Shhhhh! [Rumour Mill]

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

2. You overhear some people talking about how the recent increase in crime is due mostly due to the emergence of vampires - Nerissa & Salvador

Salvador groaned as he hunched over a borrowed computer at the library. There wasn't anyone directly by him, just someone one down and across from him, lost in their own world. Why was he here? WHY!? As his eyes looked at the screen of male models on some slightly swanky sight, it was then he remembered why. He was here to try and look half-way presentable, or at least more presentable for his job that Lincoln so graciously gave him.

The only problem was, was that while Salvador had SOME money, he couldn't GIVE that money to the websites. He lacked the necessary means to pop in a 16 digit code to some bank account he didn't have. Which meant he had to result to asking Lincoln or even Sage at some point (if he had a green dot card, or some other rechargeable/reloadable card) to spot him the card for the cash he already made.

There was some excited chattering heard down an aisle a few rows from where the computer desks were all aligned at. Salvador didn't give it much thought, but the woman one down and one across sure minded as she 'shhh'd' them. Salvador looked at the group of three, who looked at the woman who tried to get them to shut up, but only turned their back to her and kept talking at a slightly lower tone than before. Sal glanced at the woman, then shrugged his shoulders and went back to scrolling through the section of sweaters.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa stepped into the library and lowered her hood, revealing her black and purple hair. If there was one thing that she enjoyed about turning into a vampire, it was that the temporary was no longer temporary. She went over to the computers and settled herself down a couple of seats from a group of three people, noting that they were whispering about something. Nerissa rolled her eyes, never being one to enjoy gossip, and started her hacking training. After hearing about being able to get into the police database she decided that it would be in her best interest to improve her skills so that she could do so.

It didn't take long before she could hear the whispering again, one of the women shushing them now and then. Nerissa was tempted to tell them to go somewhere else to gossip, but despite her confidence having grown lately she didn't want to put herself out there just yet.

Nerissa noticed a man sitting near her and could tell he could hear the group too. Feeling more comfortable with one person she coughed to get his attention. She then nodded over to the group and rolled her eyes, hoping he agreed with her that they were as ridiculous as she thought.

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

Salvador was engaged with trying to listen to what the group was saying, when a woman coughed loudly and stole his attention from the group, to her. She nudged her head to the group and rolled her eyes and he just nodded. There were rules for a library, sure, but Salvador didn't live by any rules. Was it annoying? Yes. Was he going to do anything about it? Probably not. At most he would stare at them and hope they would notice someone staring at them and stop being so loud and chatty.

His eyes moved back over to the woman with purple in her hair, just glancing at her, trying to see if she was busy, or if she was unable to do anything due to the talking. Again, not that he would do or say anything, but maybe if he looked annoyed or bothered, maybe SHE would do or say something.

"I think it has to do with vampires. Think about it. Every movie you see, every book you've ever read...like this one here..." A male holds up Bram Stoker's Dracula and taps the cover before going on. "Get this guy. He just couldn't take no for an answer. Wanted some other dude's girl." He nodded, then slapped at the shoulder of the other male in the group.

"I don't think so. I think it's romantic. He wants her to be with him forever." A girl with blue, purple and pink in her blonde hair spoke up. "Now days, most marriages last less than five years. Give me a Dracula any day of the week." She laughed, but the other male, the one that hadn't spoken up before was getting mildly irritated. It was written all over his face. "I think Todd's right. They just don't know how to say no. They want something, they're going to use their vampire super powers to get whatever they want. First it's your girl, then it's your money and your home. Who knows what's next? Vampires are the problem in the city."

Salvador could see that this was going to escalate quickly, so he slowly stood, but made no effort to move towards the group, or away from them. He shuffled some scrap papers intended for jotting down ISBN numbers, or a book title as he kept his ears peeled for anything else they had to say.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa listened to the groups conversation and frowned. She wasn't surprised that they were talking vampires, it was the only thing that was talked about ever since the masquerade was destroyed. However she didn't like the last guy's comment too much. She had been pick-pocketing and thieving for years before ever coming to Harper Rock and becoming what she was and everyone had the possibility to become less-than-savory.

"Vampires aren't the only problem around here. Humans are just as bad about doing whatever they can to get what they want." Normally she didn't interject into conversations, but she felt the need to knock these humans down a peg or two. "I've heard of plenty of gangsters doing horrendous things just for a bit of cash." She looked up at the man who had stood up and started gathering his things. "What about you? You look like the kind of guy who would hear a thing or two about this." Honestly she didn't care one way or the other what the guy thought or heard. She just didn't want to be alone in this argument and hoped that he would join her side.

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

While Salvador hadn't managed to move away, he didn't really want to be part of the conversation, but here he was being called out. Not because Salvador didn't have an opinion on anything, but because his opinion wouldn't match up with the guys in the group. "Me?" Salvador asked as he looked up from the scraps of paper to see if maybe the woman was talking about, or to someone else. But he knew better. Of course he did.

"She's right. Though, I'm not sure stealing anyone's girl is unsavory." Salvador grinned at the woman who apparently wanted to find a vampire to shack up with. "If someone, no matter who it is-vampire, human, male or female, can take your other half...then they weren't yours to begin with." Salvador decided to wink to the woman, still wearing the grin on his face.

"As for the other matter...crime was it? If you're worried about it, get yourself a guard dog or security system. Thieves and gang bangers come in all shapes and sizes. So like your girl there, if you want to keep it, you need to keep it safe and work on keeping it. Before someone comes by and swoops your **** up, boyfriend." Salvador pushed in his chair and came to a stand by the woman with the purple hair.

"Don't be looking at her." The more flustered of the two men warned Salvador as he moved around to stand closer and more in front of the girl in the group. "***** please. I don't want your Danielle Steel girlfriend. This one is more my type." Salvador's gaze moved to Narissa in that moment, just so everyone knew who he was talking to.

[Nerissa Clemming]

At first Nerissa was impressed with the stranger's comments, especially with how flustered the men were becoming. And was that a tinge of a blush on the girl's face from the wink? Priceless! But then the warning bells went of in Nerissa's head as her eyes grew wide from the man's last comment. This was not part of the plan! She was reminded why she avoided social interaction and now she didn't know how proceed without embarrassing herself. Should she flirt back? Or was this part of the argument?

As if on cue, Rachel appeared next to Nerissa. "My panic senses were tingling, what's up?" The little ghost girl looked up at the group and frowned. "Wow, sure is tense in here." Nerissa cleared her throat a bit nervously, not wanting to say anything in order to not appear crazy by talking to apparently nothing, and decided to just continue the conversation normally. "He has a point. I've been places where the crime rate is even worse than around here and they don't have a vampire problem that I'm aware of."

Rachel moved to stand behind the three humans. "Oh, is this another argument about vampires? I've heard a lot of arguments about it lately." Nerissa grinned slightly. Despite not being able to talk to her directly at that moment, just having Rachel near helped soothe her nerves a bit. She turned her attention to the man attempting to guard the girl. "Besides, I would be more concerned that your girl is more interested in an undead stranger than you."

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

The hot headed meat head took a step closer to Narissa when she chimed in, especially at the last thing she said. Salvador seemed off the hook, given he wasn't interested in the girl he was interested in, so Narissa got the unlucky attention Salvador had been getting. "Maybe, but you can't tell me that crime hasn't sky rocketed the last couple years." He stared at her, as if he were daring her to disagree. So Salvador took it upon himself to do just that.

"Maybe. But the whole world seems to have crime skyrocketing lately. It's the media. They're good at honing in on the bad ****, but you won't hear about the countless of vampires who live every day normal lives. Well, every night." Salvador chuckled, but then shrugged. Once again, meathead's attention was on Salvador, his posture changing as he waited to hear what else Salvador might have to say.

"Look at the world. We've got genocide's going on in Africa, and the middle east. Then in the United States, misrepresentation of racism because people make mistakes and people have done stupid stuff with guns. Yet, the news wants you to believe racism exists, when in fact I don't know anyone personally who gives a damn about the color of someone's skin. Yet, it's succeeding isn't it? All the riots and other things going on. Why not start some **** about vampires and link some maybe true, maybe not true things to vampires, because as a whole? People are gullible, panic stricken and stupid as hell." He looked right at the three of them as he said that final thing. Which resulted in a shove of his shoulders from the taller guy.

"Well, I ain't some people. I'm me, and I think you're one of them vampire bleeding liberals." He gave Salvador another push, which had Sal putting a finger up in the air. "Please don't do that again." He said in a calm voice as he reclaimed his stance, eyes on the meathead.

[Nerissa Clemming]

The moment the man took a step to Nerissa, Rachel stood directly between them as if shielding her. She didn't relax even when the guy's attention was directed toward Salvador. Nerissa scowled at the human's childish behavior and glanced at Rachel, who nodded with a sly grin. "You know, you should be more careful who you pick a fight with." As if on cue Rachel pushed the papers that were sitting on the table in front of the other humans onto the floor. "You might get more than you bargained for."

Nerissa figured that Salvador could handle himself; something about his warning told her that he had something up his sleeve. So she decided to have a bit of fun with the others. She gave Rachel a slight nod, who purposely walked through the woman of the group, causing a chill to run through her, then pulled a chair out from under the other guy. Simple stuff, but usually it was enough for weaker humans to get freaked out over, which was what Nerissa expected to happen. Rachel had an excited grin as she then kicked the fallen papers into the air, adding to the show of her paranormal abilities, while Nerissa hid a smile behind her hand, laughing quietly.

[Salvador (DELETED 8639)]

There was a long drawn out awkward silence that came over the group until the girl shivered and made a noise indicating that she was feeling the heebie jeebies. When the noise was made, the meathead looked back at the girl, and then looked at both Salvador and Narissa. "Knock that off." He more or less stared between the two of them before he figured Salvador was more or less the bigger problem, simply because he was the guy in the mix.

"What did you do?" He pushed at Salvador's shoulder again, before trying to bully the reply out of Salvador. "Huh?" And just as he was about to give Salvador another push, Salvador reached a hand out to a bookshelf, grabbed a book and knocked the every loving tar out of the guy's face. It made a big solid, 'thwack,' against the guy's jaw, knocking some sense out of him-temporarily. He looked to the purple haired woman at the side of him and dropped the book. "We should-bye!" Salvador wasn't much of a fighter-not in the slightest. That was more Sage's area of expertise, but he wasn't going to not do something-or at least do something to get away. His feet were padding his way out of the library before the book even dropped with a heavy clunk, hoping the woman was following him-but he wasn't sure.

[Nerissa Clemming]

Nerissa watched Salvador beat the crap out of the guy in front of him with a mixture of curiosity and slight surprise. She was a bit disappointed that the group left without much of a fight, but it just proved to her how weak they really were. "That was pretty fun!" Rachel said with a mischievous smile. Nerissa just grinned and turned to talk to Salvador when she noticed him leaving, dropping the book on his way out. Out of curiosity she followed him, shrugging sheepishly at the glaring librarian who went over to clean up the mess.

After hurrying to catch up Nerissa said to him, "Hey, we never got properly introduced. I'm Nerissa. You have some pretty impressive skills with a book." She wasn't sure what she was going to get out of this conversation. To be honest she wasn't sure why she followed this guy in the first place. But she was there so she was going to at least make friendly conversation.