Path of the Vampire forum

Klara was slowly adjusting to living life alone once again. Each day seemed to be running into the rest, bright spots here and there but mostly boredom….the kind of boredom that makes you insanely crazy, that makes you not care about anything anymore. She realized it was time she made herself get into a routine and start living life once again.

Crawling out of bed, she threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, pulling her hair back not caring what she looked like. She had never been like half the women in this city who thought they had to look like they were going to a movie premier rather than just running errands. What she had that many of those women did not have was a natural beauty. In her plainness her true beauty showed, she did not need makeup and fancy clothes to be beautiful, but sadly, her husband’s attraction to the peacocks of the city had made her doubt and quit believing in herself.

Setting out in the cold, she wanted to do something normal, something so very human. Walking past one of those stores that were a mix of both department store and market, she looked up at the sign and smiled realizing how much she had missed shopping for groceries. Slipping into the store, she simply walked around looking to see what the entire store held. She made her way around to the different departments picking things up here and there to examine closer thinking maybe it was time to redecorate.

As she returned to where she started, she grabbed a basket and slid a few items into it. Lotion, a book, a pad of paper and pens, a bottle of wine and some cheese and went to stand in line. She wondered if the lines were always this long remembering that this was the part of the trip she hated. She shifted from leg to leg, listening to the music play mixed with the beep of the scanner. The checkout girl seemed bored with life and Klara could not blame her. The same thing every day, people bitching at you, or ignoring you could not be much of an existence but she looked young and would most likely go to college and have a better job, or at least she hoped that was in the girl’s future.

Klara’s thoughts jumped from thing to thing, replaying the past few months through her mind to fantasies of killing certain people to new the people she had met. She was watching some man in front her begin to give the girl a hard time. The girl was patiently trying to deal with him but to no avail. As she was getting ready to ask the man to back off, the girl attacked him. She heard the thud against his skull and the tinkling of glass, the smell of the olive oil pungent to her in the space. Klara watched in horrified fascination as she beat and stabbed the man over and over. Other patrons soon were crowding around taking pictures and video of this poor girl. The attacked seemed to go on for a very long time, the scent of his blood sweet in the air making her hungry. She was wounded and needed strength; she felt her fangs begin to lengthen as she laid her basket on the belt and made her way out of the back of the crowd. She knew she should pull the girl off but she could not, she was attracting too much notice. Klara slipped out the door unnoticed.

"I still want to kill him," Mircea rumbled as he pushed the shopping cart along the aisle while Habren moved back and forth, picking up this and that and setting it in for later purchase. It wasn't terribly dissimilar to the markets they had been used to in their youth, so long as they chose carefully what they picked up and didn't stray into the overly processed garbage that seemed to be so popular in the modern times. It barely resembled food at all as far as Mircea was concerned and, thankfully, those they were shopping for seemed to be more than content with real, recognisable food that could be seen and smelt and touched without being surrounded by plastic and demanding of a microwave.

Yule and Christmas had very nearly gone horribly wrong when Ripper, during one of his more unhinged moments, had taken his Habren from him in the most cowardly of ways, striking when they rested, but she was home with him again at last and they had quickly settled back into their usual routines and celebrations as the small, if unusual, family that they had crafted for themselves, immediate and extended alike. The holidays, past and present alike, always made for an abundance of food and repeated journeys such as this to forage for all those little extras that seemed particularly enjoyable at that time of year.

Beneath all of the festivities and joy, though, in those quiet, dark little moments where it was just him and the niggling whispers in his mind, there was a deep seated rage that wouldn't be sated until blood paid for blood and it was that darkness that niggled at Mircea as they chose fruits and vegetables for the house and debated good-naturedly about surprising Michael and Catherine with something or other. He wanted little more than to drag the ******** beyond the limits of the veil and remove head from neck and, though another had banished him to the Fade for a time, it wasn't enough for Mircea to have not had a hand in it himself.

He could almost smell the blood, almost hear the screams he imagined there would be, but... No... He could smell the blood and he could hear the screams, but they weren't his doing or from the appropriate source. His head swivelled and his eyes tracked trying to catch the source of the unrest. "Habren? Do you smell that?" he asked, beginning to move towards the scent, cart abandoned and forgotten almost against his will. There was blood on the air and the rage that had settled deep within him from the night Habren was taken from him was drawn to it and would heed no call to resist. He had to see what was to be seen and suddenly, for the first time in a long while, Mircea Grigori was well and truly hungry.

"Why are you buying that disgusting stuff?"She looked at what her assistant manager had got from a shelf with distaste.

"Is for a party," the red head explained as she sat the large cardboard wine serving box into her shopping cart. "Easier and cheaper than buying multiple bottles."

"You mustn't like your friends very much," the girl in gypsy apparel tisked as she looked through the selections of bath oils. "We work right near several quality liquor stores, but you insist on coming to this place to buy a box of fermented poison? I could have made you that much for free even!"

"Oh stop!" Jennifer sighed as she waited for her employer to finish. "Bubble bath?"

"I like bubbles-sue me! I am spending my time off from the shops in pleasurable pursuits and one of them is a long, hot, amazing bath." Zodiac whispered in her mind as she added her selections to the cart. "Now, do we need anything else from this massive nightmare of a all-in-one store?" The mystic was never a fan of the major stores. Memories of childhood and security guards following her around because it was so obvious she was a thief still held a sting to her.

"No, that should do it. All I got was wine duty for the party. So, what's your big plans for the New Years Eve stuffs?" The two began making their way to the front of the store to check out.

"Not much really. See if Tempy and I can manage to be in the same spot for a few hours. Just hang out." she shrugged. "Going to a big party is nice, but I am wore out from the shopping blitz. Just want to relax."

The pair work their way to the express lane and progressed quickly. As Zodiac swiped her card for the girl at the register, she cocked her head and looked down the rows or registers. Nothing was apparent but something was about to happen. She was sure of it.

"You ready?" Jennifer had the bag and box in tow, but her employer waved her to be still for a moment.

"Just watch," Zodiac cautioned her. A few moments when by without event till a woman who worked here several registers down suddenly took a bottle and broke it across the side of his head.

"Holy ****!" Jennifer exclaimed.

"Oh dear. Remember when you asked me what 'going postal' meant, Jennifer? Right there!" the mystic pointed at the scene. "That girl has finally had enough of all of this and Mister Man there was the proverbial straw that broke the back."

"Are you going to do something?" The girl watched at the clerk continued to hammer away at the man.

"Yes, I am. I am going to keep you away from her. When a bottle like that finally explodes, you have no clue how much anger and rage is flowing out of her right now. Best thing I can do is keep you safe till she finally wears down." the gypsy continued to watch carefully as her thoughts teased around the edges of the girl's mind a bit. "Eureka? What a charming name," she nodded. Zodiac had not gone too deep, but rather skimmed the surface for a few basics about the woman. "I wonder if she shouted her own name when that bottle made contact with that guy's skull."

Jennifer made to move but was stopped as Zodiac grabbed her arm. The thrall tried to pull free but the deceptively small woman has strength in her hands. "Actually? I fully expected you to do that to me one day when you finally had enough of the things I put you through." She explained as she watched the drama play out.

Not sure if I am the type of sire required, so consider this just observers in the store if nothing else.

The pair of elders had been idling about the large, too-bright store for long enough in Habren's estimation; even if it was for good reason, she was certain the brilliance of the sharp, fluorescent lights would blind them both if they didn't eventually work their way out of the place. Still, she was enjoying the supposedly mundane activity with him - it was just enough outside of their norm that it might even be deemed fun. The element of surprise in what they might bring home for their human charges lent a bit of excitement to it, too, and so she had good-naturedly braved the cold, the crowds, and the stark, almost clinical nature of the place at Mircea's gentle wheedling.

Still, despite the fun, their conversation had turned toward a topic that was becoming worryingly common over the last few weeks. Habren could not remember much about the attack that had sent her to the darkness, but once her senses had been restored in a few short days, helped along by some dear friends she still needed to properly thank, she had had a good amount of time to think, stew, and let the rages seep in where they would, in equal measure. And yet, once she had returned topside, with Mircea waiting for her with open arms, flooded with relief to see him and their blood again, all of it seemed to fade out a bit. The revenge she had longed for while stalking the darkness suddenly seemed not quite so important; yes, she had been wronged, but the week of pure night had also given something back to her, a gift if there ever was one. The knowledge that her family and friends cared, that they were angry over how she'd been taken away, did her heart good. It restored her full faith in those she loved, and in what it meant to be Grigori, a meaning she had only imparted to the newest progeny a short week or so prior. But one thing that had stayed constant, through it all, was that underlying current - a need for revenge... it simply did not belong to her any longer.

She placed a hand upon Mircea's arm, her features settling into a calm, relaxed look in an effort to fill herself with those two traits, all the better to try and help him prevent the ignition of a growing fury she knew bubbled just under the surface. "I know, my love... and you will. But on your own terms, and on your own say-so... not because rage forced your hand." She murmured the words in a soothing tone, trying to press the point in as gentle a way as she knew - through purely innocent (or not so innocent) distraction. A coquettish look was sent his way, one that she could almost watch taking root in some subconscious part of his brain, until...

Blood. Faint at first, quickly followed by shouts, then screams. Her brows rose in surprise; it sounded bad, from the short distance, and Mircea was already hypnotized by a need to investigate... or worse. Images of their Jameson's turning flashed through her head; that same look was painted upon her husband's face and she'd be damned if she allowed such a thing to happen again. Not while she stood right beside him when that mood struck to do some damage...

"Mircea, do not," she said, her tone clipped and no longer as sweet or cajoling, in an effort to snap him out of it. "Please... please. We can go look, but please... let us keep our distance...and our heads about us..."

"Just a look," he agreed, the rational part of his mind fully aware that they could little risk anything more than a brief look to sate his curiosity about who or what was causing such a disturbance in what was usually a quiet, uneventful part of the city. Unfortunately, the much more primal part of him wanted to follow the blood right to its source and indulge in whatever violence had brought it to spill. The hunger and rage coursed through his veins in equal measure, but he stayed close to Habren, hoping that she would be - as she so often was - enough to quell that part of him and bring it to heel.

What he found, upon parting the panicked crowd to get a better look was not at all what he would have expected: A waif of a girl bloodying a far larger looking man. It would have been easy to think that this was the work of an out of control vampire, but the scent on the air told a different story. No, this was a mortal girl who had, for whatever reason, completely lost her sense of reason and it was perhaps that lack of understanding that had whipped the onlookers into even more of a frenzy than violence would cause. Societies past and present alike almost expected men to be violent and to lose control of themselves, but not women and particularly not women who didn't look like any kind of threat to those around them.

Security arrived at almost the same moment as the pair of vampires worked their way to a suitable vantage point and the fight escalated still further. Fear mixed with adrenaline and suddenly the stakes seemed higher. Attack was one thing, but capture would be quite another and the consequences for such a violent attack in such a public place would be dire indeed, but that was where the problems truly began to spiral beyond Mircea's control. The girl and her behaviour had shifted drastically. On the attack, she had been a predator - someone to be observed and, in their way, respected for what they did, but as soon as she wrestled free of the guard's grasp and took flight she became prey and prey was to be hunted down by beings like Mircea.

He growled low in his throat and tracked the movement out of the doors and into the night, staring out long after she had disappeared from sight as his fangs lengthened. He was supposed to... Needed to... Habren had said... Control. There was supposed to be control. Discretion. What had happened to discretion? To maintaining the secret of what they were and the nature that went along with it? Rage, of course, was the answer, and it was so difficult to deny it when it whispered such truths in his mind as vengeance and predation. What hope had he to resist when he couldn't help but agree with the urges within him?

She was a fighter. The gypsy would give her that much. Keeping a hold of Jennifer to keep her out of the potential mess, she watched the girl struggle with security. She could empathize with her. How many times in the past has she herself turned into a hyper active pile of worms trying to break loose from the grip of a guard or a cop for reasons real or imagined on their part?

"Well, they got her," Jennifer sighed.

"I don't think so," Zodiac smirked just as the Eureka girl managed a one-two combo the security man could not shrug off. "Oh, that had to hurt!" she grinned as the girl dashed for the door. "Run, rabbit, run." she laughed in her thoughts. While the rest of the gawkers were debating what happened, she was vanishing like a poot in the wind. She wished the girl luck. There was only so much crap anyone could expect someone working a job like this to swallow and keep smiling away about it. At least she didn't kill the guy, as far as she could tell.

Suddenly a second individual rushed by and followed the girl out the door. Apparently someone had kept their wits about them. "And.......their off!" The race was on now.

"Say, wasn't that...?" Jennifer asked as she chewed her fingernail.

"Was what who?"

"That guy. Wasn't he the one we did the mad rush to get the chapel ready for? The first wedding-sorry, binding-you did in the upstairs in Pandy's? That was the groom, wasn't it?"

"Mircea?" the gypsy thought about it for a second. "Yeah, or else it was his stunt double. No, that wasn't Mircea. Why the hell would he be shopping in a place like this?"

"Like I'd know?" Jennifer shrugged her shoulder.

"C'mon, let's get out of here before the rent-a-cops realize they should be chasing after her and clog up the entrance. Donut munching do-nothings!" the girl fumed as the two of them walked to the automatic doors and stepped out into the night.

Klara pulled her coat a little tighter as the winter wind began to blow, swirling the falling snowflakes around in the air. “Damn it’s cold out here,” she whispered to no one in particular wondering why she still felt the cold. Others did not seem to feel it but she always had noticed temperature. She quickened her step wanting to get to the transit and home to sit in front of the fire.

The looked at the sidewalk not paying attention to anything going on around her when someone ran past her, almost knocking her down. She grabbed the light post as to steady herself yelling at the person, “Hey slow it down, you’re gonna kill someone out here!”

Shaking her head and mumbling her head suddenly snapped up recognizing that outfit. She stood starring as she continued to run. “Hey...Hey girl…are you ok?” she yelled after her but she didn’t stop. She wondered what happened and why she had no coat on and was fleeing like the hounds of hell was on her path.

Seeing no way to help Klara continued on her way making a mental note to buy a car soon.

Chad love the cold. He loved it far before this town became filled with vampires but he loved it more now because the layers gave him more anonymity. As tall and broad as he was, there was no hiding that, but buried in a London fog trench, scarf, hat and gloves he could stay hidden from his many failures. His failed vision for vampire kind. His failed hope for a united future free hunters. And his failed attempt at a bloodline. This was his greatest failure. Perhaps he sired poorly, or perhaps he just didn't have the skills necessary to lead such a diverse and mentally dominate group. Either way, his failures defined him, and without a family, he was just another lost soul. But more like a lost body, because as dead as he was inside, there could be no soul.

It had been weeks since he had fed. Feeding meant getting out in the open. And that meant the possibility of running into other vampires. Something he wanted to avoid at all costs. These creatures were reckless. Having somehow survived the absolute culling of our kind, Chad knew far too well where the bold actions of these younglings would eventually end up. And without unity, one day, they will bring upon their heads the same extinction as before. 200 years spent in that shadow realm. He would not endure another 200 he knew for sure. No longer close with his brother Silver, there would be nothing to anchor him. The void would be quick to call him. But maybe, when they came, he wouldn't be found. Maybe his name would have faded into myth by then, and he would be able to enjoy his eternity. Ha, we can all dream...

Blood! Chad's senses screamed. Mmmmm, and the delicious smell of fear. Not far from here. Celerity allowed him to move quickly, hopefully unseen, but as hungry as he was, he wanted to see, smell and taste.... Just then running around the corner was this skinny young girl, hands drenched in blood, right before him. Trying to escape from something she was adamant about avoiding everything and anyone, but this meant nothing to Chad. Her cat like reflexes were just that, a cat vs a tiger, and he snatched her off the ground and into his curled arm.

She smelled so good. He would have been so easy to just tear her apart and drink until he was full, but he wasn't a monster, and that wasn't his way. But the fact that the blood on her hands wasn't hers is what interested him the most. Was she a killer? Did this kitten have fangs? Grabbing her by the shoulders bracing her arms down, he held her up to look her in the eyes. She was running, but it wasn't fear when he looked into her eyes. Confused, yes, but not fear. Ha! She wants to kick me! I love that. He thought while she struggled.

"Who are you little girl. Tell me now. I am thinking about crushing the life out of you. But then again, you might be exactly who I am looking for."