Path of the Vampire forum

July 26, 2017

"Do you, Rikki, take this man, Dylan, to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, through sickness and in health, for richer or poorer, so long as you both shall live?"

The pastor's tenor voice rang out across the church, followed by a soft echo in the hushed atmosphere. The Bible lay open in his palms, his eyes cast between the couple before him. The groom stood confidently, a charming grin on his face, so in love. The guests all seemed to take a collective breath, holding it in as they waited for that cherished response.

A second passed. Then two. For a long and suffering moment, the church was utterly silent. Except Rikki heard such horrible screaming as too many thoughts rushed through before she had a chance to process them. Dylan's face twisted in concern, like he had a right to worry for their future. He lost that right the second she found him 6.5 inches deep in his high school sweetheart two days ago. Not that he knew she knew. And as petty as it was, she knew how she would repay him for that pain and humiliation.

"...No."


The chiming of a bell ripped Rikki away from the memory, her vision blurry and unfocused. Rapidly blinking, she searched out the source at the cafe counter. One of the barista’s smiled in her direction and made the universal gesture for ‘come here.’ With a safe assumption that her drink was ready, she stood from the table and made her way up to retrieve it. She was rewarded with the steaming cup, which she accepted gratefully. Her exhaustion had to be plain to see, the dark bags under her eyes only growing as the days passed.

She still had yet to seek out an apartment, but that was hardly the least of her worries. Her parents called every day, their voicemails growing more panicked the longer she ignored them. It wasn’t that she wanted them to worry, but she knew what they were calling for. Mom would want to know why she left Dylan at the altar, and Dad would complain about the money spent and lost on a wedding that never happened. If she told them the truth, they would confront Dylan...his family. It was all just too much.

For once in her life, Rikki needed space to breathe. In the span of a few days, her life had been turned entirely upside down, and so she had run away from it. Maybe it was cowardly. Childish, even. It was irrelevant, really, because she had come to this new city in a different country, with the hopes of escaping the many demons on her trail.

WIth a last look around the cafe, she exited out into the cool night air. A slight breeze ruffled up her hair, reminding her that Fall was just around the corner. Soon, the ground would be blanketed in snow and the season she so hated would be on them. That gave her a few months to enjoy the best time of year, when the world was bright with color, hot chocolate, and sweaters. And this year, she was going to enjoy it on her own.

At this point, she was comfortable enough with the city streets to know where the nearest park resided. At this time, they were usually deserted, making for the perfect place to think. Of course, if she was that in need of quiet, she could always go to the church. That idea gave her a twinge of anxiety, though, reminding her the last time she had successfully made it through the doors, Harrison had been with her. And she hadn’t seen him since.

Shaking that thought away, she easily maneuvered the streets until she came upon the park, surrounding by a line of trees. A glance around revealed that she was very much alone. Satisfied, she made her way to the center and sat down in the grass. Soon after, she laid back, her coffee cup held in her hand on top of her stomach. The stars were muted in the city, barely visible against the street lights. Just as she had when she was small girl, she began to seek out the constellations. Once upon a time, it might have been hard. Now, she knew the night sky like she knew the back of her hand, and the familiarity brought a smile to her lips.

She must laid there for close to half an hour, but it felt like much longer. Silence was all that accompanied her, up until she heard it. A soft ruffling, like leaves of a bush as they were disturbed by an animal. Though, it must have been a large animal for the amount of rustling, and the hairs on the back of her neck and arms stood on end. Tensing in fear, she sat up and looked around, eyes wide and searching.

For a moment, all seemed normal, with the silence once again taking over. Just as her muscles loosened, the rustling began again, louder. Swallowing hard against her gut instinct to run, she clamored to her feet. Her heartbeat pounded in her ears, loud and insistent.

“Hello..? Is...someone there?” she called out, hoping to hear some apologetic voice for startling her.

She tried again, her voice barely above a whisper “...hello…?” The fear was plain, palpable.

Was she being...watched?

Doc has been on his way to the Voodoo. At one time it had been his usual haunt. But then the Chain came back.. And everything changed. He distanced himself from Mortll, because he knew he would never be able to give Mortll what she wanted, monogamy. If he couldn’t give that.. And that’s what she was after, he needed to break it off. So he did.

But breaking it off with Mortll also meant keeping his distance. Giving her room. And Mortll owned the Voodoo. So Doc had stopped going around as often. He even opened his own bar. His bar had a completely different feel. It was open to the public, up scale and therefore it was high dollar. The average human couldn’t afford his prices, which was fine for him. He merely wanted a place he could hang out and have a drink.. And pretend he was human again, if only for a short while.

But then came Amalea. She and Mortll were tight. How tight, and to what degree, he didn’t know and he didn’t want to, in one aspect. Yet he wanted to spend time with Amalea, that meant going back to the Voodoo. To make things even stickier.. If that was possible. Mortll, who had gotten over him, and gotten bound to Enzo.. was suddenly and mysteriously unbound; after a lengthy absence from Enzo. That made Doc think Enzo had cocked it up and got himself killed when he was in Europe. Permanently killed. That might have caused the bound to be broken, but he wasn't sure. But Mortll was hinting at .. no. She wasn’t hinting, she downright propositioned him.

Doc raked a hand through his hair, she might be able to move on.. Enzo did practically skip out on her the minute he married her; so he could understand her moving on. But Doc really liked Enzo. And it just didn’t sit right with him, to take up with Enzo’s ex.. Without knowing for sure what happened to Enzo. The trip to Italy, he had hoped to find out some news about Enzo.. but all he got was a vague, ‘yes he is a round, but busy traveling’. So maybe Enzo wasn’t dead.

Then there was Lizzie. She was a mystery. She put herself out there.. For the world to see.. But there was still so much hidden behind those blue eyes, and that adorable smirk,that he knew he hadn’t discovered yet. And He wanted to .. except, he had seen her in the company of the German Vampire. They even arrived to the Town Hall meeting together. He didn’t want to mess up her life. He knew how much of a challenge it was for her to step out in public; and if he fucked up, like he was renowned for doing, he could hurt her deeply. And he didn’t want to do. But then she showed up at the Voodoo. Lizzie at the Voodoo. It surprised him how much that action pleased him.

It was as his mind had been replaying the last few nights, when Doc heard the question, that he presumed had been directed at him. “It is a public park.. “

Stepping closer Doc looked down at the female. He could tell she was human. “You really should be more careful. It’s late for a yound lady like yourself to out alone. Have you seen the crime rates in this city? You do not want to become a statistic.”

‘Couldn't it be said of any city?’ No. Not just any city had vampires. Doc debated educating her on the city, it’s crime rate and their extra special vampire citizens, when she alluded to the fact that he was also out at night in the crime infested city.

Slowly Doc nodded. “I concede. That is a fair point.” He shoved his hands into his pockets. He was within speaking distance, but he wasn’t within striking distance. Not that it mattered, he could move quickly enough she would never see it coming.. If he wanted to. Currently, he was ambivalent.

“But the difference between you and I, other than age.. Is I am male. Most criminal types that are out and about, are looking for an easy target. I am not so easy, I am aware of my surrounding. However cute unaware females alone in an empty party are a particularly irresistible target. There is so much that can be done to a female target.” Pulling his hands from his pockets, one hand had a lighter, which the other hand reached inside his jacket for his pack of cigarettes.

Lighting one, Doc took a deep drag, and exhaled before adding, “Last year.. In this city, seventy-three females between the ages of 18 and 34 went missing, never to be heard from again. Seventy-three.” He took another drag, and slowly exhaled. After a moment he added, “One would think that the city would set up a serial killer task force to look into that. Or at the very least, warn the citizens to be on the watch.. And not to lay about in parks at the early hours of the morning being particularly oblivious to their surroundings.” He smiled a closed lipped polite smile, “But I digress, you were saying.. I caught you off guard.. And… what?”

Doc flicked the cigarette with his thumb, to knock the ash off the end, and then ground the falled ash with the toe of his shoe to ensure no spark remained, before looking at her with dry expectation for her next spoken syllable.

Doc lifted the cigarette to his lips, and held it there, while answering her through the side of his mouth, “Yes. Precisely that. People die from ignorance.” He answered her, as he casually unbuttoned his jacket. He had heard the noises. He had heard them before her, in fact. There were two reasons he had heard them first, he was a Vampire and had much more attuned hearing than she did; and, he liked to hunt at night, he was used to the sounds that were natural and those that were not. The noises they were currently hearing were not of the natural sort.

The female that, had been giving him the wary ‘are you about to rape me’ look, was now closing the distance between them. She was commenting, albeit sarcastically, that he was the one to keep her safe. Doc couldn’t help but to reply with equal sarcasm, “That is what I like to see.. Someone taking my advice, in the manner it is meant, not because it suits her needs of the moment.”

The rustling sound was closer now, and the female was practically glued to his left side, ready and willing to use him as a meat shield, to protect herself. He should be flattered, that she ‘now’ deemed him a lesser of two evils. But truth of the matter was, her closeness was a hamper his ability to react. Her voice had gotten a few decibels higher in pitch. He could smell her fear. She was going to be a millstone around his neck, if she didn’t chill the **** out.

Doc’s voice was low, he spoke to her keeping his words slow and calm. It was a soothing voice, like one would use on a sleepy baby, “You need to relax. Deep even breaths. In and out. Oxygenate your blood. So, if you need to run, you can.”

Doc half turned so he could see what had her intense focus. When he did turn, that was when he caught scent of the person or thing hidden in the rapidly dying foliage. He recognized this scent. He frowned. The event unfolding, seemed at odds with person that he had a previous run in with. His right hand casually reached inside his jacket and unsnapped the holster that held his Sig. Dispassionately he justified the fact he was going to have to kill her. She was a vampire. She could come back. Squeaky the human, who was now behind him and the hunter, could not. The vampire would understand his actions or he would kill her again and again, until she understood her error.

Stepping from out of the blackening foliage with a sneer on her face, Maryl remained at a decent range from the pair, yet still in speaking range. Angered that another vampire was in the way of her target, she began pacing back and forward at the same distance, as if some unseen force was driving her onward, lashing at her feet to keep moving. She kept her gaze towards the two, and with an eerie voice that was unlike what Doc had heard before, she spoke: "You're in the way. This one is -mine-." she said through gritted teeth, fangs briefly showing as she held a hand on her pistol holster with the right hand, and used the left to slap the air at something that didn't exist. What remained of the grass around her decayed rapidly with her anger, and it was clear that she was the point of origin of whatever this was. Her amber eyes darted swiftly between the two assessing the situation, eyeing down Doc cautiously, and gazing hungrily at Rikki. "Step aside!" she snarled, after which she seemed to repeat 'step aside' twice in an odd whisper to herself. The foliage she had stepped from had now become an eerie, deathly background for her menacing presence.

Doc looked at Mar as she stepped forward and the moonlight gave him a better view of her. She had changed since last he saw her. What the **** had happened to her? She had been sane, even keeled and methodical in her approach to detecting clues. Now she was .. all but rabid. He recognized her, but it was doubtful she recognized him. It was doubtful she would recognize anyone in the state she was in.

He calmly unsheathed his gun from his shoulder holster and pulled it out into the open. It was only fair that Mar see he also had a gun, and his aim was probably a lot more steady than her aim at the present time, as she was swatting at things there were not there. Doc ignored the human female that was having a panic attack behind him, except to tell her in a whisper, “Stay still.. No rapid or erratic movements.”

Louder, to Mar, Doc spoke, “I know you. We met, some weeks ago.. At that burned out Motel… remember? It was pouring rain, like a monsoon. I wasn’t in a very talkative mood? You were looking for something?” For the sake of the human behind him, he changed the facts a bit. The last thing he needed was her figuring out he was a vampire as well. “We ran into that animal.. The Puma.. remember?”

Hopefully she remembered him. And remembered he helped her that night, so she owed him, in a manner of speaking. But if she didn’t remember him, well, things wouldn't go so well for her. She was still a fledgeling. It would be a short fight. The state she was in, if he sent her to shadow realm she may not have the fortitude to make it back. Doc appraised her. Her sire was lost to the fade, as was her grandsire, and his sire, all the way to Mircea. All lost to the Fade or Torpor. He frowned, she was making her way alone, and had been for some time it seemed.


“I cannot let you have her. She is innocent. I can.. However.. Help you.”

He spoke slowly, and calmly, “You’re hungry. I get it. I can help you with that. But I am not going to let you hurt the girl.”