Path of the Vampire forum

Back-dated to April 26th

An uneventual week had turned Sunday into its latest victim and Myk decided he needed a new perspective on things. So, he did what any other crazy clown would do in this listless position; hung himself from a park bench. With his head lolling through the metal arch of the armrest and off the wooden struts of the seat, his hip-length white hair pooled onto the grass beneath. The silky white texture looked like swathes of cloth bundled on top of the grass and despite whatever insects thought it a good idea to make a home in such a new world, Myk remained as he was. Pewter eyes were focused on the world around him, on the city streets and its lonely denizens and occasionally on the heavens above. He liked to watch the skies, pick out the constellations he recognised from lazy Saturday nights when his father would drive them out into the countryside - just because. Those times were rare and their scarcity brought something beautiful to Myk’s quiet experiences. A small smile pulled at his red-stained lips, looking like a frown from the angle of his face, but it didn’t matter so much. Myk was alone and there was no one to bother him; even Rutherford had become like death lately - hiding silently in the background.

It was nice that it was so quiet. It was also awful. All this stillness didn’t bode well for the Telepath and he crossed his arms atop his chest, holding in a frustrated sigh. He was sure it would come out as a strange sound, a gripey noise much like an aggravated toddler because he very much felt like one; sulking over the same damn problems and expecting things to change. Things had changed, of course they had, but in very much the same way, things had not changed at all. He was still lonely and brooding and finding nothing of value in chasing these fade fractures about. He’d hoped that Mr Ripper might find it of interest to hunt down these mysterious things alongside him, but of course, all such hopes turned to dread when the reality struck him. Mr Ripper clung to his aloofness and Myk clung to his emptiness and self-pity. Of course Myk knew the pointlessness of it all, the worthlessness of holding onto something so tightly that it in turn strangled you, but that knowledge didn’t save him from the feeling.

Black-tipped and sharpened nails strummed an angry and impatient rhythm across pale, naked arms. He wasn’t cold, but perhaps he should have pretended he was. He should have dressed in something a little more concealing than a simple black vest top and skinny black jeans if he was going to blend in, but in hindsight he found the uselessness in that as well. Myk was tired of pretending to be anything but what he was and he was tired of this Masquerade that kept their community so strung. He could do little about it but sulk, but then he was invisible wasn’t he; he didn’t have to misuse this power. Being invisible, he could have done so many things - for good or for evil - and yet here he was, lying on a park bench feeling sorry for himself. Myk let that sigh loose, pushing the strangled breath out through his lips and watching the cold breath turn into a slight fog on the even colder air. He watched it disappear into the darkness of the heavens, then looked up at the stars directly over his head. “I wonder where Orion is,” he mumbled vacantly to himself.

It hadn’t been a particularly fascinating night, but that was on the list of standard expectations when certain locations were blended with a day like Sunday. At least for Solene, Harper Rock and Sunday were akin to a 3 day old sun warmed and curdled decaf latte. Useless and supremely boring. It was always a short shift at work for her, and her normal haunts were typically so quiet that anything less than legal was gift wrapped and sent to do time in under an hour. If she had the scars, there would be three from bullets named Sunday… and none of them would have interesting stories to tell.

Expectedly, after her shift she found herself bored with the idea of transit. It was always the same route with the same faces and they always managed to have the same crass conversations with one another. The blonde had been a little on edge for a few weeks, so in an effort to not get into too much trouble, she decided to take a walk… this place would never be as diverse as home was, but she knew that there was only one real city that she could call home.

Once she had travelled far enough to regret her decision to walk, a text rang through from Belle. Solene should have been home at least 45 minutes before then and she had neglected to inform her of the decision to walk. The regret solidified and as she tapped away at her phone screen, she heard something about Orion. From each place she’d called home in the past, the stars were easy to chart- though her constellation oriented hobbies had died off once her arrival to the Canadian border was official. It was an unconscious thing, but so was the pause in step and the glance down at the man occupying the park bench.

He was terribly obvious, though could pass as eccentric, and on a normal basis she would have made a mental note of the funny occurrence and moved along. However, there was something familiar about this guy that made her linger. She had seen him countless times, but had no idea who he was and that combined with the phantom problems she was dealing with made it essential that she knew if he was made of flesh and bone. Of course, the necessity annoyed her, so she pursed her lips and approached slowly.

“Fun hobby… do you know what to look for?” She grew a coy smirk- partially because she felt like a creep and wanted to laugh, but mostly because that was not the question she wanted to ask. It was difficult to be too blunt in this place though- hence the Sunday bullet wounds- so she tread carefully.

“I normally look for his belt and work my way around,” Myk answered idly before tittering to himself. He couldn’t help it, in retrospect it was an amusing sentence in any context.

Myk didn’t look for the voice addressing him and appraise them immediately like he ordinarily would; pewter eyes were sewn to the belly of the sky, searching for those magic three diamonds that indicated the constellation. Orion was prominent enough to be found across the world, so it shouldn’t have been a problem to find it even here. It was one of the most conspicuous and recognisable constellations in the night sky, which was why it was always his favourite. He generally found it with ease, which made his father smile - how generous, but Myk took what he could get out of the stoic and aloof man. Now and again it was nice just to feel like he wasn’t one complete and utter disappointment (and psychopath).

Eventually, the white-haired man pulled his attention from the sky and looked for the voice which had addressed him. He was almost expecting to see no one at all, so he was pleasantly surprised to find a woman standing there. He gave her a warm smile, then using his hands to slip him out from under the armrest, he sat up straight to look her dead-on. This blonde girl was pretty, with pigmy features that would have kept her eternally young without the supernatural blood. Still, it wasn’t entirely bad to have met another of his kind tonight provided she wasn’t hostile. Myk couldn’t be bothered to deal with hot-headed folks tonight, or indeed, many other nights. It was rare that he was in the mood to fight, so all he had in his defence was a whip-smart wit and that charming, creepy smile of his. As it happened, he was using the latter to full effect.

“I’m sure I’ll find it eventually. Do you know a lot about the stars?” he asked.

She bit her bottom lip to stifle a snicker and only managed to give a rosy hue to her otherwise pale mouth. Her amusement was as obvious as if she were one to guffaw and slap errant body parts through fits of laughter, though much more subtle… her eyes made it evident before an instinct driven cloud of distrust cloaked the hazel hues. Joy from the simplest things was the easiest to squash, she’d learned, so it was automatic to hide it when faced with a stranger.

Despite, or perhaps because of the way he responded, once he sat up, she took a seat next to him and stretched her legs in an effort to relieve her feet. Heels, whether the victim happened to be alive or counting the days spent craving blood, were sadistic to the last stretch of the day and just as necessary to any outfit.

“I used to. Charting stars was an old hobby of mine to keep perspective. Haven’t spent much time with them since moving here.”
The blonde grinned at him before turning her sights to the sky. Her own favorite constellations stood out immediately and turned emotions in her. “I wonder when they’ll change… if this old rock will still be around when they do.”

Friendly. She was being friendly… and sensitive, mulling over changes that might come in the next millennia. Solene realized that she was brooding and that she was rarely friendly even when she was paid to be. What the actual **** is going on here? She thought, blinking rapidly as she remembered that there was a reason for this uncharacteristic moment of socialization.
“So, have we met? I’ve seen you around- I mean, this is the first time on a park bench,” she paused, smirking, “ but I definitely remember your face.” A delicate and pampered, if bare, looking hand reached out for his. “I’m Solene, by the way.”

When she sat down beside him, the white-haired man canted his head and beamed at her like she was a mythical creature. He hadn’t been expecting her to be so… friendly? Yes, that was the word. The last time he met someone on a park bench they’d been… unfriendly. Yes, that’s one way to describe it. As she talked, Myk listened patiently, though his head was bobbing and he wore a smile that was - perhaps - a little on the enthusiastic side. This stranger was only making polite conversation. Really, she was probably just bored or wasting time before a date or job or appointment. Everyone was so busy these days, unlike him. Myk was listless and lost and occasionally lonely. He heard the same somber tune echoing in this lady’s voice as her hazel eyes turned to marvel at the heavens. She spoke about a time in the way distant future and Myk found himself blinking, astounded by her foresight. He turned his head up as well, looking for the stars but finding that rain clouds had rolled in. When he looked up and saw the stars, he felt as if he were part of something so large that it wrapped the world. This was what the sky truly was; a buffer between the earth and infinity. The sky was a gateway to the universe, a universe that constantly expanded beyond its own boundaries.

And even though clouds came with the threat of rain, concealing the beauty of the sky, the rain had this power of tranquility, this one power over the ever-expanding sky. For after the storm passed, the lightning struck, the sun set, the mist faded, and the clouds drifted, it was the rain that washed the earth clean and left the sky beautiful once again. So even though he was looking at the clouds, Myk smiled passionately before turning the whimsy of his smile onto the woman beside him.

“That’s nice,” he purred. “You’re quite wise. And that’s nice.”

The woman blinked at him. Myk blinked slowly in return, rather like a feline in greeting. To her question he simply laughed, a soft kind of chuckle that tumbled out of him.

“Oh, we quite possibly have met before,” he said within the brief space which she had allowed. She offered her hand and he shook it confidently. “I’m Myk. Nice to meet you, again, maybe.”

“Well… I was flipping coins on whether or not you were one of the ghosts around here… so don’t get fancy yet,” she laughed, mostly at herself and the notion of being wise, but some out of nervousness. The ‘open door policy’ on discussing the curse really didn’t exist yet and the blonde hadn’t really mentioned it beyond informing the small circle that needed to know why she was acting like a lunatic. Then there she was, joking about it on a park bench with a complete stranger who happened to have a familiar face and blinked at her like her kitten. Even she had to admit that was endearing.
Her cold hand gripped his in a firm deal closing shake as the clouds darkened and the scent of rain’s beginnings began to lift from the earth. “Mostly I’m just curious. It got me killed you know… and it is nice to meet you too, Myk. Is that short for anything?”
Solene felt a new presence- of course, by now she was used to that sort of tingling sensation being the result of a new and unforeseen phantom. She was anticipating a ghastly face, almost transparent limbs, goopy leftovers and other random oddities that come with spirits of the dead- she almost dreaded it, but what was actually standing before her when she looked made her cringe before she had a chance to monitor her expressions.
Pressed, starched, and embellished was a member of Harper Rock’s finest. The officer stood like a wall between them on the park bench and the vast and now largely preferred dangerous backdrop of the city, glowering as if he’d caught them doing something illicit. Solene suspected it was because the police were brutes and had no idea that they were surrounded by monsters and humans alike, so Myk’s ensemble would likely be a little… baffling.
As he stood there and watched, she grew impatient and gave him a look that took her back to her high school years. “Umm… can we help you?”
Immediately, since the officer had been so quiet and intent on staring, she wondered if he were actually deceased and she had just sassed a seemingly empty pocket of air. ****. Please be real. Give me attitude, something… please be real. The girl was seconds from getting up and walking away as if she’d lost her mind entirely when the man’s brows rose and he leaned in closer. He had burger and fries on his breath and coffee- the unmistakable scent of coffee that made her envious and want to throw up all at once. His bottom lip pouched, creating a thoughtful crease in his chin as he shifted his gaze to the male beside her and opened his mouth.
“We’re looking for a suspected murderer. About 6’2”, dark hair, muscular build, female. Haven’t seen anyone like that, have you?”
Solene almost laughed- she knew it would be a vampire and a killer… maybe a shifter. Good luck, sir.
“Sorry, no… I’m sure, given that description, you’ll find her though.” With that, she glanced at Myk and grinned a little.

Myk continued to nod and smile while Solene explained, though he had no idea what she was talking about. She said she thought he might be one of the ghosts around here, probably because of his ghostly-white hair, but it took a while to understand that perhaps she was one of those able to see actual spirits and wraiths and it wasn’t some kind of metaphor that he didn’t have the context to be able to understand. Unwilling to express his confusion though, Myk continued to smile and blink and nod even as she spoke of being a cat and how it had gotten her killed. Of course the death part was probably quite accurate since she was a Vampire and most people considered the transition from Human to Vampire as dying. Myk saw it more as evolving, had come to suppose that it might even have been some kind of illness based on someone he once knew’s logic, but he never saw it as he had died as a Human and was revived, turned into a Vampire. As much as he loved a fairy tale, he was quite rational and expected logical explanations to everything he encountered. So, while he understood her assumption of her actual death, he didn’t think she was actually a cat. Myk’s head was spinning with too much English.

“Is what short for something?” he asked rather bluntly, pulling himself prematurely from thought, which left his mind unravelled and unable to draw sense out of her question. When it did patch itself up, however, he threw his head back and laughed with awareness. “Oh, you mean my name? Myk. No. It’s just Myk. Nothing fancy… M… Y… K…”

He mused to himself then, entertained by the recurrence of that question. People often thought his name might be a contraction of a longer name, perhaps a more normal name. He always wondered what they might think his name to be given the pronunciation, which was Mick really. The most reasonable assumption was that his name was Michael; a common short form for which was Mick. He felt divided by that conclusion. Michael was a nice enough name, it was just its connotations toward God which made him a little uncomfortable. Religion in general made him uncomfortable and as much as he prided himself on being a rational creature, he was compelled by his overbearing assumption that religious folk were predominantly incapable of being rational, or for that matter, nice. People of faith worried Myk, made him wary, because he understood their beliefs to be false for the most part. They believed in God as a form of insurance policy for the afterlife and that the only reason they ever performed charity was because they believed they would be rewarded brownie points by some petty deity. Myk didn’t like the idea of God as some being up above that would only let you into heaven if you prayed to him on certain times of certain days, that you should only ever praise him and never question his will. God seemed rather insecure and pathetic for a omniscient being…

Stepping away from the God subject though, it occurred to Myk that there were other possibilities swimming within the lake that was explaining his name. He didn’t look or indeed sound the least bit Celtic, but it could be argued that Myk was, sound-wise, somehow of a relation to something like McSorley, McNeil, McFlannagan, etc. A search on the internet revealed that names similar to Myk were; Balamykin, Gromyko, Mykhailo, Mykhaylo, Mykola, Mykta, Priemykhov. Of course you had to be careful using the internet because not everything you find online has even a grain of truth to it let alone a desert’s worth. Come to think of it, they might think his name to be Mykala - he did, after all, often look like a woman. Nevertheless, Myk always conceded defeat on the matter because he never did question what people might think his name to be short for and frankly, he rather doubted they had an answer half the time.

As Myk was so absorbed in his introspection, he didn’t notice the police officer standing behind them until Solene had addressed him and the man had then spoken back. Myk leant his body away from the Human, almost feeling the need to duck his head and hide his appearance in case he encouraged some kind of hostility. Myk had a habit of pissing off authority figures and when they attacked him it was rare he was capable of withholding a counter attack. There were so many marks on his record and he wondered if people realised this or not. They didn’t seem to, but then, he was invisible wasn’t he. Myk restrained a growl from breaking between gritted teeth and distracted himself by focusing his attention on Solene. He wasn’t going to question this man’s strange questions - it wasn’t normal to ask citizens on the street if they’d seen a suspected murderer after all. As far as Myk understood, the police didn’t divulge information and would sugar coat their worries with kind advice about making sure that people stick in groups and be sure not to be alone too late at night. This man, this police force of Harper Rock, it was all very alien.

Myk blanked the man entirely and stood up, turning back to address Solene with one hand on his hip.

“Well, since it’s late and it’s about to rain, we should find some place to go. Don’t you think?”

After these words were spoken aloud, Myk added in secret: “This guy’s giving me the creeps. We should go.”

She was reminded shortly of what it was like when she first moved to England for grad school- Myk gave her the same polite nods and grins that her fellow students had, and she felt as if she were speaking a foreign language. That is, until he acted like she was speaking a foreign language when she asked about his name. Amused both by his confusion and the answer that followed, she grinned and realized that she would have to just ask him the plain questions instead of trying to riddle out where he was from. Myk, as far as she knew, had devotions to God sewn into it and the makings of the people’s victor as well. She didn’t know much more than that, but hadn’t met anyone else who spelled their first name the same way.

She would have asked more if not for the police interrupting their strange conversation.

The girl twitched as his voice sounded in her mind. She wasn’t used to that kind of invasion from anything but ghosts, and though she could understand the reason why it was done, she wasn’t the least happy about it. It was going to have to be addressed, she knew, but then the thought of his being a telepath and having the ability to read her mind came into the realm of possibilities and she wasn’t quite sure what to do. She couldn’t very well respond that way and had no idea what he would be able to hear of her thoughts should she try, so the blonde stuck to a mental hmmmm…and drummed her fingers over her legs.

“Yea, sure...” she began before she stood up and moved away from the smelly officer. “Plus, this is a little weird.” A stupidly fake grin stretched her lips as she stated the obvious, took Myk’s arm as if they had been best of friends for a lifetime, and motioned across the street at nothing but emptiness. As they moved away from the officer, she took her compact out of her purse, opened it, and pretended to dab the translucent packed powder over her nose. She couldn’t see her own face in the mirror, of course, but she could keep an eye on the officer behind her and the approaching zombie figures behind him. Because they hadn’t been sitting in the QZ, Solene was 99% certain that the rest of them were spirits of whatever sort, but became unnerved when the blue suit began to follow them.
With an arched brow, she dampened her lips and snapped the compact shut.
“So, two things…” The compact was shoved into her purse before she hastened their pace. “Warn me about that mind talk thing… freaks me out to have people in my head.” Despite knowing without a doubt that she shouldn’t, she turned toward him as if she were going to whisper something in his ear, using the opportunity to peek over her shoulder at the officer who was getting really close really fast. “also, big blue is following us. We might need to hurry the **** up.”

The chiding should have been expected, but Myk frowned and put his tail between his legs like she’d just scolded him for pissing on the rug. He was normally quite wary of speaking into other people’s minds because of the reaction she gave, but he’d also forgotten that people could react that way. He wanted to apologise immediately, but it seemed that the time was not appropriate. Solene had glimpsed their purser in her compact – a very smart thing to do seeing as how she could look through herself and the cop would have had no idea. As she leant in to inform him of this, Myk rather flinched, but held still. She had been nothing but nice to him so far, but her scolding had caught him off guard and started his paranoid mind. Of course, he’d only known her for a few seconds so what was he to expect? People were not easy to read and even if he had certain skills at his disposal to take away some of the mysteries, he refused to read people’s minds. Analysing and appraising people to judge their potential threat was one thing, but to enter their head and read their most intimate of memories? That seemed a step too far. She had not appreciated his small touch of mind speak, so he didn’t like to think how she might respond if he read her mind. On the other hand, for all she knew, Myk had already done such. It must have been difficult for others to deal with a Telepath…

As quickly as Myk’s thoughts had settled on the idea of reassuring her that he was not one to snoop, his focus changed and he returned to her mention of the police officer that was following them. Myk frowned, pewter eyes becoming serious for a change. A flood of possible scenarios overwhelmed his rational mind as to reasons why this pig was following them. It was difficult to pick out which scenario held the most merit; whether this man was following them because he thought them easy targets for any kind of malice, whether he was following them because he thought they might be the criminal type, or perhaps he was not actually following them at all and instead just happened to be walking in the same direction. In summary, there were only really three scenario types to be concerned with, yet each type came with a hundred possibilities. It was too much to think through and so his emotions began to flare. Myk naturally had an aversion to men in blue, so, it was no surprise that he settled on repulsion and anger. Whatever this man was planning, Myk decided that he wasn’t going to tolerate it. He softly pressed Solene’s arm to get her attention and leant into her to whisper something back.

“Make a sharp right and then an immediate left," he said. "If he follows, we'll know he’s onto us for something.”

These instructions would take them down the small alleyway that led onto a back row of shops close to residential areas. One might have easily thought this to be a short-cut home for a young couple. Myk had planned to make it seem like they were indeed heading home and would take it a step further if he had to; perhaps fumbling with some keys and making targets out of them. He neglected to warn Solene that if it turned out that the man was indeed following them, and that if the man had ill intent, then Myk would confront him. There was no question in his mind that Solene could handle herself, least of all against a Human, but Myk wanted to control this one. Ordinarily when he came into conflict he would lose his temper, lose his cool and fight back to the fatality of the officer. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for him to practice being in control of his emotions and in control of his powers. There were other ways, more subtle ways, to get people to disappear…

The blonde had always told herself that if a cop had a mind to follow her and she hadn’t just obviously stabbed someone, that she’d feed them to a bear and move on. It was a simple plan that might help to keep her notoriety down after the incident… but it didn’t seem like that plan was going to work for this one.
The uniform was in pursuit and if she didn’t listen to her new cohort, he might just fly off the handle. Or he might not. She didn’t know him well enough to predict which behaviors of his were under control and which weren’t, but he seemed to have a plan and given how the night had already shaped up, she was going to have to trust it or run.
Her features instantly took on a look of annoyance when their disjointed movements took them down the shady looking alleyway. Her city of choice had plenty like it, though the buildings were taller and they were never as quiet or as dirty as Harper Rock had managed to keep them. She grimaced and resolutely decided not to look down at the trash as they practically flew down the tight pathway.
About a quarter of the way through, she looked back to see the bulged officer standing in the entrance, arms curled and tense as if he were preparing himself to hulk out.
A perfectly shaped brow arched before she rolled her eyes hard enough to induce a headache.
The girl came to a dead stop and flailed a hand in the cops direction while staring at Myk.
“Can’t we just drop him in the sewers? Feed him to something hungry? This is ridiculous.” She looked back toward the entrance and the officer’s slow pursuit and nearly laughed, her lips curled into a smirk.
“I mean, look at him. He thinks he’s bad. He’s like a little kid on Halloween... ” In her mind, he was only missing the pillow sack and pockets full of stolen candy. He truly was pathetically lacking, so running just seemed pointless.
“I bet he thinks he’s scary, too.” She smiled then, as if he had just turned into a kitten. “How cute.”