Collette had done a decent job at keeping her thoughts away from the elder she had watched grow into what he was today & who she had held great feelings for. Unforunately she could have been referring to either Michael or Calvin, or both. It was tedious at times, to pretend that life went on without the safety of another by her side yet Collette was strong willed. She had been foolish to allow that precious box of emotions to encounter more than she could handle with feelings of anything more than lust or a simple physical attraction. Collette needed to be more careful with who she gave that key too, & it certainly was not either elders at that given moment, or ever would be again. That she knew for sure.
Unfortunately the only way Collette knew how to chanel that anger was to take it out on something, someone, that deserved a proper punishment regardless or whose veins looked fiesty enough to tear into without regret.
Having risen at the presence of Lidiya being dragged into her office Collette smirked pompously, crossed her arms over her chest & took long & slow strides towards the woman in captive.
She seemed only slightly distraught, the natural nonchalantness of Lidiya was always something Collette could relate to. Yet with Lidiya it was more or less her direct personality, not really caring in the slightest or seeming to express too much. It had been something Collette craved in her society; a huntress of the night to captivate the silly mortals into believing that she was something else without much effort. It was a shame, really, to see such a young vampire worthy of potential for De la Nuit take a wrong turn down the road to becoming something honorable.
Deep down, at the end of the day, Collette would still probably have a soft spot for the girl, regardless of what demise Lidiya was about to be presented with.
Young eyes met those of the highest elder status in Athoria from the vampyric race. With the air in the room stilling to something menacing & with the grip on the arms of Lidiya tightening intensely, the back of Collette’s hand met her pale cheek with a snap that continued to ring in her own ears.
“Stupid creature. How dare you run from your duties? From your own kin? From me? Did you think I would not find you? That perhaps I would forget about the initiation that you sought me for? I hope you are prepared for your punishment, you silly little whelp,”
At the age of three she created, for the first time, a better world than this one. Maybe she was four, but certainly no younger than three. With such a hazy memory of her human life she could hardly remember, but it was this crucial point that stood out in a blinding certainty than any other. It was a world materialized from daydreams in her youth upon the streets of Russia, where she wasn’t poor, yet living in more wealthy conditions such as the manor in which she was now. Where bad things didn’t happen to her, but perchance to someone she disliked. The memory had always been with her with an ample significance, and whenever a particularly troubling situation occurred in her life she would reminisce upon this better world; it was something she had not done in the previous years, as she had no reason. ‘Better’ world may not have been quite right, ‘alternative’ was much more accurate.
But “Better” was better.
Now that the bottle of memories had been opened, one would expect them to pour out like crimson and wine, yet there was nothing. Nothing but darkness, nothing but a blurry face and black. All black. And it drove her absolutely mad, to the point of closeted insanity, a place where there was no longer black, but red in anger and sunk deep into the blue in disappointment.
When the back of Collette’s palm collided with her cheek, the intonation that reverberated within the exorbitant office was near deafening, and the silence that followed was just as well. But it had been broken by her Queen’s callous words that oozed the very essence of her cruelty and dripped atop of Lidiya’s inferior self like droplets of blood. Her cheek stung as did the words as they processed within her ever going mind, and only when they had stopped did she look up to meet the eyes of the authoritative woman standing before her. The wounds acquired from Adarna, one’s that were were not fully healed yet traces of open lacerations just upon her surface, electrified as though that one smack alone had piqued each and every one of her nerves. She did her best not to cringe. The guards grip became unbearably taut, and the urge to resist them in her own defenses was strong, but refrained and tucked away for later, should she need of it when the time came.
Lidiya cracked a seemingly sarcastic smile moments later, glaring into the eyes of her Queen with clear indignation - albeit, if one had looked close enough, they would find a hint of fear behind beryl irises. It was an inevitable feeling of course, but her conscience encouraged her to speak up, defend herself with her own opinions despite what Collette may think, or do to her. “Stupid? Maybe I was. But if you would pardon me, your Grace,” Her tone was equally as acerbic as her grin of disbelief, daring even, but the words had cascaded from her tongue without impulsive thought. They wavered a bit at first, before steadying subsequently, “it was quite imbecilic of you to leave me in charge of your precious children, knowing full well that Seryth was an impending threat, no?”
Perhaps she had overstepped her boundaries, but she had reflected her own trepidation by lashing out, a perfectly normal response in her circumstance. And besides, that little voice in the back of her mind had induced her to do so anyway, and who was she to disobey it?
“We found her,”
Three simple words grazed out from one of her Knight’s lips as he poked his head inside the door to Collette’s office. It was early into the night & Collette had just sat down, feather pen in hand & its tip squirming across pieces of parchment in accurate signatures. Tedious work yet it was necessary; to allow certain businesses to extract their funds for other uses in De la Nuit, to keep up with her contacts both in & out of her society, & most importantly to see how much coin De la Nuit was currently hiding in her vault, as well as other secret locations that were scattered around Athoria.
“Oh really?’ she sang, feather brushing against the side of her cheek as her eyes stayed glued to her work. There were so many numbers in random places, money that seemed to be swaying from one of her depositories more than the other. Had she not noticed this before?
Collette chewed at her lip & wondered where her financial knight was currently residing. If she could get to him before that stupid girl was brought to her than the night would prove to be successful with her own personal chores. She contemplated, grazing her fingertips down the columns of written numbers that simply did not make any sense.
Her eyes looked up at the knight that still remained with his head halfway in the room from the door. “What are you still doing here? Go get her,” & with that the vampire scurried away, gently closing the wooden doors behind him as he went.
For a moment the queen remained still, setting down her pen & leaning against the desk with her arms. It had been weeks since Lidiya Ivanov had failed drastically at her initiation to protect the children temporarily living in the home of Emery Frost while he had been away on his honeymoon with the witch. A part of Collette would never understand why the vampires thought it to be a good idea to run away or try to hide when wrong doings had been performed against their queen. It seemed silly, as grand as Athoria was as a country they were bound to be found, discovered, scolded, destroyed.
There was no where safe when the largest vampyric society in Athoria had you as a hunting target, Collette made sure that fact was true from the very start of her thriving organization.
It’d only been a half hour sine her fight against Adarna. Mother Moon still draped high within a twilight horizon, shaped a small sliver of illuminating light; but it would only be a few more hours until it was time for her to fall, blanketed by a sun she would never see again. Or, rather, a sun she wished not to see again in this life as a vampire. Lidiya had taken refuge in the Hallowed Oak, near the edge of Brailston in a solitude and away from civilization. Even at this time at night, commoners would still be about in groups of their own kind; she was in no physical condition to be seen, encased in her own crimson blood, and it would make it that much harder to find some drunken bastard alone to feed from. She hardly had the energy to do so as it was, like her infliction had stolen it, and all she wished to do was to find a place to sleep (perhaps a cave) where the sun could not harm her any more than she was.
Steel irises clenched shut, Lidiya pressed her back against an Elder tree within the woodland and slid to her bottom, chipped bark picking at her dark clothing. She’d taken a strip of her corset to bandage her wounded forearm some time ago, and with that same arm cradled to her chest she kept her hand firm upon the more serious laceration on her waist. She contemplated calling her apparent twin at heart, Emery - perhaps he could help her, offer her his own blood to heal, but decided against it. He was most likely busy with his wife, or Maker, and she didn’t wish to disturb him. Perchance her fellow Russian, Catina would be a more fitting choice. However, she hadn’t seen or heard from her in quite some time.
A few minutes passed, and the silence of the Hallowed Oak swelled significantly. Some miles away her ears caught the laughs of men who were far from sober, but she no longer paid them any mind. There had to be someone wandering alone somewhere, and she’d watch them with gathered strength, pull them into a depth-less alley in which she could sink prominent incisors into their pulsating jugular without anyone acknowledging it was even happening. She just had to brace the pain weakening her first, and her conscience was already flickering..
By the time of the third week, Lidiya’s previous trepidation and remorse had turned to anger, and hatred. Such emotions both directly aimed at her lovely Queen, whom had made the idiotic decision to place the young vampire in charge of children whilst an impending danger, from an apparent Seryth, lurked around the DLN’s very corners. It was highly doubted that the Elder had not known about this threat, what with her extensive knowledge it had seemed; the least Collette could have done was to warn her of it - perchance then she wouldn’t have been caught off guard, and could have been more prepared for an oncoming atrocity.
Lidiya’s wounds healed consecutively from the first night. Albeit vague, she remembered finally mustering the miniscule endurance she had within her physical being and dragging herself to the streets, which had emptied considerably as the evening carried on. One man had not been enough; his blood tasted far too bitter, interlaced with the sickly sweet alcohol he’d been drinking, and the cigarette he’d been smoking, so she had treated herself with finding another.
Perhaps, she thought bitterly as a knight hoisted her by the forearms to heave her small physique into Collette’s office moments after she’d been found, she should have let herself die. Her pursuit from the scene the night it had happened was not a logical decision indeed, but she had congratulated herself for making it so long without being captured given the circumstances. A grimace showcased obvious distaste as she glowered at her Queen, not taking consideration in offering any type of pleasantry, in the arms of the Nuit’s guards. Not a word elicited from pale lips, not even a single breath.
If she hadn’t had a swelling pride at the moment, though not expressed amid her current disposition, she would have admitted that maybe, perhaps, that fear of the outcome in the aftermath of her arrest was returning.
“You’re a tough one. To be so young….yet so tenacious.You’ll learn to stand down eventually.” A victorious laugh bellowed past Adarna’s red lips after the mild banter, even though the words were not her own. On the inside her mind was a mess; a mix between Allizsa’s thought processes and her own. It was almost like falling into a dark abyss of insanity; but the thing is…it felt good to let go. To feel this Sickness within her rising.
But of course one thing that Adarna hated was how her dear friend was always so arrogant. And this arrogance was the reason why she was once again on her back with Lidiya pinning her down. She thrashed and struggled against the iron-like grip but her mindset clouded her better judgment when it came to figuring out a way to turn things in her favor. The angered and crazed expression transformed into a pained one the second the blade bit into her flesh and through her body. A feral cry cracked through the hallway like lightning while blood poured from the wound. It had been so long since she felt such pain, the sensation was so great that she could hardly feel Lidiya’s hands at her throat. The only indication that they were there was the fact that she couldn’t breathe.
Adarna’s good hand frantically felt and clawed at the floor next to her, reaching for anything that would get her out of this mess. Finally a few seconds later, she gripped her blade and didn’t even hesitating to bury it in Lidiya’s side. The demon twisted her wrist, letting the steel dig around for good measure and didn’t bother to take it back out. With the vampire off of her again, Adarna clutched the sword impaling her shoulder and slowly pulled it out which only caused blood to pour even more. If she didn’t heal herself quickly it would mean big trouble.
In order to heal, she needed to devour a soul. All the demon needed to do was get close to one of the dead bodies.
It all happened far too fast.
The very moment the blade pierced her skin, Lidiya’s hands have already been retracted from Adarna’s jugular, hands soaked in blood that should have appeared appetizing. Almost immediately the energy is sucked from her, and she sat limp upon the tile, having been pushed from the demon’s waist, weakly attempting to pick out a rational thought beside the fact that she needed to get the fuck out of there. Not a sound elicited from her, but one could easily see the white hot anguish in each steel iris, by the way all breathing had been ceased and how her bloodied fingers gripped the offending weapons hilt so tightly her knuckles turned albino - just a few shades lighter than her natural complexion. Prominent fangs retracted smoothly into her gums, allowing for a perfect mold to clench her teeth together against the pain as she removed the sword from it’s place in her side.
With a clatter, the steel collapsed upon the tile stained in ruby, and Lidiya immediately flattened her palms against the throbbing infliction. Crimson oozed in pulsating flows from the creases between her fingers, albeit not so much, leaving traceries within the fabric of her clothing. Finally expelling any ounce of unneeded oxygen, the Vampire kept a perceiving eye upon the demon before her; Adarna seemed not to care much about her any longer, instead caressing her own wound and intently focusing upon one of the dead bodies mere feet away. Lidiya knew she should have finished it while she had the chance, as she hadn’t had one now, but faced with profusely bleeding lacerations on both her forearm and her side, she was not as concerned with her enemy at the moment anymore.
And so she stumbled to her feet, the soles of her boots gripping the unstaunched flooring. She needed to feed, there was no other option plausibly available, and she did not wish to be here when her Queen arrived. As an alleycat, Lidiya knew very well that she could, for the time being, flee from the incident without leaving so much of a trace, and she intended on doing just that. Without a word she took a few steps backwards and pivoted upon her heels, disappearing from the hall and into the empty streets of Night Haven.
Although the blade didn’t quite hit home, Adarna was pleased that it at least bit into her opponent’s arm. There were many ways to block a weapon but using one’s own arm was one of the most ballsy techniques she had ever seen. If Lidiya donned gauntlets, the form of defense would have been more appropriate, but then again when in battle a person tends to rely on instincts rather than technique. That was something Adarna should have taken into account when she strategizing. Half the time she fought Soldiers, Bandits, and Adventurers; people that were seasoned and accustomed to the art of battle. It was clear that the vampiress wasn’t warrior, but a brawler.
That much was proven when the succubus’ head kissed the tile repeatedly from Lidiya’s attack. Before her skull would be cracked open, she raised a fist and slugged the other in the side of the head. It was just enough of a distraction for Adarna to slither from beneath her and gain a little distance. It was becoming extremely hard to think and fifty percent of the problem was because her head was ringing louder than a church bell. The other half of the problem was because Aliizsa had grown angry, fearing that her vessel took too much damage so early in a fight. It was only natural for her to seize control.
Adarna’s silver irises had now cast down a blackened hue as a sound that was a cross between a hiss and a growl played at the base of her throat. The demonic side of her began to reign and the darkness within ignited like black fire. In a flash she had moved from her position over to Lidiya’s, lifting the initiate off the ground and above her head before slamming her onto the floor. “Get up! Get up, Child of the Night! Show me more of your power and I shall show you more of my own…” Even Adarna’s voice had changed, taking on an archaic and slightly deeper tone.
One should never wake a sleeping Serpent.
The spontaneous change in violent demeanor, to something more ruthless than the past few minutes, had caught the vampire off guard. Adarna was at her side within seconds, hoisting her from the concrete to only, several compendious seconds later, throw her back down afterward. Lidiya’s petite embodiment riotously hit the cement flooring with a boisterous crackle, chips of stone splaying from minor cracks, that seemed intensified and escalated by a thousand with the way her head was throbbing. It had felt as though each and every one of her bones had splintered from the collision, though left with the ability to move protesting limbs, it appeared that was not the case. She staid; lacerated arm curled protectively around her abdomen as the woman above her spoke in a vocalization that was not her own.
Demons. Possessed humans. With her lack of knowledge, Lidiya would never understand them. In Russia, as a mortal, she had heard the horror stories and feared them to her very core - now, Adarna, or Adarna’s possessor, did not seem as frightening as the fables had elaborated although she was increasingly unaware of the power this woman acquired, now especially. Even still her eyes widened, steel irises flickering between confusion and intimidation. Naturally, she was not submissive, and tenacious at best Lidiya tested her luck once more.
Striking out with her uninjured limb she took the woman’s legs out from underneath her once again, finding it much easier to win a losing fight upon the terrain, using vampiryc fortitude to pin her to the ground. She grasped the fallen vampire’s sword strategically, as they were only a short distance away from his profusely bleeding corpse, and swung it as so the point pierced the flesh of Adarna’s collarbone. Without a hint of remorse she pushed the blade through, as so the prominent point cleaved shortly into the ground, rendering her opponent unable to get up - for the time being, that was. Lidiya’s hands wrapped tightly around Adarna’s jugular, fingernails digging callously into the skin to draw blood; her nose wrinkled, eyes briefly flashing to the infliction upon the demon’s shoulder as it gushed. Disgusting.
“My Bite? Weak?” Adarna simply chuckled at Lidiya’s remark tossed her hair over her shoulder before picking up her dual blades off the floor. “If I lacked so much ‘umph’ then why the hell are you picking yourself up off the floor?” Never in a million years did she think that this Vampire would stand before her as an enemy, it was really tricky how Fate could work. If they both walked out of this altercation alive, surly their next meeting as co-workers would be very awkward. “Oh how mature…take jabs at my insults.” She chuckled. “If your goal is to rile me up then you’re terribly mistaken. I don’t anger too easily~”
The succubus wondered if the woman before was a challenge. Adarna had killed her fair share of vampires in the past, some where more difficult to handle than others but she slayed them all nonetheless. To be doing a lowly task such watching over a house filled with newborns gave her the idea that she must not be too old or else she’d be off doing meaningful things for DLN. ”I told you. I’m not here persona-” Her words were cut off the instant the rod of cast-iron came down near her face. Lidiya was fast, the demon would give her that, but Adarna was just as quick.
She brought up her left hand, deflecting the tool with a blade but only before the tip of it grazed her jaw, leaving a shallow cut on her flawless skin. Without the rod between them it allowed an opening for Adarna to bring up her right arm, the dark hued blade split through the air aiming directly for Lidiya’s throat.
Although the swing was not as effective as Lidiya would have personally liked (as it seemed nothing ever appeared to go her way), the blade deflection opened a fruitful amount of opportunities. In an expected retaliation the demoness swung one of her swords, it’s embodiment indistinct in coloration and aimed right for her jugular. The two seemed equal when it came down to speed, which was something that - from her lack of knowledge on the other species - the vampire was not expecting. With a glance at her, Adarna didn’t seem like much of a threat; all talk and no real fighting charisma, and perhaps Lidiya appeared the same, but she at least, did not flaunt it. It annoyed her, on top of this growing frustration elicited purely because of the current situation. If she emerged from this alive, Collette would surely cut that victory short.
Naturally, the repercussions of her failed initiation would distract her endlessly during this brawl, so she pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind to worry about later on. If there even was going to be a later on. Her unfortunate fate lay in the hands of her co-worker, and her Queen.
Out of reactive impulse, Lidiya’s arm shot upward, catching the blow to the blade rather her throat. The metal pierced into her forearm with a sickening tear, shooting waves of white hot pain coursing through her arm and to her collarbone. The young vampire hissed and, with a tormented grimace, quickly ducked out of the way as she brought her arm away as expeditiously as she could. Her leg curled around Adarna’s then, and she jerked back, the movement durable enough as to bring the two woman toppling to the ground in the momentary distraction, near to the fallen knight the demoness had killed before Lidiya’s arrival. Rather reaching for his weapon of choice, she grappled a fist full of Adarna’s hair, nails digging into the flesh of her skull as she harshly and effectively smacked the woman’s crown against the concrete, unrelentingly using her beneficial strength to her advantage.
”Oh…well look who it is~ The Bitch with the ugly dress.” Adarna’s laughter rang throughout the area which had almost fell silent. She wasn’t very intimidated by Lidiya’s apparent anger, if anything she found it amusing.
“You know this cunt, Ada?” Kano said, ready to pounce on the Vampire. “Didn’t know you liked the company of Vampers.”
“It isn’t any of your goddamn business of who I keep the company of, Kano. We’re not even friends…I met her at a Party.” She met Lidiya’s angry gaze with a smile. It was oh so very interesting to see how Fate worked. “How about you leave Lidiya and I to catch up, go finish of the job, Brother. This wont take too long.”
With a grumble Kano left, leaving Adarna to give her opponent the undivided attention she deserved. “Now…where were we before I was rudely interrupted~” In a mere instant, the succubus’ smile faded and that of a angered expression possessed her features. A slender hand clutched at Lidiya’s throat, giving it a bit of a squeeze before snapping the limb forward which sent the woman flying across the hall. “This isn’t nothing personally, Sweet Heart. This is all business. Seryth Business.”
“Wow,” was the first word seethed from Lidiya’s clenched jaw as she raised herself from the ground, brushing chipped remnants of the wall she had been ruthlessly thrown into from the sooty fabric of obsidian clothing. She knew the untrustworthy air of this woman she had felt at Emery and Rosemary’s wedding reception would be accounted for something eventually - she just never supposed that, here they would stand, accordingly destined to fight one another. Collette had never mentioned the DLN having a potential threat she should have been aware about while left in charge, and couldn’t help but blame her Queen for this occurrence. “Is your bite always that pathetic or are you just getting started, ‘sweetheart’? Because I think you can do better than insulting a dress. Or maybe not.”
Lidiya knew she was asking for it with every word spoken. She had no remote clue of this woman’s power, as she had come across little to no demons in her lifetime and knew not of anything about them - they were curious, and danger elicited from their disposition in waves. She wasn’t particularly skilled in fighting, but she knew the ways to defend herself if need be. Her tongue ran idly along extracted incisors, prominent points just grazing her bottom lip. Without breaking zealous eye contact with her supposed enemy, the young vampire grasped the nearest item beside her falling place, tiny fingers curling around it’s exterior and hauling it with ease from the ground. An iron rod used to prod around a fire, similar to that she had used in Collette’s office while drunk, that had fallen when she crashed into the wall near it’s place of residence; hanging high upon the mantel, only once supported by a hook.
Once the lackey had gone, the demoness and the vampire were left alone, their space increasingly limited. “What does this Seryth have you here to do, hm?” She asked then, advancing closer to Adarna with a grimace, “kill children for your sick fucking pleasure? Then I’m afraid I’ll have to cut this business trip of yours short.” With that, Lidiya swung, dowel aimed straight for the side of Adarna’s jaw. The iron gripped tightly in her hand was of no hefty weight for her to hold, and though vicious her movements were swift, carried with ease.
She really was testing her luck.
Just as Markus had advised, Adarna brought three men with her. The place was just as big as her master said and clearing out the place without anyone escaping would be too big a task even for the succubus. All four demons rode to Night Haven on horseback, clad in black, and they dismounted a safe distance away from the Mansion.
“Gatson, Storme. You two take the bottom floor. Kano and I will take the top.” The demoness proposed.
“Sounds good to me!” Storme said. “My blade thirsts for flesh of those vampire scum.”
“Yeah…like killing innocent kids is going to be a challenge! Pffft…” Kano replied.
“Shut up and stop wasting time.” Adarna rolled her eyes and proceeded to walk forward. The men simply laughed and followed behind. Just as suspected, there were two enforcers posted at the front doors. Adarna and Kano both took a left, walking along the side of the building while the others took out the guards at the front.
Using inhuman strength and agility the succubus and her partner leaped to the second story windows and crashed through the glass. Adarna unsheathed her new blades and tore through the throats of unwary fledglings. I wasn’t long before their cries for terror filled the area. Already, Kano had ripped through a few of them, he only cared to use his bare hands. The massacre flooded into the halls, and still the two demons continued to wreak havoc, taking out anything that moved. Adarna had managed to knock a guard off his feet after delivering a boot to his face. She then straddled him, pinning the knight to the ground.
“Why the fuck are you doing this? What does Seryth have against innocent fledglings!” A guard hissed at her while he struggled.
The succubus simply laughed and held the blade at his throat. “You poor fool~” She leaned down and kissed his forehead before calling out to her partner. “Kano! Did you hear that? He called them Innocent! He must not know what is Life’s Greatest Illusion. What is it again, Kano?”
“Ha!” He replied in a joking tone. “Don’t you remember? It is Innocence, my Sister!”
“Remember that, Vampire. It will be a lesson you shall know in your next life.” And without another word, her black blade ran through the male’s throat, painting the floor under him.
Up until this moment, Lidiya was fulfilling the order of her initiation given by her Queen rather smoothly. Watching the children was nothing as she thought it was the night she had been given the task, yet there was always a shroud of paranoia that something could go wrong, and Collette would add her head to her collection when they next came across one another. She could feel it in the pit of her stomach, and it made her delusional with anxiety. For the most part however, the nights she had been keeping watch have gone considerably well. It was not something she wished to do again though, and she did not envy her Queen’s position in rank. Stress was not something she handled very well, and Lidiya was most certainly no leader.
Mother Moon hung high within the horizon that evening, obscured only partially by thick rain clouds that threatened to break and thickened the air with a grimy wall of humidity. It would not be unexpected if a downpour started at any moment, and Lidiya couldn’t say that she would mind that. Storms were not frequent in Athoria, but when they occurred during the night, she enjoyed laying down upon the roof of her home and watching the sky illuminate with lightning strikes. The young vampire removed herself from the windowsill when a familiar essence struck the atmosphere, that uneasy feeling bubbling within the pit of her stomach only strengthening so. She recognized it, but the others she did not. A moment of silence loomed over the Manor, and then - chaos.
This was so not apart of the job description.
Extracting her fangs with a growl of frustration, Lidiya marched indigently down the hall, outside, and over to the demoness she had made acquaintance with at Emery’s wedding reception. Shame, she liked this girl. Reaching forth unexpectedly, she grasped Adarna by the shoulder firmly, ripping her away from the fallen Knight bleeding out upon the carpeting. Naturally, such a violent approach would not seem plausible for the introvert; yet still, despite the decree ordered from her Queen, enmity coursed along her veins at the prodigal wrong doings and filled her deceased and frigid heart with belligerence.
“I suggest,” She snarled in the other woman’s face, pale knuckles aching under the pressure of her grip upon the fabric of the woman’s shirt. Using acquired vampire strength, she shoved the woman as so her back slammed against the wall just behind them, textured minerals chipping at the substantial force. “You fill of your need to kill elsewhere, Adarna. Call off those thick-skulled lackey’s of yours and get the fuck out of here.”
The pair trudged out of the deceased mans house, shuffling feet against the dirt as they headed back down the ally in which they had came. They passed the spot on the ground where the other mans blood lay in puddles, oozing down the crevesses towards the end of the street. The bottoms of Emery’s boots tracked the blood in footprints towards the building. With an annoying grunt, Emery heaved the man upwards a little as the two dragged him up the steps. Once inside, the vampires dropped the load with loud huffs, & Emery once again wiped his hands down his pants.
“Fuck. This is why hunting in the cities are no fun for me. It’s so much more easier to lure them away into Hallowed Oak & discard them there. Phew,”
Emery pulled out a smoke from his pack in his pocket & lit a match, inhaling the drag & allowing the smoke to encompass his dead lungs. A benefit of picking up the mortally deadly habit, Emery was already dead.
“So coins & such, hm? What about jewels? Diamonds, rubies, or neat looking gemstones?” Emery wandered aimlessly around the room, searching through cabinets & exploring the area. The place was basically deserted, but one would never know what treasures were left behind. He grinned over at Lidiya as he did so. “I’m a forger, custom pieces nowadays. Once I buy that abandoned piece of land at the edge of town I’m building a new forge, & a friend of mine is going to run a Weaponry in Monir to sell the pieces. I lost all of my supplies during the raids when they burned my house & shop, so I’m always looking for neat little stones & such to engrave into my blades. I could actually probably use someone like you for when I start up. Just a thought, if you’re interested,”
“I take it you’re not a fan of any sort of physical labor?” Lidiya gave a halfhearted laugh as she lowered the mans legs upon the depreciated flooring with a careless haul. The heel of his boots smacked against the wood, small clouds of dust erupting from the sudden commotion. Patting her hands together she stepped over the body with a wrinkled nose, being sure not to touch the corpse in any further way then what was necessary. Standing just mere inches away from her kill’s stout torso, she assessed her surroundings further, peering into the room connected to the one in which the two very alike vampires were located. It seemed to be a sitting room of sorts, decaying chairs and other needless furniture scattered about, upturned and destroyed.
Pale irises found Emery’s frame as he prospected through the ramshackle cabinets scattered about the room in which they stood, a smoke scorching between his fingertips. The bitter, yet to her, pleasant fragrance of tobacco illuminated the room with a more tolerable scent, and briefly encompassed the horrific odor of the two deceased men slumped against the floor. “I told you. You name it, I’ve most likely stolen it.” Her lips casually fell into a smirk of complacency. When she had envisioned this night, she supposed it would have been another dull one like the norm. She didn’t figure to be making a most unexpected and abrupt friendship with another of her species. It was very rare of her to come across another, specifically when she tended to stay away from them and all of socialization. Perhaps she should get out more..
Her fingers worked to unclasp a necklace around her neck that had been tucked away beneath her corset. With her eyes trained upon it she casually walked to Emery’s side, delicately tapping his bicep with the back of her hand a few repeated times to gain his attention. Gingerly held within the middle of her upturned palm was a burnished ruby enclosed tightly within a silver frame, assembled in the shape of a tear drop.
“Nicked this from young woman about 23 years ago,” Lidiya said proudly, glancing up at the taller man, her previous smirk still lingering upon her visage - sometimes she hated being so short. “And I’ve got plenty more pieces like this just sitting around back at my house. I usually trade whatever I have for something better, or more worthy…” She trailed off, taking his offer into consideration. With her consistency upon the streets as a thief, it was arduous to picture herself settling for an occupation. “I may just have to take you up on that, Mr. Frost. Whatever you need I’m sure I’ll manage to find it on someone…or somewhere.”
