Clash of Shadows (Bella)

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa pulled down her hood in an attempt to block out the cold. It had been a productive night of pick-pocketing for her and now her bag was full of extra cash and valuable items. When she left her apartment she debated on whether she would break into a couple warehouses, but decided against it. She just wanted to explore town tonight and not have worry about getting a ton of stuff back home. But now the chill wind was starting to get to her, which dampened her mood. A lot of people got off the streets to find somewhere warm, which made it difficult to find someone to lighten their wallets.

Nerissa walked down the street scowling. It looked like her night was going to end sooner than she wanted. She looked around to try and find a station to get her closer to River Rock when she started to walk past a nightclub. She looked up at the sign that read The Necropolis Nightclub. It sounded interesting enough, and since she didn't really want to return to an empty apartment she decided to go inside and check it out. Besides, nightclubs tended to be on the dark side, which made it easy to "accidentally" bump into someone and get a tiny bit richer.

Once she got inside she looked around and found an empty table. She walked over and sat down, keeping a sharp eye out on her surroundings. She decided to scope out the area before making her move since she was unfamiliar with the building, so she leaned back and did some people watching.

[Bella Rose (DELETED 7820)]

During Bella’s short time in Harper Rock, she had found the Necropolis Nightclub a frequent hangout of hers. It was dark and somewhat mysterious, and this was what had drawn her to it. Within the last hour she had taken a bath, read a bit, and written in her journal. But she was growing ever so bored, sitting around in her apartment. Plus, she was hungry, and so she came to the decision to get out of the house for a while.
She took the public transit to get from Wickbridge to Gullsborough, and there found a wandering vagabond to drink from. She then continued her journey towards the nightclub. It was dim, but there was still light in the place and so she concentrated for a few moments in order to cast her shadow. “Behave” she mumbled to it in a somewhat exasperated tone before opening the door and stepping inside. It wasn’t too crowded, but it wasn’t exactly empty either. She began walking somewhat briskly to the other side of the bar, passing by a few tables, when suddenly her shadow starting having a fit, seemingly attempting to claw at whomever was sitting close by. Turning around, she came face to face with the woman who had seemed to be the cause of irritation. She didn’t seem much older than herself, and had a similar air of darkness about her that Bella could most certainly relate to. “****. I’m very sorry. My shadow seems to have a mind of it’s own.” Bella sighed and attempted to move farther away so that her shadow couldn’t reach the lady.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa had seen the young girl enter the nightclub and was going to ignore her until she noticed the girl's shadow start attempting to attack her. Before she could respond her own shadow launched itself at the other and began to fight it. The shadows fought each other in a silent duel with no apparent winner at the moment. Nerissa smirked at this and looked up at the girl. "I've never seen my shadow react like this before. It's kind of entertaining. She inspected the newcomer and noticed the dark air around her, which interested her greatly.

"We haven't met before. The name's Nerissa." She offered her slender hand in what she hoped was a friendly way. She wanted to get to know this person and she hoped that her shadow wouldn't scare her off. She glared at her shadow threateningly and said in a low voice "Hey, back off. She's not hurting me so there's no need to get so aggressive."

[Bella Rose (DELETED 7820)]

Bella watched in curiosity as the other girl’s shadow began to fight back. She gave a polite smile, a rarity for her and nodded. “Unfortunately I have.” She frowned. “I wonder what triggered the sudden outburst.”

Finally both shadows seemed to have retreated, and Bella moved forward again.

As the girl offered her hand, Bella was hesitant. But she felt the similarities between them may be more than met the eye, and so she tilted her head just slightly to the side before finally reaching her hand out to meet Nerissa’s. “Pleasure. I’m Bella Rose, but you can just call me Bella for short. Might I sit?” She inquired. She felt uneasy, as she always did when meeting new people. It wasn't anxiety, per say, just resistance to form bonds. She had been betrayed in her short time on the earth and it had created a cynical attitude very deep within her. She had just barely come to trust her sire, and it felt dangerous to form any more bonds. But she had to remind herself that having people who were loyal to you could be very useful when in desperate situations. And besides, who said they'd ever see each other again, or even get to the point of friendship? They were hardly acquaintances now. There was no harm in chatting for a moment, was there?

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa motioned to the empty seat next to her and said "Go ahead." She waited until Bella sat down before asking "I haven't had the chance to meet someone else with a shadow like that before, has it always been that way?" She folded her hands in front of her on the table as she waited for the answer. Her shadow hadn't always been so active after she turned, it had happened later so she was very curious as to whether it was the same case with Bella. After all, it wasn't often that she ran across someone with abilities similar to hers.

She didn't know what she was going to do with this information, but she always thought that to more you know about something the easier it is to deal with it. If she could learn more about her shadow, then maybe she would be able to have better control of it. However, she didn't mind if this turned out to be a fruitless conversation. It gave her a distraction at least.

[Bella Rose (DELETED 7820)]

Bella sat down and took a quick glance around the club just for knowledge sake, just in case anything out of the ordinary happened. She would have, at the very least, a vague memory of the faces that occupied the place at the present time.

“It seems so.” Bella paused, pondering whether or not she should reveal the fact that she was a very young vampire, turned less than two weeks ago. She would wait to reveal this information, she concluded, just in case Nerissa turned out to be not-so trustworthy. She would not want to appear naive or inexperienced, however much she may be.

She continued by explaining her subconsciously chosen path and what that had to do with the conversation. “‘However, in order to produce a shadow, I must concentrate. It is not a natural occurrence. At times it is necessary for the purpose of blending in but can be a nuisance when it decides to act up like this. For this reason I tend to stick to dark areas so that there is no need for it to be cast and therefore no possibility of an outburst. But I digress, to more clearly answer your question, yes, it has been this way since the first time I successfully cast it.” She paused again before continuing. “And what about you?” She questioned.

[Nerissa Clemming]

A vampire without a shadow? This was new to Nerissa. "I've always had my shadow since I turned, but it was a bit later when it started to act up," she said in response to the question. This conversation proved to be more interesting than she expected. She looked down at her shadow, which seemed to have fully calmed down now, and inspected it curiously. She remembered when it first started showing signs of 'life'; moving along the floor towards guards she was trying to avoid, making gestures to various people she walked past without them noticing. It was kind of unnerving at first, but she eventually got used to it. It even became a bit of a friend to her. "It must be odd to not always have a shadow with you," Nerissa mused, "I doubt I would ever get used to it." She loved having her shadow. It was like a piece of darkness was always with her no matter where she was.

"Are you new to Harper Rock?" She then asked curiously. Nerissa didn't really make it a habit to remember who was from Harper Rock or not, but someone who looked as unique as Bella would be hard to miss.

[Bella Rose (DELETED 7820)]

Bella nodded along as Nerissa explained her experience with the curse.

“It is strange. But I have gotten used to it by now. I believe it is only a result of those following the path of the shadow.” She paused and pondered this for a moment, a look of distance about her. “A bit ironic, I suppose. But the nature of darkness always is curious.”

Bella drifted back to reality as Nerissa posed another question.

“Yes, I’m from England, actually.” Her accent probably made that evident, but she understood that the woman was probably only attempting to make more conversation, to “get to know each other”; an interesting prospect. Though she didn’t doubt that she was also genuinely curious, despite any obvious foreign attributes. “My sire brought me here. Have you lived in Harper Rock for an extended amount of time?” She inquired.

Suddenly, as Bella glanced down mindlessly at her hand, she came to notice herself flickering, wavering on the border of reality. She sighed. Another thing she’d have to explain.

“Don’t worry about that, it happens now and then.” Bella drawled. She could hear her voice fading in and out. When the visibility of her physical form dwindled, it sounded more distant, echoey, as if she was speaking from far away, another realm, another world. “I promise I’m not a wraith.” She joked with a small smile, a hint of ominous anomaly peeking through it.

After a few moments the flickering had almost completely ceased, and Bella was grateful she had not disappeared all together, as that did happen on occasion.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa tilted her head curiously. "England, you're a long way from home," she said. She didn't know there were vampires outside of Harper Rock, but then she didn't really know they existed before she came here. She answered Bella's question with a shrug, "I came to Harper Rock about a year ago, and there really hasn't been a good enough reason for me to leave."

She was about to ask another question when she realized that Bella was becoming transparent. At first she was a bit startled, then confused. It reminded her of what Rachel looked like when she would visit. When Bella said she wasn't a wraith, it settled Nerissa a little bit; she honestly was wondering if she had been talking to a ghost the entire time. She watched in fascination as Bella stopped flickering and said with a slightly impressed tone, "I assume that has to do with the Shadow Path?"

[Bella Rose (DELETED 7820)]

Bella sighed. “Indeed I am, thank heavens.”

Bella was curious about Nerissa’s lack of desire to leave Harper Rock but didn’t press on any further, as it was her business. She couldn’t imagine having no desire to go anywhere else, but she supposed she was different than most in that way. It was common that people were much more attached to the comfortable, stable lifestyle of staying in one place. She wanted to travel to every corner of the world, as she had been in one place for so long that her desire to see other lands surpassed most others. This was why she had been so eager and willing to leave Europe to go to Canada with her sire. Her soul was restless, never ceasing its curious and adventurous spirit that had been beaten down with the sickness of a static life and lost time. It had risen back to life again during her stay here, and was growing stronger than ever in recent days.

She had become particularly interested in Iceland, as it seemed like such a small beautiful spot away from the rest of the world where she could be alone with her thoughts. She had been once told when she was young that her mother had been Icelandic, which would explain her white hair, but this had not been confirmed, and she supposed it never would be.

The only thing keeping her from traveling to these places was, well, her financial circumstances. She hoped to raise enough money over the next four or five years to go on a world tour, but only time would tell if that dream of hers would come true.

“It doesn’t actually, just another thing that’s been happening to me as a result of becoming a vampire.” She shrugged. “It can get annoying at times, but it’s just something I have to deal with I suppose.”