Path of the Vampire forum

<Violet> Being from Huntsville, Violet had little knowledge about the city of Harper Rock. Penny mentioned meeting up in Cherrydale, and Violet agreed to meeting in Cherrydale, but Violet had no idea about the districts beyond those in the southern portion of the city. Cherrydale seemed like a foreign nation to her; the place might as well have been on another planet. But she’d agreed. Stupidly, she’d agreed.

The Newborough train stopped in Cherrydale. All Vi had to do was hop on the train and stay on until the Cherrydale stop. Somehow, Vi managed to get off on the wrong stop. The dark-haired girl had wound up in Gullsborough, and she had no idea about the distance between the district and Cherrydale. When she tried locating a map of the city, Vi couldn’t get a strong enough signal. Her phone couldn’t pinpoint her location, and she had no idea about her coordinates, so she ended up in a cybercafe, tucked neatly between a man smelling of stale potato chips and a woman with a wailing child.

Violet tried locating the establishment on a search engine, but her computer came up with a countdown for updates. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Right now? Remind me later,” she announced, clicking on the appropriate button. Sadly, the countdown continued. She clicked on the button once more and another box popped up, asking her to save her work in notepad. “No! I said to remind me later. Remind me later,” she ground out. Violet clicked a little too hard, but the computer continued its updates anyway.

“Does anyone know how to get to Cherrydale from here? I don’t know the route from here to there. I’m not sure which car to take. Red? Orange? Is there an express? One that stops at every station?” Violet spoke to everyone, but people just glanced her way and went right back to their computers. The potato-chip man seemed the most interested in her.

“Take the Gullsborough train for two stops. It’s going through Honeymead. Get off on the next stop.” Finally, the potato-chip man had spoken and answered her questions. He eyed her a little too hard and rolled his computer chair closer. “I’m Andrew,” he grinned.

“Bye, Felicia.” Just like that, Violet rolled her chair farther from him, got up, and pushed the chair back toward the desk. Before she exited the place, she looked back at him. She caught him staring at her behind, but he quickly looked away. He tried pretending as if he weren’t looking, and she had absolutely no interest in confronting him. Just looking at him made her skin crawl. If she’d met him on the street, he would have gotten a face full of pepper spray.

Despite the fact that he came off as a total creep, Andrew gave good directions. She stayed on the train until after Honeymead, and the electronic voice announced that the next stop was Cherrydale. When the doors opened next, Violet followed the rest of the passengers out of the car. She waited on the platform and scanned the crowd for anyone she thought matched the name Penny. “Penny!” Violet got tired of scanning the crowd and shouted for the woman. She stood on her tiptoes, being rather short, and started waving her arms.


<Penelope> Penelope had grown up in Harper Rock. The cobbles on the streets, the cracks in the buildings, the stray cats and the breeding rats, they were all a part of this home of hers. Every cranny, every malevolent corner, every nook - she tried to learn them all by heart. Penelope was a foster of the system, bouncing from home to home, from would-be parent to would-be parent. Most of her time was spent on the streets rather than within a comfortable home. She was a nice girl with a dark inner shell. It wasn’t that her foster parents were ever cruel. No, she’d actually been quite lucky. None had fostered her for the money. They had fostered her because they’d seen a small snow-white who needed taking care of.

Now, she still bordered the territory between nasty and nice. The city was a maze and she was its master; she had discovered the Paladins in the sewers, who’d tried to persuade her to their cause. They had tried to convince her of the existence of vampires but she had not believed them. Until, of course, she’d been bitten.

Vicious curiosity had led her on a wild goose chase; the Quarantine Zone was found, and afterwards avoided for quite some time. The catacombs, of course. Until one night she’d got talking to a strange man in a bar; a man who offered to teach her things. From him, she had learned all about vampires. About the power of their blood. He had taught her how the blood could be ingested, the power gained for a short time. Since, she had found a couple of vampires who allowed her to feed from them - though she wondered whether Malia really appreciated it. The list was short, but she liked to hang out in public places. She liked to see if she could witness something. Anything. Get a few names in her little black book.

While she hung around, she browsed the internet. She’d found a Harper Rock forum; she’d sought the company of one of its new regulars. Violet. Why the **** not? Friends were fleeting, in this place. It was kind of daunting remembering those other kids who’d gone missing when she was on the streets. Missing. Huh. Sure. More like eaten. Maybe Penelope could save this human the same fate.

<Penelope> Penelope paced the station, back and forth as the trains slid in and out. Her phone was in her hand; she was waiting for it to vibrate. Waiting for some message to tell her the other woman had arrived. She did not expect her name to be shouted across the platform. Her head snapped up, hazel eyes flying across the faces and the bodies, until she saw the woman who’d done the shouting. A smile broke across her lips and she lifted her arms, waving them to grab the other’s attention.

Until, finally, she cupped her hands over her lips and shouted.

“Violet!”


<Violet> Violet had a way of being utterly obnoxious. Intentionally, or unintentionally, she often disturbed the people around her. The trait had come from her mother, or so she deduced, and she reminded herself that she didn’t want to turn out as bad as her younger brother; she didn’t want to irritate people enough that they refused to share her company. So when she shouted on the platform, when she waved her arms in the air, she performed the actions and then she quickly silenced herself. The people around her narrowed their eyes at her, judging her for her outburst, but she pretended as if nothing were amiss. In her mind, she’d performed a necessary action. Her short stature required she do something. Standing at five feet and three inches, or around one-hundred and sixty-four centimeters, she had no hopes of being seen unless she caused a scene.

Hearing her name called, Violet began the slow mission of winding her way through the crowd. The dark-haired girl shouldered her way through the people. Some of the crowd moved in the opposite direction, going from train to train, and some of the crowd followed along with Violet’s movements. The scene had dissolved into organized chaos, if such a thing existed. She muttered “excuse me” and “sorry,” but the words were drowned out by the sound of shuffling feet and the occasional cough. Vi felt as if she were a little fish in a big pond. She remembered why she stayed in the southern part of the city, surrounded by her fellow students.

When she got to the edge of the crowd, she tried matching the voice and the arms to a person. One by one, she eliminated faces. Tan skin. Red hair. Deep voice. Violet’s blue eyes scanned over the people, judging them. She settled on a woman with darker hair, one with arms similar to the ones she’d seen raised over the sea of people.

“Penny?” Violet used a nickname for the woman, rather than using the woman’s full name (Penelope)--Penny sounded much better. “I’m Violet. We’re supposed to be meeting for food. I’m starving, so please tell me you’re Penny. Even if you aren’t, please tell me you’re interested in food,” she said. As if on cue, her stomach growled. Vi placed a hand over her gut and laughed, an embarrassed laugh that lingered between the both of them. “I’m starving.”


<Penelope> Penny didn’t mind the crowd. Although she pissed it off, standing there in the middle of it like a large rock in the middle of a torrent, she ignored them. She ignored the glares and the clucks of the tongues. If she moved, it was barely; it was only when she was nudged, or pushed - though her feet remained securely squared, firm. No one would be pushing her from her chosen perch.

She’d cupped her hands to her mouth again, about to call out to her wayward company when she was confronted by a girl dressed in white. Confident in her speech - or was she nervous? - and determined to eat. Penelope laughed, a deep, rough kind of laugh though it was heavy with mirth. Finally, to the relief of the torrent of moving bodies around her, Penelope moved. A nod accompanied her laugh.

“Yeah, Penny,” she said. Had she used the nickname in the emails? It didn’t matter. Rarely, if ever, did anyone use her full name. Regardless of how she might introduce herself, regardless of how many times she might say Hi, I’m Penelope, they immediately, without batting an eyelash, started to call her Penny. It was a bane. But it was something that she had grown so used to that she even signed her name as Penny. She had given up and given in. Penny wasn’t so bad, in the grand scheme of things.

She motioned to the exit with a swift movement of her head, and climbed the steps up to the street. She was confident in her steps. Well able to lead the way; waiting to speak again until they were on the street and the crowd around them had dispersed, somewhat. She was taller than Violet by about five inches - add about half an inch to account for the slight heel on her boots. The heel was thick, and gave a satisfying thud with each precise step.

“This is a kinda… eat or be eaten city, y’know? We better get you fed before the vultures descend,” she said with a grin and a wink. Violet looked young - at least ten years younger than Penelope. Maybe more. But that didn’t matter. Penelope considered herself young at heart. Maybe she could be a bad influence. She’d always wanted a younger sister or a cousin to be a bad influence on.

“What brings you to it? The city? Or did you tell me this already?” Penelope asked. She was, frankly, quite **** at remembering things. Though she did try. She really, really did.