When Darkness Falls

[Ithica]

I think it is because I'm armed and have all of your toys in the back of my car.

Amelia smiled at him and took a sip of her coffee. She went over everything that had happened that night from her sister's birthday party, getting hit on by a very attractive woman, stopping a fight at the bar, running into Dahmnall, to finding out that there actually were vampires.

"You said earlier that you were a hunter. Is there anybody else like you?"

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"It would take more then your glock 23c to kill me at nighttime." Dahmnall said. "Hunters like me are rare, but apparently theres another one in town."

 

[Ithica]

"Back at the bar, if I couldn't have hurt you, why did you stop?"

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"I dont know." Dahmnall said earnestly "It seemed like a good idea at the time"

 

[Ithica]

Amelia watched Dahmnall finish up his dinner and said,

"It is getting late and I should be going."

 

[Mantra]

Dracius passed the time, moving from place to place, sometimes leaping from rooftop to rooftop, but always watching, listening, feeling. To anyone who might have noticed him, if he had wanted to be seen that is, one might have though he was out for a stroll or 'getting some air' or some other such worthless mortal idea. In actuality, he was doing what all preditors do in their territory, observing their prey, marking their patterns, their habits and learning the lay of the land. He was also noting the city itself, where the people went and where they did not. The police stations and the drinking houses. The condominiums and the slums. All offered something to him and in the end, he would have it, them, all.

He was stalking them, in one form or another.

Dracius was a most skilled preditor as well, a great white among a sea of sharks. As a vampire, he was a powerful as he was old, and he was old enough to have seen the rise and fall of empires. His status as a 'master' as well as his extreamly long existence had made him wiley, crafty, powerful and lethal. The master vampire did not fear anyone or anything, not the hunters, nor the sunlight or even God himself ..... and Dracius loved it.

As he passed overhead, he not only watched, but felt. The city itself had a heartbeat, a rythem all it's own. Far more significant that the pathetic mortals who littered it like fleas. Still, it was the mortals who served as the lifeblood of the city as well as the lifeblood of creatures such as himself. Thus, although the mortals were weak, stupid, ignorant and sub-standard, they were not completely useless. They had worth, and provided worth. Wealth, influence, information, servants and most importantly, blood. All of it, all of them, were a resource to be used and bartered.

And Dracuis intended to have as much of that resource under his control as possible.

And so Dracius watched and listened. He spied on them and on their habits. Most of all, he spied on their very thoughts. Among Dracius's many powers was the ability to leech the topmost layer of thoughts from the swarm of fleas beneath him. A wave of suggestions, inuendos, whispers and snippets of conversations. Each was accompanied by the mental image of the person and a glimmer of emotions as well. Most was dissected and discarded like so much flotsam but then there was something else, something from someone not mortal at all, something....kindred....

"What I wouldn't give for some company, and if someone up there is listening I'd prefer that company to be of the non-psychotic variety. I'm not looking for another argument tonight."


How interesting.....

"I am many things," Dracius projected back. "but I do not consider myself psychotic. Come to me child, I shall wait, but I do not wait long...."

 

[caela]

"I am many things," Dracius projected back. "but I do not consider myself psychotic. Come to me child, I shall wait, but I do not wait long...."

Hearing the voice that formed in her mind Dria let a small smile curve her lips, just the barest hint of her fangs showing. Even when she was among vampires she didn't expect her murmured answers to be answered in such a manner and she'd thought herself utterly lost among the human throng that moved around her.

Pausing in her walk she closed her eyes and opened her senses and suddenly she felt him....and realized as she did that it was only because he wanted her to know he was there. Whoever he was he radiated power, the sort of power that only comes with age and Dria knew without asking that she truly was a child when compared to this one. The amount of power radiating off him made him dangerous and she knew if she were wise she'd leave this one be. There was little she feared but this one made her nervous and that shiver of fear was followed by a shiver of anticipation.

What would one of his age want with her? Perhaps he too simply wanted company for the evening.

Focusing on his location she changed her direction and went to him. Up close there was an aura about him that she couldn't quite name but the words "master vampire" ran through the back of her mind even as she smile and held her hand out to him in greeting.

"Alexandria St. James and since you're still here I assume I didn't keep you waiting too long," she teased with a smile just curving the corners of her lips. She got the impression that this one took life a tad to seriously at times. Even vampires needed to laugh now and then.

 

[Mantra]

Dracius stood still for a moment, making no secret about looking Alexandria up and down. She was very attractive, but such things were hardly formost in Dracius's thoughts any more. He himself had been quite dashing and handsome, once. Then again, an eon or two, compounded with a near miraculous resurection from destruction and the looks have a tendancy to slip a bit.
Instead his eyes drank her in, observing, noting and analyzing in one fluid motion before reacting. All this was accomplished in only a second or two before Dracius stepped forward, taking her proffered hand and brought it to his thin lips, kissing it lightly before releasing her.

"Welcome child, I have had many names, but the one that has remained with me longest is Dracius. Come, walk with me. I would hear your thoughts about this place where we stand."

He turned, walking along the edge of the building until he came to a corner overlooking a four-way stop crowded with cars and people, even in spite of the late hour. Beyond the corner, people walked, ran or stumbled here and there as the night clubs and bars began their nightly ritual of closing up, disgorging it's customers into the streets to fend for themselves. Beyond that, the city continued on, passing from one block to the next and on.

"Tell me, what do you observe?"

 

[caela]

Dracius . The name sounded familiar and ran in circles around her mind as if teasing her, while where she'd heard it before remained just out of reach. She knew it would come to her later if she simply let it go but if she concentrated on it now it would elude her until dawn when she slept.

Letting the mystery of his name go she followed him to the corner of the building. Walking along the edge she smiled softly while her heels clicked on the wall she walked on. If one of the humans below looked up and saw her they building would quickly be surrounded by emergency personnel trying to talk her out of jumping. She'd allowed that to happen once and had had a good laugh when she'd gotten home afterward.

Really humans could be amusing at times.

"Tell me, what do you observe?"

Dracius voice drew her from her reverie as she reached the corner and she looked down on the city. What she saw was her hunting ground, her play ground, the place she lived, fed, and played. Two blocks down was the alley where she'd dumped the bodies of the drug dealers that had tried to open up shop in the Dragon while the Dragon itself was only about a mile down and even from here she could see it's sign.

Mostly however she saw the people. All the humans running about their lives, scurrying from here to there and so lost in the "rat race" as they called it that their lives had lost their meaning.

"I see my prey. I see a people lost and alone, having so little faith in anything - including themselves - that it leaves their lives empty and worthless. Most of them don't even realize how that loss of faith effects them. Silly humans, they're hardwired for faith and hope and yet they let it go so easily in exchange a meaningless life that makes slaves of them and they fool themselves into believing they're happy.

It makes them easier to hunt though when they don't believe in anything. They certainly aren't expecting me to swoop down on them and drain them dry," she said with a laugh and a shake of her head as if clearing it of her thoughts.

"Not that I drain them dry anyway. I heal the ones I feed from which allows me a chance to feed over and over again from the particularly sweet ones and since I keep the Dragon clean of those poison pushers nearly all of my meals are sweet. Tainted only by the tang of alcohol.

They're cattle. But I'll give them credit for being interesting cattle."

Tipping her head and eyeing the strange vampire next to her she again tried to place his name and it simply wouldn't come to her. Letting it go she waved her hand out over the view of the city as she asked, "What about you? What is it you see down there Dracius?"

 

[Mantra]

"Ahh," Dracius almost purred. "So you are the one who disposed of my couriers..." He changed the subject almost imeadiatly, seemingly dismissing the previous comment.
"After so long, watching cattle be cattle does not interest me, but it is true, we are wolves among the sheep, so it is a nessesity that we watch all the same." He looked down at the masses with a scowl.
"I do not see down there, they are but a fragment of a whole and thusly, beneath my interest, but as a whole," and he opened his arms wide, encompasing the whole cityscape ahead of him. " I see possibilities, I see the means to an end, I see...opportunity."

He stepped down, walking along the concrete rooftop, letting out a soft snicker. "Rat Race, Heh, an ironically appropriate title... What if," and he turned suddenly back to Alexandria. "I could give you my power, my abilities and my resources. What would you do then?"

 

[caela]

His couriers? Knowing he could detect at least her surface thoughts an apology flashed through her mind but she didn't speak it as he'd already switched subjects and interupting would have been rude. She hadn't realized the dealers she'd dispatched had been human servants. If she'd known she still would have ejected them from the Dragon but she'd have left them alive at least, After all killing other peoples hired help was bad form.

She listened as he spoke of opprotunity and seeing the whole picture and she suddenly remembered where she'd heard his name before. There had been rumors awhile back of a vampire seeking to influence and control not just his hunting grounds but the world itself. She'd thought she'd heard of his death as well but apparently that rumor at least had been false.

"I could give you my power, my abilities and my resources. What would you do then?"

His comment snapped her from her memory and she looked up at him sharply, her eyes catching his and not flinching from them despite the power held in his gaze. She'd have been willing to bet that most people - human and vampire alike - cowed before him but not Dria. She lowered her gaze to no one. If he wanted to kill her, and she had no doubt he could, she'd rather face death head on. At the moment however he'd asked about power.

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I never considered having the sort of power I can feel radiating off you, at least not until my own age had increased my abilities to that point.

I think I'd ask what the catch was. No vampire shares their powers out of the goodness of their unbeating hearts. What would you want in exchange?"

 

[Mantra]

I think I'd ask what the catch was. No vampire shares their powers out of the goodness of their unbeating hearts. What would you want in exchange?"

Dracius cracked a half smile, revealing his fangs as he did so. "You are wise to consider that, but I could not give you my power, even were I so inclined. We are discussing in theory my dear."

 

[caela]

"You are wise to consider that, but I could not give you my power, even were I so inclined. We are discussing in theory my dear."

One delicate eyebrow shot up at his comment but she decided to play his game, "Well then in theory I'd likely use them the same way I use my own innate powers. To further my own ends. Of course what those ends would be with the added power and resources I'm not sure. It's not something I've considered before.

I'm a selfish woman Dracius. I want what I want and hunt it down. Hell that attitude was how I became a vampire. My Sire liked what my goals were at that time - that satisfied his need for others suffering - and for that he gave me what I wanted."

Still holding Dracius gaze she stepped toward him slightly and tipped her head curiously, "So in theory what is you'd want from me for access to your resources?"

 

[Mantra]

"You would be one of mine in that you would assist me in attaining my own goals. In return, I would be willing to assist you in attaining your own desires. I reward my allies well for good work and success. Besides, it is likely that our goals coinside. It is good business sense that we assist each other, if for no other reason than to protect our interests from the unworthy and those who would undo our work and steal our rewards."

Dracius's eyes held Dria's now. She had matched his gaze unflinchingly, but now it was he who regarded her as his gaze dug into her soul.

"Yet you have not even told me what those goals are. Surely it is more than to walk among the rabble, sipping here and there as they fawn about you night after night with no end.....

What is it that you truly wish Alexandria St. James?"

 

[caela]

Dria shivered as his eyes dug into her soul but she still didn't flinch from it. She would face everything in life head on, including him.

"What is it that you truly wish Alexandria St. James?"

The shudder that ran through her at that question went even deeper than her shiver as he eyed her. What she truly wished was that she didn't have to be so careful all the damned time. That now and then she could drink her fill from one victim not go sipping from them all as she did. She wasn't stupid however and her methods were designed to keep her safe.

"I wish I didn't have to worry about Slayers and Hunters breathing down my back each night."

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"It is indeed, drop me off at my motorcycle?" Dahmnall asked wearily "This bite hurts abominably"

 

[Ithica]

Amelia paid the waitress and thanked her. As she walked out the door with Dahmnall and she asked,

"Will that bite be ok? I can still take you to the hospital. They could give you some pain killers."

She opened the trunk of her car so he could get his weapons.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"I am tough, and i have irish painkillers." he said with a chuckle. Strapping his weapons back on. he lit another cigarette, and reached into his pockets, and pulled out 40 bucks "Keep the change, Ami. I never let women pay for me, or for themselves when theyre with me."

 

[Mantra]

"I wish I didn't have to worry about Slayers and Hunters breathing down my back each night."

"Ah, the hunters, Dracuis said, almost purring again. "Yes, they are such an energetic, annoying pack of hypocrites aren't they? Do you know what is most amusing my dear? To see the hunter's hunted. To run them down and break them, little by little until you have them in your arms and they thank you with their dying breath as you sip their heart's blood from their remains." Dracius shivered with delight at the thought.
"They are a most dangerous prey, yes, but they are prey nonetheless...and they are sweetest of all as well as gratifying. Did you know, that the hunter's gifts can be consumed by us my dear? Oh yes, so many think they are heroes, saviors and champions......they are deluded. They are nothng but victims themselves. Another type perhaps, but victims all the same."

There was a hunger in Dracius's eyes as he spoke and something else as well, a knowing and a hatred, but there was not a hint of fear. As he spoke, he held out one hand, as to hold a tiny hunter in the palm of his hand. Slowly his hand closed as Dracius crushed and consumed the mental image like a toy.

"And it is sooo amusing to point that they are not nearly so invincible as they wish to believe."

 

[Ithica]

"Good thing that's not in the least bit patronizing."

Amelia ignores the money walks over to the passenger's door. She opens it for him and walks around to the drivers side and gets in.

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"Its not patrony lass, its chivalry" Dahmnall said, getting into the car and banging his shoulder roaring in pain. "Care for a fag?" he says holding the pack to her.

 

[Ithica]

"Chivalry is usually thinly veiled patrony. You bought the drinks and I bought you supper because I wanted to. If you really are chivalrous you would let me have my way and not embarass me by making little of the gesture by trying to take what I wanted away."

Amelia winced when the door hit him again and started up her car.

"And here I thought you rode a motorcycle for the look. No thank you, I don't smoke and if you smoke in my car I will drop kick you to the curb."

She leaned over and gave his hand a squeeze and smiled.

"Thank you for offering. It was sweet."

 

[rengadeirishman]

Dahmnall

"Alright lass i meant no offense, Me pa always said, 'Tis the duty of men to provide for women'" Dahmnall said apologetically "I do have a car, y'know, a black coupe deville, shes a right beauty she is, I ride the motorcycle to look dashing." he said with a grin "I am sorry for ordering so much meat lass, but one of the less amusing side effects of the vampire bite that made me so strong, is vampyric bloodthirst, which gets a bit less severe with meat, but tonight i must take my shot, or I'll be positively ornery."

 

[Ithica]

Amelia started to drive back to the club as Dahmnall was talking and she was getting nervous.

"I don't understand. Does that mean you have to drink blood or just want to?"

 

[caela]

Dria listened in stunned silence as Darius spoke of killing Slayers and Hunters. The thought had simply never occured to her. Granted she had killed a Slayer once but it had been in defense of her own life and she hadn't fed off him. But the way Dracius spoke, the look on his face...he had and he'd relished it.

The thought brought a small smile to Dria's face.

"And it is sooo amusing to point that they are not nearly so invincible as they wish to believe."

Chuckling softly she nodded her head slowly, "Yes I'm sure it would be. You seem to have some experience with it would you care to explain how that came about?"