Midnight Parisitosis [TAG: Az, Niko. Invite Possible?]

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

The streets were the sort of cold that one didn't feel on their skin. It wasn't a temperature that could be measured outside the depths of bone. Soul had deemed them lonely. No matter how many street lamps she walked by nor how many corners she turned, there never seemed to be anybody else in sight. If she dared stop to listen, there was only her breath against the night air.

Looking for a place to warm up seemed an easy enough task to jot down bullet point style, but the reality of accomplishment was a bleak one at best. Street names, local bars, abandoned warehouses, suburbs, banks. Familiar to a lifestyle point, but these were hardly the sorts of places she had grown up in. The fliers in the windows were different. The people felt off, what few people she had come in contact with earlier in the day. But now, there was nothing. After all, there was a saying that nothing good ever happened after midnight. How true that was...well Soul could argue both sides effectively should the need arise.

Even so, she felt eyes all around, watching, taunting. She was being sneered at. In the back of her mind a voice echoed songs, and Soul was certain there was someone tickling her brain with their tongue. Stop. I'm not in the mood for this. Stop. I don't like the way that feels.

Honeymead Library. Closed. Of course it was closed. Not once in her life could she recall a library that remained opened to patrons late into the sleeping hours. Perhaps once or twice, university students would mention something about camping out in the computer labs during finals, but surely those were temporary extensions of an otherwise limited time frame.

A mental note was taken as to the whereabouts of said library. Once day broke and the world came waking up with cups of coffee in tow, she'd run back down here. There really was no place more wonderful than a book-lined playground. Inside those walls all manner of things came to pass: dark-haired princes fighting off dragons for damsels in silk gowns, unicorns racing against saltwater tides from flaming bulls, ships that sailed through clouds to lands where elves and trees were next-door neighbors.

Real life was hardly that exciting. Sure, there were creatures beyond just humans and animals that roamed Earth's planes. She wasn't crazy in believing so, despite the popular belief she'd do better in an asylum. A clouded sigh pressed forward into the dark as her conversed-feet paused under a hanging sign. This was worse than being a tourist without a map. But the most annoying part was the constant itch along the inner rim of her left ear.

Surely she would have looked a fool. Perhaps to someone with a plague in their office and a pretty white coat, she might have been mistaken as a sufferer of Ekbom's. With limbs flailing in every direction, hair being whipped to and fro as she scratched at her arms and slapped the backs of her shoulders, that blonde-haired girl cried out in frustration.

"Just leave me alone!"

[Azraeth]

Gullsborough. As had been reported on the Worthington CrowNet, there was another building with a secret door that was in need of being explored. He had been invited to join a team by Prudence, but before he could go along to actually be of some service to the other members, he had a few stops to make. He had already stopped by the bank and a shop so that he could replenish both blood and his arcane reserves. Something told him that he was going to need to have some magic to spare if he was going to be of any real service. Unlike several of the other vampires in Harper Rock, his skills were not spread out. He was not a good fighter, nor hacker, nor was he a particularly good thief.

He knew rituals though? So there was that.

He had to stop through Honeymead to find Hollister. Avignon, as the wraith was commonly called, had been a French Italian witch in life. Azraeth had renamed him ceremonially, a reminder to the spirit as to which of them held the reigns of power.

Avignon had taken to stalking Nikolae, probably acting on some subconscious desire on Azraeth’s part to see more of his sire. Especially after the First Dragon had finally left his time of silence. While the thought was appreciated; it also made life a little difficult. Particularly when Az needed the ghost to do something else – like scout out raid floors.

He was clad in darkness, his suit a monochrome testament to his love for the colour black. There was only one splash of colour, and that came in the form of a solid carmine tie. Tucked into a sheath hidden under his suit jacket was a ceremonial dagger. Since he had all but given up on the concept of fighting, he had completely retired the Spinedancer – the bladed whip that had been his faithful companion for quite some time.

He had called Nikolae ahead and told the man to meet him right outside of the Station Net Café. The business was open past normal hours, to accommodate for the vampiric populace, and was actually a lot more useful than a normal cyber café. In fact, it had a shop inside, computers, crafting benches, and even an altar for ritualists. Az had personally used it several times before he had purchased the necessary furniture for himself. His hope was that the wraith would be taking along after Niko so that he could nab the being by its metaphysical ear and drag it off to be fruitful.

The Worthington witch found himself distracted though, nearly as soon as he stepped out of the station by what appeared to be someone flailing around outside of the library (which was near the café). They said something indistinct, and he decided that it would be best to approach and see if he could be of any service. He had been raised to believe that it was of key importance to be a polite and contributing member of society. His black scarf was adjusted around his neck as he neared her. “Is everything alright here?”

[Nikolae]

Nikolae could never quite shake the feeling that he was being watched, a unique experience for a man with eyes that had haunted more than their fair share over the years. Even now he glanced over his shoulder every few moments, eyebrows stitching together in frustration to find the streets behind him once again still empty. He'd only just finished raiding a building and killing everything non-vampire in his path. His pockets were a bit heavier, and he had a brand new long dagger to show for his efforts - even if he hadn't managed to capture a new relic.

The Dragon had gotten his childes summons but, as he wasn't one to answer summons from anyone even if it was his beloved Raeth, he'd still returned to the Temple for a much needed shower and change of clothes. For some reason those raids always left him in tattered clothing and covered in blood and gore. He'd dressed in comfortable jeans and a sweater, his usual black leather jacket over that mostly to hide his weapons than for cover against the new chill of the city. It had bloody wells snowed the other night!

He'd just turned the corner toward the Station Net Cafe when he heard a woman calling out in some sort of distress. Cursing under his breath he beelined toward the noise - it would be just his luck to stumble on another of his crazed brethren killing some poor mortal right in the middle of the damned street and under a lamp post no doubt. Not for the first time, Nikolae questioned his desire to return to the police-town where nothing and nobody seemed safe or trustworthy and hadn't been since the day he'd tasted his first mouthful of blood.

The Dragomir came to a stop near Raeth, glad at least he'd found his childe, but tilted his head in clear confusion at the clearly mortal woman having a fit. He found himself uttering his new phrase, "What would Raeth do?" And then laughed as he realized the immortal in question was actually there for his question. He smirked unrepentently and shrugged.

"Lady!" He called out, in the fashion of the Americans. "Do you need a hospital?" He bit back the rest of the sentence, which mostly would've consisted of asking if she needed a straight jacket too.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

As if the flip of a switch had been slammed down against the wall at the nearly simultaneous questions, everything stopped. Soul stood still as stone, eyes wide and white as if she were portraying a scene from Bambi and the Hunter. She had longed to see another person, hadn't she, and yet this was hardly a satisfactory way of having her wish granted. Two strange men, middle of the night, her in a throw of apparent insanity. Even so, there was something so overwhelming relieving about it at all. No more voices, no little claws digging and ripping at her skin. In an odd way her mental self was already on its knees saying thanks.

Soul opened her mouth to speak, giving nothing to the ears of the two men. What was she to say? No matter how many times someone caught her battling these forsaken demons, it never once got easier to try and explain or lie it all away. Swallowing down all the jitters of nerves, she gave it another go.

“Is everything alright here?” No, not really. Well, it was now. She hoped.

"Lady! Do you need a hospital?" She shook her head.

Her voice could only be described as mellifluous, corresponding perfectly to the supple satin of her pale complexion. It was childlike only in its innocence and curiosity.

"I'm alright. I don't need to go to the hospital." She bit her lip, realizing a bit late that it would probably help her case to explain why she was thrashing about in the middle of the sidewalk so late at night when all the other girls her age would have already been tucked up in their fleece blankets dreaming of bright gold fields and handsome princes. "I...It felt like there was a spider. I thought I walked into a web."

The cutest little grin was pushed up on her lips, and despite the white lie told, that expression was genuine. A spider. She would never accidentally run into a web like an idiot. How much trouble that would be for any arachnid, and her. But there was no way these two would know such a thing. But who were these men, she wondered.

Maybe there should have been some flight or fight tugging at her insides. Maybe she should have already thanked them for their concern and been on her way, looking over her shoulder every eight steps or so to make sure she wasn't being followed. Maybe, were she the normal sort of girl, she'd pull out her phone and have the police ready to dial. The thing was, Soul wasn't doing any of those things, but instead just standing there, knees nearly knocking together as she tried to straighten her slub tunic sweater back over her breasts, the peach an odd contrast to such snow white skin.

[Azraeth]

Her voice had a lyrical quality to it, sweet in timbre. There was something light and airy to her, some facet of her being that was not solidly grounded in flesh and stone, nor in grit and bone. Like if Az had reached out, his fingertips might have passed right through her. He almost wanted to, see if she was one of the spectres that haunted his mind from time to time. Perhaps not. And so he kept his hands to himself, though his masked gaze stayed trained on her intention hidden in much the way those inhuman, serpentine pupils were. He wore a hesitant smile, as if he were waiting to be told a little bit of good news – like he knew it was coming, and didn’t quite have the patience for it. But that was Azraeth. He was, by all accounts, pleased when he got to meet someone new.

His lower lip was drawn carefully between his teeth, which rolled lightly back and forth over it in the working of his jaw. It wasn’t a nervous gesture so much as a contemplative one. Because his sire had found him and Az was curious about that. What would Raeth do, indeed? Well, the woman seemed to be clean and intelligent. Out of place, but she appeared to be in control of her faculties enough that he wouldn’t have felt bad in leaving right then. In most cases, he would have, because he rarely interacted with humans. He found that was the best way to avoid unwanted attention.

She said that she was fine, but was she really? Out at night?

The living amongst the dead.

Az had recently seen one of his kind rather openly attack someone, left behind a bloody mess as well. It wasn’t really his business to ensure she was safe from other preternatural predators but…in for a penny, in for a pound, as they said.

“Nikolae.” He said by way of greeting, a fuller smile offered to his sire even as he backed a step to lean briefly into the man’s side. There was no real warmth there, but there was the comfort of touch. Dragons were like that in his experience. They ran to one of two extremes, either hating physical contact with the animosity of a territorial wolf – or they craved contact with their own kind. Az fell into the latter category, much he suspected, to Niko’s chagrin.

“Where are you headed? My friend and I can see you there if you like.” What he didn’t say was that there were all manner of dark things that roamed the streets. It wasn’t even the vampiric population that was most dangerous. There were fadebeasts, and the occasional escaped zombie or feral vampire that somehow found their way out of the Quarantine Zone. Most humans, Az suspected, knew to stay in doors when night began to fall. Or at least, there were enough rumours flying around that they were careful with where they chose to go.

Or maybe they didn’t care at all. He realized, at that moment, he didn’t know very much at all the way people thought anymore. Not really.

Did that make him out of touch with his humanity?

Whatever the case, he extended a hand in greeting. “I’m Az, by the way.” Are you new here?

[Nikolae]

Nikolae still wasn't quite sure he was buying her fumbled excuse for her odd antics. He kept a wary eye on her as his childe stepped closer, and stiffened at the brush of Azraeth's body to his own. It wasn't necessarily that he didn't welcome the affection, he simply didn't tend to give it in public. Enemies seemed to be lurking around every corner of this town anymore - even if he hadn't yet made them. People who would sooner cut a throat out than say hello, and Nikolae wasn't the least bit interested in showing his weaknesses for any prying eye to see. And his devotion to his blood was his sole Achilles heel. Still, the Dragon dipped his head in greeting to his first borne, a hand lifting to graze the back of his knuckles along the Mystic's jawline.

"Raeth." He replied simply. His gaze had strayed to the man with the little exchange, but that was how Nikolae tended to operate where the few beings he truly cared about were concerned. They were granted the entirety of his attention, when it was demanded.

Pleasantries aside, the Dragon slid his slitted gaze back to the odd mortal woman. There was something beguiling about her, that much was true. She also didn't ping any warning bells in his head. The sprite of a woman didn't appear to be able to lift a weapon much less wield it in the direction of a vampire. Not a hunter then. A small relief in a town filled with more animosity than even the slums of the cities in America.

"Yes... we can guard you from more spiders, if you'd like." He added to Raeth's statement, and flashed the boyish charming smile that had, in his mortal years, gotten him the sort of dates all teenagers dreamed of. Short, satisfying, and memorable. He dreamed of other things now, of course, but the muscle memory still allowed him to play the part when he chose. And in truth, he was choosing to play it more and more since his return.

He was half tempted to step closer to the woman, but scaring her off probably wouldn't aid in what he assumed was Raeth's desire to see to her safety. One less dead human would probably be a benefit for the entire race, so far as Nikolae was concerned. And if the cost was an hour or two of his time, it was a small price to pay for a man who had unlimited hours left to him. "I go by Nikolae," He added with a nod. He was normally a touch more formal, but the girl was only human after all. Surnames wouldn't mean much to her, especially those of a vampire clan.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

Nkolae. It was a name that could very well have originated from several different places. Russia was of course the initial thought, only because she herself was born there. Still, the possibility of this man having Polish or Romanian roots was there. Perhaps he would say something like he was a descendant of some Bulgarian noble she had never been taught about in history class. In the end, she decided, it didn't really matter from where his name had come, only that it was now how she would refer to him.

There was the most subtle fleck of curiosity that touched over the grey rimming of her eyes as she watched the men. Introduced as a friend, Soul was skeptical, believing more was there than met the eye. . The way that no one else in the world seemed to matter to the men in that moment aside from one another, as if they were in fact the whole world. Even the closest of friends didn't feel the need to invade one another's space so easily. At least, not where she was from. Tolerance for sexual discrepancies were at a most unfortunate all-time low in the motherland. Nevertheless, if these men said they were friends, of course they must have meant it. Friends who possessed the most interesting names....Az.

Surely it was a shortened version of a much more appealing name. Azrael was the name of a certain angel, if her memory served her correctly. The man didn't look to be an angel, though, sporting about in the night. To her, angels were supposed to emit some pure aura, a heavenly substance that instantly turned dark to light. No, he was no angel, but she was hardly convinced he was normal. In all her years of living, could she have finally come across someone like her, someone more tied to the things you couldn't see with just your eyes? A foolish thought for a foolish girl.

While she appreciated the offer and the idea of traveling companions was more than enticing, the girl really had no set destination to speak of. Trying to provide the name of a place would likely do more harm to her current situation by giving away just how lost and alone she truly was. The few places she had managed to etch into the lines of her memory were those only blocks behind from the way she had come already. An escort 'home' could prove suspicious if she took the lead and ended up venturing off unknowingly into the commercial district.

"I was just out for a bit of fresh air. The sun isn't exactly my friend, light skin and all, so I prefer getting out after hours." After hours and after midnight were two different things, however. "I won't ask you to escort me on a trip around the block. That'd be boring, right? And I probably scared all the other spiders away, so.." She laughed a little, sounding like she was conversing with good friends rather than complete strangers. Her smile the sort that spread like fire, she ducked her head, coming up with fingers laced over her mouth in order to keep herself from further falling into a pit of giggles as she was apt to do when happy. Odd though, how a scenario such as this spelled happiness.

Not once did she mention where she might reside, how long she had been in the city, the fact that they were her first legitimate interaction in Harper Rock. Going through all the things she purposefully wasn't telling, her eyes widened and she squeaked out through near embarrassment. "Oh! Right! My name is Soul!" One spindly arm thrust out for a firm shake.

[Azraeth]

Soul was an odd name, Az supposed, for something of an oddity.

Not that he had any room to judge. His own parents had named he and his brother after angels. Azariel was by far better known than Azraeth in the pantheon of the spiritual. In life, they had followed that dynamic. Azariel had prospered, become the golden child that any parent might have wanted. He had been healthy, strong, intelligent. Raeth on the other hand, had been small, and timid. He had lost himself in the world of fantasy novels and comics. Escapism had been his coping mechanism for a household that was not entirely tolerant of a pagan, bisexual, stoner – the trifecta of rebellion against a fundamentalist Christian family.

By the time he had been old enough to get out on his own, his habits had been too deeply ingrained. Nikolae had been the one to see something in him, some kind of spark of something special. Nikolae had been the only one up to that point to ever look at him and think he was worth more than what one got at face value. The man had shown faith in him, protected him, loved him. The bond of sire and childe was a complex one. Most only understood it to be physical. Blood for blood, but that was not the case. Vampires were inherently spiritual beings, creatures of energy. An exchange of darkness was what truly turned their kind, and from that came a bond that could either be embraced or rebelled against.

He had chosen the former option.

Azariel had chosen to be alone. There were flyers up around the city and in the police departments for a face that resembled Azraeth’s true visage. Though it was harder, leaner. Az suspected that his twin had gotten caught doing something he wasn’t meant to. He worried for him. But he also trusted that the man knew how to take care of himself.

That had been a mistake he’d made in the past. Trying to smother his sibling. Azariel had fled. Azraeth still would have moved heaven and earth to protect him, because that was the nature of blood. To cherish. One flesh abiding, strong and unifying. The motto by which he lived.

“As you say, though something tells me you didn’t come here with the intention to stand on the street.” He replied a moment later, making it clear that he was willing to extend that escort offer to wherever she might deem safe. A public place? “I’m a bit of a night owl myself though. Have you ever seen the woods illuminated by nothing but moonlight? The way it filters through the leaves is enchanting, and easily one of the most breathtaking sights in our little town.” He actually could not go into the wilderness when the moon was full, because for that one night a month, his powers were completely stripped from him. The fae did not seem to realize that though, and would attack one of his kind regardless of how helpless they were. But the fae were fiercely protective of their land, nature, the world of life in which his kind were not welcome. It made gathering certain ritual ingredients interesting.

“A pleasure to meet you, Soul. Your accent is familiar. Are you from Russia?” Andrei had been Az’s best friend growing up. He had turned the other man years before, when Andrei had killed his grandparents. They had left behind evidence to suggest that the Russian born man had died as well in a massive fire so that the police would not investigate further. It had been months since Azraeth had seen Andrei, though from him he had gained fluency in Russian as a language. “Добрый вечер.”

Добрый вечер = good evening

[Nikolae]

It was far too chilly for the air to be considered fresh, Nikolae thought to himself. Especially where warm-blooded, easily-sickened humans were concerned. He shifted on his feet, stuffing his own hands into the pockets of his leather jacket. The move caused one or two of his weapons to dislodge slightly, so he straightened his form until they'd been planted right where they need to be. In Azraeth's presence, the Dragon was twice as vigilant as he would be alone. He could defend himself without a thought, and slaughter the most ruthless of creatures - man and beast alike. But Raeth wasn't like Nikolae. The younger Dragon depended almost solely on his magick - magick Nikolae still had a hard time trusting himself. The stuff wasn't exactly fool-proof, at least not nearly as fool proof as burying a knife into an enemies gut or blowing their brains out from point-blank range with an uzi.

It wasn't that Raeth couldn't pick up a weapon, if he chose. Or that Mystic had any problems at all with killing others - he'd once walked side by side with Nikolae as they'd taken out their grievances against fellow vampires at the pointy end of a blade and sent the former-enemies on a two-week vacation to the Shadow Realm. No, Raeth had a vicious mean-streak when the situation called for it. The problem, Nikolae surmised, was that to Raeth the situation rarely called for it. Especially where his own safety was concerned. And the elder Dragon just wouldn't stand for that. Raeth was an enigma in a city full of the same half-crazed, blood-obsessed, bitchy and rude vampires that made up their little society. In the human world those creatures would be considered the outcasts of society, but somehow they'd made themselves a dime a dozen in the vampire race. Nikolae had a few thoughts on that matter - namely that a lot of sires needed their fangs yanked out of their skulls - but he rarely got a say in who was given the blood and who wasn't. Which was a shame.

The girl seemed skittish, but unafraid. That would either suit her just fine or get her killed. His serpentine golden gaze passed around the shadowy area they were standing in with a vampires calculation. She'd probably get killed if left alone, he surmised easily. Which, he supposed, was exactly why his first borne seemed so insistent on seeing her to her destination. Though, the woods at night weren't exactly a safe place either, the Dragomir thought ruefully. He still remembered, with vivid clarity, the night he'd fallen asleep just outside the borders of the wilderness. A fae had beaten the ever loving **** out of him. Then, too weak to crawl to safety, he'd been burnt to a crisp in the sun. As night had come again, another fae had made an easy target of him. It had taken nearly a week to recover from all his wounds - and Raeth had served as a mother hen through it all, clucking and tsking and shaking his head. To this day, Nikolae shied away from the damned place. Who needed bears anyways?

"Some do find it very beautiful at night," Nikolae added somewhat distracted. If they went there he'd most certainly have to play the part of bodyguard for both his childe and this frail looking human. Still, she seemed sweet enough. And better to play bodyguard than funeral director later should the wrong vampire stumble on her. She seemed lost, and most certainly alone. Exactly the kind of meal some of his less-than-discerning brethren would find appetizing. Worse, she could be turned against her will. And then that sweet demeanor would be twisted, like it had been with so many others before her, and she'd wind up another of those same mindlessly violent vampires he'd ruminated on only moments before.

"You should come. We were headed there anyways. Or if you've somewhere else to be we can make sure you get there safely before we're on our way," He finally added smoothly, face a mask of innocent interest. He'd grown a lot better at portraying the emotions he wished others to see lately. It was a lot less intimidating than the neutral almost stony expressions he'd taken on in the past.

[Soul (DELETED 5864)]

Soul's eyelashes batted down against her smooth skin for a brief moment of pleasant surprise. It had been the anti-angel that called for a Russian acknowledgement. The smile was one seen only in her eyes and heard just enough in her voice."Да, я родился в анадырь." She wondered if the man had any knowledge of geographical Russia at all. Anadyr certainly wasn't Moscow, nor was it some highly-populated city with stories of old for all the tourists. There were stories, however, stories that only the locals bothered to believe in. The little town was quaint, Soul thought. Home, but in the most unsettling way.

The girl shifted in the street, tugging the ends of her scarf in toward her stomach only to rework the entire thing idly during conversation. The fabric still smelled of sandalwood and pine, a scent one would eventually come to recognize as one of her favored aromas. She listened to them both, letting the wheels inside her head turn.

The thought of going to see the wilderness so late in the night was tempting. Entirely too tempting. It would be the perfect place for anyone to take advantage of a lost little girl, and considerably more easy when there was an extra set of hands involved. Without even having to calculate the pros and cons, the risk factors were overwhelmingly evident. Just how little value did she place on her life to even flirt with the idea of going there. But as she looked around at the empty streets, the trash-lined gutters with their frosted neglect, she realized how disagreeable a decision it would be to not take a chance. There was next to nothing for her to lose, even if it meant her life.

"You would take me to see that?" Her eyes narrowed in the slightest at Az, foot pushing her weight the tiniest bit forward in anticipation. Like an owl, the girl's head snapped to the second man, Nikolae. "I want to see it myself, so that I can decide if it's beautiful or not. A lot of people don't understand real beauty." Of course it would be magnificent; there were no doubts. But this was an opportunity she wouldn't miss out on. Trying to get there herself would take far longer than her current patience level had.

Just like that, Soul had transformed into a confident being. Capricious no more, she seemed quite taken with her men of the night. It was evident in the way she moved toward them now and took it upon herself to ensure their gentlemanly ways. Nikolae's arm was now wrapped up in one of her own as if there had always been a familiarity there. It was no different at all when she reached out for Az, svelte fingers falling down over his coated bicep.

"Внешность обманчива" It was a playful way to remind both Az and Nikolae that she had dared to place her trust in their hands, just as they had done the same with allowing her any closer to them than a simple passing on the street. Granted, the fact of the matter was that she was the only one that even possessed victimization potential of the three, being human. But being human did not always equal being weak and powerless, and how were they to know the entire thing hadn't been some huge set up, a grand play to help one of those no-good bloodsuckers of the city tear down what he deemed an abomination to vampire kind. Still yet, this little Russian girl could have been in cohorts with some of the highest ranking paladin in the country. Yet here they were, the three of them, choosing to walk down a road near blind, fingers lacing under the girl's command. Az to her left. Nikolae to her right. After all, if they were offering to protect her, why not shield the world from both sides?

With an almost giddy grin, Soul looked up at the men whose arms she held, writing off the unusual aura they emitted as nothing more than paranoia for strangers and the unknown. This, she thought inwardly, was going to be fun.

"Да, я родился в анадырь." = "Yes, I was born in Anadyr."
"Внешность обманчива" = Appearances are deceptive."