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It had been too much to take in. She had given up the hopes of escaping the Darkness and then had found it hard to believe the truth of her freedom. She had been born and turned in a time when it was important to know how to watch your back, although perhaps all times were like that. She had been a warrior though, so her training in that regard had been intensive. The Darkness had not taken that from her, but had intensified it. She had never stopped being guarded, waiting for an attack - the Darkness was an evil place where you were never truly safe.

The terror had not stopped upon her freedom. This world was not the one she had left. Even seeing the differences while overseeing the vampires of Harper Rock for the past while had not quite prepared her for being thrust into the world. She had tried. She had cracked. It was too overwhelming and after all of her years in the Darkness she was not capable of staying sane while dealing with the onslaught to her senses. So she had gone underground. She had no plans on how long she would stay there, only knowing that she would not survive otherwise.

She had sunk into a deep slumber, one that would not have been safe to do anywhere else - not where she had no fortress or lineage to keep her protected. Beneath the many layers of soil, however, she was safe.

---

She was awoken, not by the reasons one would expect for waking a vampire from such a deep sleep but from something quite unexpected. The roots of trees that surrounded her subterranean sleeping space began to tremble and shift violently. The soil itself seemed to be shifting restlessly, alerting the sleeping vampire to dangers above, ones that she should most likely be awake for.

She was weakened by her extended sleep, but slowly she dug her way back to the surface. She had gone just slightly outside of the city limits when she'd dug herself under and the scene that met her as she broke through the top soil was not the same as the one when she'd gone under. Snow - s much snow. And ice that hung from the trees, most of which seemed to be bent at wrong angles. The wind gushed around her, whipping her hair to and fro and slamming it back against her face like a sledgehammer. She needed to head back to Harper Rock in hopes of finding decent shelter.

The going was rough, the treacherous forest floor made even worst by the fact that most of the soil was covered in a thick layer of ice. She slipped, fell, face planted. She tried grabbing onto nearby trees and branches but they were layered in ice as well and were no help at all. The only positive she could see to this was that her constant contact with the wet snow was likely to help wash off at least some of the dirt that covered her.

After hours of travelling in this manner and becoming just short of a walking icicle herself, she found herself back in somewhat familiar territory. Buildings and those transporters. Everything was covered in snow and ice. There were broken windows. Those interconnected tree like things seemed to be falling down in places, making her thing perhaps she wasn't any safer here than she had been deep underground.

Just as she thought this she fell again, her cheek slamming down onto the cold iced over sidewalks. At first she thought she had slipped again, but there seemed to be an obstruction down by her feet. Had she tripped over something that had fallen over? Crawling over the snow covered obstruction, she made no effort to dust herself off at this point, but curiosity got the better of her and she dusted off whatever it was that had fallen her. She expected something hard, metallic or wooden, but instead her fingertips brushed cold flesh. "Oh dear..." Her voice was hoarse, unused. The vibrations nearly as painful as the wind and ice still whipping at her flesh.

The building in front of her seemed mostly intact, so instead of looking further she reached beneath the man to haul him up as best she could and slowly made her way towards the door. It was more difficult than it should have been, her bare feet unable to get much traction on the cold ice beneath her. The fact that she hadn't fed since before her slumber was most likely not a help at all either. The combination of the two led to her falling down, mostly on top of the poor fellow she had found, multiple times in the short distance from the sidewalk to the door. Eventually she made it all the way, having to let go of her cargo - which she regrettably did not manage to do as gently as she was trying for - in order to open the door and drag him the rest of the way in.

As soon as his feet cleared the door she let him go again, unable to do much more in her current state besides step forward and pull the door tightly closed hoping to keep out the wind and chill. With that done she dusted some of the snow off of the ratty coat she had stripped from one of the Hunters she had taken down upon first returning from the Darkness. It was filthy and held together mostly with the belt she had also taken, but it worked well enough for her, which was good seeing as how it was the only piece of clothing she owned.

Deirdre didn't typically venture far from Gullsborough, but she had her very distinctive reasoning. She had chosen a good use for the remaining money her sire, Nikolae, had provided her with. Acquiring a new professional makeup kit. With over ten thousand dollars with which to purchase said kit, it made perfect sense to go in person to buy it.

The problem was, she hadn't seen a single cosmetics supply store in Gullsborough, or Harper Rock in general. This had her scoping out different areas.

She wore a very thick coat as she walked, no stranger to the frigid cold and whipping rain, though she found herself wanting to stand stock-still and embrace the sensations. Her senses often left her in a strange rapture, drowning in feeling, seeing, smelling.

Close to sunrise, she found herself ducking into just any building she could for shelter from the stinging ice-rain, thankful for her slip-resistant boots, just before the pitching of the earth began.

She was from Wisconsin, not a high earthquake activity region, and thus had no idea what to do. So she flattened herself against the wall, near a window. Her silver Dragon's eyes found the unconscious form on the ice beyond the building, flying wide, seeing the street sign laying beside him. Not to mention the woman who dove in and pulled the door closed snugly.

What the hell was this? She was still a damn new vampire. What a funny way to start meeting others of the kind, in the middle of frozen Hell.

She faltered slightly under the unexpected weight of the fallen man. She debated for a moment on using her powers to help the man replace some of the blood he had lost... but she was wary of that. She was by all intents and purposes trapped in this place with unknown vampires who may or may not wish her harm. She decided she should save her power for now, in case she needed to protect herself.

At his words, she looked towards the windows that offended him so. She had made her way into the city limits, possibly doing herself more damage than good, under the assumption that shelter would be better here. Was she wrong? That thought sent unease all the way down her spine, allowing the coldness from the ice that still coated nearly her entire body to finally penetrate and cause her to shiver, though not nearly as much as a human would if they were in a similar situation. She sensed no humans here to tell the difference, though.

Her gaze went back to the man, the one she had thought would need to be taken care of until the storm had passed. It had not been something she was looking forward to - she was not a caretaker by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, he seemed to be looking to lead them, despite the fact that he was in a weakened state. This made the urge to use up her meager power resources to aid him somehow intensify, but still she tamped it down. It was hard not to respect someone who would do that. She had spent so long leading troups into battles and then, depending on the outcome, leading them back home.

She was not qualified to lead anything here. She had come into this building only because it had been the nearest building to the fallen man. She knew nothing of what lay inside, or of what the strange machinery was meant for. She knew the glass would likely not protect them from the upcoming sun rise, but she had not survived as long as she had by not being able to find herself cover in a hurry. Or by learning how to deal with the horrendous burns when she was not quite quick enough.

Deirdre reached a hand out to the man, trying to steady him at least somewhat, even as she looked around. A gym. Mirrors and windows would abound here, which meant that very little of the building was actually safe. "Is there a sealed office, without windows?" she asked, in general, her eyes flicking from person to person within their tenuous shelter.

As she glanced from face to face, her phone buzzed in her pocket. She pulled it out, startled she had any measure of service, and read the short message from her sire, before the device blinked a message at her and went dark.

Just my damn luck, she thought, tucking the device and its dead battery back into her pocket. She was now out of touch with the world beyond these four walls.

"Anyone got a theory as to what we should do now?" she said, glancing from face to face. She wasn't used to earthquakes, but snow and ice, she could manage.

Ice still coated nearly her entire being, but at the same time she could feel cold drops trailing across her skin. It was still cold in the shelter they were in, especially with the outside wind gusts seeming to get in with ease, but maybe she was far enough away to start to melt a little. This was likely a good sign, though if nothing else the ice was sure to melt while she was burning under the sun. She very much disliked not knowing anything about her surroundings. Knowledge was power, especially when it came to finding an appropriate shelter from the harsh sun.

Names. So important. Making a being more than just an anonymous face but a person in their own right. Dominique and Lancaster. "Lucia." Her voice was still barely more than gravel. Unused in months, it took extra effort to push out each word that she spoke. The name itself came out instinctively. It was her name when around those who have allegiances unknown to her. She had not survived as long as she had by letting every vampire who asked her name know what it was. Revyia was the name she had chosen to be, Lucia was the name she had chosen as a shield of sorts. Born with no names, she had always believed that there was a certain amount of power to be had with names.

She offered nothing else, not wishing to draw any more attention to herself than was required at this point in time. Perhaps if she had an idea of what they should do next it would be different, but as she did not... there was no gain to be had from becoming too memorable in any of their eyes.