Path of the Vampire forum

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Charlotte: Charlotte had once again revived her old hobby and joy. She had used to enjoy performing on stage, lip synching with the tracks she'd picked and dressing up like the people she was miming along with. However, her confidence had failed her when she'd been booed from the stage, followed as she left the club and then attacked and raped. She'd not been on a stage again since, not until recently anyways. After her final operation, and after she'd healed properly, she'd once more reached out into that world and got herself a few gigs in a little dive of a club in Redwood. It was all going well, and she'd even managed to treat herself to a few bits and pieces from a shop called Simply Hush that she'd found just round the corner from the club. They were just simple things that flattered her new figure and showed it off to its fullest, but they were things he'd never been able to buy before. She was loving it all, she was loving life and everything was fabulous. Her hips swayed as she walked down the street, her black heels clipped smartly with every step. Tonight, she had a curled blonde wig on and was dressed as Doris Day. She did love the style from then, the glamour and excess, the sound and feel of it all. Her evening dress that hugged her figure. The pearls that were tight around her neck, with their matching stud earrings peeking through her hair as she delicately adjusted a curl. The wrap that hung off her shoulders, cream like the pearls against the black of her dress that had a very daring neck that dipped to her cleavage and showed off her shoulders. Black gloves and the little pillbox hat that finished it off, with the demure makeup yet bright red lips being the cherry on top. Tonight, she was going as Doris and she only wished that she could learn to sing like her, or anyone. She hated the lip synching, but it was hard enough to talk in a feminine voice, singing was a whole other ball game that she'd just not quite mastered yet. So, for now, she had to satisfy herself with dressing up and miming along to tracks and records. In her mind, she softly hummed and sung along to the simple piano melody of Dream a Little Dream of Me, a large smile on her face of complete contentment.

Keara: He was out of town and she hated him being gone. As a couple they were pretty close and rarely spent more than a few hour apart; that was unless a raid was going in the city, but even then that didn’t stop them talking as she was always in his mind. As much as she loved culling creatures, she hated being away from Enver but that was her choice, this was his. And to make matters worse, she couldn’t get in his mind when he was there. At least she didn’t think she could and wasn’t going to risk hurting either of them by trying. Instead she had to make do with Skyping with him as and when he had time, if he had time. She’d been shut up in their cell for part of the night. She tended to lose her lust for fighting when he wasn’t about, something she hadn’t actually worked out herself yet. She was annoyed that he went without her and could have easily punched him in the face if he walked in at that moment and yet, at the same time, she missed him like crazy and wanted him home so that she could throw her arms around him and squeeze him tight. Whatever she was feeling, she had to get out of their room. It was depressing her and more to the point she’d run out of paper. Looking about the room, every previously blank page was filled with images of him. She didn’t realise how many pictures of him she’d drawn or just how long she’d been drawing. Standing up, she ignored the mess about her, ran her hands over her dreads, making sure they were still neatly tied back and headed out onto the streets. She didn’t know where she was heading, she was just walking but soon she found herself in the Redwood distract, right by Simply Hush where Enver had taken her the night they crossed paths with the crazy brunette. She sighed softly as she looked in the window. She could buy an outfit for later perhaps…for when he returned? She was contemplating this when she saw a blonde that looked suspiciously like Hannah exiting the building. A soft growl escaped her lips. She hated that woman and with Enver out of time, it was the perfect time to make sure she never crossed paths with her husband again. She followed the vapid blonde down the street, waiting until the lighting was just right before summoning her blade into her hand and creeping up on the woman. She grabbed her by the hair, pulled her backward and stabbed the blade up through her abdomen under the ribcage. She could have gone for the heart but she was feeling pretty sadistic and wanted to watch the woman bleed to death, only…as she pulled on the hair and drove the dagger into her, the hair came loose in her hands. “Huh?” was all she said as supported the woman on her chest, so that she wouldn’t fall to the ground, one hand holding the wig, the other still holding the dagger in place.

Charlotte: Her shopping bag was swinging from her finger tips, the little twisted card handles tucked into the crook of her gloved fingers as the paper of the bag itself brushed her calf. She was going through her set in her head and keeping her eyes and mind to herself. Too many times had she made eye contact with someone and it had ended up in some form of confrontation. So having learnt from her mistake, she now kept her eyes to the ground and didn't look around at anyone. So when her head was suddenly jerked backwards and the curby grips that secured the wig in place slid free of her brunette hair, she was shocked to say the least. The blade going in registered with shock on her face. Those perfectly painted lips that she took so long over were opened wide in shock, horror and pain as she realised what was going on. She could feel a body behind her, and her head slid back to look into the woman's face as tears pricked and then lined her eyes. "Why?" She whispered, hands dropping her bag to come up and try to hold the blade in place and hold her skin taught so that she didn't lose as much blood. She wanted to live, she had just got this life - this body - and now it was to be taken from her by some strangely beautiful woman she'd never seen before, for a reason she couldn't fathom. Despite her best efforts, her blood was seeping through her black dress and staining her cream cloak as it oozed and seeped with every breath she took. Those breaths that were becoming harder and harder to take as it seemed that the blade had found her lung and punctured it. The tears were now no longer simply lining her eyes, but were instead running down her cheeks and smudging that perfect makeup she was so proud of.

Keara: “Oh Nox. Done wrong I have,” she whispered as she dropped the wig on the floor to better cradle the frail creature in her arms. She wasn’t good with people invading her personal space but she’d initiated this sequence of events, and so she didn’t freak out or try to harm the girl further. “Sorry. Sorry I am. Thought I did that you…Matters not. Mistake made I have.” She wasn’t thinking, hadn’t been thinking, she wanted to call out to Enver for help but he wasn’t there. Instead she found herself kicking the bags the woman had been carrying towards the nearby wall, before falling to her knees. She kept the woman with her, one hand still on the blade, the other around her waist as if trying to comfort her or something. “Mean for this I did not. Left alone I should not be. Crazy I become. Thought I did…” she growled as she thought about Hannah, because that woman was going to pay for her mistake. “Die not. Please.” Her tone was soft and full of regret. As much as Keara had no qualms when it came to killing frail creatures to protect her secret, she tried never to harm any that were of no threat to her. Apart from the fact that there was simply no sport in it, she found it distasteful when people of any kind picked on those weaker than themselves.

Charlotte: She couldn't stop the whimper that escaped her lips as she was lowered to the ground, the woman seeming to cradle her as she did. She felt the knife moving within her as she bent slightly and was then lying there on the ground. The blood was flowing faster now because the movement had opened the wound wider than the blade itself was. There was no longer a stopper in the hole and her life was flowing out of her faster then her hands could try and stop it. She whimpered again as her fingers slid over the wound, coughing and bringing up blood that trickled down her chin to drip onto her chest. This was the end, but her one happy thought was that she'd at least felt and found happiness and the true her before the end had come for her. It was something she'd never thought she'd feel, so at least there was that. Her eyes fluttered closed and she took her last breath, her arm falling limply to the street palm up to the sky and the woman's apologies in her ears.

Keara: “No. No, no, no. I said die not,” she began to panic as the blood flowed more quickly, both her hands moving to cup the wound, in an effort to help staunch the bleeding. When the woman went limp in her arms she had only moments to decide what to do next as letting her die wasn’t something she was sure she wanted to live with, not when she’d wrongly taken her life. Her fangs soon found their home in her wrist and she tore at the flesh and placed the wound to the woman’s lips. “Drink frail thing. Drink. Please?” she urged. Shadow blood had a tendency to evaporate when it met the air, at least that’s what she thought it did, and so she pressed her skin to the woman’s lips a little harder, hoping that some of it would go down her throat. “Sorry I am,” she repeated as pulled the dagger from the girls chest.

Charlotte: The blood was forced into her mouth and it didn't poof because it was kept moist be the latent moisture of her mouth. Instead, it found its way through the natural path of her system to roll down her tongue, her throat, into her stomach and then on into her system to do its job. At first, it was just a drip that then became a trickle, invading her system and changing her a cell at a time. It took a few minutes of nothing, and then it was as if her entire body was being electrocuted and she was jerking and fitting all over the place. Her lungs gasped and heaved, a low moan escaping that grew in volume with every moment that passed. It sounded like an animal in pain, crying out for help as it wheezed and heaved and died.

Keara: Keara pulled back her wrist when the female finally began to respond to her blood. She heaved a sigh of relief, as being turned was a hell of a lot better than dying, at least it was in her eyes. She didn’t have anything to clean her wounds with and so she just wiped it on her skirt. It wouldn’t as it would evaporate soon enough, she just wanted it cleaned of so that it could start to heal. Every turning was different and everyone’s death seemed to last a different amount of time. One thing was certain though in all of this…she couldn’t stay here much longer. The moans and noises the female had made could have drawn attention to them. She reached over to the bags, she’d displaced earlier and pulled them to her. This one would have to go home with her and the quicker the better but she had no idea how to invite her in without a name. That issue could be worked around though if Keara opened the building to all for a time and so this was what she did. She teleported the female to the doors of the Asylum, or near enough, tomed home (bags in hand) and went to fetch her inside. She picked up the limp body and placed her in the spare room on the ground floor. Then, once the female was ‘safe’ she went to the bathroom to clean up the human blood that had in fact stained her hands and clothes and had until now kind of gone unnoticed.

Charlotte: She guessed she must have passed out, because everything had gone black for a while there. She was aware of movement, of being put down, of being picked up again and then of being put down again. Everything hurt, and her eyes refused to open as she writhed and moaned on whatever she was now lying on. It felt like her body was on fire, but trying to melt at the same time and her head pounded with a ferocity she'd never felt before. She couldn't help but liken the feeling of burning yet melting to the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz, and let out a witch like cackle before screaming out... "I'm MELTING! I'm MELTING! CURSE YOU! And your little dog TOO!" And then cackled again and passed out.

Keara: She heard the words from the next room over and listened before hearing it all go still again. She had no frame of reference as to what had been said and so put it down to the mad ramblings of a dying creature. Vampires were weird and complicated creatures in their own rights and so she wasn’t about to let a few odd word choices worry her any. Once she had washed her hands and sponged the spots on her outfit, she returned to the spare room, found her place on the wall near the bed and slid down onto the floor to settle in. She wasn’t sure how long the woman would be out but she had to be there for when she woke so that she could explain what had happened and apologise…again.

Charlotte: She was out for hours, the transformation taking hold and taking place as she lay there unconscious. Every now and again she twitched or moaned as her body and mind were changed from human to vampiric. After however many hours it was, her body twitched again in a massive way, turning her over from her back to her front with a large groan. Her eyes rolled and fluttered, the light hurting her head and making her curl into a foetal position while lifting her hands to hold her head and cover her face. "Ow...."

Keara: She was beginning to wonder where Enver was and what he was up to when she realised he was out of town. All this waiting was doing her head in and giving her way too much time to obsess about who he was with and how close to him they might be. She’d banged her head against the wall a fair few times to try and dislodge the thoughts and when that didn’t work, had taken her dagger out and began carving intricate designs into her inner thigh. When the female appeared to come round however, she stopped this, set the dagger to one side and went to stand by the bed. “Sorry I am. Again. Are you…Do you know who you are?” she asked.

Charlotte: She could hear voices, and there was information in her brain that had no place being there. It was if there were streams coming by her and when she concentrated on one it became solid and tangible. Voices having conversations filtered in and out of her hearing, beeps and whizz's and zings of information flew by and made her curl up tighter. However then there was a voice that was much closer, much more clear, and it made her jump in a panic and sit up, her head turning to see where it had come from. Her eyes were wide, make-up smudged all over her face and wig cap and curby grips skew-whiff, and she stared at the woman blankly. She could still hear voices all around her, but there was no-one else in the room with her other than this woman. And she wasn't moving her lips now as she stared. So all she did was blink and stare some more.

Keara: “Know I do that you speak can. Spoke before you did. Have you issue for me to understand?” Keara couldn’t understand why the female wasn’t talking though there was a list of possibilities if she were to actually take a moment and think about it. There was a chance the female was in shock, or perhaps she was awake but still asleep, she could even just be so annoyed with the woman before her for having stabbed her that she was simply refusing to converse with her. She reached out with both hands and gently cupped the woman’s face, making sure she had her attention before she spoke again. “My name Keara Aithne is. Understand you me? Your name I would know. Know you your name?” she asked again in the hopes that this time the female might respond.

Charlotte: Her eyes blinked at the woman's strange speech. It made sense, mostly, but it was just all jumbled up in its order. She still just stared though, not sure what in the hell was going on or why there were all these things in her head. Then the memories started in and she remembered being stabbed, stabbed by her - she thought, wasn't it? The woman's hands found her face and they were cold, so cold and she flinched away from her, whimpering slightly and nodding before she whispered softly. "I do. I'm.... I'm.... Charlotte. What, happened to me? I.... you.... stabbed me!" Her fingers went down to her ribs and felt the wound there, though it had healed over and stopped bleeding. She frowned at that, totally confused and feeling nauseous. So nauseous in fact that she suddenly retched and threw up in the direction of the strange woman before her.

Keara: Finally there were signs of intelligent life, even if the female, now known to her as Charlotte, was still seemingly trying to piece stuff together. Keara watched as she inspected herself and then as the creature, that was now her daughter, threw up down the front of her outfit. Blood and guts didn’t faze her, so vomit wasn’t really an issue, especially since her hands were out of the way and remained clean. She cast her eyes down at the now speckled clothing and then looked back to Charlotte. “If wish to criticise what wear I do, words better would have been.” She still wasn’t completely comfortable saying things like this around other, it was usually Enver that saw any signs of humour in her but then she was changing and this relationship was a fresh start. Nox knew she needed one, as the start with Peter was shaky to say the least. “Stabbed you I did…yes,” she said very matter-of-factly. “Though realise too late I did that you not the person were that wished I did to kill. Though that perhaps little comfort to you will bring.” Her eyes darted around the room and then she moved to retrieve something from the cupboard. She moved back to the bedside with a couple of handtowels and threw one towards Charlotte before she began cleaning the icky substance from her corset and skirt with the other.

Charlotte: She stared in abject horror as her vomit hit the woman dead centre and covered her. She was in shock, to say the least, and simply stared at her until the towel was thrown in her direction which seemed to knock her out of it. But wait, the woman had stabbed her - but then how was she still here? She'd passed out, and she'd felt the life leaving her body, but here she was still alive and seemingly healed. However, for now, she couldn't get over the whole - throwing up on the woman who openly admitted that she'd been trying to stab someone to kill them. Over and over she said sorry for vomiting on her, both in her mind and with her voice until when her breath ran out, her mind continued and projected the apologies directly into Keara's mind without realising she was doing it.

Keara: “Hush now,” Keara began in the hopes of silencing the childe. It was all too obvious the path she had been cast upon, not that Keara put much stock in one path over another but it seemed the majority of her brood fell into one of two; Shadow or Telepath. If the woman didn’t stop babbling in her mind she’d have to silence her with a power of her own but she hoped it wouldn’t come to that. “Hard to think it is with your thought in mine. But apologise you need not. I the apology must make. Mean I did not for you to darkness to pull…only…your choice this or death was.” This was her way of explaining she’d turned her, not that it was that much of an explanation or all that informative as she hadn’t told her what she’d actually become, only that she’d taken her by accident.

Charlotte: "Sorry." She apologised again, and then caught up with the conversation. Her thought in the woman's? What? Her hand lifted up and scratched at her head which was still buzzing with all manner of things that were seeping in and invading her mind. She couldn't concentrate and was losing track of a number of things. "No thanks. I won't be staying for tea." Someone was having a conversation on the phone and she was picking it up, thinking it was the woman aking her a question. "But, Darkness? This or death? What's....." Her voice dropped into a frightened whisper as her eyes went wide and she stared. "What's 'this'?"

Keara: “Tea? Invite you for tea I would not. That ludicrous would be and…Hmm…did I that not say? Remiss I have been in that not to verbalise. Though many guess do what done to them has been. You a vampire now are. My childe. My daughter.” She announced what Charlotte was quite dryly, as she was after all just stating the facts; that was what Charlotte was to her, though obviously if she were one of Enver’s she’d be his ‘creation’ and not his childe. Her boy had issues and thoughts of him silenced her long enough to let what she’d said sink in for the fledgling.

Charlotte: She stared, which seemed to be becoming a habit right now. She was a what now? Oh my god, she was a vampire. She was one of those things that she had been reporting on to those men. Whenever she saw one, she called a number and they confirmed or denied it - and for a confirmation she got paid and they got shot. Holy hell. But wait, that meant.... that meant that the woman in front of her was a vampire too. Tears sprung to her eyes again and began to fall as she physically shook in fear of what was in front of her. No longer a murderous woman - but a monster!

Keara: Charlotte seemed less than impressed with what she’d been told, in fact she looked downright terrified. Keara didn’t consider herself to be intimidating in any way, if anything she played down her strengths, unless of course her husband was the one on the receiving end. “Understand I do not why quiver thusly you do. Harmed you I have not…since stabbed you I did. Care of you I have taken. Into our home you have been brought. Nothing have you from me to fear.” She didn’t want her childe to be afraid of her, apart from stabbing her she’d done right by her, or so she assumed.

Charlotte: She looked for the words, and she just couldn't find them. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, flinching at the pain from her ribs but only hugging tighter. Her chin rested in that little v in her knees and she began to rock back and forth, pressing herself into a corner for some sort of safety and protection - no matter how imagined it was. There was too much in her head to take in, too much going on, too much had happened, too much invading her mind and it hurt. Her eyes stared blankly at Keara, not seeing her but knowing she was there - that thing of terror and nightmares that should have just been in a book and yet was here, larger than life...... and telling her that she was one too now.

Keara: There was no response from the childe yet again and so she placed the towel she’d been using to clean herself up over the vomit that had hit the bed and moved to sit next to Charlotte. She adopted a similar pose, only as she brought her knees to her chest she didn’t bend over them, she crossed her feet at the ankles (having removed her boots while Charlotte was unconscious), looped her hands under her thighs and leaned her head back on the headboard. “Get used to it you will. That or decide you shall into the sun to walk. Speak metaphorically I do, as the sun harms us only, kills us it does not.” There was much for Charlotte to learn and it would take time but Keara couldn’t very well leave her alone while she was still processing what she’d become. “Ask me questions you may…Bite you I will not.” There was a slightly playful note in what she said as she was trying to tease her daughter, another trait she was learning from her wayward husband.

Charlotte: She tried to shrink away from the woman as she came closer and sat beside her. It was as if she was physically repelled by her and her proximity, such was her fear right now. She couldn't help but snort however as the woman said she wouldn't bite her. Wasn't that how vampires were made? It certainly was in the movies, and that was really, her only point of reference. Her voice was still a whisper, and it trembled as she spoke. "You already did, and stabbed me and killed me. Whatever more is there you could do? You.... You KILLED me!" She screamed the last word, emotions welling up inside of her and exploding in volume that was directed right into Keara's ear.

Keara: Keara winced as the female began to shriek at her. She was a natural hunter and her senses were kind of acute. She brought a hand to the ear that she’d been yelling in and began to rub at it but asides from that, there was very little by way of reaction from her. She’d considered the fact that Charlotte might be angry with her, shocked and confused and so had, in a sense, prepared herself for the worst. “Need you do not for to scream at me. Know very well I do what done has been,” her tone was calm and even, her eyes focused on the far side of the room when they weren’t closed in contemplation. “Bite you I did not. Dagger the blood from you did drain. Bit myself I did for my blood with you to share. Offer you more perhaps I would if that an abomination now of you would not make.” Again her words probably made little sense to the newly turned vampire but that mattered not to Keara, as she knew that little of what she said would sink in until the female was ready to hear it.

Charlotte: "Really? That would work? You could..... Fix me? Make me human again?" Her eyes glistened with the tears she'd been crying, which were now sparkling with hope. Hope that she might actually be able to go back to what she was and live out her life, that had finally righted itself and become good.

Keara: “Said that I did not. Fixed already you have been. Perhaps preferred you would for to have died?” she rolled her head in Charlotte’s direction and looked her over albeit briefly before returning to her previous position and closing her eyes. She had little enthusiasm for anything with Enver gone; even the idea of going to her usual hunting grounds seemed a chore. She closed her eyes and sighed softly, the resemblance between Sara and Charlotte kicking in; another childe that wanted nothing more than to cling to her humanity. “Two options have you now Charlotte. For to embrace what you become have or to embrace a death the likes of which wish I would not upon my solemn enemy. Though hope I do that try you do for to live as you are before a choice in this you make.”

--The following transcript was a live chat roleplay--

Charlotte: "Oh" The disappointment in her voice was almost palpable as she sat and nodded and thought it over. She didn't really have much of a choice. She could have died, but she was saved. But then again, she wouldn't have been in that position if it hadn't have been for this woman. It was only because of the woman she nearly died. This was all so confusing and hard to work out. "So..... what do you want with me?"

Keara: “Now? Or before? As before thought I did that you my husband’s assistant were. Her days upon this earth are few, as find her I shall. Though…perhaps next time look for her I should…Be sure before act I do. This situation sits well with me does not. Now…hmm…guess now the same wish I for you as any of mine. Wish I do for you in strength to grow and your role in this world to find. Though…” she opened her eyes and looked to her daughter. “Expect I do not for you your stride quickly to find. Each their own path must find and that sometimes time does take. Here I shall be when need me you do. Far from home I rarely am…though learning I am for from the boundaries of this place to stray.” Again, more babble that only made sense to her as she was planning to go to California one day with Enver but had yet to find the courage to go too far from the city limits; their honeymoon had been pleasant enough and they were planning a number of other shorts trips but still, in this she was a work in progress herself.

Charlotte: She frowned at that and held her head as she tried to assimilate it all. "So.... there's another girl out there.... that you want to kill? Why? What's she done to you? What could anyone do to mean they have to die? That's..... that's just wrong!" The thought of killing someone, someone human, made her balk and she just couldn't think why you'd want to do that to anyone. She'd been on the receiving end of so much hatred in her life, been so close to death or disfigurement, that she couldn't imagine wanting to inflict that on anyone else ever. But then, there was talk of a husband. She presumed it was another vampire and she shuddered as she thought of meeting more and how they might take to her. She was going to have to make the most of this, she was acutely aware of that fact. If she wanted to live, enjoy all she'd worked so hard for - then she was going to have to go along with this madwoman. Survival instinct. It was strong.

Keara: “Yes. Her name Hannah is,” Keara replied, the name of the girl rolling off her tongue with a distinct note of hatred attached to it. “Knows of our kind she does. Trust her I do not. Tried she did for me to harm. Kept her I did. In our cell. In our bed.” Her voice was becoming more agitated the more she spoke, whoever or whatever she was talking about was clearly not something she enjoyed recollecting. “Kept her I did for she his was. But no more. Released her he has. No claim upon her has he now. Find her I will. Find her and kill her. Too much affection for her he has. Kill I do those that a threat to our kind are. Wish I do not for the frail creatures once more of us to become aware. Bad for us all that will be.”

Charlotte: "Oh" Was all she could manage. She wondered what the woman would do if she knew how she'd made some of her money by reporting the vampires to the hunters. But still, something didn't sit right with her. It was the way the woman phrased things in so much as 'kept' her, as if she were a pet and not a free thinking human. She didn't even want to think about the whole 'in our bed', because again - her mind was flicking back to the films with vampires and their.... appetites. "Can't you.... can't you forgive her? Maybe, you know, maybe you did her wrong too?" She blinked, wondering where that had come from, where she'd found that spark of bravery in which to question the monster beside her.

Keara: Okay now this got her attention, causing her to sit up and actually look at Charlotte properly, her head dipped, she looked up at her from under her lashes in an accusatory fashion. “Forgive her? Think you do that forgiveness possible is when mine she is not. When our kind she is not. When threatens she does me and mine by for to exist. Trust her I do not as he does. Believes he does that she our secret will keep but saw her that night he did not. Restrained her I did. The police she wanted to call. Called me crazy she did. Thought she did that I My Enver could kill…Kill him I could not…Though…” she trailed off a little as there were times when Enver got her made enough to make her attack him and one day she could very well lose it enough that that might happen.

Charlotte: "That's..... that's the point of forgiveness." Her voice quavered, her fear of the woman rising again. "Letting go when someone's made.... made a mistake. Haven't..... haven't you ever made a mistake?" She asked, hopefully.

Keara: A low but audible growl rumbled in the back of her throat. “Mistakes we all make. Made one tonight I did. Hers however, unforgiveable is. Perhaps understand in time you shall the need for our secret to protect.” It was true to say that Keara didn’t trust Hannah, she couldn’t say the words otherwise but the larger part of wanting Hannah dead came from her hatred of the woman and the fact that she was jealous of the connection she and Enver shared. She’d regretted not having taken the woman’s life the night she learned about vampires and with Enver in the Shadow Realm, she would have had time enough to talk him round, or so she believed.

Charlotte: She shook her head, determined to try and save this woman she'd never met somehow. simply because it was.... well, it was right. "Well.... you've killed me. Can't.... can't my sacrifice take her place? A... a... a life for a life. You....." Her voice dropped right down to a whisper then. "you owe me. For what you've done." She was taking a chance here, being brave for once and she honestly didn't know why other than she'd been under threat before and she didn't want this poor woman to die, nor for herself to have died for nothing. "Please." She was begging now, and she knew it. But this had been one hell of a night and her emotions were all over the place as she tried to find the surface.

Keara: Keara eyed Charlotte as she dared to say that she owed her. As far as Keara was concerned, she’d repaid any debt she owed Charlotte for her mistake by gifting her her blood, as that really was the most precious thing she had to give in this world as it was a piece of her, her essence. She reached out with her right hand, still unmoving from her position and gripped Charlotte’s jaw. It wasn’t as if she needed to make her face her but she wanted to know that what she was about to say would be heard. “Life given you tonight was. No greater gift have I to give than what now in your veins does flow. My debt to you my daughter paid has been. Worry not you should for Hannah. Her fate yours to control is not. If find her I cannot then know I do that another fate destined for is and accept that perhaps I will…in time.” She released Charlotte and brought her hand back under her thigh, as while she was happy to initiate contact with others, she still didn’t like to prolong it if she could help it.

Charlotte: She flinched away as the hand came out towards her, as her immediate reaction was to think that the hand was going to hit her. Though the pinching of her jaw and the forcing of her head to look at the woman was perhaps worse than being struck. She couldn't see how being made into a mythical monster was better than - oh - not being killed! But she was too scared to say anything else so just nodded her head in agreement.

Keara: “Now…” she said calmly, closing her eyes once more. “Have you questions for me as to how survive you now do or should I just the basics for you explain. Some the mind have for information now to absorb, others the lessons on their own must learn. Know as yet I do not which type you are…” she let the words trail off as she took a moment to think over all the ones she had sired that had not embraced their new path and subsequently died, along with those that had seemingly taken to their new life and yet had not been seen for some time. It made her sad to think that she had lost so many and kept so few but she had little time for self-pity in that moment, there would be time enough to reflect on that later when she was alone.

Charlotte: "I....The basics." Her head was so sore and full right now, and she was so scared of this woman and doing something wrong. She didn't think she'd be able to cope with anything too complicated - especially if she were to be tested on it or if it meant life or death.

Keara: “Okay…Well…said I already did I believe that the sun us does hurt…so safe you should be before sunrise. Find somewhere dark to hide. The darkness gives us strength. Trick to this there is if in the city you are as always you should know where go you can if short on time you are. Empty buildings okay are, but sewers better are. And…well…safe you must be for when the sun the horizon does kiss, for many of our kind into a deep sleep do fall. Wake you likely shall not in the daylight hours, so important is for to choose where sleep you shall. Welcome here you always will be. This our home is. Our being all those that from my blood born have been. Be it by me or another within whom my blood does flow. Understand you this?” She’d said a lot when really she could have just told Charlotte to stay out of the sun but to her everything she said had meaning and would perhaps help to protect the fledgling from making the mistakes that so many did.

Charlotte: She nodded her head to show she understood. Basically, stay out of the sun. That was devastating, because she loved to walk in the woods with the sun dappling down on her face. Or to walk on the beach - god she'd been looking forward to a beach walk in a bikini and her new body. So much that was lost to her in that one line telling her to stay out of the sun that all she had to do was nod while her mind refused to take in the information about the sewers. She had NO intention of ever going to such a place.

Keara: “And feed you must for your strength to retain. If feed you do not, weak you shall be and grow in strength and power you will not. While prefer I do from the vein to drink, suspect I do that you different preference will have. Your sister to her humanity also does cling, though older than you she is and expected perhaps it is in first few days or weeks while adjust you do, that hold you do to what familiar is. Blood is what I speak of when say I do that feed you must. For many of our kind, mortal food and drink no longer enjoyed can be. Try you can for to see if able you are for such things to stomach, but likely is that no sooner than swallow you do that expel you shall all that taken in you have.” She gave Charlotte a moment to let that sink in before adding, “Oh but drink blood from a bag you also may…if so choose you do. Like that self I do not but as think said before I have. Each their own path must take and tell you I shall not how to feed. Though if wish you do for to learn from how from the vein to drink, show you that I shall…Remember the frail ones do not what done to them has been…most of the time. Remember the ones that drink from I do, do not.”

Charlotte: Her eyes widened and her face paled further from how pale it must already have been after her 'death'. She felt really quite ill at the thought of drinking blood, let alone drinking it from someone! She once more found her voice, unable to stop herself as she spoke. "But, but I'm a vegetarian!"

Keara: This wasn’t a term she was familiar with and so a look of confusion passed over her features. “Understand I do not what the significance of that may be. Please for that to me to explain. As eventually tell you I shall my story and how I here came to be; then perhaps my questions more sense to you shall make.” She didn’t want to tell her how old she was yet as really that wasn’t basic information, there were things the woman needed to know to stay alive before she likely wanted to hear such tales.

Charlotte: She blinked and a look of confusion crossed Charlotte's face as she wondered how the woman didn't know what a vegetarian was. However, no derision came from her lips and no mocking comment. She just explained it in her quiet whisper she'd adopted since meeting this woman. "A vegetarian. We don't believe in hurting animals or using them for food. I don't eat meat or fish, and only eat vegetables and pulses"

Keara: “Well now no animal need you harm. So that no issue is. Imbibe you must blood if wish to survive you do. Blood bags perhaps good place for you to start are. Since issue you do take with frail creatures to harm, though believe I do not that harmed they are for no memory do they have. Get you one now perhaps I should…quite pale you look,” she placed her feet on the floor and went to retrieve a blood bag from the shop Enver had set up. She didn’t much like feeding from such things herself but they were a valuable source of nutrition for those that didn’t want to feed from the vein. Returning with the bag in hand a few minutes later, having written the purchase in the ledger, she handed it to Charlotte. “Think perhaps try you could for some of this to drink?”

Charlotte: She shook her head vehemently. "No. It's still an animal product. Even... even if the animal is a human. It's the same thing. It's not. It's not right!" If she weren't already pressed up against the wall on the bed, she would be now as the woman came at her with the bag of blood. "Please. No. Don't make me!" She whimpered, curling in on herself tighter.

Keara: Keara sighed and seated herself gingerly on the edge of the bed as she tried to avoid the towel that covered the stained bedclothes. “Charlotte…If drink you do not…weak you shall become and in place from a life to have, only exist you shall. Grow stronger you will not and if any issue with you does take, easily dispatched you will be. Ask this of you I would not if alternative there was. But…none there is for this. Offer you I would for from my vein to drink but forbidden is for the blood of our own kind to drink it is…And learned to that must be. If fed you now I did, sick it you would make.”

Charlotte: "There...." She frowned and thought it over. "But, there HAS to be a way? Another way? I can't... I mean... it's blood! Like, what about the diseases in it and stuff? And.... no. It's wrong, just wrong. Morally, legally, ethically, biologically....." Her voice drifted off, realising she was babbling a bit now.

Keara: “Explain perhaps I should that trouble young ones can have to feed. Too much blood perhaps they take as know you do not when to stop. So kill they do without intent. Or…like you…try they do for their nature to ignore. Till hunger unbearable is. Then kill they always do as urge to drain too strong to ignore is. If you your hunger learn not to control, harm someone you almost certainly shall.” She let that sink in for Charlotte, as she wasn’t lying or trying to scare her but the childe had to know what could happen if she wasn’t capable of getting her thirst under control and learning to manage her hunger.

Charlotte: Her hands gripped the bedclothes underneath her and she stared at the pattern on it, shaking her head. "No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. I won't. No. No. No. No. No. No. I can't. I won't kill. I won't drink blood. Just...." She gagged again at the thought of it and her head swam.

Keara: A part of her considered pinning the girl down and forcing the blood down her throat, as while she was willing to respect her drinking from a bag, she wasn’t willing to allow her not to drink at all. The only thing that stopped her from doing so was the fact that she could likely leave that for another day when weaker she was, and when perhaps, she’d had time to distance herself from the events of this night. “Fine. But hungry now I am…Fed this night I have not as quite distracted I have been…My husband away is…” she added as if that might explain everything. Concentrating she lured a human to her and waited for her victim to arrive.

Charlotte: She raised an eyebrow as the woman said she was hungry and then just sat there. Did she want to feed from her? Was she waiting for Charlotte to offer herself up or something? She watched the woman curiously, suspiciously, and her feet came up under herself ready to run.

Keara: Keara noted the female move but didn’t realise what she was readying herself for. They sat there in silence for a while as Keara waited for her lure to work and only got up from the bed when the male walked through the door, apparently knowing exactly where she was. Moving to him, she took a hold of his wrist and bit into it, beginning to drink without giving it a moment’s thought. She preferred to drink from the jugular but the guy was far too tall and she really didn’t feel like making him kneel before her with Charlotte watching.

Charlotte: That. Was. Horrible. She'd not said or done anything as far as Charlotte could tell. Yet this man had come walking in and then waited for her to feed on him. The sight made her feel physically sick again, but there was nothing left in her stomach to expel after she'd vomited earlier. Her horror and disgust at what she was watching was projected into Keara's head, as, without knowing it, she used her overwhelm power on her. Her legs pressed down and she was on her feet and running for the door. She felt sick and dizzy and she was stumbling a bit, but she managed to get through the door. However, she had no idea where she was or how to get out - but she was going to do her best to find the exit and get out of there and away from this madness!

Keara: Her mind exploded with thoughts and images that she didn’t think were her own and she quickly pulled back from the situation she was in. She knew it wasn’t then man that was doing this to her as he was human, she tasted that as much as she did see and smell it in him and so there was only one other person in the vicinity that she could blame; her daughter. She thanked the male and told him he was free to go and without reacting he turned to leave. It was then, as Keara cast her eyes around the room, that she realised someone was missing. The issues with her cognitive abilities were not so severe that she couldn’t process faster things faster than most humans and so she shook off what she could and went after Charlotte but not before speaking into her mind. ‘Run you can from me but escape you cannot what you become have.’

Charlotte: The woman's voice was in her head, and that made her stumble and fall to the floor in complete shock. How was that possible? How could she hear her? Was she near? She rolled over onto her bum and looked around in a panic, but she couldn’t' see her anywhere. She did however spot a door and she went running over to it as quietly as she could and threw it open - to reveal a cupboard. She could hear footsteps coming however, so she just threw herself into it and closed the door behind her, curling into a ball and trying to make herself silent and invisible as her chest heaved with fright and exertion.

Keara: ‘Charlotte. Why run you from me?’ she asked leaving the connection open so that the female could reply without the need of actually tapping into her own powers.

Charlotte: That voice in her head made her shake like a leaf and the open connection was projecting all of that fear to Keara so she could hear the horrible thoughts of what vampires were as per books and films. Then Charlotte thought about the hunters and how she'd been an informant to them, wondering how much they'd pay for this information. All of which was projected through that link to Keara. All of her rambling thoughts and fears as to why she was hiding.

Keara: Keara put up with the ramblings for as long as she could as the female seemed as open to her as Enver was in what she was thinking only the things that Enver thought made more sense to her. ‘You sold information on us and yet react you do as if knew you did not that vampires existed did?’ she began. ‘Understand that I do not though now question for me that leaves…Will you this now continue to do. Now that hunted you will be for what you are?’ This was the important thing to her. Even the fear the childe was feeling seemed to pale into insignificance in that moment as trust between them would need to be built.

Charlotte: Oh crap! She could read minds too?! Holy hell she was in trouble! Some dust from the cupboard found her nose and she sneezed loudly and then froze. This was the tie in the horror movies where the heroine was found and killed... so she waited for her fate in a resigned fashion.

Keara: The sneeze gave away her position and Keara cut off the connection to her mind and moved to open the door behind which her childe sat. As the door swung open she bent down to kneel by the frame of it. “Nothing from me have you to fear Charlotte. The worst that do I can already done is. Well…Kill you I could and to that realm send…That highly unpleasant would be and yet…able you would be for to return. So yes…Done I have already what undone cannot be. Now need we do way forward to find.” She was calm and reasonable and any and all thoughts of her husband had faded from her mind.

Charlotte: "Why?" She whispered. "Why did you make me this? Isn't this worse than death? The films, the vampires are always so unhappy, pleased to die and be released." Her head turned to look at the woman with a frown. "Why are you being so nice to me - other than the killing? No-one is nice to me."

Keara: The words that came from the female’s lips worried her. She knew frail creatures could be just as cruel to one another as her own kind could be but she couldn’t see anything wrong with the woman before her…besides the fact that she was frightened and cowering in a cupboard. “Easy it is to be nice to one that nothing wrong to you has done. Know you as yet I do not so nice to you I shall be, respect you I shall even, until prove that deserve neither you do. Even then patience with you try to have I shall, as you of my blood are. That you special to me does make. When said I did that gifted you I did, lying I was not. My blood most precious gift that give I can and given to you it was. So many films I have not seen. Perhaps pleased they were for to die, for wrong choices they had made. This life for all is not. But as said I did, time require you do for to see if this your path is. Several lifetimes I have lived. So say I can that choose I do this life. Welcome death I do not. No release is there to be found. Dead I was several lifetimes too.” It was an over simplified explanation of her life but an accurate one nonetheless.

Charlotte: She nodded her head and simply sat quietly as she took it all in. She'd been looking for a new start when she came to this city, and this woman seemed to be offering her one - it might be of a very different sort to the one she'd been thinking of, but..... well..... maybe she'd over-reacted? There was so much rattling around her head, so much to take in and she was so confused by it all. Her fingers from both hands lifted and scratched her head, her fingers finding the wig cap and curby grips and removing them piece by piece until her natural, long brunette hair with the blonde streak was loose and free - making her feel better almost immediately. "I must look a mess." She mumbled softly, falling back on things she knew and were familiar in such a time of chaos.

Keara: “Smell worse you do,” Keara replied honestly, as the smeared make-up and ruffled hair was nothing to the scent of vomit, especially when one wasn’t used to it. “Perhaps shower and rest you should. Shower also perhaps I should too,” she said getting to her feet and offering Charlotte her hand. “Safe this night you are. Talk more we can…when ready you are. If that acceptable to you is?” Keara usually gave her childer their space, trusting that they would reach out to her if the needed her, as after all, she wasn’t clairvoyant; it was because of this that she felt comfortable leaving Charlotte to come to terms with what had happened and perhaps even mourn her own passing.

Charlotte: She hesitated for a second and then took the proffered hand and got to her feet, blushing about the comment about stinking. She got to her feet and then just stood and waited to be shown where to go.

Keara: The moment she was on her feet, Keara released her hand and looked over her shoulder. Shower through there is. She aid pointing to the room next to the bedroom in which she’d placed Charlotte. Fresh clothes though I problem might be…lend you I can some of mine…something in which to sleep too…if mind you do not to dress as me this eve. More towels in the cupboard are,” she said assuming Charlotte would know where that was, as she’d seen her get two earlier.

Charlotte: She nodded her head. "Or, I could go home?" She asked hopefully

Keara: Keara nodded. “If prefer that you would but…” she looked the childe over. “Much attention you will draw if walk the streets thusly you do. Where live you?” she asked, planning to send her childe there.

Charlotte: "Swansdale" she said, without giving specifics, not sure she wanted the woman to know where she lived exactly.

Keara: “Do you far from the station live?” she asked not being overly familiar with the Swansdale area. “And if needed could you your way here find…if told you I did where we are…In Honeymead we are. Though closer the Westwall station is. In Aithne Asylum you are. Need I for my name again to give?” she asked, not wanting to send Charlotte on her way without knowing she knew where to come back to and who to ask for.

Charlotte: She shook her head. "Kiora" She said as the woman's name. "And yes, I know my way around - cause of my job."

Keara: “Keara. My name Keara is. Hope I do that return you shall,” she said as in an unusually affectionate manner she reached out and brushed Charlotte’s cheek with the back of her hand; an act brought about more so through the sorrow of believing that this might be the last time she saw this one. “Be safe in the darkness my darkling.” These were her last words to Charlotte as she teleported her across the city to a quiet corner of the station.

Charlotte: The woman's touch was nice against her cheek and she closed her eyes, but it was gone all too soon, and when she opened her eyes - she was somewhere else completely. After a minute, she realised where she was and so quickly scurried home and holed herself up in her home, barricading the door with all the furniture she could and then sitting on the floor to weep uncontrollably.