Blood Buddies (Kyrie)

[Chives (DELETED 12901)]

Limping along the sidewalk, Chives moved ever so slowly, trying to find a hospital. Bullets were riddled all over his body; the holes the rounds left in him made him look like a walking slice of swiss cheese. Ring-like bruises around his ankles and wrists hurt with every step he took; they were from his captors for when they tried to restrain him, since he didn't want to eat his food like a big boy. He could still taste the blood in his mouth: that metallic, salty taste. That was all the "nourishment" he had: blood, blood, and more blood. No steak, no potatoes, not even mouldy, expired food, (Could've at least gave him that.) just blood. And each serving got bigger and bigger by the gallon. He was glad when they tossed him to the side when they were done with him. But being on the streets of Harper Rock, made him wish he was back at his captor's dingy, dark hideout drinking pints of the red stuff . At least there he was of taken care of. Tortured but taken care of.

His eyes sunk into his skull the more he looked around. He pressed his crimson-soaked hand against the buildings he passed as he tried to keep balance, leaving blood-smeared handprints on the brick and mortar architecture. Chives limped faster as he was getting desperate. His wounds wounds excreted blood like a faucet. He started to feel woozy. The world was getting darker. Dragging his feet for the last few meters he could muster out, he stopped in front of what looked like a person; their gender hard to determine with his vision now resembling a kaleidoscope. “Hey...pal” He said with a clogged voice, looking up at the form in front of him.

Chives stared at the person for a long time, not saying a word. He wanted to ask for help, but he didn’t, and instead a sudden craving overtook him. He strangely had a taste for...blood, despite forcefully ingesting the stuff every day. He hated the stuff. Though in this instant in particular, he needed it urgently. He didn't know why; he just had to have it. Transfixed on the person, he weakly reach out and put his bloody palm on their shoulder. His vision started to clear up slightly, seeing a blurry outline of a man. Opening his mouth, his canines morphed into fangs and Chives lurched for his neck.

[Kyrie]

Not all that strange of a day, Kyrie had...well he'd made a lot of mistakes since he'd been turned. One of those included accidentally enthralling someone. Yeah, that was awkward. He wasn't really sure how the ethics on that were. And he was far too afraid to actually tell anyone what he'd done it was...he felt wrong, even if it was an accident it just didn't seem right. Those mistakes however, weighing on his mind right now as he headed to the bank. At least that was one problem he'd learned to fix, feeding on people. Almost never did it. Nowaways he used rats, pigs, rabbits, or as he planned to do tomorrow as he did today, a blood bag from the shop. Man was it convenient that they sold them. And fortunately, he managed to keep prices down ever so slightly for himself.

But his problems were not the worst today, someone was having a far more unpleasent time. He sniffed. Blood, lots of it, someone reached for him and he turned trying to catch them as they managed two words. "Oh dear..." he tried to...
a familiar and yet uncommon feeling, of fangs in his neck as Chives instincts took in. Kyrie gritted his teeth, he assumed he was a vampire with a reaction like that. Maybe some vampires needed vampire blood? No, not a vampire, definitely human. He forgot you could just tell when one was or wasn't a vampire.

He gritted his teeth at the feeling of blood being pulled from him and the sharp fangs in his neck, dragging the man into an alley to try and keep all this away from everyone else, "Ok ok that's enough get off me." he warned the moment he started feeling a bit unpleasent with how much was being drawn. "I know we can't take you to a hospital but I need my blood too."

[Chives (DELETED 12901)]

Chives fed from the man for a while. When the stranger pried him off his neck, he fell flat on the ground. His wounds started to heal rather quickly. Watching his body regenerate was like watching time rewind. Bullets leaped out of him and onto the ground as the holes all over his body pushed them out and began to seal themselves.

Once he was done healing, Chives stood up. He leaned on a trash can until the feeling of nausea subsided. His eyes panned around the alley, looking at the decrepit back ends of row houses, then back to his blood donor. Chives stared in horror at the bite mark he left on the man’s neck. It was still oozing out blood, though barely. He had taken a lot from him, and the man seemed fatigued. Feeling the blood in his mouth, he immediately started spitting it out in disgust. He pushed past the man and went further down the alley, stopping and stooping down to view himself in a large puddle of rainwater. He grit his teeth together, seeing a pair of blood-stained fangs in his mouth. They shrunk back into canines right before his eyes.

Chives jumped back, startled by the discovery. He fell into the puddle, then slipped again, planting himself on the ground once more. From the looks of it, Chives was a vampire, (or at least he thought he was) from the fangs to his sudden thirst for blood. He didn't remember being bit by one. There were loads of feral vampires lurking around. Sometimes he caught a few feeding on animals, or ambush some unfortunate bystander and suck them dry like a juice box. He kept his distance from them. Though it seemed like more and more of them popped up everyday. Surprisingly Chives didn't feel any different than usual, just slightly altered. From the moment he started drinking that that blood, he felt different.

He walked back to the man, his cold, damp clothes caused him to shake and shiver. “S-S-Sorry f-for b-biting you l-like that. I don't...normally do that.” He had never done this at all. With all the pain he was feeling, he wasn't thinking straight. He just needed blood; this guy's blood in particular for some reason. It felt like he took more than just blood from the stranger.

[Kyrie]

Kyrie put a hand over the holes in his neck as he watched Chives on the ground, watched as his wounds healed. He thought he'd heard some humans could feed on vampires but...he'd never actually met one. It wasn't like he knew much about them. What did they call them again? Blood thieves? A name more fitting of vampires. But perhaps their own distaste for getting fed on was what ended up being the cause of the name? Who knows. He didn't know many vampires himself, well, not that he could talk to. His own Sire had only sired him by accident so neither of them were the most experienced at this. Kyrie was relying on his knowledge as a bounty hunter to get him through mostly.

The man stood up, Kyrie looked at the hand which he'd felt the holes with glancing at him and at his hand with just a bit of blood on it from the mark. It was minor, and his own vampiric nature was healing it. But it had happened. The man seemed shocked at his own actions, even spitting out the blood before jumping away from a puddle as if he'd seen something unexpected. It then came to Kyrie's mind that...perhaps there was a similarity. Thrust into something they were so unfamiliar with. Something that...shouldn't have to be.

He was shaking, that was something that Kyrie didn't miss. And he apologized. Kyrie was having very mixed feelings at the moment, on the one hand, there was self preservation. He didn't know this guy, he didn't know what he could do, what his motivations were, any of that. If he was really acting the way he felt then he might not even know what had happened to him. To be fair, neither did Kyrie, and that was just another factor into concern.

But on the other hand, Chives was shaking. Had just gone from nearly dead to almost...well completely normal, and appeared shocked and apologetic at his own actions. Kyrie rubbed his own neck looking at him uncertainly, before finally groaning in irritation, "Come on, we need to get you somewhere warm....and talk." he said the last bit almost uncertainly. He wanted to know what was going on here, he needed to if he was going to survive in a world like this. At the same time he couldn't let the man potentially freeze to death.

[Chives (DELETED 12901)]

At first he was hesitant to go with the man. This was the same way he got turned to...whatever he was now. By now he should’ve learned not to take rides from strangers. But considering this guy let him feed from him and kind of- in a way-saved his life, he figured that he could trust him a little. He didn’t seem like he’d possess any ill-intent; his actions so far conveyed the opposite.

“Alright” Chives said quietly, still confused and baffled by the situation. He followed the man out of the alley and the two began walking, with the stranger leading the way while Chives lingered behind him. There wasn’t any conversation between them for the first five minutes. He still felt guilty for what he did, despite the stranger not holding any hard feelings towards him. More silence followed except for the clicking and clacking of their shoes against the pavement. Chives slowed down when they started to approach a convenience store. Allowing the stranger to continue walking, he quickly ran into the store and used the last bit of money left in his wallet to purchase a 6 pack of soda. He was out of the store in a flash and caught up with the stranger.

“Hey, you want a soda?”Chives said, panting as he ran up next to the guy. He took a can from the plastic rings and dropped it in his hands without waiting for his response. “You should wait before opening it. I think I shook it around while running.” He took a soda for himself and opened it, downing the drink in a few seconds. He found it easier to socialize with strangers when drinking soda because at least if all else fails and they run out of things to talk about, they could fall back on what flavor of soda they liked. He'd rather have that than just awkward silence. He also needed something to wash the taste of blood out of his mouth.

“The name’s Charlie. Charlie Simmons. But I don’t like going by that name much: it’s too formal. Call me Chives instead. Don’t ask why I chose that name; it’s a long story.” Chives grabbed another soda and then continued, “I’m from the states. My mom moved here a couple years back after she split from my dad. I kept in touch with her since then, but every time I’d call her, she’d always sound afraid or paranoid. I could almost feel her looking over her shoulder when she was on the phone, if that makes sense.” He went silent again, waiting a minute before he spoke. “Eventually, communication with her seized entirely and I heard nothing from her, so I came here to check to see if she was alright.”

Chives finally opened the can in his hand and took a sip. "When I arrived at her home she was….well...dead. Covered from head to toe in bite marks. All of her blood was drained from her body. Some vamp drank her like juice from a sippy-cup and then used her as a chew toy afterward." He growled as he said this. Somehow he had made himself angry by the way he phrased it. He wasn't all that good with euphemisms or sugarcoating things; it was a form of lying to him. Whether he disguised it or not, he was still furious with the way she went out. The thought of her having to endure all of that pain, broke him. Every time he laid down in some abandoned building he wondered what she was thinking the moment it happened.

He threw the can he was drinking on the ground, unwilling to finish it, and started another one. "Some group got in contact with me, saying they could help me track down my mother's killer. Thought they were detectives, and I was a little desperate, so I met up with them. Next thing I know, I'm bound to a chair, chugging gallons of blood. Whatever they did to that blood, it was impossible for me to stomach it, literally. It felt like I was drinking lava." He threw up on the ground as the soda's burning sensation reminded him of the blood torture. Chives wiped his mouth with his sleeve and tossed another can on the ground. "I got used to the blood, eventually, and I could drink it without vomiting. I was then released back on the streets. Been a homeless bum for about two weeks now." By now they reached a crosswalk. As cars were going up and down the road, Chives hit the button beside him to turn on the traffic light across the street so they could walk.

"I got caught in the middle of a shootout today, and well…" He held his hands out and looked at his suit, now ripped up and in tatters. "Here we are now." The light turned on and the cars stopped; they could cross now. "I'm done rambling. What's your story, pal?"

[Kyrie]

The man followed along, fortunately. They were quiet for awhile, Kyrie was still concerned for his own safety but he wasn't sure what else to do here. He was trying to figure out if he should take him to his apartment or just find a building to hide in while they talked. Somewhere at least vaguely discreet. However eventually it was this...vampire blood drinker that spoke first, after they went in a convenience store and he bought some soda's. There was another thing advantageous about the path he'd ended up on, Allurists could actually taste human food. For Kyrie, this was a wonderful success. Food was a wonderful thing and eating was always a pleasure. Not that it actually offered any nutrition to him anymore.

So when he was offered a soda he shrugged and took it with a nod, "Merci." he thanked him, though held it for awhile as the man mentioned he probably shook it. He glanced down at it, rubbing his finger over the rim as "Charlie Simmons" or "Chives" as he said to call him began to explain his story. He mentioned being from "the states" which made Kyrie chuckle. He was also, Louisiana specifically. Though he'd moved around quite a lot due to his job. Chives explained about a relative up here, how they acted, and the ceasing of communication. He knew where it was going from there. Harper Rock was not a trustworthy place for a lot of people.

Kyrie didn't drink from his can yet, still listening, as Chives mentioned it being form a vampire. That part didn't exactly calm Kyrie much, being one himself. He knew there were bad ones obviously. But he wished people wouldn't make the assumption they all were. He didn't know if this man hated vampires or not. He was a bit afraid to find out. He was definitely angered by it though, which was fair. Chives lost a reletive, it was normal to feel anger.

Then he explained the story of how he got into contact with so called detectives, and what they did to him. Kyrie's certanties on what he was grew, but he didn't actually know what all it implied. That was definitely vampire blood. It had to be. What other explanation could there have been? Kyrie stepped aside as Chives threw up on the ground before continuing his story. They got to a crosswalk and as they waited he finished. Got into a shootout he said. Now they were where they were. The light turned green and it was his turn. He looked and then began to cross, popping his can open only now and taking a sip from it. Pretty good.

"I'm also from the US. Kyrie Dupres. Or Bastien, that's my middle name. Don't really care which you use. I'm a bounty hunter," he held up a hand just in case that carried any concern with it, "It's a completely legal job and there's rarely any serious shootouts or something for me. It's more about tracking people down and then getting in touch with the authorities. Well, I was chasing someone particularly strange. Followed them way up here into this...place."

He took another sip, "Lost them. I got cought up into the...craziness that Harper Rock is. I could leave but...the world outside is peaceful, comparatively. People here mostly live in fear, vampire or human. And I think it's better for me to stick around here where I could be useful and still make a living. The world is a cold place, and here is colder then almost anywhere." he shook his head at it. Most of what he said was true. But there was also another reason he was still here, Kyrie was turned. And that made life ever so hard if he left somewhere, since now, presumably at least, he wouldn't die. That, and neither he nor his sire really knew what they were doing.

But he wasn't about to tell him that. He was about to ask a few questions though, he furrowed his brow and cocked his head taking one more sip as he looked at Chives, "You're...not a vampire though are you? I mean...you bit me but...That doesn't sound like a turning. Also, I don't know if you can fight, but if you can. Quarantine Zone could use some help. If you join with the guy at the gate, they'll pay you quite a bit for zombie ears. I know it's not really a fun job, really quite gross and gruesome. But...if you're desperate. It'll do."

[Chives (DELETED 12901)]

Chives nodded his head when Kyrie mentioned his job. “I was going to law school before I came here. Wanted to be a lawyer, like my mom. Now that she’s gone though, I’m not sure if I can continue; I’m not sure what I want to do anymore. Still got to break the news to my brother and my dad back at home.” They definitely weren’t going to be happy about this, especially his dad. Despite the divorce, his mom and dad got along extremely well and they didn’t seem to hold any grudges against each other. She’d often visit them on occasions or during the holidays. Honestly, It didn’t feel like anything changed in their family even when she moved to Canada, and Chives was glad that wasn’t much hostility between his parents. He probably would’ve had a much more torn childhood if that were the case.

He wished he would’ve known sooner that his mother wasn’t fairing well in Harper Rock; he wished he would’ve picked up on the signs sooner instead of swatting them away. She was paranoid from the start. Everytime his dad sent him and his brother over to spend a few days or a week with their mother, she’d never let them leave the house, with them getting severely scolded if they did; she looked malnourished and thin, her eyes had bags under them and they sunk into her skull from sleep deprivation. At night, all three of them had to sleep in the same room while she kept watch, not laying down to rest for even a second, just to keep them safe from the bloodsuckers that prowled around. The fact that he missed the signals made him feel like a fool, an ignorant fool.

Chives took a soda from the plastic rings , leaving only one drink left. Opening it, he slurped it down in one gulp and wiped his mouth. “As far as I know, I’m not a vampire. I saw my reflection in the puddle, and despite having fangs for a period of time and drinking your blood, I don’t have the urge or need to drink more. I do feel slightly different, maybe a bit more fit, but overall I feel the same.” He wondered if he was some sort of hybrid. Maybe the blood he ingested was a mix of human and vampire blood that gave him the qualities and abilities of a vampire but he was still somehow human. It was a bit of a stretch but it was all he could think of for the time being until he did more research. “Since vamps are as common as a cold in this city, maybe I can find a library with some books about vampires and possibly find out what the hell I am.” He threw the empty soda into a trash can they walked by and handed the last one to Kyrie.

“I usually don’t share all my soda’s with strangers, but since you seem pretty cool you can have it.” Chives said while putting his hands in his pockets. “I guess I could kill some zombies for money. They’re probably far easier to deal with than vampires. If I kill enough, I could probably buy a plane ticket out of here. I need a weapon though.”

[Kyrie]

Kyrie smiled somewhat raising his eyebrows as Chives mentioned he had been going to law school first. That was quite a difficult but profitable job. It also made him actually a bit of a danger to Kyrie. Because while Kyrie pretended to be legal. He still did quite a few things that very much were not. Like hacking into the law enforcement databases to raise or lower evidence, and thus notoriety, of certain individuals. Sometimes that even being himself, as of recently, since as a vampire he sometimes didn't really control himself as he should. He didn't get this whole thing just yet so mistakes had absolutely been made.

He took another big gulp from his drink. Though he was pretty deep in thought at the moment, and into the conversation. Thinking more about what he was actually supposed to do from here. Chives really downed these things like he had a hollow leg. The guy had probably drunken almost as much in the last few minutes as Kyrie did in a full day.

Fortunately there was some questions Kyrie would have no need to ask. As Chives explained he was no vampire. That the only real difference was feeling more fit. Surely...blood thief right? What else could it possibly be? He'd heard demi-fae and fae didn't like vampires. And he'd heard of wendigo's but he had actually no idea how they treated vampires.

His thoughts were interrupted as Chives handed him the final soda saying afterwards that he could kill zombies for money. And that maybe he could buy a ticket out, but that he lacked a weapon. "Auction. They sell some real quality things on the internet. Pretty much any computer here can find it if you know what you're looking for. Don't always have weapons but trust me if you find one it'll be worth something. Pretty sure though some of the stuff on there may be illegal so watch yourself." Kyrie warned.

However, his curiosity wasn't over. He had a few other things to ask, "Why...do you think you survived? Why me? What do you think you are if not...a vampire?"

Yes Kyrie had his idea, but without saying he was a vampire that was hard to explain. He did legally have to carry an ID calling himself a vampire on him. But as of yet they had no external identifiers.

Yet.

[Chives (DELETED 12901)]

Chives had to think for a moment. He scratched his head and stroked the invisible chin hair of his invisible beard. His brows furrowed, hammering down down on his squinted eyes. A light bulb lit up in his head, but it quickly blew out and shattered into pieces. He turned to look at Kyrie with a series of stress lines and wrinkles on his face after straining his brain for an answer. “I have no clue how I’m still alive.” he said with a sigh.

“Not much of a religious person, so I don’t think I survived because of some god or divine power. I don’t think I have any genes or traits that kick in to save me from the brink of death, so sadly no healing factor.” Chives clasped his hands together, and with a modest grin, said “Guess I just got lucky. Same goes for my finding you. Don’t think there was any predestination or any laid out plan for us to meet, or for me to bite you: we just happened to be in the same place at the same time for things to turn out like this. Pure coincidence, you know?” Chives gave himself a quick look over again, inspecting his torn suit, gritting his teeth and feeling through his mouth for any fangs, and picking up a piece of glass from the ground to view his reflection. Once again, everything checked out. “Maybe that blood I drank turned me into some freaky hybrid of some sort: a perfect meld of man and bloodsucker. Or maybe- the more likely explanation- I’m just an ordinary, regular, fleshie human who ate one too many mushrooms, and all of this is one big hallucination.” Chives didn’t want to say anything concrete yet. This place was still new to him and so were vampires. What he was was also still a mystery and he was reluctant to find out. A slight fear built in Chives’ stomach after biting Kyrie; a fear of being a vampire himself. What if he really was a vampire? What if he was responsible for his own mother’s death? It wouldn’t be that far fetched if he went into the same, bloodthirsty state like when he met Kyrie. He could’ve sucked her blood and completely forgot about it.

For now, though, they were all speculations; And until he got solid answers and evidence to back them up, he'll spout them out jokingly and casually with a grain of salt. The last thing he needed in his situation was to put on a tin foil hat and start freaking himself out about out with wacky, unsubstantiated ideas.

Chives stopped as they wandered into another neighborhood. “Hey, we’ve been walking for quite a while. When you said we were going someplace warm, did you mean your place? If so, how much longer until we get there? Seems pretty far out.”

[Kyrie]

Kyrie let out a grunt as he mentioned that he had no idea how he was alive. Explaining what it could certainly not be. He had one solution, being some kind of freakish hybrid of vampire and human. Otherwise, that this was a hallucination. Well obviously, that one was not true. Well, at least to Kyrie, since he was quite certain he was not on drugs himself. They were getting closer to his own apartment, when Chives eventually mentioned that he'd said he was taking him somewhere warm.

Yeah, nowhere else to bring him at this point. And if he was inside, at the very least, Kyrie believed he could protect himself. And ask him more questions about this without having to be quiet. "Yup, it's not exactly a small city." he commented before pointing to one about half way down the block, "Apartments in there."

He glanced at Chives in thought, rubbing where he was bitten, "We should probably have you move pretty quickly inside. I'm not sure how much...concern you'd bring. I mean, you could always try and go to a hospital but uh...I'm not so sure what kind of help you'd get there."

He took a sip from the drink raising his eyebrows as he kept walking, "But...I may have an idea on what happened, if you're willing to heat it. I just don't want to say it while out here."