter how well trained either one there were.

"If Ty shows up, we might have to just bail. I'm not willing to die again either. At least not for a bunch of strangers. But if they don't? Then we just have to keep trying to get these guys to split town for awhile and if that isn't going to happen? We'll have to fight smart, Kiwi. No freaking out, okay? We play along with getting one on one with them all and then fight them one on one. Until all of them are crippled and off the list."

"I don't think that's going to have to happen, though. Look..."

As Alex spoke, she pointed towards the door to get Kira to look up as Max, Snake and Hubcap came out and headed towards the two blondes. She couldn't tell by the expressions on their faces what was up but something about the way Hubcap seemed worried her. His vibe was one of apprehension and yet his step was light, almost as if he was glad about however the vote had gone. Maybe he was, but was thinking that the two women wouldn't be. There wasn't any point in playing guessing games about it, however. The three Bikers were beside her soon enough and Alexandrea flicked the end of her clove away from the direction of her friend so that Kira would be able to join them without having to be exposed to the smoke.

"Hey there Sailors. What's up?" Alex said with a playful wink.




Hubcap grinned at the small blonde and went over to wrap his arm around her shoulder. He was really starting to 'get' her now, after her having shared her memories with him and standing up against her own friend for hurting one of his bothers. She was okay. He hoped she would be alright with how the gang had voted and cooperate, he would have her back and would tell her that. But first they had to break the news.

Snake and Max both sort of just stood there looking at their dumb *** feet and Hubcup got irritated. "So. You two chicken shits are leaving all up to me, huh? Fine..."

The biker took a step away from Alexandrea and then looked at both the blondes.

"Look. We talked about it. And we made our choice."



Alexandrea couldn't help the sigh that escaped her lips as the large man spoke. It sounded like Kira and her would have to resort to plan two. But then Hubcap went on. And her hart sank as he said how much they appreciated her offering to fund a trip out of town. Until she heard him say:

"And we all agreed to do just that. But there's a condition."

Frowning, all five feet almost nothing of the blonde rose up and folded her arms across her chest with a raised eyebrow. She resisted the urge to utter, 'oh?' and kept her silence, waiting as Hubcap coughed awkwardly and then looked at her apologetically before he continued. She understood that he was nervous about something but held her tongue.

You don't just share some of your most painful memories with someone and not get an empathic sense back about how their mind works as well. Her friend. and yes she thought of him as a friend at this point, was concerned that what he had to say was going to upset her. He could be completely right in that train of thought. Alexandrea didn't want her Kiwi and her to have to fight and try to cripple the whole gang Bikers...

"Look, Ladies..." the bald man went on, "We do want to get out of Harper Rock for awhile. But some of our brothers still don't know if we can trust you. So It's been decided. We'll go. But only if one of you comes with us."

Silence hung in the air for a few moments and before Hubcap could go on to say that the gang had already made a choice, Alexandrea spoke up. She moved away from the man with a glare and planted herself squarely in front of Kira.

"Well... then that would be ME, gentlemen. I INSIST." The words came out in a low hiss that forbid any arguments about the subject.

“I can lure them back if we really need them..” Kira said, surely they couldn’t have gone too far. Maybe they were in that big garage, she could guess they worked on their motorcycles. She hadn’t used Mob Rule in so long, she wasn’t sure if she could still use it but luring, she used a lot.

She dug her nails into her hand, “Sorry…Warrior was most likely getting the best of me.” she said with a sigh, closing her eyes. She opened her eyes, looking towards the three males. Two of them sure didn’t seem to want to talk, which she could guess that Snake might be still wary of her because of what she did to him.

Kira no longer was trying to act, she let the coldness she normally had for people she didn’t know show on her face. She crossed her arms, waiting for Hubcap to spit out what they decided as the other two weren’t talking. She blinked when he said that one of them had to go with them. Her arms dropped to her sides but before she said anything Lexy stood in front of her that she insist on going. She was sure that the bikers would have no objections, they wouldn’t want Kira for the sheer fact that she was a wild card.

“Lexy.” Kira protested, tugging on her arm a little. “I won’t let you go with them alone.” She said, they better off together than alone considering the numbers. Who knows if they were all okay people. Her trust in males wasn’t high at all. “It’s best for us to stick together.” She said.

Max shrugged, “One of you, both of you. It doesn’t matter. As long we have insurance.” He said, “But what about all these vampire powers. You guys can skip out on us..”

“You have a point…where’s the insurance in that..” Snake said, “Why didn’t you bring that up when we were voting.” He hissed.

“Didn’t think about it until now.” Max replied.

Kira sighed softly. “Someone with Mind Block can use it on me. However do not use it on Lexy, no one will like what happens.” She said, “I won’t be able to do anything in terms of disappearing and she won’t go anywhere without me.” she added, “I’ll point out I can still break a hand if you touch me. I just can’t set ya on fire or anything.”

“Back off lady.” Snake grumbled.

Kira dug her nails in her hand again. “Just a warning…I’ll behave..” she said, though she could really use a fight to burn off her anger but she tried to stay calm. She may have to spend this little vacation listening to music to keep herself distracted. “If we going to do this, we need to get it done soon and before the sun comes up..” she said. She was sure some of them didn’t have daywalker, but for her, she would freak the hell out and she sure didn’t want them to see that weakness in her.

Hubcap flinched slightly when Alexandrea's insisted she be the one to go and stood protectively in front of her friend, there was a hardness about her and her blue eyes seemed very cold all of a sudden.

The other blonde, Kira, spoke up before he or either of his friends could. Saying how her and Alex needed to stay together. Hubcap nodded as Max agreed but frowned when him and Snake brought up how easy it would be for the two more experienced Vampires to escape. Kira offered to be 'mind-blocked', and his frowned deepened. He had no idea what that even was.

"What's this 'Mind Block'? How's it done and why would you be willing to have it done to you but not Alex?"




When Kira hand touched her arm, Alexandrea had relaxed slightly and given Kira's hand a slight squeeze with her own. "I'll be fine, Kiwi. No reason for both of our businesses to have to be closed down for a month. Besides it's not really up to us." She frowned and glared at all three of the Bikers, she didn't like being told what to do, not at all. But the men agreed that both of the blondes could join them. And then the subject of powers came up.

Kira's bringing up mind block and volunteering to have to done to herself made Alex shiver, remembering the first time it had been done to her and how she had turned on her friend and shot her in the heart. It took a long time for the effects from that to wear off and it had nearly ruined the two Allurists' friendship. In the end, it was all worked out but the memories would never go away, no matter how painful they were.

The power had been used on her again a few times but always it had been when Alexandrea was being ganged up on and attacked so heat of the battle made the ripping away of her powers and her emotions along with them, far less of an issue. And she usually ended up dead any way.

Hubcap was of the Killer path so Alex wasn't surprised that he hadn't heard of the power, seeing how newly turned he and his friends were, and she looked at Kira questioningly. "Do you think any of them are Telepaths? I can tell none of these three are, Most of them all seemed like Killers except for the huge guy that had to be an Allurist."

Then to Hubcap Alex explained; "Mind Blocked is what it's called when someone with telepathic powers has the ability to prevent someone else from using any powers. It can last up to two hours but I don't have the ability. There was no way I wanted to learn it after what happened to me, when it was used on me. There's no way I could do that to someone else. But you don't need to worry about me trying to take off. I give you my word that I won't. And I always keep my word."




The way the smaller of the two blondes said the words so firmly, Hubcap had no trouble believing she would keep her word and nodded. Snake nodded as well but Max just grunted, clearly he wasn't convinced. Although he was still curious about what it was that would happen if Alexandrea was mind blocked that could be so bad, he kept his questions to himself. If she wanted to talk about she would but she didn't seem to want to share that particular memory. And after her having been so willing to share the other memories, of her own deaths? It had to be a very sore subject.

Kira had brought up a good point about the sunrise however, so it was probably for the best if they did get going.

"I'll head in and tell the rest of the guys we need to get going and that you are both coming."

He turned and left, leaving Max and Snake to keep an eye on the ladies.

Back inside, Hubcap went straight to the leader of the gang and stood in front of the giant of a man. "Nick, they both want to come. But we gotta get going, before the sun starts to come up." He informed the Allurist without beating around the bush.

Nick grunted and frowned for a moment before he nodded and stood up. "Alright all you nancies, get off your lazy asses and get on your Hogs, it's time to ride." On one had having both blondes around was double the trouble, especially the one that seemed to have a temper. But on the other hand, if they did cause trouble, perhaps one could be used as leverage to control the other.

The rest of the guys were standing up, some whooping it up just to have an excuse to be getting on their bikes and some grumbling about the short notice. One by one they all filed out, and soon the sounds of one motorcycle after another roaring to life soon filled the night.