Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
From the Dead « Thread Started on May 15, 2009, 5:12pm »
He could not tell the hour nor the day nor the season. He could barely tell whether he was closer to sunset or sunrise. All he knew was that it was dark and that he was thankful of the dark, for it had not been so when he dug himself, finger over bleeding finger, from his "resting" place. After weeks (tedious, slow weeks, months even) he had gathered the energy to heal himself into something...mobile (for lack of a better word) and made his ascent. Wouldn't you know he would break into fresh air while the sun was high in the sky. The one saving grace had been, perhaps, that the majority of his brethren had lay in sleep while the sun dominated the sky, giving him the chance to make his clumsy escape from the catacombs of the Rose Tower. He shuddered to think how it might have been had Constance been aware of his presence.
Though, in retrospect, maybe it wouldn't have mattered. He was well on the edge of falling back into a coma now. Or maybe he would fall deeper this time, he thought. So deep that the tide would sweep his unconscious body into the ocean to be gobbled up by some mutant fish or other. Shaking his stringy black hair from his face, he tried not to think such thoughts. He had to keep going. Even if he didn't know precisely where he was headed.
The vampire moved down the rocky stretch of beach, leaving a never-quite-straight line of heavy footsteps in his wake. What had started a somewhat educated stagger had deteriorated into a drunken weave. Before long he would be crawling. Again. But no matter.
He was alive again. Albeit, he was also little more than a walking skeleton. The bitter ocean spray almost looked as through it would send the gaunt creature tumbling head-over-heels into the sand. His eyes were sunken, devoid of their usual smug spark. And his once handsome raven locks were crusted with sand and dirt and only the gods knew what else. But he was alive. He was moving. He was free of that wretched dirt prison. And he was one more thing.
Re: From the Dead « Reply #1 on May 16, 2009, 2:11am »
She cried as she ran, plunging into the darkness without a thought, headless with desperation. Where would she go now that the Base was in shambles? Who would protect her? Her head was totally blank, she ran on instinct, like a haunted animal. She had followed Logan as he left the Base (although he wasn't aware of it) because she didn't like the thought of being alone, but... but now she'd lost sight of him and now everything was a mess...
Suddenly, Ana Maria was knocked onto the ground. She didn't even have time to try to catch herself. She had tripped over a rock she hadn't noticed, and now she lying flat on the ground, her body aching like mad. She had hit her jaw hard on the rocky ground again, and her wound from when the vampire had dropped her had opened once more, bleeding quite badly in her standards. Her hands still felt okay. She gathered them in front of her face and whimpered silently, her body shaking with silent sobs.
She hardly noticed the sound of the waves beating upon the shore. She had absolutely no notion of where she was. Until - she reacted as if electrified. Someone was coming toward her. She looked up and saw a man staggering towards her. No, not a man... a corpse, a vampire, her mind, half- crazed with sudden fear could not decide which. She'd seen this one before - but it couldn't be... Images of her days in slavery welled up in her memory like a spring flood. This had been their leader. She was so terrified she couldn't move a muscle, just stare at him, this living skeleton man whom everyone had thought dead and gone long ago, this man whom she had feared most of all.
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #2 on May 16, 2009, 3:48am »
At first, Alcander took little notice of the girl. One would think that a vampire lying beneath the soil for what felt to be ages would be starved and desperate for blood...but he had hunted earlier that day and his stomach still seemed too under developed to process the stuff. The hunt had ended with one very dead human and a soppy red puddle of bile pooling on the floor of the abandoned building he'd been doing his killing in. At the moment, the mere thought of blood made his insides give a sickly twist.
So, when he scented fresh gore on the air, Alcander's initial reaction was to flinch away. Then, as he remembered that, oh yeah, blood came from humans, he looked sharply down and gave a half-minded growl. It sounded less fierce than he would have liked, though perhaps the way it looked would have made up for that.
Realizing that whoever he was growling at looked relatively harmless, the vampire tilted his head slightly, his unsteady body tick-tocking back and forth in the light ocean breeze, eyes unfocused and dim. For a moment, it seemed the demon would speak but, before he really had a chance, the entire world took an unsteady swoop to the left. Al blinked. Since when was the sky on the ground?
Blinking a few more times, he realized that he must have momentarily blacked out, for he was now in the sand (again). Shaking his head dazedly, he lifted it and looked with half-minded curiosity at the girl.
"Don't suppose you'd fancy putting me outta my misery, kitten."
Re: From the Dead « Reply #3 on May 16, 2009, 4:15am »
((lol! ))
Ana watched in fascinated horror as the creature staggered towards her, swayed and fell. She rolled away quickly, or he would've fallen on top of her. She was still very frightened, but somehow... somehow she felt sorry for him, deep down. "Don't suppose you'd fancy putting me outta my misery, kitten." Ana stared at him. The strangeness of the situation dawned on her, and she almost felt compelled to laugh. She, a former slave girl, again in a situation where she was asked to help one of her former masters. It was just a bit too ridiculous. But still... she did have a conscience. And could she just leave him like this? But then, what they had done to her - to her family - her brother...! She couldn't finish this line of thought. She continued staring at him as if he'd just landed in a space ship and introduced himself as Gzod from Mars. Suddenly very self- conscious, she quickly wiped her moist face with her hand.
"N- n- no.... uh... w- what h- happened to y- you?" she asked in spite of her fear. "Y- you're n- not..." she swallowed hard, "n- not g- going t- to... hurt m- me, a-are you?" She flinched and drew away, hoping to get out of his immediate reach. This felt weird. She'd never actually talked to a vampire before, except for "Yes, master" and "Please, master...", and she had never thought she'd do so before now. But there was something so pitiable in this broken thing that lay before her that even her rabid fear of vampires couldn't stop her from asking. Still, she knew instinctively that she could not allow herself to trust this man. No way.
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #4 on May 16, 2009, 9:50am »
((Sorry I disappeared. 4 in the morning = too early))
The vampire stared at her strangely a moment, turning the question slowly over in his head. Would he hurt the human if given the chance? Maybe....Probably...More than likely actually...but, it wasn't as if he could really do anything right now. Indeed, she didn't appear to have tools on hand to finish him off, but nor did he have the will or desire to finish her, which left them here; one very weak vampire on the brink of death, and one helpless girl with no where to go. Giving a blood-coated cough of laughter, the vampire looked curiously at the sand, which was now stained with specks of red, and gave a small moan of mingled agony and hatred. Why had she done this to him?
Shaking the thought away, he turned his gaze back to the girl. She came into focus better this time and, for a fleeting moment, he found her very fair. For a human anyway.
"No, I'm not going to hurt you. Do I really look as though I could? It hurts enough just to talk." And it did sound as though he were telling the truth there. His voice was a combination of cracked rasps, labored gasps, and loud, strained whispers. "I don't even want to think how it'd feel to try and chase you down."
As for the question of what had happened to him, he didn't say. It was too embarrassing to admit; his right-hand captain, the female whom he'd trusted more than any vampire among them, had calmly preyed on his affections until the only thing he had left to offer her was his life. And then, without a second thought, she had slipped something (holy water perhaps?) into his drink. It was a miracle that he still lived.
« Last Edit: May 16, 2009, 10:06am by Alcander Owen »
Re: From the Dead « Reply #5 on May 19, 2009, 1:31pm »
(I'm sorry too. I've been finishing one of my three epic exam papers. Gaaaah. Tired. )
Ana tilted her head and looked at the vampire. "Poor thing," she thought despite herself. She shook her tangled hair out of her face with a sharp movement of her head and removed the sand from her sweaty palms. This situation was just getting more and more absurd by the minute, she thought wryly and smiled half- heartedly at it all. She felt his gaze on her and her smile disappeared as if it had never been there at all.
"No, I'm not going to hurt you. Do I really look as though I could? It hurts enough just to talk."
She nodded slightly, signifying her accept of these facts for now.
"I don't even want to think how it'd feel to try and chase you down."
She shuddered at this. "I- I guess..." she said, stumbling over the words, her thoughts racing again. If she helped him, she would most probably be dead soon. But he might know about her brother... wouldn't that be worth loosing her life over? Then she would know, at least. A spark of hope lighted up within her. She wasn't a very brave girl, and she was certainly not a fighter, and she knew it. But if he could tell her what had happened to Frederic, then she would at least die in peace. If she could coax it out of him somehow... She swallowed hard again, her stomach churned, she felt fainter than ever, yet she resisted the urge to loose consciousness then and there (she didn't doubt that would be dooming herself to either slavery or death). She moved a bit closer and reached out her quivering hand towards the vampire.
"I w- will help you, if you let me..."
She looked at him, searching his face for... something, she didn't know what. She was breathing rapidly, like a frightened animal - she was frightened, she had never been so frightened before in her entire life, she couldn't understand what compelled her to do this. She tried to force herself to calm down, and managed to do so, too, even though her breathing was still noticeably shallow.
Ana Maria reached into her pocket, not letting her eyes off of the vampire for one second, and fished out a mostly clean handkerchief. She leaned forward slowly, cautiously, and wiped away the blood that stained the man's face and neck.
"You will have to tell me how I can help," she said in a low, shaken voice. "As long as you don't hurt me, I will help you."
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #6 on May 19, 2009, 3:01pm »
((Damn, I missed you by just a little bit ))
Alcander didn't really know what to tell her to do. He had never been hurt so badly as he was now; the pain was quite unreal. It hurt to do everything. Speaking was practically a Herculian effort. And now that he was on the ground, he didn't know how he would walk. And when sunrise came...oh sunrise. He would probably just curl up and die. The combination of glaring sunlight and his own already weak body would leave him barely more than a husk.
Unless the girl really meant what she said. Looking at her again, he wasn't so sure. Why would this human help him? Did she think he would protect her once he was better? Surely the mortals hadn't fooled themselves into thinking demons were really so moral...But maybe she was right. Maybe he wouldn't harm her. He hadn't really decided yet. Whatever the case, best to take advantage of the situation while he had the chance. Gathering together his best charming Alcander-smile, he nodded weakly.
"Of course I won't hurt you." He flinched a little as the napkin touched his face, almost as though he expected it to burn him, but the touch was gentle...kind...sincere. He didn't understand it. His speech faltered. "I...I mean..." Seeming to have lost his train of thought, he shook his head and pulled himself back together. "Sorry. I was just going to say, I need some sort of shelter, away from the sun. If you can just help me walk, I'd be eternally grateful."
And even Alcander wasn't sure whether he meant it or not.
((sorry, still kinda short xP))
« Last Edit: May 19, 2009, 5:05pm by Alcander Owen »
Re: From the Dead « Reply #7 on May 21, 2009, 7:09am »
Ana nodded, unsure of herself, but now at least ignoring her fear of him.
"You're right... the sun."
She folded the handkerchief so that the stained side got wrapped in the middle of the bundle and put it back into her pocket. She got onto her feet, looked around for any sign of people before walking back to him. She knelt down beside him.
"I guess the best thing would be to get you to the warehouse..." she started to help him sit up, slowly, holding his arm securely while supporting his back as if she'd handle an elderly gentleman. "It's the closest shelter on vampire territory, I think. Can you make it that far? I think it would be far more risky to go to enemy land..."
She wasn't entirely certain he could make it anywhere, really, come to think of it. But then, she had seen just how hard it actually is to kill a vampire. They were tough creatures, and she knew it.
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #8 on May 21, 2009, 2:01pm »
Fortunately, Alcander did not weigh a lot to begin with, and with his recent imprisonment beneath ground he weighed even less. When carrying Al, you were basically carrying a pile of bones with some skin stretched taunt over them. Surely even little Ana could give him some assistance walking.
With the female's help, he feebly pulled himself up and strung his arm over her shoulders, leaning heavily against her as an old man may a cane. He didn't like feeling so helpless. Relying on a human? The old Alcander would have stuck his nose up at the very thought, but with the current circumstances being what they were, he really had no choice. It was this or die on the beach. Frankly, he didn't want to die on the beach. There was even less dignity in that than in accepting help from this human whelp.
"Very well then," he replied gruffly, trying to keep the authority out of his voice. He was worried that if he sounded like he were bossing her around, she would begin to associate him with others of his kind and abandon him. "Take me there, if you would. If you see any more of my kind...run. I do not think they have any interest in listening to me at the moment."
His voice was low and raspy. He hung heavily from the girl's shoulders, looking down at the sand, unable to so much as lift his head. He was still not hungry (which was odd, because he thought he would be), still too sick to eat. The vampire coughed out a little more blood and gestured vaguely up the beach. "Whenever you're ready..." He paused, blinked. "I don't believe I caught your name?"
Re: From the Dead « Reply #9 on May 23, 2009, 7:07am »
Ana was surprised at how light the vampire was - it was almost like carrying a baby! His hands were cold, she noticed as she put her arm around his waist and secured his arm around her shoulder. She wondered a little at what would happen when he grew stronger - would he feed on her then? But this wasn't the time for such gloomy thoughts; she wouldn't allow it.
"Very well then, take me there, if you would. If you see any more of my kind...run. I do not think they have any interest in listening to me at the moment."
"I will," she replied softly.
"Whenever you're ready... I don't believe I caught your name?"
"I'm Ana - Ana Maria. You're Alcander... leader of the vampires."
She started walking slowly, taking care to measure her steps against his, watching him out of the corner of her eye in case he stumbled over the rocks. A stray hair tickled her on the nose, but she had no hands free at the moment, so she had to ignore it. She was a bit worried that walking in the sand like this would be hard on the vampire - it is rather hard work to walk on a beach after all - but she figured they would just have to endure it and take breaks when necessary.
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #10 on May 24, 2009, 6:27pm »
"You're half-right," he muttered, when she informed him of who he was. At a time, he had been Alcander Owen, leader of the vampires, but that man (that sentiment even), felt very far away. Right now he felt more like he had when Adelphos first took him under his wing, more like a thief or a beggar, certainly not like a vampire who, at one time, had a legion of the undead at his disposal.
Each step was painstaking, even with the girl supporting him. The sand was soft and kept slipping from under his feet. When he wasn't slipping over the sand, he was stubbing his toes on rocks and debris. What a pain in the ass. He was thinking this when she asked if he was doing alright.
"No, not really. How would YOU feel if YOUR girlfriend buried you alive?"
The response was snap-ish, laced with his usual temper. It was only after the words were free that he realized how she might take them and quickly rushed to remedy his mistake.
"I apologize. You aren't the one I am angry with." He would have continued, but it still hurt to speak aloud. Probably some of the skin in his throat was still regrowing. The poison had charred and melted many of his vocal chords. Though they had sprouted anew, they still remained quite raw. It was a good thing vampires didn't need to breathe, else he would be in terrible agony. "I will try to be less angry."
Re: From the Dead « Reply #11 on May 30, 2009, 7:51am »
((Ummm... humanoids usually only have two vocal chords. Just FYI. ))
Ana jumped a little at his angry retort.
"I apologize. You aren't the one I am angry with." He paused, and added "I will try to be less angry."
She smiled in sympathy and shook her head gently. "I understand. I forgive you. It must be hard for you, loosing face like this." She worked hard to keep her balance while speaking. Was there a better way to get there than out here in the open? She knew the area quite well from when she was hiding out here after escaping from the fire. But, she pondered, would he be able to climb over all that rubbish that littered the old passages? She doubted it. Sighing, she put the thought away. There wasn't much else she could do right now. "You must tell me if you need a break. We still have a distance to walk." She looked anxiously at the sky, to see for signs of morning coming, but to her, it still seemed safe. If they were lucky, they could still make it.
Alcander Owen Administrator Former ARC Leader member is offline
"All that we see or seem is but a dream within a dream."
Joined: Oct 2005 Gender: Female Posts: 269 Location: The Dark Karma: 2
Re: From the Dead « Reply #12 on Jun 13, 2009, 1:47am »
((o.O I worked for 8 hours, went to school for 3 and then wrote that RP post sometime after walking half an hour home. I didn't really care. lol))
The light of dawn would not kill Alcander, but he did not relish the idea of having to walk in it again. The only advantage to daylight might bring would be the slumber of his brethren, who, if active, might turn on and kill him. Alcander might have been the leader, he might have been horribly betrayed, but that would not matter to the vampires. The fact was, Al was no longer in charge and if a vampire took him down and brought his head to Constance, she would surely reward said vampire greatly. Any vamp would realize this.
As for the need of a break, Alcander could use one, of course, but since he couldn't die of exhaustion or internal injuries, having one wasn't imperative. He wasn't much more than a walking husk at the moment anyway. How much worse off could he be?
Waving weakly ahead, he grunted. "No. I mean, I'm tired but no. Keep going. You'll know I need rest if I pass out...and then you'll just have to wait, drag me, or abandon me."
Al didn't sound as if he cared which option she chose.
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