Path of the Vampire forum

Slowly the sun settled towards the horizon, its last rays filtering through the sparse leaves. Summer’s drought had thinned the foliage, but there was still enough to conceal the the motionless figure clad in buckskins that knelt in the small copse of trees. A small breeze drifted across the hunting grounds gently fluttering both the leaves of the trees and the fringe of the buckskins, adding to the camouflage as it assisted in breaking up the outline of the silent sentinel. Hazel colored orbs were focused intently on the approaching black bear. One followed its actions openly, while the other tracked its movements through the four power Leopold that was mounted scout style on the stainless steel receiver of the Marlin 1895SSBL. Long slender digits were wrapped around the laminated stock, holding it rock solid against the shoulder of the silent watcher. One more step, just one more step, and he would add another one hundred fifty pounds of fresh meat to his freezer. one more step, and a few weeks hard work would add a warm bearskin blanket to the small double bed in his cabin. It was still August, but the cold came quick in northern Ontario, and the man would be prepared.

With a snorting *HUFF*, the bear swung his head around searching. Slowly Jedediahs index finger added pressure to the trigger, gently coaxing it back. Suddenly instead of taking the last step forward, the mature male bruin spun as another huff burst from its lungs, and it charged back the way it had come, a rolling gallop quickly removing it from sight. Slowly the cadaverous six foot tall hunter unwound to his full height, eyes searching as he let his nose and ears absorb all the clues nature offered to him. Years spent living on the edge of the wilderness, hunting for survival had honed his senses to a far higher plateau than the clogged orifices of the city dwellers to the west. At first there was nothing, but then his eye caught a subtle twisting movement where all should have been a gentle wave of flowing grasses. Stepping silently forward he knelt and studied the small bundle of black hair tied to the upright stalk of one of the blackberry stems that had drawn in the large bruin. He knew he had been positioned downwind, silent and still. He had done nothing wrong, the bear had smelt this, this hank of human hair tied in the brush. Another breeze slid through the cane break, revealing three more tiny bundles twisting in the wind. A low growl issued from deep inside as he ripped the first from its spot and moved towards the others when the sharp scent of urine assailed his sensitive olfactory system. Pausing, his eyes searched the ground as he inhaled softly once more. His head swiveled left to right, until his eyes locked on to the trail left by a diminutive set of hiking treads that lead towards the next hair cluster. Three steps farther on he found the place where the boots had left side by side prints, at shoulder width. The place where the black haired female tree hugger had squatted and pissed, hoping that between her hair, and urine, it would keep wildlife from these berries, and from his freezer.

Another low growl slipped from his lips as he kicked dirt over the damp spot, she must have been there just last night, that was why he had missed the signs when he slipped into his hide from downwind. Yanking the three other bundles of hair from their nesting places, he also kicked fresh dirt over two more urine stained bare spots along the edge of the canes. Even the errant image of bare-assed female squatting to piss, and tipping over into the razor sharp thorns of the berry canes could not bring a smile to his face. He had lived his life out here, surviving by taking what he needed, only what he needed, communing with nature and learning her ways. Jedediah took pride in preserving the micro-ecosystem around his cabin, and to a degree improving it. This though, was obviously the act of some ignorant, rich, college educated, city *****, that knew nothing of the true workings of nature. She was just using Daddy’s money to print signs at kinko’s, and get her bailed out after handcuffing herself to some fence, like a three year-old having a temper tantrum, kicking her feet, and chanting some moronic slogan.

Slinging the lever action .45-70 over his shoulder, his hands gracefully caressed the matching Colt Peacemakers riding his hips in drop leg holsters. His weaponry, as well as his clothing was straight from the nineteenth century, almost as if he had stepped through a time warp in the wilderness. Although their manufacture dates were new, the calibers, and styles were straight from the mid eighteen hundreds. Both the .45-70 govt and the .45 long colt had start out as blackpowder cartridges. Of course the rounds he used now contained smokeless powder, greatly increasing the range, power and velocity at which the heavy lead projectiles were launched from his weapons. The .45-70 had once helped clear the American plains of both bison, and natives, not something that he was in any way proud of, but in a modern rifle, with modern powders, it was capable .of stopping anything on the North American continent. Once when he had been in nearer to the city he had found three...well three somethings, he didn't know what… At first he had thought they were drunks, but as he drew closer, and they started towards him, all he could think of was some bad B-movie… and well, the .45-70 had stopped them reeeal good. Maybe it was time for it to stop some little rich ***** that liked running through the woods with her *** hanging out.

She had spent most of her nights as far away from the city as she could get. Memories of the events that had happened in that factory had returned to her with a vengeance. The woman that had led her and her beloved to their death wasn’t someone that the young telepath ever wanted to see again. And him….Kika would forever refer to him as a demon. Clearly he was far from sane and Kika had the scar to prove it. Her only regret was fleeing before she discovered what had happened to her husband. Had Machk suffered the same fate? Was he like her now? Or had he escaped with his mortal life intact? She hoped so. Even if that meant she had to live without him, to know that he was alive and well was a small comfort that she allowed herself to hold on to.

She was still wearing the same dress and shoes she’d stolen the night she fled from the factory. The pale yellow material was filthy, stiff and torn in places. Spots of dark red that had once been vivid crimson stained the material, a testament to her messy feeding habits. Kika was aware of the link she shared with Marlow and Castalia. The two females had been her first meals as a vampire and the small dark haired woman was still unsure how she had managed to curse them to become like her but now she took no chances. She drained the humans completely now and disposed of the bodies by dragging them into the woods for the animals to consume. The woods in the vicinity of the factory were now littered with the remains of her kills, kills that she would go back to and bury properly after a couple days had passed not that there was ever much left to take care of.

Currently that was what she was doing - disposing of the remains of her last kill. Kika hadn’t fed in a couple of days and she was starving but she wanted to handle the remains first. Lately she had gotten lucky and managed to find stragglers to feed from but she knew that that wouldn’t last forever. Eventually the demon would find her again and drag her back to that house of horrors. But Kika wouldn’t let him, not without one hell of a fight.

Jedediah stood silently for a moment, eyes closed, hands at his side, as he let the black wave of anger roll over him and away. This was one of the many reason that the laconic male kept his own company deep in the woods. The human race was destroying itself, and the world with it. The last few times Jed had been to the city, he had seen things out of dime store novels, not to mention the two quarantined areas. He had seen things that had made him wish he had had the big Marlin with him. What would happen when the fences fell, not if, when. The GOVERNMENT was in charge, so it was destined to fail. He was sure it was experiments gone bad, just like the three he had sent to a final peace last week. Now they were out here messing with him. Messing with him personally. He had heard a few shots the other night, and went out to investigate. Found the sins of a poacher in his woods. He had been looking for him. Jedediah didn't need the police, to keep the laws in his area. The Colts and Marlin did just fine, no tax money needed for upkeep. While tracking the poachers he had found the bear, and subsequently the hair, and piss. Jed stayed out of their city, why couldn't they stay out of his wilds?

Calm again, the hunter ghosted silently through the trees. Although the sun had set, a nearly full moon provided ample light for the sharp eyes of the skilled tracker. The poachers tracks had headed north, so Jed started out at a smooth lope in an effort pass the poacher and set up a welcoming for him. The speed and silence was evidence of Jedediah’s familiarity with the area. Not even the wild life gave warning as he sped towards his date with destiny. The rifle had been unslung and rode easily in the hunter’s hands as he neared the northern edge of the woods he called home. Slipping behind a recent windfall, he settled the Ching sling in a loop around his off arm and drew the rifle to his shoulder. Dividing the land before him into grids, he began to scan them one by one for either sign of, or the actual poacher. It was time to settle this invasion of his territory, settle it permanently. Once the poacher was dealt with, he would handle the tree-huggers. In his eyes they were the same, befouling his beloved pristine wilderness.

As each area was cleared, silently the hunter would shift and begin quartering the next area. One by one, each section came up clear of interlopers, or sign. The rifle settled into position as Jedediah began the slow gentle sweeps to clear the fifth block, when a flash of white caught his eye behind a small patch of arctic dogwood. The scope slid back, centering the round white globe in the crosshairs as Jedediah reached with his left hand to twist the magnification ring on the scope. As the power grew from three to nine, the white globe grew in definition, to reveal a black haired female, squatting with her pants around her knees. A low growl slipped from his lips as he watched the quickly forming puddle beneath her. His eyes slid higher to take in the rest of the woman. Long black hair cascade over her shoulders, covering half her back. Tattoos snaked down both arms, at least to the elbows, which was as far as he could see with her squatting back to. Another tattoo peaked from the bottom hem of her shirt gracing her lower back with a swirl of color. Jedediah subconsciously noted that the tattoos on her arms made good camouflage, as he lowered the cross hairs once more to the smooth creamy white globes. His finger slipped inside of the trigger guard as she reached for the belt of her pants and started to stand. If she wanted to leave human scent all over...he would help her, with a half inch hole in the center of that tempting target. Slowly he took up the creep in the trigger.

As Laney finished her business, there was a whistle in the distance that let her know one of her partners in crime was done doing what they set out to do. The long haired, raven hair colored woman pulled her pants up, zipped and buttoned them and pulled out a pack of hand-bac and squirted some in her hands. Not the kind with the beads in them that didn’t dissolve and was bad for the environment, the regular kind that smelled really strong and really bad. But, she did just pee everywhere in the woods and that wasn’t exactly hygienically healthy.

Delaney copies the whistle, letting whoever know that she’s done all she can too for the night and to meet back up at the rendezvous point they picked out earlier in the week. She looks up at the sky, uses what little she remembers from her astrology class in college and heads south of the Dipper, and to her friends.

Her fingernails were ruined. Having no shovel or anything to dig a whole the telepath had to use what was available to her, and that was her hands. She hated what she had become, what Ambrose had turned her into. As a human she hadn’t believed in violence. She’d been a vegetarian and didn’t have a mean bone in her body. “Not who I am now,” she muttered as she dug deeper into the soft ground. Beside her was the remains of the last human she had killed. The head was gone, and so was an arm and half of a leg. There was more left than she had planned on which meant a bigger hole. She was a murderer, a demon - just like Ambrose and Vega, and Kika hated it.

Finally the hole was deep enough. Tiredly she shoved the body into the ground and made quick work of covering it with dirt. “I’m sorry,” she whispered even though she couldn’t be heard. “I appreciate the sacrifice you made for me.” Standing she covered the spot with leaves and a couple of loose branches before dusting her hands off. A whistle from somewhere in the distance caught her attention and she tensed up. Had someone spotted her? That...that just wouldn’t do. The gnawing hunger made it’s presence known to her and she made a split second decision to find the source of the whistler. If nothing else she just might find her next meal.

The silent hunter raises the crosshairs slightly, centering them on the multi-colored antlers growing out of the raven tressed tree hugger’s ***. A simple spine shot would do the trick. A night laying in the wilderness paralyzed, would let her learn how much the bears and cougars cared about her ‘assistance’. Letting out half of his breath, he again started the smooth pull on the trigger, when a whistle cut shrilly through the night air. The woman quickly stood, repeating the whistle herself as her jeans eclipsed the moon. Jedediah lowered the Marlin and watched. Never one to pass up a good sale, it look like tonight i was going to be buy one, get one.

Jedediah followed at a distance until he began to hear the noise of another approaching, then slipped silently out to flank the approaching party. Years of living in the wilderness surrounding the city, combined with the supple leather of his knee high moccasins allowed him to move like a ghost through the woods. Tree to tree he moved, closer and closer. Listening as the two talked the six foot left over from the nineteenth century stood to his full height, and raised the lever action to his shoulder. He stood upon a slight rise, and as he lined up his shot a smile creased his lips. from this angle it would indeed be a two for one. The five hundred grain soft lead present would first be delivered to the new male that had just arrived. It would be a short stay, milliseconds at most, before it would burst out of a softball sized exit wound, and enter the lower back of the woman. He had waited long enough, and with a smooth even pull, released chaos to their world.

The man fell, dead instantly. The woman crashed to the ground beside him, a small moan escaping her lips. They were down, no further attention needed. Now his gaze focused outwards, as night time shots had a habit of bringing out things that didn’t appear on the reruns of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom. Jedediah did not know what they truly were, and he had caught but glimpses of them himself, but growing up amongst members of the First Nations, he had been privy to tales of spirits, that roamed the wild to protect men from those that stalk the night. All he knew for sure, was too many things stalked the night around Harpers Rock.

There was a sharp jab and pain for an instant and then...nothing. Her feet literally went out from under her as Laney found her way on her back and her line of vision was met with silver splotches in a canvas of black. "Spense?" Laney called out to him, unable to hear or see her long time uni friend. "Spense?!" Laney shouted his name, this time more urgent than the last. "I-I can't move. I can't feel my legs. Spense, where are you?!" There were few times in the woman's life that she could remember being scared. At least in her adult life. Being scared of things as a kid didn't count. Kids had overactive imaginations and had a lot of fears that didn't always make sense. Still nothing from Spense. "Don't be a butt-head, Spense. Help me up. I think I'm hurt really badly. Please Spense." Laney saw her vision blur as tears welled in her eyes.

The gunshot pierced the air around her with a crack that had her sliding to a stop. Should she go for the whistler first? Did it even matter? Not really. The hunger was clawing at her insides in the most painful way. Either way someone was going to die in her quest to feed and she didn’t feel a shred of remorse over the inevitable loss of life. Her humanity was leaving her and if she kept on walking the path she was currently set upon there wouldn’t be a shred of the old Kika left. She wasn’t all that bothered by that any longer. Her mind was made up as her feet started to move. She’d find the whistler, then move on to the person who fired the shot.

Her feet made no sound ran through the woods. Instinct guided her, telling her that she was close to her prize. For the second time that evening Kika skidded to a stop as a new scent traveled over the wind and filled her senses. Blood. Fresh human blood. A growl started to build within her chest and her lips curled, revealing wickedly sharp fangs. Finally.

She could only imagine what she looked like as she stepped out into the open where the woman could see her. Same pale yellow dress stained with the blood of her victims, hair tangled into knots, hands filthy dirty and her feet bare, snarling like a wild animal. The metallic scent of blood consumed her from the inside out. Kika couldn’t think about anything but that scent and she refused to deny herself. She threw herself at the woman and sank her fangs into her neck.

A flicker of color and motion caught his experienced eye as he surveilled the night woods for something out of the ordinary. The basic gray and black silence of the wilds was shattered by by a flickering of faded yellow, and an otherworldly growl. The color and sound matched. no creature that belonged in the woods, this he knew.The figure finally came into focus kneeling over the stricken women he had just put down. An errant thought crossed his mind that maybe he should have literally put her down, rather than leaving her to the untender mercies of this creature of the night. Jedediah silently watched, his finger caressing the trigger of the big marlin as he pondered if he should put the treehugger out of her misery, or increase the dietary lead content of the banshee that had just tore through the woods, and was now tearing into the poor paralyzed girl’s throat. Mind made up, the human drew a bead….on the banshee. The creature’s movements were fast as she struck at the neck, and as his finger graced the trigger, Jedediah knew he had missed his mark. The creature had appeared as a disheveled woman, twigs and dirt adorning her hair and clothes, but her movement were not of a human lost in the wilderness. Crimson exploded from her left upper arm, and as the stain spread down the dress Jedediah charged closer, smoothly working the action of the Marlin, and raising it to his shoulder as he closed the distance. He had intended the ***** to feed the wolves, not some nightmare apparition from legends told and forgotten long ago. Stopping suddenly he locked into the sling and as the illuminated crosshairs of the Trijicon settled on the creature’s head, an errant thought crossed his mind… It bled, and to paraphrase a famous Austrian…. it bled, and he would kill it.