Zone Alarm ± Marisol ±

[Ysmir]

<Ysmir> Checking his sidearm, Ysmir slipped the pistol from its place on his hip, thumb clicking the safety off as he leaned against the thin wall of the makeshift lean-to server room, straining his ears to hear the smallest sound that might seem out of place among the hum of the machines. He’d seen the woman slide into the corrugated steel building and vanish into the darkness. It was hardly the first time he’d had to flush out an intruder, and he doubted that it would be the last, until someone decided to give a **** about the equipment keeping this whole damn gig of theirs afloat.

It was no skin off his back, when someone cut all the lights and put down every machine they had running because they didn’t want to take care of the servers that kept the whole thing running. He took a slow, steady breath, and shoved open the thin piece of steel that acted as a door, lifting his pistol into the mouth of the darkness, the tactical light on the underside of the weapon’s barrel filling the room with a harsh light, washing the same brunette he’d seen a dozen times fidgeting in the servers in the last week stooped over one of the machines, a phone pressed to her ear. “Damnit, I thought I told you to get out of there! Step away from that computer, or I’m going to put a bullet in you. Get outside, now.”


{Cole} It wasn't surprising for her to want to do exactly the opposite of what Marisol asked. Lately, she'd been adding more and more, not that Cole minded. When it came to the Quarantine Zone, it was only a five minute walk to where the servers were located in relation to her apartment rather than RetroKade. ”All you have to do is plug this into the server.” She almost rolled her eyes. Cole didn't understand why Marisol couldn't do it herself. Then again, she figured it was because the curvy brunette had other things to do with herself. “If she’s just painting her a nails…” It took her a few moments to find what she needed; every time she did this, that damn guy always showed up, and as she dialed Marisol’s number, she wasn’t surprised to hear his voice.

“It wouldn’t be the first time someone threatened me with that today.” She sighed as she turned on her heel to face the man. She kept her phone up until she heard the allurist on the other end curse under her breath, a click following. Cole dropped the phone afterwards, her hands lifted. She stomped against the device. “Now, why would you want to shoot me? It’s not like secrets always stay secrets. All she needs is a little bit of an access code here, maybe a device there.” A smirk dance acrossed her lips as she inclined her head. If she died, well. At least Marisol got her stupid ****.

<Ysmir> Cocking a brow, he took a steady breath as his thumb lifted to **** the hammer into place, the weapon making a sharp click as he kept the pistol trained on the woman that had found her way into the server room for what had to have been the third time in a week. The irritation was clear in the way his brow twitched as he watched her crush the phone she’d been holding. That would hardly keep him from finding what he’d need. “I won’t ask again. Step away from the servers, and get out here.”

He stood to one side, taking a step back from the doorway, giving her room to retreat from the makeshift shed. He inclined his head toward the machines she stood next to. “Those secrets stay secret as long as I’m working on this node. Every time you put your damn hands in there, I have to spend the entire night recalibrating the whole damn machine, so if you’d be so kind as to get the **** out of my server room before I have to ask you again, I’d feel a lot better about not shooting you the minute I saw you back in here again.”

The truth was, he really didn’t want to shoot anyone, not a civilian, anyway. But he was bound by an oath, a signed document that he couldn’t deny he had signed himself, and he wasn’t about to let everything he had worked for turn to ash, just because he didn’t want to spill the blood of someone that he personally didn’t feel deserved what she had coming.


{Cole} The truth of the matter was that a gun didn’t scare her. Marisol on the other hand… as pretty as her mistress was, the woman could make her disappear and it wasn’t something she needed. So, the little requests of here every now and then wouldn’t kill her. She didn’t understand what the woman was looking for - access code simply sounded bad *** and more intimidating, that she knew what she was doing. “Ah, one minute.” She held up a finger before bending over to collect her sim card out of her phone.

“At least you admit that I’ll be here at one point again.” Cole smiled sweetly, her teeth showing before she tucked the piece into her bra for safekeeping, “Because it’s just so clear to you I’m going to be a pain in the ***. Though,” She said, “From the times I’ve seen it through your pants, it seems to be a nice ***.” She was buying time, letting the woman do whatever she needed to do. She wondered how far away the brunette was. Had it been long enough, would it be long enough for him to ruin the transition?

Her brown eyes looked over her shoulder. Next time, she was going to be making a better idea of what she needed to do.


<Ysmir> Shaking his head, he tipped the sidearm to the floor, and fired a shot into the floor, the report of the pistol like an explosion in the small space of the shed. He lifted the sidearm and pointed it at the woman again, his features twisted in an agitated frown. “I said step away from the machines. You have about four seconds before I radio the barracks and let them know that you’re here, tresspassing, and tampering with government property. Listen,” he finished with a mutter, letting the sidearm drift to the side just enough to get the light out of her eyes, so that he could look into them when he spoke to her. “You seem like a nice girl, and I’m really not wanting to do anything drastic here, but you’re really pushing your limit here. I’ve been way more lenient than I should have been already.”

He sighed, and lifted his sidearm again. “So I’m serious. Get out of there, and get going, and don’t come back, and I’ll forget about all of this. But if you don’t comply, I’m not going to have any choice.” His hand lifted to where his radio rested against his hip, and lifted it from the hook on his belt, thumb resting on the mic, primed to use it. “Last chance. Up to you how this goes down.” He waved the radio, and showed her he was ready to turn her in if she didn’t listen.


{Cole} She didn’t flinch when she heard him fire the gun, her eyes not leaving him. There was a knife in the waistband of her jeans, but she wasn’t a strong fighter. She could use a gun, but that was the extent of her fighting abilities. Cole stepped forward, humming idly. “Four seconds.” She took in his appearance, debating how much she wanted her freedom until she noticed the woman entering behind him.


{marisol} “I disagree.” Marisol said as she removed the gun from its holster, the barrel aimed steadily at the back of the man’s head. “Although, that radio won’t come in handy.” She lifted her chin briefly and nodded towards the computer. “Remove it now.” Keeping her finger on the trigger, the allurist stepped closer. “Put your hands up. I won’t shoot to kill you, but I’ll sure as hell make it hurt.”


<Ysmir> Keeping his weapon trained on the woman in front of him, he concentrated on the voice behind him, the pressure of the weapon pressed against the base of his skull only a distraction, albeit a fairly significant one. It was clear, though, that the woman had a partner. He should have suspected that. He mentally kicked himself as he gave his head the slightest turn, just barely able to catch sight of the woman’s shoulder from the corner of his eye. He lifted the radio away from himself and slowly returned it to his belt. “Alright, listen, let’s think about this. What happens if you shoot me?” He waved his pistol toward the woman in front of him. “Odds are, I shoot her. The rest of the squad will hear the shots, they aren’t far. They’ll find you both here, take you both in, and I’ll tell you now that murdering someone in the employ of the government? They won’t take that too lightly.”

He turned his head just enough to get a better look at her. “That being said, I have a better option. You put the gun away, your friend there hands over the bug that she plugged into my server, and you both get the hell out of here, no questions asked, and we all walk away from this without any new holes.”


{marisol} Marisol watched as Cole did what she said without thought. Her barrel remained trained on the man while her hand went to the bag at her side. It took her a few moments, but she found the electromagnetic emitter and turned it on. Afterwards, she tossed it onto the ground. The radio, the computer, their phones. They would become useless in a matter of minutes until she turned it back off. “If you shoot her and she dies, she dies.” The thrall cast her a look. It was a discussion they’d had multiple times and while Cole wasn’t thrilled with her views, she knew not to argue.

A chuckle escaped past her lips. “You make it sound as if I have not thought of that. They are preoccupied right now.” A little swarm of bees hadn’t been difficult to control, they would continue to be even from afar. “I won’t kill you, but I’ll make you wish I did.” Her amber eyes moved towards Cole. She nodded towards the exit. “Take it and go.” The order caused Cole to cringe, the woman muttering something about bitches before she plucked it out of the computer. She put the muzzle into the back of his head, “Give her the gun as she passes.”


<Ysmir> Lifting a brow, he kept the weapon trained on the young woman in front of him. The situation seemed dire, but he’d been in worse spots before. He was just having trouble recalling one of those circumstances. He took a quiet breath and steadied his hand with a squeeze of the pistol grip. “Now that’s hardly a way to inspire loyalty,” he muttered to himself, even as the other woman did exactly as she was told. It was then that he wondered if maybe she was being coerced into what she was doing, acting against her own will. He frowned, and weighed his options. He let his other hand fall to his side. The options seemed pretty slim, really.

He let his eyes move from the woman in front of him, to the one that stood behind him. “Seems it doesn’t matter much what I do, my life is just about over, regardless of how I let this play out in your favor. So, with that in mind, what’s in it for me, if I do as you ask, and let her have my sidearm as she just waltzes out the door, taking any hope that I’ve got for a future, with her?” He frowned as he watched the first woman, waiting for her to approach, and for his answer, before he made his decision.


{marisol} It had been a year. Marisol hadn’t been paying that much attention to the dates in particular, but she’d noticed it after leaving RetroKade that evening. Logan had been dead for a year and she’d been a vampire for a year. It was an odd thought, really. She’d been twenty-seven years old when Jesse had ended her life upon her request. Since then, she’d become a better hacker. She’d learned how to use a sword and a gun as if it were second nature. Her eyebrow lifted as she considered his options. “You have your life.” She said as if it were obvious, “I have no intentions to do mayhem with the source codes. I was actually looking into something for her.”

As Marisol said this, Cole blinked at her before she held her hand out when she was close enough. “You won’t be letting anything play out in my favor. I’ve got the upper hand, regardless.” She smirked, “I’m a little more than just a pretty face.” Looking towards her thrall, Marisol nodded. “Go on.” She said lightly to the woman.


<Ysmir> With a shake of his head, he sighed, and turned the pistol in his hand. As the weapon flipped over his finger, his thumb tapped the power to the torch, cutting the light as he held it out to the woman. “I should’ve just shot you and been done with it,” he murmured, and placed the weapon into her hand. It was his own damn fault for being so soft, for letting her civilian status grant her some sort of special privilege in his morals. He couldn’t believe he’d let it all go down the way that it had, as his empty hand fell to his side, palms open to show the woman behind him that they were, in fact, empty.

“There. Happy? She’s free to go.” he frowned, watching the woman in front of him with an irritation in his eyes that he was sure dwarfed the true feelings he had for the situation. He made a note that, in the future, he would be much less lenient with people trying to mess with his machines. It helped, he reasoned, to continue to think of the future. He had no reason to trust the woman with the pistol pressed into his head, but with keeping optimistic, he could help himself believe that she wasn’t lying to him, that he would walk out of this alive, and that there was a future for him to bother thinking about. “So... what now?”


{marisol} Marisol waited until Cole was out of the way and had the gun in hand to lower her own briefly. She offered the thumbdrive back to her mistress only for her to reject it. “There's a list on the fridge. If you aren't doing anything,” She said to Cole only for the girl to sigh, “You're such a pain in my ***.” It would normally cause Marisol to crack a smile, but instead, she dismissed her as she stepped forward. She moved the gun so that the cool metal of the barrel would rest in her palm, the handle of it prepared to be used as a club. “You go to sleep.”

She said before striking downwards, hard. Behind her, she heard Cole let out a small gasp. Followed by a, “Seriously, Sol? What are you going to do to him?”

<Ysmir> He looked closer, now, as the woman stepped into the less harsh light of the outdoor lamps, the mellow glow of the overhead lights a more natural lighting than the crisp white glare of the torch. He would remember that face. He made sure of it. As the two exchanged a brief dialogue, he let his hand rest on his hip. At his thigh, he had a knife strapped to a leather belt, the handle resting against the outside of his quadriceps muscle. His fingers slowly, stealthily made their way to the grip of the knife as he prepared to defend himself, even if the odds weren’t exactly in his favor. He turned his head and eyed the woman behind him over his shoulder.

“Alright, you’ve got what you want. She’s out of here, you’ve got whatever you needed off my server, so let’s get this over with.” His fingers squeezed the blade, his shoulder going taut as he flicked the leather strap aside that held the knife secure in its sheath. Just as the first hair’s width of the blade freed itself, the butt of her pistol crashed down against his skull, and the entire world went dark. He hit the ground without so much as a groan, his body crumpled in the doorway of the makeshift shed.


{marisol} Marisol gave a small hiss, the sound quiet even as the man hit the ground. She tucked away her gun afterwards and poked him in the ribs with the toe of her boot. “I haven't quite gotten that far yet. Turn him, perhaps. Could be useful.” She said and ignored the look Cole gave her as she turned off the electromagnetic emitter and handed it over. “Take this home, will you? It might be a long night.” Cole frowned as she took it. The younger woman was sad to say it didn't surprise her. “You know, you don't have to clean up like you used to. You can let him live.” As Cole brought up what she used to do for Logan, the allurist ignored her and stepped over the man. She made her way to the server, clenching her jaw slightly. A sign of anger. Not having the time to deal with the computers right now, she simply reached behind it and ripped out the power cords.

“Time to go.” She said, tucking them away in her bag. Cole stopped her, however, looking down at the man. “He’s let me go a lot, Sol. Maybe you can talk to him.” She suggested, “We can't just leave him here.” Marisol scoffed, “That is exactly what we should do.” She was cut off as she got a look, and then gave a groan of her own. “If I miss Rhett tonight because of this government monkey…” She muttered, reaching down to grab his foot. “This would have been easier had you suggested this before I knocked him out. Bloody hell, dead weight is miserable even as a vampire.” She said, giving him a tug by the ankle, grunting when he hardly moved an inch before she found her footing. “Where did you used to live? Before the military kicked you out? I can't drag him across the apartment floor.” She asked, a few moments later as they got out the door. Cole simply pointed and with a glare, Marisol handed her the bag to carry as the vampire muttered in Italian under her breath.


<Ysmir> There was a loud ringing in his ears, like a high-pitched drone as the pain seared through his skull, his entire head throbbing with it as he willed his arms to move, to couch his head and massage the ache that seemed to pierce clean through his skull, but he didn’t seem to have the will to function. The world around him was dark, and, beneath the buzz of the agony that scorched his brain, he could hear the muffled hum of words he couldn’t comprehend. Try as he might, he just couldn’t focus, couldn’t gather his wits. He was just beneath the surface of consciousness, but he couldn’t break his way through for the life of him.

He felt his leg being grasped, that much he was able to gather, and he focused on that. It was a connection with the world of the conscious, the world of the living, and he grasped that single thread, and tried to climb his way through the barrier that held him in the darkness. He gave a low groan as his head bumped a stone in the wet earth as he was dragged along, the gentle tap of his skull against rock was like a hammering blow against an iron bell, the pain resounding in his skull with its sharp ache scything through the resolve that he had managed to gather. Still, he held on to what little work he had managed, and fought to open his eyes, only managing to flick his eyelids once, without seeing. The voices he heard took on more body, but still the words were beyond him, even as more feeling began to come to his attention, feeling the scrape of the earth against his back, and the grass that rustled against the back of his head as he passed along the ground.

Just a little more... It was the first coherent thought he had managed, and he grasped onto that, as well. A sturdy rung on a rusty old ladder, the only path back to consciousness that he climbed on shaky legs.



{marisol}”I swear some guys need to focus a little less on muscle, and a little more on being personable.” It wasn’t her favorite activity, dragging unconscious men or women anywhere. She’d gone it before for Logan, cleaning up his messes. Her own messes after turning had always been cleaner, neater. She’d hardly given ripping into a throat a second thought. As she pulled on his ankle, she wondered how much longer it would be as she followed Cole. What she had hoped would take only a few minutes turned into at least ten as her thrall came to a stop in front of a building with a door that had been boarded up. Cole waved her hand at it. “Here we are.” She said, frowning.

It was a little distressing to see the sorrow cross her friend's face. Cole opened it and hesitated. She didn't go inside. “Cole, go on ahead and leave. I’ve got this.” She moved to drag the man inside. She didn't think about the threshold, the way that Cole crinkled her nose. “Are you going to kill him?” The question had Marisol shrugging. “I don't think so. I may see what use he has.” She said as she pulled until he was in the middle of the floor. Cole looked weary, but she watched as Marisol removed zip ties from her pocket. They were usually used to bundle up herbs, but as she knelt down before putting his wrists together, she decided it would work. Cole reached over to collect a picture frame off the wall, a woman and two children. Afterwards, she waved before taking her leave.


<Ysmir> They had stopped. That much, he could manage to tell. The pressure on his ankle had lessened, and he no longer felt the ground beneath him pitching, making his head swim with a sickening dizziness he couldn’t control. The entire ordeal, locked inside of a half-consciousness was a new experience. He gave a groan, shaking his head as he began to finally grasp hold of consciousness. He was in a room, someplace he didn’t recognize, but could safely assume was an apartment someplace in the QZ.

He let his eyes part, and immediately regretted it. The light from the wall outside glared through the open front door, and pierced his skull like a white-hot spike of pain that earned another groan as he ground the heel of his palm into an aching eye. He fought the urge to vomit from the spinning and shifted onto his side as he shook his head, trying to clear it of the uneasy feeling that kept him locked in some sort of disorienting hell. He pushed the back of his hand against his temple and pressed his elbow into the floor, lifting himself up onto his side, keeping as quiet as he could manage as he tried to get his bearings.

{marisol} She knew there were different options that she could take. Let go of Cole, enthrall the man so that he would be bewitched. She particularly liked that idea, it would give Fforde an upper hand when it came to governmental issues, but she liked Cole. The girl, although they argued, had become a pretty good friend in the long run. A year ago, other than her own sister, Marisol had only had herself and Logan. It was a nice change. As she let go of his ankle, she moved to stand against the nearest wall and folded her arms in front of her chest, watching him. It didn’t surprise her when he groaned - at least it meant he could take a hit, right?

“What’s your name?” She asked when he was finally up and she thought he could answer without being in pain. Marisol thought of her earlier days. She’d never taken to drinking from bags, straight from the vein was easier. Even now, she could feel that burning sensation at the back of her throat. Reaching into the pocket of her jeans, she plucked a honey flavored Halls and unwrapped it before popping it into her mouth. She’d learned early that it helped ease that trouble. That itch that she could never satisfy no matter how much she’d drink. “I will shoot you if you give me trouble. I doubt a warning shot is necessary.”


<Ysmir> Groggily shaking his head, he turned his gaze to the source of the voice, his eyes still trying to adjust to the crisp, white light of the flood lamps on the top of the barrier wall that surrounded the QZ, leaving most of the room in a shadow of inky black, making most things hard to make out. He squinted, and sat up, resting his weight on the palm of his hand as he took a steady breath. “With that sort of attitude, why would I tell you anything?”

He lifted his other hand and grasped at the back of his neck, feeling the tender flesh at the base of his skull, where the butt of her pistol had struck him. He winced at the tenderness, and gave the quickly forming lump a gentle squeeze. His eyes still sweeping the darkness, he gave his head a gentle shake, testing for that queasy, dizzying feeling that had brought him to consciousness, and found that it had mostly passed. He breathed a sigh of relief and pushed himself up the rest of the way.

“Though I suppose at least one of us should display some manners. My name is Ysmir Rauchstag, a foreign national working for the Canadian government, so you understand that if I go missing, there’s going to be two governments looking for me. Just as a heads up, before we go any further.”

[Marisol]

{marisol} “Because I can find the information out this way or the hard way.” She said as if it were obvious. Marisol was sure it would only take her a few hacks. There was always a way to find out something, and given she was an allurist, there was always more than one way to make someone talk. A pretty smile, a flash of cleavage. It was hardly a shock to what caught someone’s interest. “And I would rather not push you too hard into answering something.” A shrug dropped her shoulder as she pushed her hair over it.

At the mention of two governments, Marisol rolled her eyes. “You must not know that in Harper Rock people go missing all the time. Vampires, serial killers. This city does not sit well if you are here alone.” Her amber eyes flashed in amusement as she smirked. She folded her arms in front of her chest once more. “Pair it with a knack for computer hacking, as well as being able to manipulate simple minded individuals and one can make anyone disappear without a second act of question.”

She took in the man’s features, contemplating. The idea to turn him was not lost on her - he would still get to live, in some aspect, but it would also give them a chance to have their foot in the door. At least until someone had to fake his death, or report him as a missing in action. “Tell me, Ysmir. Other than being a foreign national, why shouldn’t I end your life?” She asked as she pushed off the wall, pacing briefly in front of the doorway so that she could think without worrying of him running off.



<Ysmir> Watching as her silhouette passed in front of the door, casting her outline in a crisp, black shadow, he gave a low, mirthless chuckle as he let his hand fall to his side, fingers testing for the hilt of his knife. He had never been the handiest with a blade, but it was better than nothing, and frankly, all that he had. He watched as she passed again in front of the door, and again, keeping time with her pacing as he ran his thumb against the hard leather of the blade’s grip. He wasn’t foolish, and didn’t consider his chances any more than absolutely grave, at best. He took a slow breath, the chuckling dying away as he shook his head.

“You mean, beyond the fact I’ve given you no reason to want me dead in the first place, that is.” He shifted where he sat, and leaned himself against the leg of a chair, his arm draped over its seat as he watched her move. The door was out of the question, though there was a window, and another door leading deeper into the house, but that was all but suicide. He would be a goner in the dark. Running was out, so that left talking his way out of this, or fighting his way through her. Either way, it didn’t look too good. “Beyond that, I suppose, there’s information that you could collect. It would be much harder to do with me dead, that much I can be certain of.” He laughed, and pulled free his knife. Rather than brandishing it at her, waving it about in some kind of menacing threat, he began to pick at his nails, digging at the dirt beneath them.

“Though, a few seconds ago, you had no idea that I had any such information, or that I’m even telling you the truth, so I suppose that’s a moot point. The question is, then, what exactly is it that you think you’re expecting from me? What is it you find valuable?”


{marisol} “I don't have to have a reason.” She said it simply. Marisol didn't bat her lashes at the sight of a knife. It didn't surprise her, really. It wouldn't surprise her if there was a backup weapon, but it wasn't as if he could kill her. Not easily. Even if he’d get a few swipes in. “If I can't get what I need from your servers, I can always get it from someone else. There's always higher ups.” She drawled. The woman hummed as she considered it. After a few moments, Marisol stopped in front of him before crouching down.

“Right now? I want to know where the girl’s family member had been relocated.” She smirked, “Rumor has it, it’s what I need. I don't need an access code, I already have it. Your life simply gives the information a faster movement considering you’ve interrupted my hacking a few times.” She wanted to find them, for Cole, but also to understand more about the rift. Her family had been part of the old district. She remained close to see what he would do, if anything.



<Ysmir> Lifting a brow, he did his best not to laugh. Of all the things she could ask for, it was this. This was probably one of the easiest things that he could offer. Relocation status, while classified to the public for the safety of those relocated, was a simple matter of a login and database search for him. He watched as she moved closer, fingers turning the knife over in his hand, running the point beneath his nail. While she presented an ideal opportunity to strike, he was aware that the woman wasn’t stupid. If she was skilled enough to bother trying to hack his servers, then she was bound to have at least a small amount of intelligence. She would know the opening she was presenting, and was prepared for an attack. It was a trap.

He sighed, and rested against the seat of the chair, watching her closely as she hovered over him. He offered her a disarming grin, and a nod. “There’s more than one way to get that information, but you’re right. I can get it quickly. You will be working through my firewall for a month, minimum.” He shrugged a shoulder, and lifted his hand, sliding it slowly into his pocket, retrieving his phone. “Just a minute.”


{marisol} Her eyebrow lifted, “That's what you think.” She said as she remained the way she did. Her amber eyes moved over the knife before her gaze finally rested on his throat. Despite the lozenge, she could feel still that bloody burn in the back of her throat. She'd fed, but it was never enough. And he was just at that level of snarky that she thought it would justify turning him into a meal if Cole were to ask. “If I didn't have you recalibrating my ****, it wouldn't be taking me so bloody long going through the back door. Direct access is boring.” She stood up, setting her hands on her hips as she tapped her blue painted nails against the fabric that she wore. The weight of her gun was a reassuring comfort in the back of her hand, and she focused her hearing on the speaker to make sure he wouldn't pull anything slick.

“How long have you been here, in this hell hole?” Marisol found herself asking. The longer, the more his family would likely believe he wasn't returning home, right? Making use of the shadows around them, she ran her tongue over her fangs as she felt them pop into place. She'd made up her mind. Killing him would be too simple, but to toy with him, to turn him after seeing him want to accept death? Watching him, she waited. “All of the files, as well.”


<Ysmir> A sly twist of his lips was his only response to her self assuredness. He had his own reasons for his confidence. Dead man’s switches, kill switches, hardware failsafes, redundant firewalls, landmine files, decoy trojans... the most important files were behind layers of countermeasures that, without him, would eradicate the information behind them. At least, on the networked servers. Everything had an off-grid backup. He simply turned the knife over in his grasp again and shrugged a shoulder, offering her a wide grin.

“Sure. Direct access is just too boring. It isn’t that you just can’t do it, now is it?” He chuckled, the sound full of amusement as he drug the point of his knife under his thumbnail. Sharp eyes flicked up to her as he gave her a wink. “Don’t worry. The secret’s safe with me that a vampire just couldn’t hack it.” He shifted against the seat, pulling his boot closer to his side. There was another pistol tucked into his boot. That was a much better chance than the knife already in his grip. He wouldn’t be fast enough to catch her off guard, even this close. Her question, however, did manage to catch him off guard. Why did she care how long he’d been in town? What could she do with that information?

He shrugged a shoulder, and flicked the knife clean of the dirt that he’d picked away from beneath his nail. “I’ve been here about two years.” He ignored her addendum to her demands. She would be lucky to push that envelope home.


{marisol} “She asked me not to kill you. Do not mock me.” She said, pulling on the strands of her brown hair. Her amber eyes moved from him to the ends that she'd trimmed recently. It appeared that she'd missed a piece or two. “And while I don't know why Cole likes you for anything other than the fact a pretty face, I do value her opinion.” Dropping her hand, Marisol moved her gaze back to the man. Her gaze didn't miss much and she gave a quick chuckle. The woman stepped closer, reaching out to grasp his chin between her fingertips.

“Must be different, so far away from home. Having no one.” She moved her hand quickly to grasp the back of his head, forcing it backwards so that she could reveal his neck. “It actually is rather impressive, that you aren't as worried or distracted. Some guys have a more typical response to me, even with the fact I have made it clear I don't care whether they live or die. Your eyes hadn't fallen south.”


<Ysmir> “Hey, now wait a second, I never said that I was here alone.” he muttered, brow lifted as she shifted closer to him, grasping his chin. He chuckled at her flash of irritation and offered her a broad grin. “What’s the matter? Not up for a little bit of idle banter?” he tipped his head with the pull of her hand and let his hand resting on his shin. At her mention of the girl, of her name, he grinned at learning something about his mysterious nemesis. “She probably just wants to return the favor, you know. I could’ve put a bullet in her a hundred times, and I didn’t. So maybe she just doesn’t want me shot up. Maybe she just wants to do it herself.”

He shrugged a shoulder, and offered her a warm laugh at her commentary, his eyes moving to hers. “Where I’m from, a man has more self control than your average rutting animal. Besides. There’s something about having a gun in my face that sort of puts your breasts in a very distant place in my attention.” His eyes did drop, then, but instead of staring at her cleavage, he glanced at the firearm still in her free hand. “The prospect of getting shot is pretty offputting, you know.” He glanced back up at her and grinned.


{marisol} “You didn't until now. Your reaction.” A smirk danced across her lips. “From what she's said, you hardly leave the compound. A man in a relationship would have a place to go, family to see.” She drawled as she thought about Cole wanting to end the man's life. She knew it was the furthest from the truth. Her little thrall was a lot of things, but she was no killer and that was one line that Marisol would never cross with her. She'd never let the girl kill, either, if she could. Cole was a good chick, a pain in the *** occasionally, but she didn't need to go down that road. She didn't need to have what happened to Marisol happen to her, either. “She wouldn't. Slap or punch, yes, perhaps even kick you in the balls, but she wouldn't kill you. She doesn't have that sense of malice in her.”

She hummed as she dropped her hand slightly, her fingertips tracing his throat. “Surely you know it's not only a gun you need to be concerned about.” Her gaze lifted to meet his. “If I wanted to shoot you, I would have done it now. Just as you would have stabbed me.” Letting go, she stood and lifted an eyebrow. “How long on the file?”


<Ysmir> “Of course the gun isn’t the only thing I need to worry about. It’s simply the most overt threat you’ve got going on.” He let his hand slide down to his boot, resting on the top of the hardened, polished leather. “Sure, unless they worked in a classified location, and had to deal with family and friends over the phone, or the computer.” He shrugged and tapped his thumb against his boot. “As for that file you’re waiting on, well, it would appear that I’ve got the leverage on that point, my dear. See, in about two hours, if I don’t log into the server with the code I set, then the files will scrub themselves from the drive.”

He lifted his brow then, an intrigued look crossing his features as he leaned closer, his fingers sliding into the top of his boot. “And that leaves the question of how, exactly, you think you’re going to get those files from me. Because killing me? Killing me is as good as deleting those files yourself. So if you think that’s what you really want, then you’re going to have to let me go, then, aren’t you?”


{marisol} “It's not the only card up my sleeve.” She put the gun back into the waistband of her jeans. Marisol picked at her nails. “Nor am I going to kill you.” Technically. It wasn't a lie, if she planned to turn him and with the way they were going to go around in circles, it seemed, Marisol was beginning to question why Cole didn't want him dead. As he continued to talk, the idea to enthrall him, however, was looking more appealing. “You must have a death wish if that's the only thing you assume I can and would do.” She stepped back. She still could just get the information off of someone else. Someone less intent on being irritating.

“Go get the files. Raise warning, and I’ll send a swarm of wasps after you.” She narrowed her eyes slightly. There was also the fact she could always entice one of his commanding officers to get the files from him for her… “I never said I had no intention on letting you go. Simply didn't need the government potentially to hear this discussion.” Marisol showed him her open palms, not that she really was entirely unarmed. As the woman stood there, however, she made sure to pacify him - he wouldn't be able to lay a hand on her. A smile played across her lips.



<Ysmir> He suddenly found himself drained of the desire to shoot her, though his desire for escape was still quite alive and well. It just seemed that any enmity that he might have felt, any sort of aggression just seemed to have vanished like a vapor. He sighed, and let his hand drop from his boot, sliding to his phone instead. He pulled it from his belt, thumb tapping the screen lock and bringing the device to life with a white flare of light. He squinted his eyes at the harsh adjustment as his finger worked over the glass screen. Login pages, databases, hyperlinks and browser pages flashed by in a flicker, the entire process almost committed to muscle memory, he’d had to log in to the pages so many times. Even the keyboard only had an instant to load before he was finished tapping in a password, banishing it back into its background application until it was needed again.

In mere moments, the files she’d asked for were on screen, though they couldn’t be opened on a device as limited as a cell phone. They would have to be decrypted by something with a much more powerful processor. He waved the device in his hand. “So, I’ve got the thing you want, but I’m going to have to have an email. Or an IP, but I figured you would be much less concerned about my frying your rig with just an email.”

He smirked at her, then, and offered her a cheeky grin. “I hope your antivirus is up to date.”


{marisol} “If you fry it, it won't be difficult to find out where you sleep.” She replied without skipping a beat. In that same breath, she gave him the IP address to one of the computers she used at the Corner Cafe regularly. She only hacked at home when she had made sure she could replace her files, as well as her systems. Her gaze lingered briefly on his boot before she began to pace. It was a nervous tick of hers and she couldn't control it. Rolling her head on her shoulders, she could feel that ache in her teeth that accompanied the itch in the back of her throat.

That throb that told her she wanted blood and that she wanted it then and now. Focusing on the wall, she counted to ten. If he fucked up her system, at least he could fix it. “Tell me, are you truly alone?” She asked, knowing very well that he could lie. She couldn't and that was her vice. “Your reaction said it. Perhaps you never shot Cole because you found her company of not being governmentally connected refreshing.”


<Ysmir> Laughing at her question, he shook his head as he opened a connection with her computer. At least an upload was simple. He glanced at the time on his phone and his brow twitched with irritation. Dawn was close, but not so close that he could hope for its interruption. He’d learned a lot about these vampires in his time here, and that was one of the things that they had found effected most, if not all of them, was that dawn, as one may expect from myth and legend, was a sort of a weakness of theirs. Nothing as drastic as turning them to a pile of ash, but it was certainly a disadvantage. One that would turn this situation around in an instant. That, though, was beyond his hope.

He sighed and tapped at his phone, before locking the screen and dropping his hand to look up at her from where he sat in the floor. “Sent,” he murmured. He’d debated on uploading a virus into her computer while it was vulnerable, but the lack of security surrounding the IP she’d given him told him it was a throw-away machine. It wasn’t worth playing that card just yet. At the least, though, he’d learned where she was keeping her spare rigs. That could be valuable information. He still chuckled, though, at her question as he shrugged a shoulder. “Yeah, sure. For the most part. I’ve got my assistants, a couple of techs and a grad student from the local University doing a training stint with the ROTC, but nothing so deep as what you are apparently looking for.” He shook his head at her assessment of his connection with the young woman, Cole, and gave a shrug.

“That could be it, since I rarely see anyone in this little hole in the world, but for the most part I’d say it’s because she’s innocent of something I’d say required putting a bullet in her. I’m willing to bet my boss would disagree, which is why she doesn’t know anything about it.” He lifted his hand and pushed his hand through his dark hair, watching as her eyes moved to his boot. If she didn’t know, she at least suspected that the pistol was there. If he overcame whatever it was that had driven his urge to shoot her, he would have to be quick, and he would have to be sure. Right then, though, that didn’t seem likely.

“So am I good to go, or are we still playing this one-sided round of twenty questions?”


{marisol} “It's only one sided because you aren't asking questions.” Marisol resisted the urge to roll her eyes. The woman shifted her weight as she stopped pacing and turned to face him. At least temporarily. It was sent. Mentally, she ticked off all that she needed to do. Drain his blood, feed him some of hers before he died. It was a damn hassle, it was. Cole better love her, after all of this mess. “Hm, she was one of the higher ups in the building next door, I take it?” There had been a commanding officer in there, Marisol hadn't missed her - she'd just knocked the ***** out when she pulled her gun. The swarm of bees had followed, causing mayhem where she needed it.

“Hm, you’re good to go.” She said offhandedly, her hand going to her hip only temporarily. In a fluid moment, Marisol removed her pistol from the waistband and fired while aiming just above his collarbone. She could almost hear Cole screaming at her to stop, not to do it and not to let him die before she lowered the barrel. Flipping the safety back on, she removed a pencil from her pocket and twisted her hair back before putting it up into an updo. “Now,” She said as she tucked the gun away once more, Marisol dusted her hands off. “I’m going to give you an offer. Turn or die. Not really a bad ultimatum.” Truthfully, even if he chose death, Marisol would still turn him. “You’ve got until you black out from blood loss, which depending on whether or not I caught your artery…” She trailed off, making a ticking noise with her tongue.


<Ysmir> “That should tell you something right there should tell you something, dear. Maybe I just don’t find you interesting.” He smirked, and gave her a shrug at her question. He flicked his eyes to where she’d indicated the building, and he shook his head. “That’s the garrison. Military folk over there, probably the commander, you’re talking about. My boss is in Stockholm. I’m just on a contract for these overpaid gorillas.” He chuckled, leaning back against the chair he’d found as his only support.

As she’d waved him to go, he placed a hand on the chair to lift himself to his feet. He expected a bit of two-faced fuckery, but the cheap shot to his throat was faster turnabout than he’d expected. He’d at least given himself to the front door, but it appeared that this woman was less keen on giving him even a semblance of a chance than he’d expected. The shock registered on his face a moment later as he tried to say something to the *****, his words leaving him in a gag, blood gushing from his neck as he sighed, resigning himself to his fate.

With the imminence of his death, however, he felt that familiar surge of violence, that raw desire to strike back, and, ignoring her offer, with little to no interest in whatever deal or scheme she was trying to drag him into now, his hand shot to his boot. The PPK was in his grasp and thrust toward her in the same instant, the small, palm-sized pistol fitting his grip like a well-tailored suit. The flash of the muzzle was subtle, the sound of each of four rounds going off was a quick succession of sharp, loud pops. Four rounds struck her left breast, just above her heart. Two struck just below her collarbone, and the last grazed her cheek. Still, he pulled the trigger, even though the pistol had clicked empty with the seventh, final shot. He carried a spare magazine, but as his blood flowed from him in a rush, the whole world began to spin for the second time that night, his arm too heavy to hold upright any longer.

The pistol clattered across the floor as his hand thumped against the hardwood. He looked up at her and gave her one last smirk, his lips covered in blood as he fought for a parting **** you, and only managed a bloody gurgle.


{marisol} Her first thought was that she was going to kill him. The pain exploded through her was expected and Marisol hadn't bothered to avoid it. Her cheek healed quickly, her fingers moving to pull the shirt away and scowl down at it. “I liked that shirt.” She said, grimacing as she dropped it. The bullets didn't go deep, but she could feel them as she moved and walked over to him. Her foot met his chest in a brief kick to the ribs, adding insult to injury just before she crouched down. “Like a dog on a leash.” She said, baring her fangs as she lowered her fingers to his bleeding throat.

She used her nail to collect some of it before she lifted them to her lips, her tongue flicking out over the wound. There was nothing better than human blood, straight from the vein. She'd been feeding on animals for a spell, but always went back to this. Willing humans were always more interesting and less of a pain in the ***. “You're more Cole’s type. Sorry.” She said as she collected his knife. Cutting below her wrist, Marisol made sure that the wound was deep enough that the blood would continue to flow before putting the knife in her lap. Her newly freed hand reached out, grabbing him by the hair again so that she could force him near.

Her wrist went to his lips, wordlessly telling the stubborn ******** to drink. If it became apparent that he wouldn't be able to, she had half the mind to cut his lips off and let it pour down his throat, but instead, as she heard his heartbeat, she said, “Open your mouth, Ysmir. I’m not going to lie to Nicole now, nor you. Now ******* do it before I break your teeth in and pour it down your bloody throat.” One that she was dead positive on slitting of this worked. ******.



<Ysmir> As she shoved her bloody wrist to his lips, he couldn’t find the strength to clench his jaw. He simply couldn’t fight what she offered him. Somewhere, deep in his mind, he knew that he should drink, that becoming like her would mean that he could get back at her, that he would live to put a bullet in her that would count. But then, what would be the point? She did what she did, likely out of either a necessity, or out of boredom. So it was either a need, or it was a game, but either way, once it was over, it was over. What good would continuing really do?

He sighed, the sound wet and weak as he lifted his hand as high as he could manage, and extended his middle finger high, glaring right into her eyes as he offered her a grin. Shortly after, the world went black, and he descended again into unconsciousness in a spiral of lightning speed. This time, it was much less comfortable than before, until there was nothing really there to be uncomfortable. There was just... nothing. He could get used to that, after what he’d just been through.


{marisol} Her eyebrow twitched. This man had some nerve. Granted, Marisol couldn't help but feel he would be a good match for Fforde as she reached over to break his middle finger. Afterwards, she adjusted to pry open his mouth more, pulling open her wound more with a grunt so that there would be no doubt that he got some as she used her other hand to massage his throat once he was unconscious. She made a mental note to just wipe his **** to spite him. If he was anything like her, there was a back up somewhere and she had a magnet in her bag that was powerful enough to get it done.