Path of the Vampire forum

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


Charlotte Ruse: Jonah had done another of his vanishing tricks, and Charlotte hadn't seen him for at least a couple of weeks. She was totally paranoid, thinking she'd done something wrong. Thinking he'd left her. She'd tried to have Keara summon him - but she wouldn't do it, so she thought that Keara knew something about him that she didn't. He was gone, she was sure. She'd been abandoned. So she was still in bed, huddled under the covers with no will to get up

Jonah: Jonah had been drawn in to the competition within Tytonidae and then the hunt for the Alpha Fadebeast and had let slip many of his connections. Between those events and running his businesses, he had little time for anything, most especially his relationships. When the fadebeast was killed and it seemed like no more of its type would be showing up in the immediate future, he reached out to the one person he knew he most needed to apologize. Dialling Char's phone, he waited for her to answer.

Charlotte Ruse: The phone was on the bedside table, just out of reach. Te table, beside the bed. The bed, they were supposed to share each night, and that he'd been missing from. Even when she'd reached out to him, wounded by a giant monster - nothing. She didn't have the will nor the energy to reach out to the phone to answer it. Because she was sure it couldn't be anything good on the other end of it.

Jonah: When the call went to voicemail, he frowned and left a simple message saying that he missed her and hoped to see her at home. His tome no longer took him to the Asylum but got him close so he let the book draw him to the Eyrie and then made the short jaunt to what had been his home for most of his time in the city. When he reached the door, he knocked and opened it slowly. "Char?"

Charlotte Ruse: The little hump in the bed twitched slightly as she heard her name, in his voice. But it couldn't really be him- because he'd left her. This was just her broken mind trying to find comfort where there was none to be had. Hearing what she wanted to hear, so desperately - and it hurt her and made her curl tighter into a ball under the covers, a slight shuddering sob running through her at the same time.

Jonah: He wandered through the small apartment and eventually found his way to the bedroom and saw the lump that was too large to simply be a tangle of blankets. Was she hiding as a game or trying to punish him? Either way, he didn't want it to continue so approached the lump and put his hand on it. "Wake up sleepy head."

Charlotte Ruse: She tensed as the hand touched her through the blankets. She could imagine voices, but she'd never before imagined a touch. Slowly, she uncurled and turned onto her back, still under the blankets and too scared to look. Her voice whispered out, wobbly and full of emotion that was noticeable as sadness, despair, broken hearted and yet hopeful. "Jonah? Is..... it really you?"

Jonah: "Who else would it be?"

Charlotte Ruse: Fingers appeared over the blankets and slowly pulled them down so that there were just her eyes and up showing. Her eyes were a little sunken, rimmed in grey and black while her eyes themselves were red with the veins all showing more prominently. Her hair was lank, greasy, un-brushed, and the little that could be seen - just didn't look well. "Are..... Are you real?" Her eyes looked him up and down, frowning. "But.... you left me!"

Jonah: He looked at her confused. "I didn't leave you. I'm right here. Of course I'm real." The reality of her appearance finally sunk in. "Char...what's happened to you?"

Charlotte Ruse: One hand emerged from the blankets fully and reached out to him, touching whatever she could reach. "You are real! Ohhhhhhhhh Jonah!! I thought you'd left me! You just.... vanished!" She emerged from the blankets and flung herself at him, burying her head into his chest as she wept and clung to him - her frame smaller, thinner, weaker than when he'd seen her last.

Jonah: He held her up easily, something he was always able to do but which he was able to do more easily now. "Char, what is wrong?"

Charlotte Ruse: She whispered softly into his chest. "I thought you'd left me. I was alone, scared, abandoned. You'd gone! What did I do, to make you go? Tell me. Tell me and I'll never do it again so you don't go away again. Please, please don't leave me Jonah!"

Jonah: "I didn't leave you Char"

Charlotte Ruse: "I thought you had. It's been weeks!"

Jonah: "I'm sorry. There were things happening. I was hunting that fadebeast."

Charlotte Ruse: "It hurt me!" She whispered, a shudder going through her as she remembered it so vividly and pushed the memory into his mind so he could see how scared she'd been, how vicious it had been, how it had attacked her, caught her, driven her to the ground as she screamed for him - unable to fight it off. How it's great teeth had been so close to her face as if it would simply eat her. How it's.... paw had lifted, the claws extended and had been driven deep into her stomach, ripping her up so badly that her intestines had spilled out. How a noise had startled it, made it vanish through the wall as she'd lain there bleeding out, sobbing, crying for him - and no answer had come.

Jonah: "I know. I was doing everything I could to stop it though." His mind whirled as she shared her thoughts and he fell forward slightly as he tried to steady himself against the wave of pain and fear she put on him.

Charlotte Ruse: She held on tightly as he wavered, not knowing how he would take seeing what had happened to her through her power of image telepathy. But he needed to know. He needed to see how he'd left her. What had happened to her when he'd abandoned her. When he wasn't there to protect her. So she just clung on in silence, letting it all sink in and not knowing what else to say.

Jonah: "I'm sorry," he murmured. "I'm so sorry."

Charlotte Ruse: She turned her head, tilting it to lookup at his face and softly let her lips press to his jaw. She hadn't dosed herself yet this evening, and she could feel the need getting stronger and more urgent. So she wriggled from his arms and weakly walked to the bathroom, closing and locking the door behind her before getting the bits and pieces needed from her toilet bag to make up her needle. Then she set about making it up.

Jonah: The kiss was gentle and he started to return it but before he could, she was out of his arms. He started to stand and follow her but the door was shut and the sound of a click indicated that he was locked out. To be sure, he wiggled the handle. "Char?"

Charlotte Ruse: "Just a minute!" She said, hurrying with the lighter under the spoon, the needle sitting beside her ready to be filled.

Jonah: "I'm sorry Char, just let me in..."

Charlotte Ruse: "Just a minute!" She said, a little more urgently. She spotted a couple of bubbles and knew it was ready. So setting the lighter aside she grabbed the needle and pulled the liquid up into it. Hurriedly, her arm was splayed out and the vein made obvious. The needle was placed, angled and slid into her flesh before she quickly pressed the end and pushed the liquid into her body.

Jonah: His sharp smell picked up the scent of blood and fire and he was unwilling to wait any longer. His heavy boot crashed in to the door and splinters flew in to the small bathroom.

Charlotte Ruse: Her hand tried to cover the needle, slipping it from her arm to try and hide it away down the side of the toilet where she sat as she stared at him in horror. "Jonah! I said just a minute!" She whispered, watching his face carefully.

Jonah: Her dainty hand failed to completely cover the sight and the smell of the drugs was strong in the room now that he was inside. "What is this..." he whispered

Charlotte Ruse: "Nothing" She said, almost fearfully. Though the drugs were working their way into her system little by little, and the edges of everything were beginning to get fuzzy while her head was starting to float.

Jonah: Somebody had done this to her. She wouldn't have done this by herself. Like a chant, he comforted himself with the thoughts as he tore himself down. If he had been there, this wouldn't have started at all. "Don't lie to me Char."

Charlotte Ruse: A silly smile crossed her face, the drugs taking a hold of her mind and making everything shimmer. All her pain was gone. The paranoia had vanished. Jonah was here - all was well. She climbed onto the toilet she'd been sitting on, wobbled a little, and then looped her arms around his neck as she stared into his eyes - still smiling. "It's fine. Nothing to worry about. It makes me happy, helps me cope. You even said - before - you like me like this." She giggled softly and then her lips found his and she kissed him passionately.

Jonah: He didn't return the kiss. "How long have you been doing this?"

Charlotte Ruse: She pulled back as soon as she realised he wasn't kissing her back and frowned. One hand lifted and stroked his face, trying to focus on his eyes and look into them. "Since you started vanishing for long periods of time. I..... don't remember the date. Why? What's wrong?"

Jonah: It was his fault. He knew it. Pulling away from her, his face grew hard. "I'm sorry..."

Charlotte Ruse: The little worry she could muster through her drugged up fog was focussed on his face as she saw it harden. "Jonah..... What's..... wrong?"

Jonah: "I'm sorry I made you do this."

Charlotte Ruse: Well, that made no sense - and her face was a picture that told him she didn't understand at all. "What?"

Jonah: "You blamed me."

Charlotte Ruse: "I didn't!" she said adamantly. "Blamed you for what anyway?"

Jonah: "Leaving you and making you turn to...whatever that is." He gestured to the needle.

Charlotte Ruse: She looked down where he was pointing, to the needle she'd discarded and sighed, whispering and clinging to him. "Heroin. And..... it wasn't you"

Jonah: "You just said it was."

Charlotte Ruse: "No." She frowned, thinking back over what she'd said. "No. I didn't!"

Jonah: "You said it was because I left."

Charlotte Ruse: "Nuh uh!" She said adamantly. "You asked when I started. I said it was while you were gone. Not because!"

Jonah: "Then why did you start?"

Charlotte Ruse: "I.... am weak."

Jonah: "You're not weak."

Charlotte Ruse: "I am, I took it. I searched for it, found it, and vanished into it's embrace. And I love it!"

Jonah: "You...love it?"

Charlotte Ruse: "Mm Hm"

Jonah: He stepped away from her. "I'm sorry..."

Charlotte Ruse: "What for?" She frowned, standing there on the toilet as he moved away and feeling very alone and abandoned again

Jonah: "That this has happened to you." His mind whirled and he couldn't figure out what he should do. Keara, he should call Keara. "I have to go..."

Charlotte Ruse: Her face crumpled and she collapsed to sit on the toilet, her head on her knees and weeping. "You.... you're leaving me! Again! You don't want me! I knew.... knew it!"

Jonah: "I don't want you like this...this isn't you."

Charlotte Ruse: "SEE! SEE!" She sobbed. "You don't want me!"

Jonah: "I do I just...I don't want you to do this...I thought I was enough..."

Charlotte Ruse: She just sobbed into her hands, totally lost and unable to string her thoughts together to work out what he was saying and meaning. All she could think was that he didn't want her.

Jonah: She ignored him, likely because he was never good enough for her to begin with. Hanging his head, he whispered, "You can stay in the apartment and you won't lose your job. I'll stay on the farm."

Charlotte Ruse: "I'm... sorry.... I'm.... not.... good.... enough..... for..... you" She sobbed, listening as he planned to leave her.

Jonah: He was stone faced, retreating in to the emotionless void that was his killer side. "It's apparently me that was the issue since you had to do this to feel anything."

Charlotte Ruse: "I..... what?!" She looked at him, stunned, tears trickling down her face still.

Jonah: "You said you loved it, that you went looking for it. You needed something I can't give you."

Charlotte Ruse: She nodded her head. "A release, from the pain."

Jonah: He nodded. "So I'll leave you to it." Turning on his heel, he headed for the door.

Charlotte Ruse: "Kill me then!" She said, staring at his back.

Jonah: He paused. "No, I don't want to hurt you."

Charlotte Ruse: She stared at his still form, not understanding what he meant. "What.... do you think you're doing? By leaving me?!" She whispered and then reached for one of her daggers that she'd been working on. No hilt, just the blade, and held it over her chest - right where her heart was. "I will end it then" She whispered softly, looking at the floor. "If you don't want me - I have no reason to live."

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


Jonah: "Apparently you didn't before either," he gestured to the needle and the drug inside of it.

Charlotte Ruse: She didn't understand what he was saying or meaning, and just looked at the blade hovering over her chest and pressed it to her top resolutely, trying to find the courage and waiting for the word from him. "Jonah...."

Jonah: "I love you Char," he said with his back still to her, not knowing that she had a blade, unable to look at her now that he knew she didn't care about him.

Charlotte Ruse: "I love you too Jonah. Which is why.... if... if you leave.... me.... I'll end it. I can't..... I just..... not without you." Tears fell onto the blade, making it glisten in the light until she couldn't bear to look at it any longer and screwed her eyes up tight.

Jonah: "You mean not without that." He turned to gesture at the needle but as the blade in her hands and stepped forward, knocking it out of her hands. His demeanour grew colder. "You really don't care about anything, do you?"

Charlotte Ruse: She jumped in surprise and curled in on herself, readying to be beaten and just accepting it as what happened in her life, eyes still tight shut as she heard his tone cold and angry, with no love there at all. "I loved you at the start. I love you now. The drugs never made me feel more or less for... for you. They just took away they fear and the pain, made me happy, made me what you wanted, made me better - for you. So I might be..... be worthy of you." Tears were streaming from her eyes still as she lay there, snivelling and trying to explain to him how he was her whole world and without him, she had no world and was as good as dead anyways.

Jonah: All he heard was that she loved him at the start and that the drugs made her not hurt, not feel afraid. "So I hurt you..." he trailed off, unbelieving.

Charlotte Ruse: "No. Not you. Well.... sometimes. When you leave. When you're not with me. I need you Jonah!" Her voice was just a whisper, as she was confused as to why he'd not hit her yet.

Jonah: "I'm sorry I wasn't enough."

Charlotte Ruse: "I'm the one who wasn't good enough" She said, "Which is why you're leaving me!"

Jonah: "I've always been here. You're the one that found something else."

Charlotte Ruse: "I never left you. Never. You want to be enough? You want to take away the pain I'm in just now? Kill me! End it all. Then you will be free of me, then I won't feel this pain, this agony as you break my heart!"

Jonah: "You left me as soon as you put that in your arm."

Charlotte Ruse: "Then you've made your choice" She said, so softly it was barely there. She knew what needed to happen now. He would leave, walk out of the door. She would send Keara an apology, and then she would end it and put Jonah out of the misery she was obviously causing him.

Jonah: "This was your choice Char, I just wish I could have helped you." The way she cowered at his feet made him feel horrible. He had thought he made her feel safe, wanted, but obviously not. He would leave and she would be happy.

Charlotte Ruse: "I did it for you" Was all she could manage, so resigned to her fate now that there was no fight in her. He didn't want her. He didn't care. He didn't even know her truth, her secret - and he didn't want her. He would never accept the truth, accept her for who and what she was. He needed to be happy. And for him to be happy - it seemed like it was without her.

Jonah: "You hid it from me, if you cared about me, you wouldn't have tried to hide it."

Charlotte Ruse: "Why? Why wouldn't I want to hide the worst of me from you? You who are perfect. You who make me want to be better, to be my best. I thought it would help. And it did. You liked me more like that! You said! And now, now you know. You hate me and want rid of me!"

Jonah: "I'm not perfect. And you weren't really what you were pretending to be...it was fake. You lied to me. I wanted you to be happy, I wanted to make you happy. But I couldn't apparently, I wasn't enough."

Charlotte Ruse: "You were! You are! Why aren't you listening!" She cried out before breaking down again, her eyes opening to stare up into his.

Jonah: "Obviously," he said with bitter sarcasm. "My girlfriend had to use drugs to be happy."

Charlotte Ruse: "To not feel pain!" She mewled.

Jonah: "Because I hurt her apparently."

Charlotte Ruse: "Only when you vanish!" She sighed, "But that's not why. My whole body - it hurts. It burns. It's sore. That..." She pointed to the needle "Was all I found that helped. And you LIKED ME BETTER on it!" She reiterated forcefully.

Jonah: "Because I thought you were adjusting. I don't want you to lie and pretend to be ok if you're not.

Charlotte Ruse: "I don't want you disappointed in me!"

Jonah: "I'm disappointed that you lied to me. That you pretended to be happy and that you...hurt and never told me?"

Charlotte Ruse: "I thought it would hurt you to tell you. I thought I could cope, to be strong, like you wanted. So..... I found a way!"

Jonah: "If this is what you thought I wanted, then you never knew me."

Charlotte Ruse: "You wanted me happy. You wanted me strong. So I made it happen. I found a way to get rid of my pain. Look at you - look at how you're acting, how you're looking at me, how you just want to walk out and leave me. Why would I tell you anything, to then have you switch off anything you felt for me. To see you look at me with those cold and empty eyes and hear you talk to me like I'm nothing? Why not lie, so I can keep you, keep you happy."

Jonah: "You never gave me the chance, but if that's how you feel." He reached in to one of the many pockets of his jeans and fished around for the tome that would allow him to be transported directly to the eyrie. He needed to be alone and the farm was not secure. in his hut in the eyrie, he could think like he couldn't anywhere else.

Charlotte Ruse: "I can't lose you Jonah. I'd do anything to keep you!"

Jonah: "Then tell me. Everything."

Charlotte Ruse: She paled - if that were even possible - and stared at him with complete and utter fear. "Then you really will leave me!" she said in a whisper.

Jonah: "You don't know that." He brought the book all the way up. "But I will leave right now if you don't."

Charlotte Ruse: She brought herself up to a sitting position and curled her knees to her chest. He was going to leave her either way, and she was going to die. He couldn't hate her anymore than he already did - so was there really any difference? She sat there, her neck craned all the way back to stare up at him silently as her brain worked as best it could against the drug fog

Jonah: She just stared at him blankly and he shook his head. "Then I will leave you to it." His eyes began to scan over the words that would allow him to go to what he supposed would truly be his new home since he doubted he would ever come back to the asylum.

Charlotte Ruse: "I'm scared."

Jonah: Her words interrupted his focus and he looked back at her. "I am too. I didn't want this to end this way. I just...want you to be happy. Actually happy. And that's not with me."

Charlotte Ruse: "You.... didn't want it to end this way.... but.... you did want it to end?" Her lip quivered as she continued to stare, trying to hold it all together and balancing on the edge of losing it completely.

Jonah: His eyes had begun to soften as their conversation continued but when she accused him of wanting things to end, they hardened again and he read from the tome, disappearing immediately and finding himself at the base of the tree.

Charlotte Ruse: She had only been trying to understand what he wanted, what he was saying. So when he vanished from before her with a look that said it all, she felt her heart rip from her body at the same time. He was gone, he didn't want her, it was over, her life was over. He'd made his decision which in turn had made hers - and so with shaking hands, she crawled across the floor to retrieve the blade he'd knocked aside. He was gone. He didn't want her anymore. Which meant there was nothing else left for her here. It was time to end everyone's pain. Her fingers wrapped around the blade, feeling it before she saw it, and with tears rolling down her face she sat herself down again, propping herself up against the wall as she looked at the weapon of her destruction. She reached out to her powers and took a hold, pressing words into Keara's head first. "I'm sorry. I can't do this anymore. Jonah has left me - he was all I had, all I lived for. And he doesn't want me anymore. I will be gone. Forever. No longer an annoyance and a pain or a hassle or a mistake. Goodbye. And thank you." Her message sent, her words turned to press into Jonah's mind, words full of sorrow and pain, love and regret, all her feeling eeking into his mind as she couldn't restrain and control herself properly, the state she was in. "I'm sorry Jonah. I'll always love you, even though you hate me. Remember me fondly when I'm gone. I'm just..... so sorry. I love you forever!" And then staring at the blade, her eyes shut tight and she drove it into her chest.

Jonah: He was walking towards the portal when he collapsed from the emotions entering his mind coming from Char, too much for him to process but almost as soon as they were on him, they were gone again. The connection cut off in a way that he didn't understand.

Charlotte Ruse: She'd missed her heart by mms, but it didn't matter. She passed out from the pain, her hand drawing the blade from her body as it collapsed to her side and her blood flowed free from her body. It wouldn't be long until there was no blood left within her. And if that didn't kill her - the hunters that came during the day would finish her off. They always came, no matter where she was, they found her and hurt her. She would be gone and then everyone would be at peace and happy and able to move on with their lives.

Jonah: The things she had sent him had made no sense but with the connection severed, he had no way to contact her and she had made it readily apparent numerous times that she would not answer his phone when he called. Forcing himself to his feet, he finished the short trek to the elevator that ran up through the tree and listened to the hum of the motors that lifted him to residential level.

Charlotte Ruse: And so she lay there, bleeding out and not moving - accepting her fate for what it was.

Jonah: In his room, he pulled his phone from his pocket and texted her. "I'm sorry. I just wish you had trusted me."

Charlotte Ruse: Nothing registered, she was out for the count.

Jonah: Thinking back over the things that she had said to him, he tried calling her when the text went unanswered.

Charlotte Ruse: However, she was still passed out, and there was no signs of her coming too anytime soon. With Jonah not coming to her, and no-one else knowing where she was or what was going on…. When the hunters came for her when the sun was in the sky she was a sitting target for them. Laying her out, the daggers were raised high by them both and then plunged down together. One entering her brain, the other hitting her heart where she had missed before. Not more than one second later, she had crumpled in on herself and vanished into a pile of nothing more than ash. She died alone, and in her head, uncared for, unloved and dumped. The only witness to her death, her security camera that sat there blinking away and recording each and every second and every face that passed by.