Rush [Xylia]

[Adley Reed]

Wearing || Location :: Redwood
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Adley could never complain about being a vampire. At least, at this point in his life as one, he hadn’t yet encountered any of the moral, nostalgic hurdles he assumed might come with time. When he woke up, it was immediate. Swinging his legs from the bed he stretched his arms up over his head. None of his muscles ached. Tiredness didn’t cling to him. He was awake, as if he’d been injected with caffeine as soon as he opened his eyes.

The windows of his studio apartment had all been blacked out, covered with board. He could have bought heavy curtains, but the apartment was used only so that he could sleep. It had always been that way, and it would remain that way now. There was too much in the world to see, too much to do. Too much to experience. If Adley had been a restless soul before, the constant need for motion was exacerbated upon his turning. If he had a form of Attention Deficit Disorder, it had never been diagnosed.

Within ten minutes, Adley was dressed. The shirt was crisp, new, and buttoned to his neck. The sweater pulled over the top was thick, comfortable. Probably too thin for the winter outside, but the winter outside didn’t mean much to a vampire. It didn’t do anything. Over his shoulder was strapped the camera he took with him everywhere; the one he had with him when he’d met Kaylee. That moment in time that he’d discovered why he didn’t like the taste of human blood. Why it wasn’t enough. Vampire blood was just that much better. That much richer. That much… thicker.

On the kitchen table, the scanner crackled. Adley’s head inched sideways; a car crash. It wasn’t too far away. From the bedside table, Adley collected his phone. He swiped the screen and brought up the messaging app; he quickly typed out the address, and a message:

• Come see what I do for work. Race you there.

Adley’s intention was always to beat the cops to a scene; it was easier to get pictures without the cops telling him to get out of the way. Without waiting for a response, Adley was out the door – he barely remembered to lock it behind him. This was the best part of the night; the adrenaline rush, when the game was afoot.

[Xylia]

Located around the east side of the sewers, Xylia had been doing some gathering of materials when pesky hunter foot-soldiers had interrupted her.

'Hm.' She hummed silently more in annoyance than anything as she pinpointed her targets just round the corner from where luminous silver-blue hues spied on them. Without time to waste, shadows rose up from her surrounding area and crept towards her unsuspecting targets. As soon as they were within range, the shadows lashed out at her targets aiming for their vital points. Within seconds, her targets were out and lying in a pool of their own blood. Satisfied with her work, Xylia left the scene and the shadows dissipated behind her.

Fifteen minutes later, she was done with her task and was about to exit the sewers when her phone beeped alerting her of a message as well as alerting the paladin berserker just a few tunnels down from her of her presence. Xylia would have dragged a hand down her face in exasperation if it weren't for the paladin rushing towards her like an enraged bear.

Knocking the breathe out of him with a quick kick to his ribs, she whipped out the dagger her sire had given her and lashed out at the man in a warning swipe. The paladin refused to back down and thus a fight ensued.

Few minutes later, the man laid on the ground with a new hole in his heart. His blood staining the ground of the sewers, soon to be consumed by the rodents that lived there. With one last glance at him, Xylia checked herself for blood stains before turning her back on him leaping out of the sewers and into the world above.

The killings had put a damper on her mood. Despite being turned and living a new life, she still disliked violence when it wasn't necessary. What had alerted that paladin again? Oh right, that danged phone. She picked the gadget out from her pocket and pressed the home button to see she had a message from Ad.

Come see what I do for work. Race you there.

A smirk graced her lips. Pocketing her phone, Xylia entered the next alley and made her way over to the address she had been presented with, taking shortcuts she knew by heart from many wanderings and tasks she had to do. It was a good excuse to get away from the crowd too. After her turning, she found that crowds gave her migraines and tended to stay away from them.

[Adley Reed]

By the time Adley arrived at the scene, he could hear the sirens in the distance. He had a very short amount of time to get what he needed; ignoring all bystanders he swooped in to take his photographs. The cats had smashed a cross intersection. Someone had run a red light. A truck had slammed right into a hatchback, totalling it. The truck driver was sitting on the curb, blood pouring from a wound on his head. Adley’s nostrils flared, the scent of the blood so very enticing, the colour so vivid.

The blood was what took precedence in his shots; he hovered over the truck driver, ducking to angle where the most blood could be seen, the percentage of red in the shot far larger than other colours. He didn’t waste too much time on the driver, though. He had to focus on the cars. A few of the bystanders had started to shout at him. Someone was crying. Someone asked him what the hell he thought he was doing. He heard the word insensitive. In order to do this job, Adley had to be insensitive. This was how he made his money, and the best shots were the most gorey ones.

In the hatchback there were two teenagers - at least, they looked like teenagers. They were young. The driver was dead. Adley could tell just by looking at him; he could tell by the way the body slumped, the palour of the skin. This was what he enjoyed about being a vampire. The senses ran amok, but they did so for a reason. He was a predator now, and he knew a dead body when he saw one. A useless body. A body that could give him nothing.

Not that he hungered for human blood anymore, though it didn’t stop the red cruor from inciting a furious frenzy within him. His vision blurred as he tried to focus on his work. The girl in the passenger seat was quietly sobbing. She was shivering. She was in shock. No one quite knew what to do with her. The car had slammed up against a pole and her door was stuck. Witnesses hovered, trying to comfort her, and Adley pushed his way in, past them, trying to get the good angles.

Someone shoved him backward. He ignored them and went around the other side of the car to try to get a picture or three of the driver, slumped in his chair. While he worked, he continued to glance at the gathering crowd. When he saw Zaleski, it was just as the ambulance arrived. Having got what he had come for, Adley took a few steps back, put the cap back on the camera, and approached his friend. He pressed a greeting kiss to her cheek and nudged at her hip with his own.

His pupils were dilated, his canines on show. The heady scent of blood was everywhere, now. It was like being on drugs, but better.

”Welcome to the fun,” he said, voice low as he leaned close. He doubted the spectators would appreciate his idea of ‘fun’.

[Xylia]

The scent of blood had hit her the moment she was within range and she arrived at the scene in a flash under the coverage of the shadows of alleys. The moment she arrived, her eyes found Ad’s form easily. Being the center of the crowd's attention made it difficult not to be spotted.

She waited silently, using this chance to observe him work. He was currently hovering around a car that carried a pair of young adults, the lady in the passenger seat sobbing, probably traumatized and the other… Xylia did not need to look to know the man was dead. The scent coming off him was already starting to smell a hint like the countless zombies she had slaughtered. After snapping the most gruesome shots of the dead man she observed, Ad spotted her just a few mere seconds before the ambulance arrived. She watched him make his little getaway and make his way over to her, his camera capped.

Xylia pressed her own lips to his cheek in an exchange of greeting before smacking him none too gently on the shoulder.

"What did I tell you about using that name." She told him, but knew it was futile.

During their countless meetings in the past months, he had insisted on calling her by her mortal family name even though she told him she no longer wanted to be affiliated with them in any way possible. Still, he persisted. Stubborn mule she would call him, and it would be let off. Just like always. At the very least, she hoped he would call her that when they were alone or in a place where she was sure no one would have a chance of recognizing her family name. Call her paranoid, but it was something she just could not get rid off. After all, it had helped her avoid spending her life in captivity for what could have been the rest of her life.

"Anyways. Let's get out of here before we lose our mind." She spoke with a sense of urgency, her form stiff.

It was hard to relax around crowds due to her enhanced senses. With her senses already trained during her time as a mortal, her turning had just made them a whole lot more sensitive than what was considered normal, even for a creature of the night. When she became too overwhelmed by them, her emotions would disappear causing her other personality to reveal itself. That would most definitely not be a good thing. It had happened before and the scene she had created was so gruesome that she refused to talk about it to anyone.

She led them away from the still gathering crowd through an alleyway, careful to avoid the lights. As they got further from the crowd, the pressure that had been building on her released and immediately the shadow path vamp sighed in relief.

"That’s quite a job you have there. Pretty cool." She admits as she spun round to face him. They had stopped a few alleyways down from the accident site where there were little to no mortals.

“Can see why you like it. Kinda like an adrenaline rush. Isn’t it dangerous though? What if you lose control out there?” She questioned with slight concern laced within her tone, but her expression showed a frown. If one did not know her well enough, they would not be able to comprehend her emotions, but seeing as Ad had been a childhood friend of hers, he might be able to tell.

[Adley Reed]

It wasn’t that Adley was nostalgic or anything, but he didn’t feel the need to let go entirely of his past acquaintances. Xylia didn’t suit his childhood friend. Zaleski was Zaleski. Whenever he said her name out loud he saw that girl smoking with him beneath the bleachers, laughing about the classes that they weren’t missing, while missing them entirely. Adley didn’t have such a great track record, but in the end he didn’t need it. That education they had forced upon him didn’t inform his life now; he had an eye. He took pictures. He sold them. All he needed was the education given to him by the streets, and the people who haunted them.

He followed after Zaleski with his hands shoved into his pockets, sauntering along like he didn’t have a care in the world. There were the easy tells, however; the flare of his nostrils, the sharp tips of his fangs. The way the pupils of his eyes became wide discs, darkness overlapping the usually calm blue. Although he should have been paying attention to their surroundings, to whoever might be following, he was too preoccupied trying to find the curve of Zaleski’s neck.

The necuratism was a new thing. Something that Zaleski hadn’t been witness to, yet. No, instead it was a stranger. Kaylee. Another photographer. Something clicked within Adley; a curiosity. A need for something more, something that the human blood couldn’t give. A rash decision and he’d fed from another of his kind. He’d bitten a vampire. He’d consumed her blood. It had been everything he’d wanted and more.

Since then, he’d tried to feed from humans, to tide him over, but it had failed. The blood had curdled in his gut and he had brought it back up again. The sight of the blood at the crash site incited Adley’s blood lust, his frenzy. But it wasn’t human blood that he craved.

Eventually the two of them stopped; Zaleski first, rounding on Adley. His head canted to the side, gaze still on the curve of Zaleski’s neck. It was easier to see from the front.

He wandered a little closer; if he were human his blood pressure would have skyrocketed. His heart rate pounding. Zaleski had no heartbeat. But he knew what she would taste like. He knew the richness attached to vampire blood. He swallowed, and shook his head.

”No. I mean… sometimes. Sometimes there isn’t any blood. But it’s not human blood I crave anymore…” he said. It was hard not to lose control now; it was hard to keep his cool. But Zaleski was his friend. She didn’t deserve to be bitten without warning. All the warning was there, in the way he stood so close; the way his teeth left dimples in his lower lip. Like an animal after its prey – it was obvious all he wanted was Zaleski’s blood.

[Xylia]

Not human blood that he craved anymore? Xylia looked at him weirdly being the simpleton that she was, wondered what else was there to crave for besides human blood?

“Have you gone vegetarian then?” She asked jokingly, an amused smirk playing on her lips.

It was a fact that Adley wouldn’t and couldn’t be a vegetarian even if it were to bring flying cows about. She knew that but they had joked about becoming vegetarians a couple of times and actually tried it once. It had not lasted though. In fact, the vegetarian diet had lasted a miserable hour before they were back to feeding on their usual. Animal blood just was not to their fancy and a thing they agreed would only work for them when they were starving to death.

She was about to joke further when she noticed the way he was looking at her, her neck in particular. If he’s not craving human blood, and neither is he becoming a vegetarian any time soon... The shadow pathed vamp took a few steps backwards and observed him warily. When his eyes followed her neck with a clouded look, dread flooded her as the realization of what he may have done dawned on her.

Xylia stared at him, speechless. Her tongue seeming to have failed her. Wasn’t this a violation? What was he going to do when others found out?

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Her voice was calm, but inside she was seething. Didn’t they had an agreement not to do anything foolish? Especially one which could possibly get them killed? Xylia desperately hoped Ad had not been fully conscious of what he had been doing at the time he decided popping his fangs into another of their kind would be a great idea. Maybe they would let him off the hook?

Who was she kidding! Why would a vampire not be fully conscious? They couldn't get intoxicated even if they wanted to!

Her faction was big and had eyes everywhere. They were one that did not approve of such violations. If a member of her faction were to see a violation they would either deal with it on sight or it would be told to those who would know how to deal with it. Xylia paced up and down the alley as she pondered. As much as she was proud of her faction, Adley was her only friend right now and she didn’t want to lose him. She refused to see another of her friend die before her. As she pondered more, she realized that even if one of her own did not see, others would and Ad would be dead within a week with the careless way he was acting.

Xylia looked at him, silver-blue hues showing how torn she was.

“You idiot!” She exclaimed suddenly appearing in front of her childhood friend and punching him in the chest, one that would send him flying to the other end of the alley if it caught him.

[Adley Reed]

<Adley Reed> Adley wasn’t the kind of person to think about things before he did them. He hadn’t been told about necuratism; he didn’t know there was a name for it. He didn’t know that once he fed from a vampire properly, he wouldn’t be able to digest the blood of humans. He didn’t know that it was against any kind of law. He hadn’t seen his sire in months. He would call her his sire. It didn’t matter how he had been sired. She was not his partner; she was not any kind of girlfriend. She wasn’t anything else to him after such a long time; but then he wondered if the title fit. A sire was supposed to be around for those they created, right? Abelle wasn’t too great at her job.

Although the blow did catch him, it didn’t send him flying. It was enough to crack a rib; he hissed as he heard the shatter, the spreading bruise humbling, almost. Though it didn’t do much for his hunger but exacerbate it.

“What’s the big ******* deal, Zaleski? We’re friends, aren’t we?” he asked, eyes narrowed and canines sharp against his plump lower lip. “What’s the problem? I can even replace the blood afterwards…” he said. Although she had punched him, it didn’t deter him. He still wanted to taste her. He would prove to her that it would be fine - that she might even like it. His fingers hooked behind her neck, tangling in her hair as if he were about to swoop in for a kiss; instead, his lips found the vein of her neck, teeth piercing the skin but retracting nearly immediately. He didn’t want to hurt his friend. He was just really, very hungry.


<Xylia> She looked at him as if he were a halfwit, which he may very well be.

“You really have no idea. Do you?” She inquired slowly, a little in disbelief and a little hopeful. If he really had no idea what he had done, maybe she could help him. It would be his Sire’s fault for not taking care of him and telling him of the ‘dos’ and ‘do nots’ as vampires.

The shadow vamp suddenly found herself in the necromancer’s grasp, shock freezing her in place as her fellow kind sank his fangs into the skin of her neck but retracted not even a second later. With the shock leaving her, she shoved him off her form, enraged.

“Adley!” She exclaimed, eyes flashing in horror. Not for what he had done but what she knew would eventually come.

‘****. If they see my memories he’s dead for sure.’ She glared at her dimwitted friend the shadows dancing around her in her anger. Xylia willed herself to calm down pacing the alley before she turned to face her friend once more.

“Do you or do you not understand what you have done?” She asked again.


<Adley Reed> Adley had hardly been allowed even a couple of mouthfuls before he was shoved away; the cracked rib sent volleys of sharp pain in all directions. He was hardly satisfied. Although Zaleski was irritated with him, he felt that she had no need to be. He couldn’t understand why she would be so angry when it could be so good. His instinct had got the better of him, the frenzy clutching at his limbs and forcing him into action. If he stopped and took his time, maybe, then he could convince her.

But she kept asking him if he knew what he had done, as if he had broken some kind of law. As if the whole world were going to split in two and swallow them all whole just because he preferred the taste of human blood to vampire blood. He laughed and shook his head. He watched Zaleski; waited for an opportune moment to reach out. To try to soothe her. To ask her for just a little bit more.

“Why are you so ******* serious about this? I’ve changed my dietary preferences. I used to get blood from vampires before without any trouble, I don’t see why I can’t keep doing it now that I am one. What’s the problem?” he asked for a second time.


<Xylia> Regardless of Ad’s behavior being a little off, Xylia sighed in relief. Her eyes met his, stern. Willing him to understand that it was no joking matter. The area around them grew darker as shadows crept up around them and prevented their words from travelling past the shadow barrier. Satisfied, Xylia walked closer to Ad, circling him like a predator would. She was not trying to intimidate him, she simply wanted him to understand what he had done.

“That’s the thing. You were human then, under human laws. Now, you’re a vampire... Did your Sire not tell you of vampire secrecy?” Her expression was a perfect picture of calmness, however her tone spoke a different picture altogether. It spoke volumes of danger and everything that her being was capable of. The aura that radiated off her was grim. She disappeared and reappeared in front of him.

“I’m telling you this not for fun but because you can and will be killed for violating the rules, whether you knew about it or not.” She enunciated the word ‘killed’, wanting her words to get through to him.

“What you did was as good as cannibalism and have become what we call a Necuratist, and it is highly disapproved by our kind. Were you aware of that?” She queried, looking him in the eye, concern deep within the grimness of her expression.


<Adley Reed> Adley shoved his hands in his pockets, highly amused at Xylia’s seriousness; the way she circled him. As if the tables had turned, and she was not the older one, when he was older in every sense of the word. And yet, he had been a vampire for only a month longer than his friend, and it would seem she was far better informed than he had ever been. He had never been angry at Abelle before this, but now he suddenly felt the need to resent her. With an ego like his, he didn’t like being spoken to as if he were a child. He scoffed.

“Sure. Don’t be seen. Whatever. There’s no one around - no one saw me,” he said with a shrug and a shake of his head. It was kind of eerie, the way the shadows clung to them and muffled their sound; the way Zaleski seemed to flicker in front of him. For one second, he entertained the notion that he had somehow caused the atmosphere to split. But she was still there. Still… angry.

[Xylia]

<Adley Reed> “I’m not sure what you’re talking about. For your information, no - my sire basically fucked and fled. I haven’t seen her since like… a week after she turned me. We didn’t do much talking in that week…” he said. He cleared his throat and again shook his head.

“How archaic are these laws? I took blood from her when I was human, and she fuckin’ loved it. When she took my blood, I enjoyed it, too. Cannibalism? That’s just … no. If you just… I can show you how good it feels…” he said, that familiar grin lighting his features - though he made no move toward Zaleski, yet.


<Xylia> She listened to him patiently without interrupting, although the way he had shrugged off the vampire secrecy had irritated her. The younger vamp knew she had given him a blow to his ego with her information. Ad had always liked to be well-informed. His Sire taking flight after turning him was plenty explanation for her.

‘How irresponsible. I’m glad for mine now.’ Was the thought that went through her mind upon discovering the reason behind the Necromancer’s lack of information.

Archaic? This had her let out a bark of laugh, this time humor was an ingredient in the product, but when he wanted to try his luck at getting a bite out of her again, the humor left her replaced with ire.

“Snap out of it Ad! You were still human then and feeding off a different being. Now, you’re a vampire and feeding on your own kind. That’s called cannibalism... How many of our kind have you fed off after you turned? You could very well find your name on the hit list soon.” She informed him.


<Adley Reed> Adley rolled his eyes.

“This is a ridiculous argument, Zaleski,” he said. He couldn’t adhere to Zaleski’s line of thought. He wasn’t sure what she’d been taught, but clearly she had never tried it. And obviously, he could not see the difference.

“We were all human once. Now we’re vampires, but we’re still human. There are nights I still feel human. We still look human. Just because we’re capable of different things… cannibalism? Really? We’re cannibals already! To feed on humans? That’s still cannibalism. Cannibalism implieds death. To kill something, in order to eat it. I’m not harming anyone. It could be fun. Look,” he said, reaching out to grasp at Zaleski’s arm, to focus on boosting her blood. To replenish what small amount he had taken.

He was talking a lot. But he had a point to make. He refused to believe Zaleski - refused to see her point of view. In the end, he didn’t care what anyone thought. If he was some kind of cannibal, than so be it. There were worse things to be. As far as he knew, it was not something that could be undone. But he didn’t think that he would undo it, even if he had the chance. He enjoyed it far too much.


<Xylia> Xy let him say as he pleased, in a sense he was correct, but that was not how their present kind thought. Their human lives was of the past, some even went as far as telling themselves that their human lives no longer existed. Unfortunately, Ad appeared to think that living as a creature of the night was similar to living as a human and refused to look through her point of view. Xylia decided she would leave him be for now. Hopefully he would learn later on.

She felt her arm being taken into Ad’s grasp and the stir of her growing hunger dissipated. She sighs in exasperation, not at his current actions but the part of him that was stubborn. Perhaps that was where she had gotten her stubborn streak?

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you when they come for you.” and with that, the shadows that clung to them, were gone.

Tilting her head back to look up, silver-blue hues were met with the sight of a star-filled sky.

“So… what now?”


<Adley Reed> The shadows dropped away just as Zaleski threatened Adley. Well, no. She didn’t really threaten him, but regardless, he didn’t like it. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it - why he was so irritated. Why, now, he was so angry with her. Probably because she was trying to tell him what to do. Probably because he’d only tried to have a little fun, and she’d shut him down and rejected him. He’d had no fun at all.

Stubborn was a good way to describe him. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

“I don’t know. Not gonna lie, you kind of killed the mood,” he said. The frenzy inspired by the blood was dissipating; the urges that remained lurked deep. He hadn’t got enough from Zaleski; she clearly wasn’t going to let him try again. Whatever fun he wanted to have, then, meant he’d have to have it without her. What he really wanted to do now was go and find some other vampire who’d be willing to have a little fun with him. Surely, they existed.

His hand gently rested upon his camera, which was slung so neatly over his shoulders. He glanced down at the contraption and back to Zaleski.

“I should probably go sell these pictures. It’s the boring part. You can go home, if you want to,” he said as he started back in the direction from which they had come; he would head toward the Harper Rock News building. The place where he had so often found his sire, before she disappeared.


<Xylia> Xylia could tell Ad wasn’t too happy with the way she had acted. So instead of following him like she normally would, she nodded in response to his dismissal of her, still looking skywards.

When Ad left, she watched him walk off with worried eyes. Would she see him again? She groaned in annoyance hands itching to hit something. She had already warned him, but he was giving her the impression that he wouldn’t care either way, so why should she worry herself? Anger welled up within the pits of her stomach while shadows within the area flicker like flames with her growing anger.

‘Why does this happen to me!?’ Xylia punches the alley wall leaving a dent in her wake.

Heading in the opposite direction from Ad, she was about to leap into the sewers to vent her anger when a group of men in dark clothing caught her attention. It was not them in particular that really caught her attention, it was the insignia that was imprinted into different parts on each of their body.

‘Well, this changes things.’ A sadistic smirk played on her lips.