Path of the Vampire forum

Posted: **15 Jul 2015, 06:37**

Atlas Black frowned as he stepped off of the bus, eyes narrowed at the guy who had bumped him on their way down the vehicle's steps. Maybe it was an honest mistake, but those were usually followed by some sort of apology. On most days, Atlas would have let the small moment roll off of his back, but things had never been more different. He wasn't sure if his rage was a symptom of the curse he now was forced to bear, or if it was a response to being left behind by people he'd called his brothers in interviews.

Whatever the case was, Atlas was pissed.

He forced a deep breath upon himself, remaining still on the curb as the others who had disembarked walked away. Something urged him to follow, to submit to his anger instead of repressing it, but his humanity won out, this time. He turned to walk in the other direction, long legs leading to long, purposeful strides. He looked down at his phone, just barely hovering above the ten percent battery mark, to see the address again. Within minutes, he was there.

Hopefully his drummer friend hadn't given him the wrong address by mistake, he thought as his knuckles rapped against the door. He could really use a break right now.

Posted: **15 Jul 2015, 07:23**

Dawn sat in front of her computer, one leg curled under her. Her lower lip pinched between one of her fangs and her lower teeth. Her Beatz headphones making her in her own little world despite the three rowdy guys goofing off behind her. Though she could not hear their spastic ways, she could see the reflection of their games in the reflection of the windows in front of her. The sun had set so now the blinds were up, showing off the beauty of the night. It was getting to a point where she was sure that the guys would once again crash at her place. Ever since they had returned from the latest tour the guys had rarely left Dawn on her own. In truth, the hadn't left her on her own since before the tour. Since...

She stopped her thoughts there. Music. Her music. Her baby. Her art that she would share with her fans soon enough. Dawn glanced at the clock on her computer. From what Jay had told her, a friend of his was going to stop by to chat with him. Why he needed to come here when Jay and the boys had their own place, she didn't know. Strike that. She knew. Like her thoughts before. They didn't like to leave her alone. Not after her latest meltdown. She sighed and went back to her work.

Meanwhile, the soft knock at the apartment door caught the attention of the boys. Reed and Dylan returned to seats in Dawn's dance studio that she also used for her music. Her big 'brothers' always protecting her. She glanced at Reed and noticed the way he looked at her. He still didn't quite forget her, after all, he had been the one to find her the way he did. She gave him her usual apologetic smile and went back to work. While all this happened Jay walked to the door and opened it to the large man on the other side. Inviting him into the apartment.

From the front door one could see a little bit into her studio, see the kitchen just inside the door to the right, and the large living room with the electric fireplace in the middle that separated dining from sitting area. Once the door closed Jay spoke. "Jesus dude! What the hell happened to you?" He offered his hand to his old friend, one he hadn't seen in some time but had kept in contact with. "And what the hell happened to the guys?" Jay added, clearly he was curious as to the whole situation that brought the hulk of a man to the door of his 'little sister's' door. He nodded to the sitting area, clearly not wanting to head into the studio and break Dawn's concentration.

Posted: **16 Jul 2015, 00:39**

Somewhere deep in the back of his mind, Atlas hoped that no one opened the door. His tongue absently grazed along the backside of his teeth, a dark memory fading into the forefront of his mind. He shouldn't be here. He should be going to the cops, tracking down the band that had left him to rot (almost literally). Jay was a friend, but he couldn't exactly tell him the whole story. The guy would never believe him, and in this line of work, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to accuse Atlas of being high. All of this together made this whole thing seem like the worst possible idea.

But, to his chagrin, the door opened. Atlas lifted his head, the curtains that were his lengthy hair falling to the sides of his face. The room beyond the threshold was brightly lit, and there was a feeling of involuntary repulsion that struck the newly changed man. But Jay was quick to usher him inside, and Atlas followed, ducking his head slightly beneath the doorframe. There was an odd feeling of shame as he stepped into the nice apartment. He felt like he didn't belong, now. That whatever had happened to him had made him... unworthy.

Jay clearly noticed a difference about him, and Atlas hesitated. Something he rarely ever did, but the events of the past couple of days had crippled his confident bravado, put a real dampener on his natural swagger. "One answer works for both of those," he said, shaking his head and looking Jay in the eyes. "And that's that I have no ******* idea." He had swapped out his clothes, blood soaked as they were, for something cheap from a Goodwill he'd stumbled across, and used water from a water fountain to try to clean himself otherwise. He looked better now than he had..but that wasn't saying much.

Atlas moved into the sitting area when prompted, but looked supremely uncomfortable in there. Maybe coming here was a mistake. He wasn't sure why he'd even made the trip. After a moment, he looked back to his friend Jay, and said, "There was a fight, I left to clear my head, and they were just...gone. It wasn't our first shouting match, but they sure as **** never did this before." He skipped the part in the middle about waking up covered in blood.

Posted: **16 Jul 2015, 01:31**

Jay shook his head as his old friend gave him the run down. Clearly he was holding things back, but it wasn't his job to push the guy to give up information he didn't want to give up. As Atlas spoke, Dylan had left his place near Dawn and opened the door to the studio. Their music, well really her music, could be heard, quietly, but still there now that the door was open. Dylan walked over to the kitchen, clearly he - like all the guys - were so comfortable in the apartment decorated for the "pixie" as they jokingly called her, that he moved about with the confidence that nothing was off limits to him.

However, with Jay speaking with his friend, he clearly didn't want to intrude and found himself heading back into the studio without a word. He did however give a nod to the men before he vanished into the extra room that was the studio. Jay glanced back to Atlas and gave him a look that said he was curious but he wouldn't pry before speaking, "I can't believe they would just ditch you like that... I mean the pixie here can drive me up a wall, but none of us would just ditch her..."

"That's because I pay your bills, Jay!" Came the cheerful voice of the mentioned 'pixie', the soft hint of her Russian accent giving a sinful ring to her words, as if she would stop paying said bills. Dawn normally dressed up for visitors. Her life was a stage always in her mind, however, today Dawn was very much dressed down. Her white shirt was flowy, hanging off one shoulder that was nearly the color of the shirt. She wore sweats that one left was pushed up to her knee on, revealing that all her skin was as white as freshly fallen snow. Her glacial blue eyes rested on the huge man in her living room as she walked over to Jay and gave him a bear hug, laughing as she enjoyed his unease. Her long white hair flowed over her and Jay both as she hugged him before the five foot nothing girl straighter up and once more glanced to the guy.

Jay took that moment to cough, clearing away his discomfort before introducing everyone. "Atlas, this is Dawn, the bossy one...oof." he rubbed his stomach as she elbowed him then continued, "Then there is Reed and Dylan... Guys... Pixie... This is Atlas, we know each other from Waaaay back." he said as Dylan and Reed came to join them, each finding their own seat. Dawn chose to sit on the arm of her couch as she turned her ice colored eyes on Atlas again but all the guys looked at her as if she had genorators a second head... It was unusual for Dawn to be quiet or shy even.

"It's nice to meet you, Atlas." She said quietly to him then glared at the guys all of whom started laughing.

Posted: **16 Jul 2015, 03:15**

The longer he was in this posh apartment, the more Atlas got used to the lighting, but it was still a discomfort to his eyes. He flinched slightly when a nearby door opened, and another member of Jay's band exited the room. Atlas didn't recognize him, but that was because he didn't necessarily follow Jay's music super closely, even though they were friends. But he got a taste of that music when the door opened, and he assumed then that the guy who had just walked through the room had been working on something while the others hung out here.

The other band member gave Atlas a nod, which he returned, before heading off somewhere else. Jay seemed shocked as hell that Atlas' group had taken off without him, and that was how Atlas had been feeling for the last two days straight. He sighed and looked up at the ceiling, wondering how he hell it had all gone this wrong. But those thoughts were interrupted by a beautiful voice calling out from the same place as the music. Atlas, intrigued, turned to look, and his eyes settled upon a woman that very much fit Jay's nickname for her.

The woman was tiny (most were compared to him, but she had an edge on many of them) and pale, though neither of things did anything at all to curb how pretty she looked, even in an outfit as basic as a loose shirt and some sweatpants. For a second, Atlas wondered if she shared a certain condition with him...but there was no way. He wasn't sure how he knew, but he did. The woman gave a powerful looking hug to Jay, and he might have thought her Jay's girlfriend if it wasn't for how uncomfortable he looked.

Introductions were next, and Atlas learned the names of all of Jay's bandmates, including "Pixie", who he introduced as Dawn. Atlas nodded at each of them as their names were shared, but his attention was always drawn back to Dawn. The others began to take seats, and Atlas pulled a chair over to where he was, turning it around and sitting backwards in it. As he was lowering himself into it, Dawn offered a pleasantry but was immediately met with the laughter of her bandmates. Atlas was confused, but responded sincerely.

"Same to you, Dawn. Wish it were on better terms," he said, assuming she'd been filled in by Jay on his situation. "Thanks for letting me in the door," he said, crossing his arms on the top of the chair.

Posted: **16 Jul 2015, 04:08**

Dawn looked back to Atlas as he spoke and smiled softly to him, nodding a little. She had been given a very brief 'Cliff notes' version of what Jay knew of the situation. However, now that he was here, now that she saw him. She was even more curious. And that was because there was something about him that made her fangs tingle. She didn't know if it was just his looks alone or if he was what she suspected he was. She wasn't going to bring it up around the guys though.

They knew of her 'vampirism' but she was not one to call out strangers for the same thing, especially around her band. She knew that they thought she was a little crazy, but it was her shtick, she wasn't going to give that up. The guys settled down and as they did, Dawn relaxed a bit more. "Technically, Jay let you in..." She said with a relaxed and teasing tone, but continued, "But I am happy to help out a fellow musician." She said as she shifted around the curl up on one corner of the couch, her legs tucked under her. With one long arm resting along the back of the couch, she looked almost regal despite her small stature.

Jay shifted a little in his seat, his chocolate eyes shifting between Dawn and Atlas. The other guys seemed just as weary, as if they were waiting for something to happen between the two. Dylan shifted on the piano bench in front of the white baby grand she had, his fingers resting over the keys. Dawn looked to him and then to all the other guys. Reed had picked up one of her many guitars that she left about her apartment and then relaxed back into his chair. Still she watched her band, "Chill guys, you are acting like I plan to make him my dinner." She said with a soft, almost child-like laugh, glancing over to Atlas again. The guys laughed a little and Jay looked back to his friend.

"You know, I liked the stuff your band did, but you dude, you were really carrying around most of the weight. I'm sure you will find another band in no time that would give their right arms to have you and surprisingly, this town is filled with musicians."

"Jay is right. Actually, you can't swing a dead cat around this city without hitting somewhere to preform. The guys and I are preparing for our normal rounds of the places here... Where did you guys play? Or better yet, where did you guys stay? I might me able to find out where they went." She said and then added beneath her breath, "Then you can kick their asses and I can help." She was sort of happy that between Reed gently strumming 'Nothing Else Matters' and Dylan quietly at work on their latest song, that neither Jay nor Atlas heard what she said. Still, she blushed ever so softly, bringing a soft rosy hue to her normally pale features.

Posted: **18 Jul 2015, 05:28**

Though Dawn was the smallest person in the room, yo wouldn't be able to tell by the way her bandmates seemed to act around her. Sure, they'd laughed teasingly at her a moment ago, but the vibe that Atlas got was that they deferred to her. And it wasn't just because she was the face of the group, holding their careers in her hands. If he had to give a read on the situation just from body language and tone of voice, they respected her more than most secondary artists seemed to respect their moneymaker.

Being protective of her naturally made them wary of him, and that was where Atlas felt right at home. He had always been the tallest, most striking guy in the room, and if he was honest, he liked it that way. Sometimes it meant that the smaller, scrappier men with something to prove would try to challenge him to impress their friends or girlfriends, but a guy didn't lug band equipment across the country and play drums for thousands of hours a year without developing a little density to his arms. During shows when a drunk, crazy, or crazy drunk person tried to get involved, it was usually left to Atlas to deal with the problem.

But height and strength had done little to save him from whatever happened. Hadn't kept him from getting sick. Getting left behind by a band on its last legs. He wondered what he looked like, right now. He tried to make himself look presentable when coming here, but not being able to look in a mirror had been a pretty big problem. He'd had to try and use the black TV screen in his hotel room to get a look at himself. Was he going crazy? Maybe he needed to try going to a hospital. See if there was any med-

That thought was interrupted when Dawn said the word 'dinner', and Atlas finally noticed the sharp fangs that peeked out from under her lips. He had forgotten that the famous singer curled up on the couch in front of him had a very unique look and personality, he'd seen articles about it and heard Jay mention things but never really paid attention. Before he could think too much about it, Jay tried to cheer him up by saying that he was better off, that there were plenty of opportunities in Harper Rock.

"We'll see, Jay. I need to get back on my feet. I don't have a car, pretty sure my sticks were on the bus, and I haven't been feeling too great the last couple days." Dawn spoke up, and Atlas looked towards her to answer. "We were in town to play at the college. Two nights, two shows. After the second one is when they took off."

Posted: **21 Jul 2015, 00:16**

Dawn watched him, and as he said he hadn't been feeling good. She had a good reason as to why he wasn't, but first, she would have to double check. That would come later though, once the guys had either decided to go home for the night or to crash at her place like they had been the last few nights. They said it was so that they could get more work in for the new tour of the city, perfecting the new album as well as everything else, but she knew that they were watching her. Watching to make sure that what happened before their tour didn't happen again. She glanced down at the nearly invisible scars on the insides of her wrists without really making it obvious that she was doing so, then glanced up at the guys again.

Atlas spoke about where they had played and she smiled a bit, leaning forward and grabbing a wireless keyboard off the coffee table. Jay, seeing what she was doing was already hitting the power button for the TV from the remote and turning the input over to her computer setting. The girl had a few computers around, but this one, this is the one that she used to do the less than legal things. The guys had tried to talk her out of it, but it was a past time of hers, so they gave up after some time. She was the 'little sister' and what she wanted, she got. Then Jay smirked to Atlas and glanced to the screen of the TV.

"Watch the girl work. She'll find the guys..." He said and then returned to just relaxing as he had been.

Dawn winked to Jay and then with the keyboard in her small lap - her legs crossed Indian style - her fingers began to fly over the keys. It wasn't long before she was inside the main system for the school and then calling up the feeds from all of the cameras. They all popped up and filled the screen and after a moment, she saw the guys playing on one screen. Then she was calling up information, information on the band, on other things that pertained to them. And then she spotted all the different social medias, people posting about the band, about the guys, and a few things caught her eye. A lot of them having to do with Atlas that were posted only hours it seemed after he had vanished.

"Hmmmmm" She said as she leaned back in her seat... "Anything speaking to you?" She asked as she glanced over to the towering man, using her question and waiting for his response to really look him over. It was then that she noticed that Dylan had vanished and she knew that he had went to crash where he normally did. One of the large bean bag chairs in the studio. Reed was still goofing off with the guitar but he seemed more into that than the chatings of Dawn, Jay and Atlas.

Posted: **27 Jul 2015, 03:50**

Something in the short story that Atlas told seemed to inspire something in his diminutive but pretty host. He watched curiously as she leaned forward to grab a keyboard that Atlas hadn't noticed before, and with Jay's help switching on the TV, she got to work on something. Atlas wasn't sure at first what was happening, as his attention was drawn to how the sound of the keys being pressed seemed oddly..loud. A lot of things did, now. Presumably, it was another side effect of what had happened to him.

It was only when Jay said for Atlas to sit back and observe that Atlas got a sense of what was going on. He claimed she was going to find the rest of his band, and being on the illiterate side of computers and all that, it seemed like a longshot. But Jay seemed confident that she'd succeed, and Dawn herself looked completely dialed in, without a hint of frustration. There was even a wink sprinkled in there, and it drew a small grin from the massive man.

Somehow she pulled up surveillance footage from the school, and Atlas raised an eyebrow. He doubted that was something that people were supposed to have access to, and he leaned forward in his seat slightly to get a better look. One of the cameras somewhere in the school had an angle on their show, and it was weird seeing the performance without any actual music. She dived deeper into a bunch of other websites that looked like things the band's manager had tried to get him to sign up for, but he never did.

Dawn asked him what he was seeing here, and Atlas surveyed the screen to try and glean some info from what she'd pulled up. Reading through, he thought there was nothing at first, but then suddenly there was a picture with a caption that read "OMG OMG seeing the band at a rest stop I hope my future husband steps out of that bus #atlas". He pointed at the screen, towards that message, and the picture of a tour bus getting gas. "Looks like they skipped town," he said, leaning back. "And that some girl named Hayley wants to marry me." From what he'd heard from fans, Hayley would have to get to the back of a very long line.

Posted: **27 Jul 2015, 08:04**

As he spoke, her eyes turned to him, it was at that time that Reed walked over, clearly he was going to head home. Reed, leaned down over and placed a kiss on Dawn's head, "Stay safe..." he said quietly into her ear then glanced over to Atlas and gave him a short wave, "Nice meeting you dude." Then he walked over to Jay, gave him some sort of secret handshake that Dawn had never bothered to pay to much mind to before heading out of the apartment. Now it was just Jay, Atlas and herself. She continued to look through postings done on his band, there were a good number of women throwing themselves at him. She could see the attraction, she could really see the attraction.

"Hell, they probably ditched you before you could cut them off, looks like you were the main attraction." Jay teased, and Dawn thought it had merit, every post seemed to praise him while saying horrible things about the rest of the band. Then something she read caught her attention. She quickly hacked into the server though and before it could get real attention, it was gone. Erased from sight and site.

Looking to Jay, he clearly hadn't seen it. "Jay, can you give me a few moments with your buddy?" He looked to her then to Atlas before he sighed and looked at his watch.

"Sure, actually, I think I'm going to catch up to Reed. Take care of my pal huh?" he asked and she gave him a sweet smile before setting her keyboard aside. He looked back to Atlas, "I'll see you tomorrow, Atlas, keep an eye on the pixie stick for me." Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head, Jay had talent on a drum kit, but when it came to subtlety, he failed, he failed hard. She watched as Jay said good bye to the tower of a man and stayed silent until Jay had left the apartment.

After that happened, Dawn leaned back in her seat and looked at Atlas. "That boy has no skill when it comes the being subtle. That said... I think I know what happened to you. And if you'll allow me, I have a fail-proof way to tell if I'm right. If I am, I think I could help you as well. As for your ex-band, screw em, you don't need them." She stood at this point, stretching out her slender limbs before walking up to stand before him, her clear as ice blue eyes looking at him, watching his face.

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