Path of the Vampire forum

Sage wasn’t sure how the whole thing happened. One minute he was in the castle that really needed a huge renovation and a swat team to clear it out and the next he was standing in an alley with his hands shaking like he was the crack addict he wasn’t waiting for the tweaking to stop. His feet carried him in a repetitive pace back and forth with the weapon in his hand. How did he do what he did? He had no idea but there was no shaking that he was bleeding and there was a reason...actually three. Or it felt like three. He was too upset to think clearly.

He tugged the cheap second hand store jacket from his shoulders and patted down the pockets until he found the miniature Altoids tin and his newly acquired ‘finders keepers’cellphone. Grabbing both with twitching fingers he stuffed the tin into his front pants pocket and began hitting the raised keys to sort out what phone number he had stored that Salvador would actually answer if he called it. The random unfamiliar numbers sandwiching Sal’s name were all too easy to hit instead in his anxious state of mind.

“Bonjour!” The sound of an over enthusiastic voice filled his ear as he cradled the device on his shoulder and held it down with back portion of his outer jaw.
“****!” His bloody hand tugged the phone as soon as his head lifted to free it. “God damn it!” He growled out feeling for the first time in longer than he could remember a genuine borderline internal anger and fear filled storm rolling in.

His fingers went through the steps again dancing over the too small keyboard to bring up the contacts the phone contained. Out of forty listed there were only a couple that even pertained to him. He came into its possession the night prior after nearly stepping on it in the streets. His tangled up dusty curls flipped and flopped in the wind as it whipped around as the fall night air does before it finally gives into the full on assaulting force of winter. The slick coat of his own blood made the pad of his thumb useless since the keyboard essentially became a crimson slip and slide instead of being useful.

“I’m going to ******* die right here.” He stated with a tone of disbelief. “Sal, the clock is ticking.”

Finally another attempt was in the works as his feet carried him in a fast determined ‘need to get out of Dodge’ pace towards the first set of lights on in a visible building. Slowly he had the list of contacts moving towards the section where Sal’s name should appear. That was when his thumb got impatient and slid over the call button. The sound of a connection had him put the phone to his ear as he limped into a slow jog through the street to the other side where it appeared a place was open for him to walk into. He felt weaker with each step and by the time he reached the doors his hand roughly pushed forward with the strength he still possessed and sent it open to kick back at the wall and whatever else may be behind it. A voicemail played out in his ear. Stone something or rather was all he made out before he curled his fingers tightly around the slice of recycled manufactured platinum, plastic, palladium or who the hell knows what went into a cell phone.

A face caught sight of him and stepped around a counter that appeared to be selling everything but what he needed. Sage found his feet slowing before he was ready for them to. His damp fingers gripped the edge of the counter in front of him and he managed to pull himself up to brace the weight of his body on it. Hands at his upper arms were followed by a voice speaking with a hint of something that likely was transplanted like many were in the city. It was sharp, loud and insistent as a force started to tug at him from behind to sit down. He growled at the way it was compromising his attempt to stay where he was.

“I will be fine. Just give me a second.”

“No, Seer. Seat!” The shopkeeper protested.

His hand batted back at the interference and once again his thumb jabbed at the keyboard effectively bringing up contacts and somehow was lucky at landing on Salvador’s most current number. More pulling was met with a turn of his head and a fix of this ocean hued eyes.

“I said back off. I…” The sound of the voicemail gave him hope. It was Salvador. A beep signaled he could leave a message.
“Sal,I need you to call me back as soon as you get this.”

He groaned at the pain coursing through his body as a second set of hands gripped him and pulled him roughly into a seat. The tell tale chirp of a battery announcing it was out of juice had him looking at the cell in his hand with disgust while the screen went black. Now how the hell was he going to get through to Salvador? How was he going to let him know he barely survived getting jumped by a fang filled crew of weapon toting goons when he was trying to make a buy? And how as he going to tell him he accidentally shot some woman who was so striking in her features that she either was entirely in the wrong place at the wrong time or he was soon going to be dead meat for shooting the Queen of the Castle.

“Seat! NOW!” A slap of cold was delivered to his forehead before his eyes rolled back and his lights went out.

“I think he is coming around.”

The random voices punctured the constricting yet serene silence that Sage’s unconscious mind was held by. It effectively gave him a reason to claw free of the hold he was under. The following words were like fingernails dragging down the surface of a chalkboard. Each one grated at his senses as they improved with registering what was around him. Sirens increased quickly with their ear pinching decibels. That was enough to peel his eyelids upward in rapid response to what should serve as a universal warning for an emergency nearby. He needed to pull over, get out of the way. If he could only feel his feet he could react. Instead his ocean hued orbs rolled upward in their dry sockets then took a fuzzy glance side to side.

“Did they say how long it would take to get here?”

There was enough panic in the voice to scare him into moving from where he was on his back staring at the ceiling above him. What he saw was not familiar. And neither was the skull clenching pain in his noggin. An assessing hand cupped his forehead and set a burn across his forehead with the contact of his palm to his own skin.

“What the ****?” He groaned out as he turned just enough to the right to sit up and not feel like he was tipping over. The shrill of sirens was enough for him to look around quickly despite the bone grinding pain it caused to do so. “You called the police?!”

Sage scrambled as fast as he could to his feet. That is all he needed. He had tickets he had not paid, people looking for him and soon as his name went into any law enforcement system he would have a host of reasons they could hold him on. The sound of a gunshot ricocheted through his brain while the sensation of his trigger finger pulling back took over. He was going to be arrested for murder. They were on to him. His eyes took inventory of the shop and spotted the back door that likely would lead to an office or an alley access.

“Watch out!” He growled and swung his hands in protest as several hands started pulling at him to bring him to sit back down.

Voices on the nearby street were followed by vehicle doors closing. All of it had his feet sliding in an instant race for the rear of the shop. He felt the burn of his insides reminding him his head wasn’t the only part of his body he should be concerned about. His left hand dived down into his pocket expecting to find the cell phone he would use to call Salvador once again in desperation. Instead his fingers bottomed out and found nothing but roughly finished seams.

“HE WEEEENT THAT WAY! GEET HEEEEM!” The screaming shopkeeper sent repeated final warnings.