Path of the Vampire forum

21th May 2018
Location: Unknown (Harper Rock, Ontario, Canada)
Date and Time: Unknown
Condition: Safe and unhurt but very confused

Tomas awoke with a start, his head throbbed horribly! The dizziness made it hard to focus on his surroundings and where he laid and how he got here. Alcohol, normally no and drugs were not be willingly anyway….

Fuzzy images started to flood Tomas. A hazy image of a beautiful young brunette talking with him the night before. It was loud, a club or a concert? Blood, he remembered there was lots of blood! A fight? Who or what was fighting? Was it only the night before or was it longer than that? All his recent memories seem jumbled and totally confusing to him. What, where, when, how? SO many questions and he just had no answers to the question nor the time to dwell on it. His head still splitting

Thinking back to the last thing he could remember he was driving from his family’s home in Lipov into Brno for the weekend. It was late on Thursday night and he had business to conduct on Friday morning and then the weekend was free. Where is my car? Did I make it to Brno? After this his memories devolved into the fuzzy images that were starting to disturb him more and more. Who was that brunette?

Tomas scratched his beard and when he pulled back his hand it was covered in blood. Forcing himself to focus on the here and present he pushed thru the fog. He was laying in an alley behind an apartment building. He could hear people in the distance. He pulled himself up to a sitting position and propped his back against a dumpster. Looking around, no brunette around. Leaning around the dumpster, no car in sight either. Phone! Rummaging thru his pockets left him empty handed as well with no phone, wallet, watch, keys, or even money. His shirt was shredded from a fight or something with patches of blood all over it. Although he didn’t seem to have any wounds himself. Every muscle in his body seemed to ache but nothing felt like it was broken or even scraped.

Stripping his shirt off, he used it to clean as much of the blood off his face as he could, so he could find his way to a hotel without attracting too much attention. After tossing the shirt into the dumpster beside him, Tomas pulls jacket on and buttons it up.

Now Tomas must plan his next actions. His current predicament isn’t great, but he also knows he can overcome it. Money will be easy with a couple of pickpockets on some, same with the phone or he can borrow one to get hold of a friend for some cash. His car, wallet, and other such items would have to reported to the police at some point after he could tell them where they were lost.

Pulling himself up off the ground and starting to walk down the alley, Tomas’s face contorts as a rage takes over his emotions. Tomas looks down at his feet after he realized he only had “ONE SHOE!!” Only one shoe was on his feet and growling “What the hell!”. He quickly checked the area, but he couldn’t find the shoe. Searching high and low to no avail and even checking inside the dumpster for nothing. All the time of his searching he could feel the rage building in him, his head throbbing faster and faster, the muscles ached more as it built and built. After realizing his shoe is completely gone, the rage escalated out of control. Ripping his only shoe off his foot, the tears the shoe in two and throws the two pieces way down the alley, much more then was natural.

Tomas was startled by how far the pieces of the shoe sailing down the alley. The rage slowly drained from Tomas, unconsciously wondering how he threw the shoe that far! As the rage subsides, Tomas starts to shake his head at the humor of the shoe situation! How do you lose one shoe and not know!? But then reality sneaks back into his mind, how is he here and where is here as well. What happened to his items.

But before he lets himself get drawn into those thoughts again he tries to refocus on the present. As he does this though a name forms but just one name, “Prudence”! Although he still doesn’t really remember anything more except that name but he knows for sure that Prudence was the name of the beautiful brunette in his haze. WAIT a minute, she wasn’t a brunette but a redhead!! Can he trust this new revelation, he hopes he can?

Although this new information doesn’t really help him at all, but it does give Tomas a glimmer of hope and that is something. Tomas hates that he can’t remember anything at all but this glimmer says that it may come back in or all of it in time!

With that thought in mind a small smile crosses Tomas’s face as he starts out of the alley again.

Tomas quietly slips out of the alley and tries to stay as inconspicuous as possible as he surveys his surroundings and slips from shadow to shadow. He guesses it is now very late evening now by the noise on the streets and the number of businesses closed for the night. The alley was in a very secluded area and Tomas is not recognizing any landmarks around him. Maybe when he gets on a busier street that is coming up will tell him more. As he turns the corner onto the next street Tomas starts seeing people on the street. He tosses his har a bit to try and keep people away from him with the bloodied clothes and all.

As he walks down the street he is attentively watching everyone, listening to everything, and avoiding everything. Everything seems to be wrong, to many signs in English and French around, people are also talking in French as well. Most are talking English, a few are speaking French, but he hears no talking his native language!

Walking around the corner, He comes up to transit station, “Wickbridge Station”. Looking around slightly he sees that it is in city of Harper Rock, Ontario, Canada! Tomas’s head spins as he tries to make sense of it, “This must be a dream!” he mutters to himself! “How did I get here? Better yet, why?!” He just stands there looking at the information for some time, willing himself to believe what he knows shouldn’t be correct! Tomas groans as he notices the actual date and realizes that he is not missing hours of his memory but is missing several days! This mystery keeps getting worse and worse!

He kept walking as he contemplated these developments and what to do about it. He doubted he would be missed for some time so he didn’t need to rush anything. Was this some elaborate joke by one of his old friends or maybe somebody was trying to get him out of the way? No, the fact he was still alive said otherwise to getting him out of the way.

Tomas notices someone approaching him, although they did not even seem to take much notice of him yet. For no apparent reason Tomas was seeing red, he grabbed the person pulling them into the alley. Several minutes passed before Tomas emerged from the alley, alone and in shock of what he had just done. This development astounded himself! When, how, why??? Reality started to come crashing down on him as he remembers why Harper Rock sounded familiar! Harper Rock was the place that was boasting of Vampire and Zombies! As luck would have it Tomas appeared to be a dang Vampire somehow.

A voice from the darkness bellowed across the street to Tomas “Come join the militia and earn $100 per zombie you kill!” As what appeared to be a militia captain came walking towards him. “All are welcome to join the fight against the Undead!”

Now this is something that struck Tomas as convenient! This would give him time to think, experiment, make some needed cash, and mull over any options he could come up with and how he should proceed. Tomas looks at the Captain and says “I will join the fight against the Zombies! Names Tom and where do I start!”

Tomas sees this as a quick reprieve to take his mind of things and work out this nightmare!

Location: Harper Rock, Ontario, Canada
Date and Time: 1st June 2018 and nighttime
Condition: Safe and unhurt but a night crawling, blood sucking vampire!!

Tomas wanted to use the time in the QZ to his advantage and start wrapping his head around his current situations. He had always been able to hold his own in a fight starting with his older cousins picking on him as a child, thru the time he spent on and off the street at home, and even in his previous job he had before coming to work with his family. Although that was going good on his part the only one that really wanted him there was his baby sister. Admitting that she was the only reason he returned was chilling for Tomas. Although his childhood wasn’t good or fun and there was no love lost between him and his parents, his sister had always cared for and looked up to him despite it all.

Shaking himself out of the funk, he set off to work. He wound his way around the QZ as quietly as possible! When what they were calling zombies he would dispatch it as quickly and quietly as possible. After the street was emptied he would wind his way through the various buildings hunting the undead. He practiced it all and it started turning into its own little dance as he re-trained his muscles to the movements. Striding quickly up to one he would stick his glock to its temple and dispatch it while his knife danced onto its companion. Slipping away quietly in hunt of the next test. His new found ‘powers’ being put to the test and his knowledge of them. He had never been as quick or as strong as he was becoming quickly. His senses were heightening as well, he could feel and smell things he didn’t know was possible.

His stamina had gone thru the roof compared to what it used to be, also his skills, intelligence, firearms proficiency had grown substantially over the last few days. His speed and sleight of hand had grown as well.

Unfortunately, he also had to ‘eat’ and this was not something he relished after his first attempts. So using his head and new found strengths he decided on some better techniques. Once he figured out the hunger was more controllable when he didn’t fight it for so long it also became easier for him. On nights when he needed blood, he would slip out of the QZ and onto the streets. Moving from shadow to shadow until he would find a target, normally any opportune target would do and he would slip in and gently take a bite from them. Always being careful of not being too rough or taking too much from any one person like he did at first. His first couple attempts at ‘feeding’ had turned out disastrous for his victims and he regretted this. Even though he has killed before in his previous job, he never has enjoyed it nor was it ever pleasant things for him to do. He always does as is required of him in a job or by himself if needed to survive. Tomas has started thinking of it as its own little game. Depending on his mood is how he hunts, sometimes it’s a bash on the noggin for a mugging, other times a fall down the stairs, or like the other night he put a flower in a girl’s hair. His thought, without any real knowledge, Is if they have something else to think about maybe they will miss the bite. “You know that is stupid” he tells himself “but it is helping me get a grip on the whole situation.

Tomas knows that this whole vampire thing is not turning out to be as bad as he had feared, and he was beginning to like the power it was giving him. Acceptance was slowly coming in his mind, and he knew it and he felt like he hadn’t even began to figure out his new powers yet.

Tomas runs this routine of zombie hunting and a single ‘bite of dinner’. He has no idea of what to call it as everything seems so cliché from the movies. Without knowing how he became this way and how, he was learning everything on his own and mostly by chance. For now this was working well for him and he was getting better and faster with time. Since he came to the QZ he had been surviving with scavenging food, clothes, and everything else he needed. He did buy bullets twice with the earning he had made from a couple of B&E and pickpockets. When he amassed a large collection of zombie kills he decides to return and get paid for his work. Earning nearly $4000 dollars he decides to go shopping for some necessities. Starting off the spree was a new and sturdy Katana to replace his little knife that was getting a little chipped and dull, next up was a new combat pistol, and finally a couple hundred rounds for it. The katana have a longer, sharper blade and the pistol having better accuracy and a little more damaging should both speed up progress a bit.

He has seen several other vampires and humans hunting zombies, but all seem fairly tight-lipped it and none of them have been very talkative. However, he did overhear a couple of soldiers near the gate talking about a mall just a short walk from the QZ. That would give him a chance to get out of the QZ a little as is feeling a little stir crazy in here lately. The last time he spent much time out of the QZ the cops and soldiers were gunning for him a lot. Although he was careful they were constantly chasing and shooting at him. He had hoped hunting in the QZ would alleviate that issue so now is the time to find out if it did or not, but he did not want to push his luck too much either! He would plan on going in a few days after making a bit more cash but before Tomas could put that plan to the test, the hunters found him and once they found him, they kept coming for several nights in a row and were hurting him badly, so he knew he had to get out of there for a bit and lay even lower.

From the QZ, he went through the gate to Sanctuary to bypass the extra guards and cops, and then straight onto the streets. The street was dark so the cop on the other side paid him no mind which gave him a quick piece of reassurance and hope he might survive this. He quickly followed the directions he heard from the soldiers and found the mall quite easily, it was just beyond where he had been before. How he missed it was a mystery to himself. Walking into and around the mall gave him a feeling of both apprehension and exhilaration. He had not been around so many people since he woke up in Harper Rock and he didn’t know if the next person he walked past would ignore him or try to kill him. Regardless of the circumstances he was pleased to be out and about, it seemed like ages since he was a part of the civilized world. He did a quick survey of the place and the exits in case he needed out in a hurry. He likes to be prepared for a many situations especially here where people shoot first and ask questions later.

Next up he found Quartermaine’s Custom Creations, the soldiers had talked highly of this place, and went inside to look around. it Appears those soldiers had a really good idea on where to spend their money! Quartermaine’s seemed to have a bit of everything inside for all people, everything from workstations, ATM, to a vast selection of wares! If he wasn’t mistaken it looked like a crafting bench off in one corner but he had no use of that at this time. Since he had been scavenging everything he had up to this point he really needed the clothes when he came out of the QZ. He didn’t need to look dead and attract even more attention than he already had. Tomas fairly quickly found the clothes he required and purchased several items to benefit himself and also his tasks.

He knows some of the cameras in QCC caught him, so he is more than ready to head out to avoid further trouble in case they are linked with the Police. A bit longer in the QZ and he should be comfortable enough with his new powers and condition to find better place to live, maybe a hotel for a couple of nights would be good to get away from the hunters. The cash he is earning is good so it’s hard to turn that down until he has a bit of cushion for his needs. While finishing up his purchase at the register, Tomas realizes he is be watched rather closely, and although he is armed he really doesn’t want to fight in a place like this, too many people to get hurt in here, nor does he want to draw even more attention to himself.

Alexandrea

As Tomas is heading for the door, a pretty young blonde walks up to him. Instinctively Tomas starts sizing her up. Barely over five foot young lady and roughly half his age should not prove to be much of a problem for Tomas to go around if he was forced to.

As the blonde walked up, she introduced herself, “Hello, I am Alexandrea and this is my shop. I believe I can be of some assistance to you so please come over here for a moment”. Something about her demeanor and tone made Tomas follow her, or maybe it was purely inquisitive on his part. As they walked over to a quiet area for a discussion, Tomas started to take closer note of Alexandrae. The area she took them was oddly quiet regardless of it being on the main showroom floor.

Once they appeared to be ‘alone’ Alexandrae proceeded to know many things about Tomas’s situation, and frankly he didn’t have any idea on how she knew that besides maybe a very attentive watcher. She proceeded to tell him what he should be doing and acting in a tone that was half scolding and half information, although he should feel offending by her meddling he also knew she was absolutely correct on every point she made. On top of all of this, she was also advising him on what would help him in different ways for different problems. All of a sudden Tomas realizes that the blood hunger was gone, somehow this young lady had also fixed this for him even if only for the moment. Although Tomas didn’t have a clue on how except friggin’ magic, he is grateful for it.

All the while Alexandrea talked with him, Tomas started picking up on the little things. Her intuition, her demeanor, absolutely no fear whatsoever of him of probably anything, a quick grace to her movements and a complete control to every action she seemed to take. Then he noticed her eyes and although lovely, he could see a knowledge, a very deep knowledge, and a fierceness in them and this is when it dawned on him. He was standing in the presence of a vampiress and if he wasn’t mistaken a very powerful one at that! He also suddenly realized that if he had felt forced to go around her earlier than this little, young lady could of torn his fledgling butt apart if she had wanted to. The simple thought of her tossing HIM around like a ragdoll almost made him chuckle by the pure size difference of the two. Tomas snapped himself back to the here and now and listened intently to ask much of what she said as he could get.

When she was done she suggests to him to go to a nearby room for a stay to heal and let hunters forget about him. Time in this case would not only heal his wounds but distract the hunters to other areas. Her directions are flawless, the room isn’t much more than a closet with a bed and a chair but it was exactly what he needed at the moment so it he will graciously accept the help. The room is out of the way and as far as he knows only Alexandrae knows he is here, and he can heal. He can hear the mall life from the room but that won’t bother him.

Over the next few days Alexandrea comes in each day and somehow fixes his blood hunger and gives him something to think about. Tomas starts to think of them fondly as lessons of the day and although he has a million questions, he decides to hold them for more appropriate times to ask and is content to learn the lessons she thinks are the most important. Tomas has no idea why she picked him to help when they had never met before but he is very grateful for what she was doing for him, simple and deliberate kindness. A debt he hopes he can return and/or repay someday, Alexandrae was the first vampire he had ever met besides himself and he has no idea of what it means to be a vampire yet. If he follows her advice though he may live long enough to learn.

As the days pass under Alexandra's care, his wounds are healing nicely so he begins to think about his next move. He starts to move about a bit more but very careful to not draw attention to himself. He begins to move about the city and learn what is where and where to go or not to go. As recent developments taught him he also start to take much more notice to the world around him at any given time. Thanks to his nice benefactor he has not been requiring to feed for some days so his time out has been limited to sight seeing only along with a bit of exercise and retraining old habits of watching.

Each day he would go for a walk or a jog in a direction and figure out what was were. What alleyways were dead ends and where this or that would lead him. Occasionally he would climb a fire escape to see the city from the top and to give himself reference to this or that landmark or place. The river always giving him a good, quick, and easy landmark for reference along with knowing the bridge is near Wickbridge station. Bit by bit he started learning the city for himself. This also allowed him to find many of the local businesses and where he figured he would find the seedier side of the city. He figured someday soon that will be something he would need.

Tomas starts each practice session with the little things of people watching, finding the details of an area quickly, counting some specific detail of people from a glance, remembering license plate numbers. Moving up into counting gun bulges on the people he passed. He also forced himself into the more crowded areas to work on the crowd movements again. Watching people in crowd, the gangsters, thieves, students, and even a beautiful lady in a red dress. As he turned for a double take, he half expected a gun in his face! Tomas groaned at his own bad analogy and then laughed at himself and continued on his way.

Very soon his wounds were fully healed and he was still amazed at how much damage he could withstand and how quickly he healed from that damage, although with help this time. He soon realized that he was ready to return to the city with a healed body and hopefully a better mind set. As he was packing his items, mostly from the mall vendors, he had another visit from Alexandrea. She still was taking care of him and this time she brought him some parting gifts of a new blade and gun. Both were exquisite to the common purchases he had recently made. The blade was long and sturdy with a finely honed edge that was like a razor and definately is a well crafted weapon and fit it him very nicely. The weight of the blade was well balanced and it whistles through the air as Tomas tests it out deftly. THe rifle is nicely cleaned, polished, but looking quite deadly! He never had problems with weapons of any kind it seems as they are just instruments for use and are neither good nor evil in themselves. Several boxes of rounds came with it as well. These gifts should help him quite nicely and for some time he hopes. While discussing a final lesson from Alexandrea, Tomas fits both of the gifts to him in place of what he has before thanking her and saying his farewell to the little blonde shop owner.

As the young lady walks away from him and starts back through her shop, he watches her leave thinking how lucky he was that she had helped him but he was still baffled as to the why she did! Back in Europe, he was usually just a means to an end and that is only if anyone gave him a second thought, assuming they even knew who he is but those are thoughts for another time and place. Tomas stepped out of the doorway before melding into the crowd and moving towards the exit. Slipping around groups of people, he quickly makes his way out of the mall without anyone taking much notice in him at all.


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Once out of the mall, Tomas walks briskly towards the Quarantine Zone. His immediate plans is to continue making money while learning his new strengths and abilities. He quickly and easily moves around the streets without anyone paying any attention to his passing. The cops and soldiers pay him no mind as he passes them, which is a great improvement then the constant bullets flying. The people on the street didn’t seem to either notice or care that he was there as everyone hurried around doing their business. This all made things easier for him, he nimbly weaves a path towards the QZ. He passes the Sanctuary Apartments on the right and knows the Militia captain will be just ahead.

As he walks up the QZ entrance the militia captain starts his enlistment slogan but when he recognizes Tomas, he just grunts him on with a “ Need to turn in any kills today?” as Tomas nods negatively and absently skirts the gate and enters the QZ. As he enters the zone, the whole atmosphere seems to change around him. The bustle and sounds of the street can be heard off behind him but it is eerily quiet inside the zone with the exception of the occasional sounds of shuffling feet, things being knocked over, and sometimes something fighting here or there although Tomas has never noticed too many people in the fighting except for the Flats. The streets around the flats were often inhabited by the walking dead of one kind or another. He often would go from building to building looking for his targets. Tonight though, he has an unusual spring in his step as he walks. His muscles are aching from the inactivity of the last few days and his mind is very alert but more relaxed then some time as he starts his round.

Making sure his rifle is loaded and his blade is loose, Tomas starts the hunt. First patrolling the streets he finds a few zombies that go down with practiced ease as he rolls from one to another. The blade sings through the air and then the report of the rifle as another drops down the block. His strength, speed, and accuracy all showing marked improvement! The zombies are no longer needing any effort on his part as they are just slow and cumbersome around him. He and his new weapons are just too powerful for them and it just becomes an exercise. He finds this reassuring and is happy to continue until it becomes pure muscle memory and therefore his reflexes are beyond what he ever had in the past. Although the zombies are no longer any match, he still avoids the ferals that occasionally hang out around here. He tangled with a couple of them before and they are a drastic change compared to the zombies. The last few feral encounters were an exercise in futility more than anything else, he was faster than them so they never landed much of anything on him but he couldn’t damage them enough either so he just avoided those fights as often as possible.

Tomas also found black market vendors for Alexandrea’s “Socially Acceptable alternative for food”! Although he didn’t find it quite as filling as it could be, he realized the need of it and the control of his hunger. He smiled as he remembered her scolding him about this when they first met and her discussion of the current tensions in the city. Although he did not fully understand vampires, zombies, this city, and everything that goes along with all of it but he did trust that she understands much more of all of this than him. Until he knew enough for intelligent though, he would heed as much of her advice as he could in the coming days. With his growing abilities, he found that he had much more time to ponder these details about life and DEATH than he did just a few days ago.

As his practices continued and became easier every day, Tomas found that his mind kept coming back to the basic questions of what happened to him, who was this Prudence he remembered, and what are these undead that are roaming about. He starts getting a feeling that he better start figuring things out for the future and finding an internet cafe would probably give him a good chance to read up on local events around here and the Moonlight Lotus Cafe isn’t to far from here.

Tomas stands up absentmindedly grabbing his stuff and heads for the exit of the Quarantine zone. Wondering what information he may find on any of these items has his curiosity up again as he walks along the deserted street. As he is about to round the corner of the supermarket, Tomas senses his mistake. A couple of feral vampires are inspecting him and not looking too happy about his interrupting them, he was too wrapped up in his own thoughts to see them and avoid them instead of walking into their midst like he did and was now regretting that mistake. Instinctively he dropped into a fighting crouch as the first one lunges at him.

The fight was on, Tomas was dodging one and then the other while neither of the feral vampires could land a blow on him. Backing up into the middle of the street he fought like a cornered lion, ducking one slash, blocking another wiith his forearms, then kicking to push one away until one of the ferals finally makes a mistake and stumbles off to one side. This gives Tomas just enough time to free his blade from his sheath and making it sing through the air before finding its target in the chest of one the assailants. He immediately drops the blade and sidesteps the second feral before it realizes what is happening and his rifle is brought to bear as a single gunshot rings out through the night and the second feral crumples. The fight was over as quickly as it began and a slight smile crosses Tomas’s face, which is something that hadn’t happened in some time. Without a second thought or any doubt, he knew the feral vampires were no longer any dangerous threat. Tomas reaches down and picks up his blade, cleans it off before he returns it to its sheath. Although he knows it was another stupid mistake on his part, he can’t help but being pleased with himself by these new developments.

Turning the corner around the supermarket, Tomas can now see the Militia captain at the entrance and thinks it best to get his pay before he exits the QZ. “Tonight will be a night on the town for information instead of practice”, he decides “and the bank isn’t far out of the way either!” With a new spring in his step and a bit more caution, Tomas continues on to the checkpoint at the end of the street.

Stopping at the captain’s office, Tomas turns in the proof of his kills and receives a handy sum of money for his effort. Although he never thought of himself as a joiner, but being accepted into this militia has earned him a substantial financial benefits and they seem to have no end in sight. At some point he will figure out if he will stay or not but for the time being it appears to be beneficial to both parties so he’s not going to rock this particular boat anytime soon. Lately the flats has been much busier than it was a couple of weeks ago, more people fighting the undead and despite the additional help, you could always find the undead around to hunt. Still the entire area is very solemn and quite but watching some of the others had also proven very useful in finding the black market shops down here, or at least he assumed they were black market as it is the Quarantine zone.

After pocketing the pay, Tomas starts off to the bank. A few people were still out on the streets, music was playing from somewhere above and he found himself humming along with the music. The bank was nearly empty when he arrived so he was able to conduct his business quickly and easily and then took off towards the Cafe. The streets were still fairly quite, a few groups of people hung out here or there but most of them looked more like thugs than they normally should. The music is still playing as he passes the Sanctuary Apartments, someone must be up there.

As he approaches the Moonlight Lotus Cafe, a zombie is out and approaching the Cafe as well and it is outside the QZ! Without a second thought he dispatches the zombie quickly and easily, it must of followed someone up here or been attracted to the lights. What are guards doing and why didn’t they come after it once it got out?

Although the Cafe wasn’t crowded, it did have a few customers scattered around the room. Tomas finds an empty terminal and sits down in front of it. He had probably waited to long to start looking into all of this but he now at least had a grasp of himself and what he is now. Not wanting to deal with old life just yet he totally ignores logging into any of his old accounts and proceeds to set up a new online identity for himself. Those issues will best be left for another day. He then searches for any information on Harper Rock news, Vampires, Zombies, and all the current happening in the city.

Over the night and until dawn is starting to threaten the skies, Tomas searches and reads all he can find on web, dark web, and any underground forum he can find on all kinds of things. Fact, fiction, folklore he doesn’t know for sure but he reads on. Details of secret societies, dark places, and weird happenings seem to be common around here. Some Hibo-something or other company seems to be in the middle of a scandal or what not although it isn’t clear as to what it is or even why. Vampires and zombies are real, but others talk of bigger and worse dangers in other parts of the town as well. Paladins, Blood thieves, Blood dolls, and thralls are among some of the other chat around, not that any of this makes any sense at all nor would he even know what any of these things are. Tomas’s mind is ablaze from all the information

“Did I wake up in a “Supernatural” episode or should I expect Sasquatch for breakfast?” Tomas mutters to himself.

A snicker comes from a couple of tables over where a guy is working on a terminal and glaring at Tomas over the top of the screen. Unsure on whether he had overheard the latest comment or if something else was going on here, Tomas finds it best to leave as he needs to find an inside spot to rest for the day. Tomas pays the bills and quickly treks back into the Flats of the QZ where he can start wrapping his head around all the stories he read today.

Unfortunately he was so wrapped up with the news, he never was able to do any searching on the mystery woman Prudence. Guess that search will have to wait until a later day although he would like more information, he really doesn’t know where to begin on this one except a name and a very vague recollection of what she looked like and his memory is still so foggy that he doesn’t know if it is trustworthy or further fiction!

Back in the flats, Tomas found a corner to rest a while in and he could start reflecting on all the news he read about. Although he doesn’t know what everything is or how all it works but he does believe some of what he read. Although he really had no clue of what blood dolls and blood thieves truly were but could possibly make a guess or two on them, he wondered if it wasn’t the paladins or something similar that hunted him after he first was turned. That would explain a lot, he thought. They had seemed to be a lot more experienced in his vampire self then he even was.

The dead are rising in greater numbers then before, in and out of the quarantine zone, other creatures are around and causing new problems for the city and him. He realizes that this is now his city whether he wants it or not. Its problems are growing and he may need to decide someday on whether to defend it or let it burn. At this point he has no idea on what, how, or why but things are coming.

The fact that Harper Rock has so many secret organizations, factions, and such did not surprise him in the least. Every town everywhere has this and he spent his entire life skirting these factions. Except the fact of the dead rising, this was a fact of life to know whom to avoid when and who would do what you needed when persuaded. That just sounded like most of his family actually. Now starting to learn this new territory was putting him on better standing and what is going on. He would need to watch and be careful around the streets also as more of the normal people left, it was just leaving more of the lesser factions in control of the different areas of the city and before long the streets could be controlled by common street gangs.

Tomas never thought of himself as good or evil but more of shades of grey. He had reasons for doing most everything he ever did, whether or not it was the morally correct thing or not was a different story but he always could justify it as the right thing to do. Morals were nothing to concerning to him either, morals changed depending on who you talked to and where they lived. Killing was never his first option but he would do what he has to survive and keep what he holds closest to him safe, growing up the way he did was the only way you could. Although his years made him wiser than he used to be, this was just how he was made and he doubted the vampire change would change that much of his inner self.

Thomas starts to nod off with all these thoughts and the images dancing thru his subconscious, lovely images of……

Tomas awakes and stretches out from his sleep. Muscles aching as he wakes them up from the awkward position he fell asleep in. He had not meant to fall asleep in such as place as this but had dozed off anyway regardless. All the thoughts of the previous night are still playing across his mind and are very disconcerting to him but he doesn’t see much he can do beyond waiting, watching, and fighting the undead for the moment. He will need to keep his eyes and ears much more open from now on though just so he doesn’t become someone else’s pawn in this town. He definitely decides that he doesn’t want to be anyone’s pawn!

Rounding through the flats, he sweeps the room of zombies and leaves the others hanging out around to finish off whatever may follow. Since conversations are rare inside the flats, he thinks he will need to get into the city more to hear much of any word on the street. however to his surprise he found a bartender coming into work!. He had never noticed that before so he had bought a round of drinks for some of the others he had watched fighting inside the room. “Can’t say I would accept and actually drink something from that room though!” Tomas thought, “A bar in there is just odd. ”Stepping out into the Quarantine zone he surveys the city that he can see with newly opened eyes.

He catches a glimpse of an apparition that is hanging out around the supermarket, a wraith guide is what one traveler called it. No idea what it was but a couple of people has come to find and talk with it. Since it hasn’t seemed to be aggressive, he left it alone and the undead seemed to avoid it as well so he turned his hunts elsewhere.

Tomas had also started to pick up on the little things around him and started to pick out more things to tell vampires apart from humans. For one he could smell the human blood, which often incensed his senses a bit, and since we vampires had no need to breathe it seemed that most still did breathe out of memory or something but we don’t breathe as deeply as humans do. He also found that he was able to control his fangs and whether they were out or not. Although he wasn’t sure if it was a new sense or a smell he also found he could track people, even though he barely could do it he believes he could much better with a bit of practice!

Luckily the QZ seemed a bit quieter than the norm and with his increased awareness he had also noticed other abilities he seemed to be mastering. He was beginning to get control of the shadows around him and they were starting to do his bidding. He could draw them up around an area making it feel secure, although humans seemed to sense it as well as it made them antsy and very paranoid or so it seemed. Since he didn’t know any human here he wasn’t certain about that. of course.