Path of the Vampire forum

June 7th, 2013

Her parents would be so proud of her now. She was hunched in a secluded corner of some building, waiting for the guards to pass her by so she could break into the door across the hall to steal something. She didn’t even know what she was going to be stealing, just that there would probably be something worth stealing. If there wasn’t something worth stealing, she’d probably just grab a pen or something, just so it wouldn’t be a complete waste of her time.

They hadn’t deemed it lady like to learn how to change a tire, or how to defend herself if need be, so she highly doubted that her current actions would please them. It still hit her at the weirdest moments how far she was now from that life, how she could never go back to that life even if she wanted to. Sometimes she thought she was so different from the girl who’d stumbled upon this place. Sometimes, she knew she was still the exact same. She still barely knew who she was and what she wanted from life.

She was starting to realize that it was all her fault. The fact that she had limited control over the powers she had, that her emotions had a habit of overwhelming and controlling her and that she still didn’t know who she really was. She still didn’t accept the new life she led; didn’t accept the parts of her that she’d had no choice in. She hated that she was a vampire, that she was an allurist and everything that those two things brought to the table. She hated that she was those things due to a choice that wasn’t her own.

She’d always planned to strike it out on her own in the end. She’d had no intention to stay and fill the shoes her parents had made for her. She’d wanted to be her own person, and not some cut out design of what her parents thought a lady should be. She knew, of course, that this new life she had was perfect for that. She was essentially dead, as Nyla Smith no longer existed. She’d been killed; slaughtered on the side of the road after she’d blown a tire. That didn’t change the fact that this new life, as free as it may be, was forced on her by someone she’d barely seen since that night.

It was childish. She knew this. She should just gracefully accept the blessing of this life, and overlook the fact that it was just another thing that she’d had no say in. Maybe then she’d get the control she needed over her powers and her emotions. Knowing this in her mind and actually coming to grips with it and getting over it were two very different things. She’d made progress with turning it to reality – she would have to be blind to not see the differences between how she was before, and how she was today. She’d had help with that, though. She knew without it she’d have never picked herself up, not without having the safe place to ground herself.

She couldn’t remember the last time she accidentally shifted, which had been the big issue. Not being able to control when she shifted and when she shifted back. She still found herself completing strange feats every now and then when she hunted, but that wasn’t nearly as terrifying as being trapped in the body of a cat, even if it kept the strong emotions at bay.

She was brought out of her musings by the sound of the guard’s footsteps. He’d been standing in the corner for so long she’d been sure he’d been taking a nap. The steps grew fainter and fainter until she couldn’t hear him at all anymore. This job would be so much easier if they had an actual pattern that they walked, it would make it easier to estimate their next move. Instead, it was this huge hide, wait and run game that left her fairly exhausted by the end of the night.

She took a brief moment to make sure the guard wasn’t coming back, or that another one wasn’t replacing him in this section, and then raced across the hallway to get to the door. The lock was simple enough, and it only took a few moments for her to bypass it and slip into the room shutting the door behind her as quietly as she could. Even still, the snick it made as she shut it made her jump, and stand with her back pressed tight to the door as she listened for the telltale sound of the guards coming to investigate the sound.

The sound of footsteps didn’t come, and the blonde let out a breath as she stepped away from the door. The guards rarely checked inside these rooms. Why would they? They were locked. This lapse in their judgment gave her a few minutes to relax when she needed to. This wasn’t the case now, as she’d only just made it into the building, but she wasn’t exactly in a hurry either.

Bright blue eyes scanned the room she’d found. It seemed to be an office, though probably not the office of anyone too important. There were no windows looking out, so the office offered no view. The room was barely big enough for the cheap looking desk, and the puke green chair behind it.

She maneuvered herself around the desk and sat down in the chair, slowly in case it had any squeaks. Her lips quirked into a smile as the seat accepted her weight without a single protest, even if the seat of the chair was possibly the most uncomfortable thing she’d ever sat on. A quick test showed that the uncomfortable monster of a chair did at least roll and swivel, so she pushed it back the few centimeters that were left between her and the wall and then swung her legs up onto the desk, crossing her right ankle overtop of her left as she looked around some more.

There wasn’t anything all that interesting to note in the office, which meant there probably wasn’t anything that valuable laying around for her to steal. That was a tad disappointing, though surely one of the other locked rooms would have something.

She was about to grab some unimportant thingamabob from whoever’s desk when the sound of footsteps outside the door caught her attention. It would be a few minutes before she’d be able to leave, so she relaxed back in the puke coloured chair and slipped her phone out of her pocket. She’d set it to silent without vibration before she’d come in, not wanting even a remote chance of alerting the guards to where she was. She could have just left the thing at home, but she felt safer knowing she had some way to reach out for help if something happened.

The home screen of her phone showed an alert: a new e-mail was waiting for her. The corners of her lips tugged up in a smile as she saw who it was from, and she quickly tapped the screen to open it. The first sentence made her brow furrow in confusion. The second had her trembling as she re-read it 10 times. The third sentence had her focusing all of her willpower on not letting herself crush the phone as she held it.

She read the rest as if hoping to find some kind of hope in the words, but there was none. He was leaving. She read the entire e-mail again, and then another time after that. She saw no holes in his words; no room to sway him. She wanted to beg. She wanted to convince him he was wrong. If he had have been telling her in person, maybe she would have. Instead she looked at the words on the screen, his goodbye, and then turned her phone off. He wasn’t leaving right away, but he’d made sure to let her know that the rest of his time wouldn’t even be with her. That e-mail was it.

She didn’t remember moving her feet off of the desk, but they were now firmly planted on the floor in front of her. She still held her phone in her hand, and she stared down at the blank screen, waiting for it to throw her world off its axis again. Minutes passed and she did nothing else, could think of nothing else. The phone was off, but she could still see the words written on the screen and was slowly making herself insane by re-reading the phantom words.

Jumping up to her feet she shoved the phone into her pocket. She felt like she was suffocating, and all she could think about was getting out of there. She didn’t wait to listen for footsteps outside the door, she didn’t care. She had a gun, she had a blade and she knew how to use both of them. It was pure luck that she met with no guards on her way out, as in her current mood she wouldn’t have thought twice about taking out her frustration on one of them. She made it outside without problem, and walked to the nearest bench to sit down.

He’d been the one to bring her back. Now he was just going to leave, with nothing more than an e-mail.

June 8th, 2013 – Just before sunrise

It was almost two hours later and she’d barely moved. She still sat on the same bench, the only difference being that she’d pulled her legs up to her chest with her feet planted on the edge of the wood bench. She’d been trying to make sense of what she’d read. She’d never been in a relationship before and had no experience with any of this, but she didn’t think this was how it was supposed to be.

A part of her was supremely glad that he hadn’t been there telling her those things, as she would have surely broken down and looked pathetic in front of him. But. She was pathetic. She was clingy. She was a basket case with no control. No wonder he’d wanted to leave. To get away from her.

The warning that had been tingling in the back of her mind went unanswered as her mind kept working itself up, over and over again. It wasn’t until the sun began to peek over the horizon that her internal litany cut off. She hadn’t been outside during the day since she’d become a vampire, so she wasn’t prepared for the intense fiery pain that instantly began to consume her skin.

For a moment, that was all she could think about as she ran for the nearest shelter. The building she found looked to be abandoned, and she quickly found a windowless hidey hole where no one was likely to accidentally stumble across her. The pain didn’t stop when she got herself indoors, and she soon realized that finding a comfortable position in her current condition would be impossible.

She wanted to go home, but the thought only brought on an inner chill. She felt like this might be how the food felt when you managed to burn its outside while leaving the inside still frozen. It was horrible. She couldn’t go home, to find a place where he wasn’t, where he apparently wasn’t ever going to be again. She didn’t want to see the proof of it in the trailer, in Solara’s eyes or anywhere. She’d have to eventually, but she wasn’t ready now. It was pathetic. She should just suck it up and go home where it was safe and where she had someone who could help her deal with the burns.

She couldn’t do it. She couldn’t even get her tome out and pretend she was going to go home. She couldn’t bring herself to turn her phone back on to call someone for help. She didn’t trust herself to be around people, especially considering her track record in dealing with others when her emotions were high. It never ended well. She’d end up insulting them, or ticking them off until they challenged her to a duel or something. It wouldn’t be the first time and probably not the last time either. There would be times she wouldn’t be able to get away from being around people, but she could avoid them now, today, and possibly for a few days.

June 10th, 2013

Two days. She’d spent two days thinking about nothing but that e-mail. It had landed her a second nasty burn as she’d yet again been too focused on her thoughts to get inside quick enough. She was healed now, but her skin still showed signs of the burn, though in a way that made it look like she was a regular human who’d maybe fallen asleep outside without suntan lotion.

She was exhausted, both mentally and physically. She wasn’t worried about the potential stab of pain that might hit her as she activated the tome that would take her home. Nyla didn’t even flinch when the platinum blonde sitting at the table jumped up at her entrance, nor did she react at all to the words the girl said. Nothing penetrated the fog in her mind.

No time was wasted as she quickly stripped as she made her way into the bathroom, something she normally wouldn’t have done with Solara right there. Once in the bathroom, Nyla opened the cold water tap and pushed down the button that would lower the stopper. She didn’t bother putting any hot water in there, as all she could feel on her skin was the hot sensation from the burns and all she wanted to do was dip into the ice cold bath. It probably wouldn’t have been smart to do as a human, but seeing as how she was a vampire it wasn’t like the cold could shock her systems into failure.

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Solara’s Perspective

She didn’t know exactly what was wrong, but she’d had a feeling that something was for a while now. She kept waiting for Her to come home, but She hadn’t. Solara had learned that when She was gone for a long time, it never boded well. It was why she’d been sitting there, waiting and hoping that She’d show up soon.

It was the oddest sensation to know that She was back, even though She made no noise. She didn’t need to use the door, as She had the magical thing that brought Her home. The sight that met her as she turned made all of the colour drain from her face. The red skin was obvious, as She was normally so pale it was obvious She didn’t ever go outside during the day. She immediately jumped up and began to make her way over to Her, but stopped as something in Her posture gave the girl pause.

“Are you okay?” Solara knew the question was a ridiculous one, as the red on Her skin made it obvious that something was very much wrong. It didn’t matter, as it didn’t take long to realize that her words were falling on deaf ears; She hadn’t reacted at all. Watching Her strip as if she wasn’t even there only caused the girl to worry more and follow Her. She was too worried to just leave Her alone.

Solara bit her bottom lip as she watched pure cold water fill the tub. Just the sight of it made her shiver and wish for a sweater. If it wasn’t for her knowledge that She was more than human, she would have intervened then, but instead she trusted that She would be okay and simply watched as She stepped into the cold bath and slowly slid further and further down. When the cold water made it nearly up to Her chin Solara finally stepped forward, turning the tap back off.

Minutes went by as Solara watched Her, doing nothing but laying in the cold water with her eyes closed. The bath didn’t seem to be causing Her any pain, but something was very wrong. As quietly as she could, Solara slipped out of the bathroom and began picking up the discarded clothes as she normally would. Once she was away from the bathroom, she pulled the phone out of Her jean pocket and pushed the button to turn the screen on. It did nothing.

She hadn’t expected the phone to be off, so frowned at it for a minute before holding down the power button until the screen came to life. It didn’t take long for her to find the e-mail, and then she was looking through Her contacts, debating whether or not to send for help, and who in the short list of contacts could be trusted to not make it worse.

June 11th, 2013

She’d somehow found herself breaking into yet another building. After her bath the night before, she’d found herself unable to sleep. Solara had hovered, but she hadn’t said a word to the girl. She’d barely looked at the girl. A few of the words that had been spoken to her had penetrated her haze, but for the most part she was blissfully unaware of anything that Solara had been trying to say.

She managed to put up with it until she felt the tingle in the back of her mind ease, the one that told her the sun was no longer up and it was safe to go outside. She felt even more drained; she’d felt the pull to sleep while the sun was high, had even tried laying down a few times, but none of it worked. A vampire with insomnia; how cute.

She’d left the trailer without a word, and now she was working on picking locks and finding loot. She felt like she was about to crash, and no matter how hard she focused she kept slipping up. She was taking longer than she should be to break into the offices, and her ability to try and outthink the guards patrolling was even worse than usual. More often than not, she was finding herself cornered into little alcoves that the guards didn’t patrol, listening to the never ending sound of their footsteps just outside of eyesight.

She was falling apart all over again, and it made her want to scream. Was she not a person without him? That didn’t even make sense! She’d made it through twenty two years before even meeting him. Was she just incapable of functioning in this new life without him? She’d melted down when he’d been gone for only a week when Pratt had killed him. Now, he was just gone, and she was heading down the same dark spiral. She couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t deal with Solara. Couldn’t focus to get through her illegal activities.

What the hell kind of vampire was she? Falling apart over a guy, she really was pathetic. Even if she were a human, she’d think it was pathetic. She’d wanted to be her own person, not someone who curled in a ball and fell apart because she was alone. The blonde clenched her jaw and smashed her fist into the nearest wall, the sound echoing all around the alcove she’d been hiding away in. “****…” The curse was bit out as she straightened her spine, and turned to the one point of entry between her and the guards on the floor.

The sounds of footsteps stopped momentarily, and then started back up. The sounds were coming right for her, she knew this. Instead of getting ready to lash out with her blade she switched it to her left hand, and pulled the rarely used glock out with her right hand, aiming it roughly where she figured the guard would be coming into. Normally she preferred the blade, but considering how distracted she’d been already the gun seemed like a better idea – at least she could shoot before the guards got too close.

Seconds ticked by, and then there he was. He reminded Nyla of the previews she’d seen for that mall cop movie. He had his flashlight out, shining it in the area where Nyla wasn’t at first. She didn’t waste time in adjusting her gun up a bit, aiming directly for the guard’s head. He was sweeping the light along the floor, which was a plus when it reached her legs instead of blinding her eyes.

He didn’t get a chance to correct his mistake as Nyla pulled the trigger, her aim hitting perfectly as the bullet went through the center of his forehead. Her eyes never wavered as she watched the surprise in his, before everything went out and he slumped to the ground. It was as if a cord was snapped as her hand moved back to her side, her grip on the gun just enough to keep it from clattering to the ground. She’d killed guards before, but never without at least trying to escape. She had smoke bombs even, for those times when she found herself backed into a corner with no other option. She’d known this, and had still pulled the trigger without a thought.

She was a vampire. She was a soulless undead monster of the night, and it was time she started acting like it instead of some little girl. Sure she had her tough moments, but in the end she still crumbled like mud at being left. It was never happening again.

She knew she wouldn’t have long before the other guards came to investigate, so she quickly moved forward, using her foot to move the fallen guard out of her way like he was nothing more than a fallen log in her path. She wouldn’t have thought twice of taking out any of the other guards if they’d have seen her, but she made it back to the door without problem.

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Solara’s Perspective

She’d done nothing but pace all day. Pace and go back to Her phone. She’d scoured through Her contacts, and read through past texts trying to gauge whether or not she should trust any of them. Solara had only ever met him, and then the woman that She had let feed from her. He was obviously not a good choice, as he was the one who had left Her. Solara didn’t know about the other woman, as she’d been freaking out when Solara had sort of met her, and she wasn’t sure that was the kind of personality that would be best to bring in. Honestly, she found herself completely in the dark about what the right course of action was here and it was frustrating.

She’d just gone back to pacing when the door swung open. Something in Her eyes was wrong; even more wrong than it had been the night before. Just like before, she didn’t say a word and just kept walking down the hall. Solara sat back down and went back to figuring out who she should call.