Alex Fisher
Its been all work and no play for the
last little while, it was fire season after all and with Denver on the
edge of a desert there was no shortage of scrub fires and other
accidental burns. It meant that even the downtown fire departments
usually reserved for inner city fires had been busy out in the
wilderness.
But tonight Alex is free, free to roam and to drink
and to do whatever the fuck she felt like doing, because this is her
right, and her desire. So for the first time in a long time, Alex called
Molly. Not to discuss all the dark things in the world, not to discuss
their close calls with the unknown. But to go out, and maybe just maybe
have fun on a level that doesn't involve that mutually shared act of
horror.
So its in the arts district that Alex waits, for once the
heavy leather coat is missing, but the dress green tonight is present.
It was just to damn hot for thick and bulky leather. For once Alex's
body is not hidden by that armour and she appears to be all the more
amazonian without it, muscles and a fairly tall body will do that.
Shes waiting in front of a gallery, of which was already closed up, the curators already off to their own debauchery.
Molly Toombs
Molly
was the type of girl that always dressed up when she went out. Casual
clothes existed in her closet, sure, but those were reserved more for
around-the-house days or when she was exercising. She liked her skirts
and her pretty blouses to counter-balance the plain scrubs that she wore
at work, the utilitarian way her hair needed to be worn to keep from
being grasped by patients that get wheeled through the emergency bay
doors.
So, when Alex called and invited Molly out (and she, of
course, agreed-- she liked Alex, after all), the smaller woman with the
red hair arrived like she had someone to impress. She was dressed in a
white skirt that came to mid-thigh and was worn high on her waist,
peppered with little red-and-green flower patterns. A white tank-top
tucked into the skirt, and over that she wore a light denim button-up
shirt that was left open and tied together rather than buttoned, with
the sleeves pushed and secured up above her elbows. Make-up, bracelets,
hairspray all topped it off.
When she came about the corner to
some parking lot or another, Molly spied Alex up the sidewalk. She
smiled, gave a little way, and walked on the flat bottoms of strappy
summer sandals to meet her.
Eyes crawled curiously to the front of the closed gallery that the other woman was standing in front of.
"Hey Alex. This where we're going into, or...?"
Alex Fisher
Alex
stood near the wall, perhaps curiously close with her back to it. It
looked for all the world like she wanted to lean up against it, like
that was her usual way of doing things but to do so would be to drag the
delicate fabric of her dress across the hard brick surface. She seemed
to fidget as she tried to find a good medium between standing and
leaning, and seemed to thankfully give up when she spied Molly and
brought up two fingers to offer a salute to the woman.
"Hey Molly,
and not unless you feel like doing a bit of break and enter to look at
some really bad art." She said gesturing to the locked door and the
shuttered windows. "I mean, I can't see the desire, but if..that's your
thing." She let a grin break across those lips, small as it was, tiny
really as her hard eyes met Molly's.
"Lookin' fucking good today,
you trying to impress someone?" She inquired with a wink as she stepped
up to her shorter friend and gestured down the sidewalk, before setting
off in that direction.
Molly Toombs
"Nah,"
Molly said with a small shake of her head and a grin, when inquired
about breaking in to view art. She came to stand a few feet from the
tall woman who leaned on the wall. One hand was dedicated to the strap
of the small brown bag she was carrying her things in, and the other
hand settled on her hip as she evaluated the building. "In my
experience, breaking into places never ends well."
No, it ended
with blood mages and gruesome carnage and attacking pieces of
furniture. It ended with shadow-creatures trying to suck the life out
of your friend's face and your needing to shove him and yourself out the
door with milliseconds to spare in saving yourselves from a terrible
leeching death.
The compliment was met with another grin and a
shrug. They started walking down the sidewalk, and Molly found pace
beside Alex. "Hey, you never know who you're going to run into. But
thank you. I like your dress-- green's a good color."
And such
nice conversation may happen to fill the next few minutes as they
walked, depending on how far they had to go. They would make it maybe a
block or two before Molly asked: "So what'd you have planned? Are we
just seeing what's around?"
Alex Fisher
They
walked on, pleasant small talk taking them down the streets of the
cultural heart of the city. Molly eventually asks the smart question,
what were they doing, where were they going and Alex grinned as she
shook her head to answer the woman's question.
"Nah fun as that is
you pretty much never find anything, theres a band playing in fifteen,
bit of a rock, punk, classical vibe...yeah i know weird shit. But they
aren't half bad. Figured it would be a good atmosphere to have a few
drinks, enjoy ourselves." She gestured on ahead to a small bar with an
old metal sign above it. It seemed that 'Friendlies' was where they were
headed.
"So much happening in your world?" She asked as they drew
closer, a small group of individuals hanging around out front, smoking
away like chimneys.
Molly Toombs
Molly had no
qualms with the band that they were going to see. She didn't offer up
any strong objections to the genre that was being described, anyways.
Live music was live music, and she almost always preferred that to a
jukebox in her bars. Eyes found the sign that Alex gestured to, and
then dropped to do a quick survey of the people out in front smoking.
Molly wasn't a confrontational person, she didn't go out looking for
fights, but she was smart and had been in the city long enough to know
some simple rules of self-preservation. One such law was to always be
aware of the people around you.
When asked what was happening with
her, Molly shrugged simply. She could be truthful and explain that she
was currently spending her free time studying to learn how to summon
lost reflections back to this plane, and how she was coordinating with
the owner of said lost reflection on when a good time would be to have
the ritual take place.
Instead she settled for: "Just a lot of
work, honestly. That and I've been trying to get out and do more hikes
this year. Now that I have a car, I have no good excuse. Florence
needs the exercise too, so..." She trailed off and slipped her hands
into pockets that were sewn into the skirt.
"Been thinking of
planning a vacation. It might be healthy to get out of the city for a
little while. Breathe some air other than what's here." Here it ran
electric with the supernatural, and she was forever on edge for fear of
having her essence leeched through the soles of her feet by some Great
Unknown that was nesting beneath the ground.
"Maybe Europe."
Alex Fisher
Alex
looked to Molly as she explained an entirely mundane existence since
they had last met in the park to discuss things other then such common
day issues. Part of her believed it, but the slight rising of one fine
brow over those watchful eyes might give Molly the impression that the
firefighter thought there was more to it then that.
"Europe huh?"
She doesn't pry though....not this time anyways. Molly had already shared
plenty that she didn't need to, probably shouldn't have really. "I've
always wanted to see the Mediterranean..go to all those little islands. I
hear there's all kinds of interesting things to see and do out there.
Personally though, I think I'd rather hit the pacific, Hawaii, Japan,
China....you know if life ever lets me get further then ten miles
outside the city limits." She snorts at that as they draw close to the
bar, the thing obviously tiny, and probably already packed.
As
they walk by a young man exits the bar, heading away from it all when he
seems to pause, perhaps even abruptly after looking down the alley
beside the bar. He paused...and then turned to head down it, moving
slowly, listlessly.
Molly Toombs
"I'm not gonna
lie, the Pacific scares me a bit." It might seem like there was going
to be some very xenophobic comment that was about to follow, and maybe
Alex was going to learn something about her freckled friend. But
instead Molly swung a conversational left and followed with-- "I mean,
in all of the reading I've done, I've learned about some of the things that
live out there. If you thought monsters in the United States were
surreal and horrifying things, some of the shit that lives out in the
wilds and cities of China would... Well, it's enough to keep me from
wanting to go there."
So she wouldn't talk about the supernatural
things in her own personal life, but she was comfortable speaking about
them as a general topic in casual sidewalk conversation. She did so
with Jack whenever they were spending time together, so the speech and
subject were easy and comfortable for Molly. But then, Jack also
actively sought and studied these subjects (and he was a Vampire, but
Molly didn't know that). Alex was still only half-convinced herself.
The
young man that paused suddenly didn't go unnoticed-- not much slipped
by Molly. Her attention was pulled away from the conversation she was
having with her taller friend by watching as the young man started to
amble his way down the alley-- idle rather than with intent, as someone
typically would if they stopped and spotted something out of the
ordinary.
With a curious and suspicious crease to her brow, Molly nodded her head to point the unfurling scenario out to Alex.
"Wonder what's up with him."
Alex Fisher
Alex
had indeed noticed the young man stop and start to move down the
alleyway. But unlike Molly her supernatural detector was not yet set to
maximum gain. Where Molly saw something suspicious, Alex just saw what
looked like a drunk young man wandering somewhere that wasn't likely to
end in a way that was particularly prideful or clean.
"Probably
just drunk." She commented looking around. "I mean we are at a bar."
Alex snorted briefly, that smile of hers stretching ever so slightly to
become larger. But then she noted the look on Molly's face and the smile
stopped growing, instead it turned to look down the alley as the young
man started to disappear from sight [from where they were at least].
"What?
You think something else is going on?" She asked quietly, looking from
Molly to the alleyway, her hard eyes seeming to steel themselves
further.
Molly Toombs
[Perception 3 + Awareness 2: I might think that, yes...]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Molly Toombs
When
she learned that ghosts and vampires and magic-wielders existed, Molly
had to learn how to be alert in ways beyond just the physical. She'd
come to recognize, after much exposure that gradually turned to hunting
and searching, what it felt like when there was something beyond the
Ordinary happening nearby. There was a particular energy that currented
through the air, like when electricity prickles the hair on your arms
before a storm.
For this, though, Molly sensed a dread in her
spine that dribbled down it like cold liquid metal. She breathed in
deep, and the breath shuddered just a little as she did so. The feeling
wouldn't shake, it just sat there in her back and seeped into her
shoulders, her neck, her skin.
"Absolutely," came the answer to
the question. Alex was steeling herself already, but Molly didn't
appear steeled or braced, not so much as she appeared intrigued and
curious. Cautious, absolutely-- the crease to her brow didn't lessen
any, but there was a recognizable determination there to know what was
going on. An opportunity to experience, witness, and learn couldn't be
passed.
So, without collaborating, Molly switched her direction
ever-so-slightly so that it was clear she was headed for the alleyway
instead of the bar doors.
Molly Toombs
[Perception 3 + Alertness 3]
Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 1, 3, 8, 9) ( success x 2 )
Alex Fisher
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (4, 6, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 4 )
Alex Fisher
Molly
was in tune with the supernatural universe, it both gave her the
opportunity to experience and learn just as it gave her the ability to
run, to get away if absolutely necessary, certainly something she had
done previously. Alex was also in tune with this universe though her
training came from her work as a firefighter, alerting her to danger
that others would miss...it had saved her and her colleagues on many
occasions. But this wasn't a burning building or scrub blaze. This was a
bar, outside at that with plenty of people...Alex just wasn't attuned
to this sort of situation...not yet anyways.
So when Molly started
towards the alleyway Alex joined her, heading for the mouth of the that
great brick throat. As the pair drew up near it, perhaps peeking in
from an obtuse angle that they would spy what others perhaps even
avoided seeing.
The young man was making his way slowly towards a
man dressed in a old denim jacket and a pair of jeans, the man looking
like he was stepping out of the eighties with all that denim on his
body. This might seem normal enough...but as the young man drew close
the man in denim stepped to the side, drawing the youth along towards
the side of the alley, stepping into deep shadow.
Of
course....both of the woman could see what happened, both of them were
keen eyed enough to see the second that young man stepped into the
shadow arms wrapped tight around him and a gasp was quickly muffled.
"The fuck." Was all Alex could utter as she peered through the darkness.
Molly Toombs
The
alley's mouth found itself with two extra body's crowding nearby.
Molly didn't step directly into the alleyway, but peered ahead first.
She didn't comically hold onto the brick wall and lean around it to peek
inside, but she did stand at an angle, lean forward to get a better
perspective of what was happening.
The man in the dated attire was
taken note of. The younger man walking toward him as though through a
fog of hypnosis was taken note of as well.
When the shadows
deepened, shifted, and reached out to wrap around and swallow the bodies
whole, Molly's muscles tightened and her body language went stiff, but
she didn't call out in surprise or horror. She did swallow hard,
though, because she's seen and encountered some terrible beasties that
could manipulate shadows before.
She had a hunch, given the
appearance of the man in outdated clothing, but didn't speak that hunch
out loud. Molly's eyes hopped up to Alex, to the side of her friend's
face. She didn't want to have this woman dragged too deep down, didn't
want her to become a blip on the radar of the vampire community like she
herself was. She could only hope that she was wrong, and looked back
forward to the murky mist of manipulative shadows once more.
"Could be a number of things," Molly advised in a soft voice. "None of them look too good for that kid."
Molly Toombs
[Perception + Alertness]
Dice: 6 d10 TN7 (1, 3, 4, 4, 4, 7) ( success x 1 )
Alex Fisher
[Per+Alert]
Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (5, 6, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Alex Fisher
They
were being cautious, avoiding entry into the alleyway, trying to avoid
making whatever lurked in those shadows aware of them. Or at least Molly
was. As Alex watched the events unfold, watched as the shadows
swallowed the pair and a gasp, lost to all but them fell on deaf ears
she was tensing, her jaw clenching all the more when Molly said things
didn't look good for the young man who had just stepped in way over his
head.
"No shit." She said as they squinted harder, trying to
resolve details. Molly could barely see the outlines of the two men, the
smaller younger man pressed up against the brick wall, as if in a
lovers embrace. But there was something slack about him, something
entirely pliant.
Alex could see more then what she wanted to see,
she saw lips wrapped around the young man's throat, and all the more
besides and her features twisted into an unhappy grimace.
"We
cannot let this shit happen, guys practically a kid. I bet hes only just
legal, one way or another this shit is wrong." She said looking at
Molly.
"Come on." She said as she turned around the corner, taking
those first few steps into the alleyway, moving quietly..slowly, after
all you don't want to alert the dragon your walking into his lair. Not
before your ready to cut off his head.
Molly Toombs
Blue
eyes went wide in a moment's panic, of sorts, when Alex whispered for
her to come on and started forward. They couldn't let this happen, Alex
advised, and Molly shouldn't be surprised. This was how she'd reacted
when she saw the man getting pulled apart by zombies in a basement, and
Molly had to convince her that to go in there would be to go to their
deaths.
This time she didn't make any motion to physically try to
stop the other woman-- Molly knew that if Alex wanted she could break
free from her grasp without much trouble. Molly wasn't a fighter, you
see, but an intellectual. So rather than trying to forcibly stop Alex,
she instead walked along after her, steps soft on the alleyway and her
voice a strained, hushed tone.
"What are you going to do?"
Molly
could see the denim-clad man leaned into the younger man, how he had
him pressed into the wall like they were kissing hard. But she was
smart, and she'd seen some things in her time. Molly knew better than
to suppose that this was just a passionate encounter in the alleyway. A
condom wouldn't be suitable for saving the youthful bar-goer from the
dangers of this particular meeting.
Alex Fisher
"Scare
him off. If that doesn't work...." She paused and looked around, as if
searching for some kind of weapon. "Well lacking any conveniently placed
lead pipes, forcing him off with our bare hands if necessary." She said
as they got closer. "The guy ain't that big." She added, as if that
would be enough to convince Molly this was a fight they could easily
win.
She did pause however, looking over at her friend after a
moment, as if the urge to act instantly, reacting to a situation rather
then thinking it through had faded and she asked. "You got any other
ideas, any...particular know how or something that we can use to
stop...whatever the fuck this is?"
Whether it
would be enough was another question entirely. They could only stand
there for so long and discuss quietly after all, soon they would have to
act, retreat, or more then likely, be discovered by the denim man as he
feasted in what he believed, to be a secure and quiet place.
Molly Toombs
The
more that Alex spoke, the tighter together Molly pressed her lips. By
the time that Alex was speaking of using her bare hands, her friend
looked about ready to start gnawing on her lips and cheeks in anxiety.
Her eyes were wide still, and to look into them you could see that Molly
was rapidly processing the situation and predicting particular
outcomes.
The fact that the firefighter in the green dress paused
was a relief, as it meant that Molly could stop too. When she did she
touched her fingers to the alley wall, almost like it was 'safe base' in
a children's game, like it would protect her from the attention of the
night-monster presumably drinking his fill in the cloak of shadows
around him and his victim. When deferred to, Molly looked to Alex and
though her shoulders and bust didn't heave with breath she did seem
breathless all the same. For a moment, she didn't seem to know what to
say.
But, then...
"I'm pretty sure that's a vampire," she said quietly and quickly. "They can be strong and fast, so please
don't try to wrestle him away from what he's doing. He might not kill
the guy, but just leave him weak. I doubt he'll be scared off, but
maybe we can.... distract him. Or..."
Her eyes hopped here and
there, to and fro, back and forth along the alley walls and the
dumpsters and other bits of debris that could be found there. She was
processing still. Thinking on the spot, on the fly.
"A wooden
stake to the heart'll freeze him, at least, if he tried to attack. I
could distract him, if you can find something to wield...."
She
sounded like she very much didn't want to do this-- like she'd rather
walk away and hope that the vampire didn't take too much from the boy.
But Alex was made of the Stuff of Heroes-- she was a champion of the
people, you see, and couldn't just walk away from a person in need like
Molly could. But, while Molly could abandon a perfect stranger without
much guilt if that's what it meant to save herself, she couldn't just
leave a friend there alone.
So, she offered a plan.
Alex Fisher
[Per+Empathy]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 6) ( success x 1 )
Alex Fisher
Alex
never aw herself as a hero, never the sort of person to be the one to
save a city or even a building. She was a person, a person who, though
tough on the outside held a deep reserve of empathy for her fellow man
and could not stand by and watch others suffer or fall prey to monsters.
So
she felt for the young man who should be enjoying his life, and not
having it drained away into the pit of some creatures stomach, vampire
or not. But she also felt for the woman at her side, who though she was
putting on a brave face was obviously more afraid then she had ever seen
her before. It put a halt in Alex's actions, caused her brain to work
harder.
"I know your scared Molly...but we can't let the guy
die...this one we have a chance to save unlike that other guy." She said
slowly, quietly meeting her friends gaze.
"But i get it, I
do....if you can tell me, tell me with really really good certainty that
this guy is gonna leave that guy enough blood to survive or whatever
the fuck it is hes taking. Then we can walk. But if not..." Alex pointed
to an old broom propped up against a garbage bin next to the side door
of the bar, left there probably by one of the bartenders within.
"Then we take this guy."
Molly Toombs
The
women were still nearer to the mouth of the alley than not, and the
spoke quietly to one another near the shadows that could keep them
somewhat masked from the feeding vampire. He was wrapped up in what he
was doing, and if they bided their time further the poor young man
wouldn't have much blood left to give. Molly knew this, and glanced
back to the embracing couple of men against the wall, but then looked
back to Alex.
Her expression was grave and her mouth was set. She spoke quickly, urgently, but quietly still.
"This isn't about being scared. It's about our chances. If we fight this thing, there's a very good chance
that we don't walk away from here." She paused, glanced briefly to the
broom, then continued. "Let me try to talk first. Try not to let him
see that you're here at all, keep low and silent. These vampires
aren't.... They aren't all necessarily monsters, okay? They can be
reasoned with. Or bargained with, at least."
The last sentence
had the bridge of her nose wrinkling up, like Molly knew that bartering
with a bloodsucker would be an unpleasant and possibly even demeaning
experience. But, if it saved a life... At least, that's what Molly
told herself while trying to get on board with this whole 'good
samaritan' thing.
With a deep breath, she nodded. "Here we go."
And
then she straightened up, took her hand away from the wall, and started
a slow approach that was meant to look more like a non-threatening
meander than a stalk, bringing herself more apparently into view of the
feasting nightwalker.
Alex Fisher
Alex looked at
Molly like shed suddenly grown a pair of very, very large balls, of
which were potentially hanging from her chin. It was a look of surprise,
but a look of respect as well and after a quick look over at the
vampire, she nodded. "Your call Molly, but if he makes a move for you. I
am coming for him."
She watched Molly start to walk toward the
vampire and she herself took a deep breath, before scuttling over to the
dumpster and grabbing the broom...she would be prepared, just in case.
But
this is Molly's moment, she is striding forward to face the creature
who was at the moment draining one of their fellow kine, that or taking
their very..very sweet time about taking very little. As she drew
closer, and didn't seem to be moving on past the vampire stopped,
turning in the darkness to stare at the woman as the man slumped
listlessly in his arms, trapped in the throws of the kiss.
"Help
you?" He said abruptly, unhappy with being disturbed...but not yet
aggressive, points to them..this one wasn't fresh out of the ground.
Molly Toombs
[Manipulation + Subterfuge: Cool as a cucumber, I swear]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (2, 6, 6, 6, 8) ( success x 4 )
Molly Toombs
Though
her chest fluttered anxiety and doubt, though she was currently
calculating the chances that the predator would abandon one set of prey
to go for the second that presented itself alive and healthy and
kicking, none of that showed in Molly's approach. Her steps were
comfortable and even, they swished her skirt some when she walked. Her
shoulders were square without being challenging, and her head was high
without looking confrontational. She cooled cool and casual, she may as
well be the Fonz without all of that arrogance and obnoxious attention
grabbing.
She came to stop several yards away from the vampire,
out of reach, outside of the cloud of shadow that he'd wrapped around
himself and his victim. Her hands came out of her pockets to show that
they were empty, and they rested folded together at the front of her
skirt, fingers curled loose about one another.
It's with a small
raise of eyebrows on her freckled forehead, and with a small smile that
only ghosted the corners of her eyes and edges of her mouth, that she
answered.
"Oh, I was just curious about whether you were going to
be leaving enough in that young man to be able to walk himself home."
One shoulder hopped in a little shrug. "And/or offering to walk him
home for you when you're finished, I suppose." The smile spread
further, like warm butter.
"Just a concerned citizen, is all."
Alex Fisher
[Per+Subt]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 5, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )
Alex Fisher
Molly
was cool as ice as she approached, her knowledge of vampires and their
reactions to humans a boon in this moment. Alex would have just come in
charging, others might have quivered in their heels...Molly went up to
the beast and TALKED to it. Spoke to it like it was someone committing a
social faux pax and looking to help them with it.
The vampire
licked its lips as it looked at Molly, its meal still held by its arms.
It seemed confused for a moment, as if it was uncertain how to deal with
this interceding human...or was she human? Its eyes narrowed as it
looked from Molly to the man and then back again.
"Concerned
Citizen huh? There a particular reason I should give a damn about what
you have to say Dudley?" He inquired with a hint of a smirk. "Or are you
just sticking your nose where it really shouldn't be?"
Alex for
her part kneeled beside the dumpster, broom held like a spear, ready to
charge if all else failed. She listened, amazed by her friends
surprising courage. After all, this was the same woman who before had
fought tooth and nail NOT to get involved...
Molly Toombs
"Oh
honey," Molly answered back. She didn't actually chuckle, for that
would be condescending, but her voice carried a bit of a lilt like she
found humor in the situation anyways. Not laughing at the vampire,
certainly not directly, but at his reaction to her more than anything
else. She glanced down, briefly, and smoothed her skirt under her palms
before settling to let her arms rest still at her sides.
She looked back up to the vampire, directly at him, like she couldn't harbor a thought in the world about him bringing her harm.
"Did
you think I meant I was concerned for him?" She nodded her head
forward, and though she wasn't near enough to clearly gesture between
the man and the human quivering and defenseless in his arms, it was
clear that she was motioning to the human instead of the vampire. "I
just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some scene left behind, is
all."
She smiled next, and the expression was apologetic and
gracious. "I'm sorry, that's presumptuous of me. I'm sure you've got
it under control, but-- well, I just thought I'd offer."
Molly Toombs
[Charisma 2 + Subterfuge 2: Golly I'm such a liar, but aren't I charming? Spending WP because JESUS DON'T EAT 44ME.]
Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 7, 10) ( success x 3 ) [WP]
Alex Fisher
[Per+Subt]
Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 8, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )
Alex Fisher
The
vampire seemed poised for a brief moment, poised between violence and
acquiescence. Perhaps it had been lost in the moment, ready to drain
this poor soul dry for its own appetites, why shouldn't it enjoy its
meal to the fullest after all...to many vampires, humans were nothing
but a food source.
But this one seemed to see the sense in it. It
looked to the man in its arms one last time and leaned in suddenly.
Molly might think it was going to finish him off, or simply kill him.
But it licked at the man's neck..before pulling away and letting the man
slump to the ground. "He's all yours then Dudley." He said with a smirk
as he stepped towards Molly, now flush with life that was not his own.
"If
I didn't have places to be...I'd offer you a drink." He said with a
wide grin, the edges of his teeth still rimmed with blood. "You should
come on back sometime...we could chat." He offered as if it were a
perfectly sensible, perfectly reasonable thing to do.
"See you
around..." He said as he stepped past Molly, coming oh so close to her
before continuing on and out, the shadows receding to a normal state as
he stepped out onto the street.
A moment later Molly could hear
Alex step out from behind the dumpster. "Holy shit on fried roadkill."
She said as she looked from Molly to where the vampire had gone. "How
the fuck did you do that?"
Molly Toombs
Though
adrenaline did its best to flood her system and send her heartbeat
hammering out its own crazy tune, Molly kept her cool gathered. She was
taking cues from vampires she's interacted with before. She knew the
confidence they wore around them like fine cloaks. She's watched their
mannerisms, knows that there's a certain sense of flirtatiousness and
seduction that ran in their behaviors as well. She did her very best to
mimic it.
Apparently that was enough, for after consideration the
vampire seemed content to believe that she was one of them, as she was
hinting at-- lying about. He couldn't see through the lie, perhaps
because of the fact that he was caught in the middle of the feeding.
Maybe he just wanted to believe that Molly was what she claimed to be.
Either way, though thrill rattled around in her chest like a bird in a
cage, she still just smiled graciously.
"Well, the offer's
appreciated none the less. Perhaps I'll see you around." The perhaps
is accentuated, spoken like a tease or a promise. She watched the man
go with that smile still riding her face, and it stayed until the
shadows had gone back to normal and the denim-clad bloodsucker had
continued on with his night. It was only then that Molly's posture
slumped at the shoulders as though a great weight was taken from them.
When she looked over to Alex, Molly appeared in a state of disbelief.
She could hardly grasp that she'd pulled that off at all.
"Well,"
Molly said, but found that her voice was catching in her throat, which
had gone dry now that the chance to reflect on the danger of the
situation had come. She cleared her throat and tried again, gesturing
Alex over. Molly had turned to look at the man slumped onto the ground
against the wall, but didn't approach him just yet. The vampire
would've probably told her if it was too late for him.
"They were
people once. Many still are, though they're warped by what they've
become. I just... approach them by people who are also cobras." She
blinked a few times, then added: "I'm also fucking lucky."
With
that statement made, she went to check on the state of consciousness and
health around the man who was now probably down a decent amount of
blood.
Alex Fisher
Alex seemed to be looking at
Molly in a whole new light now, it was not that she saw the woman as
cowardly or weak...that was impossible given how they had met, and the
steel that Molly had shown at the time. But this...this was something
else entirely. It was like watching Steve Irwin face down a hoard of
rattlesnakes with a smile on his face and a laugh from his throat.
Molly
was hardcore in ways Alex had not yet begun to fathom. "Ill keep that
in mind next time I've got a vamp staring me down, hopefully I can pull
that shit off just like you did." She said as she shook her head and the
both of them approached the man who lay against the wall, dazed but
alive.
"He's weak...but if we get him to the hospital there
shouldn't be any serious issues." Alex said, simply taking part now, her
gaze occasionally shifting to the mouth of the alley as if to make sure
the creature really was gone. "You have gotta teach me more about the
shit you know Molly." She said as she went to take the man by one arm.
"And
i mean alot more, cause I got a serious feeling you've only been giving
me crumbs after seeing that shit go down." She got a grip on his
shoulder and gestured for her to take the other. "On three alright?"
Molly Toombs
The
way that Molly was being looked at didn't go missed. She wasn't
avoiding Alex's eyes, but she didn't seem to be particularly flattered
or puffed up on her own victory based on the borderline astonishment and
admiration that she found there. Instead Molly looked a little grim.
Still,
she moved along with Alex to help the man up off the ground. He was
dazed, hardly about himself. Molly spoke to the man directly, advised
him that they found him here and sick and that they were going to find
him someone to help. He may or may not have heard and understood all of
that, but with it out of the way Molly stooped down (knees together,
ever mindful of that skirt of hers) and looped his other arm behind her
neck and over her shoulders.
"One, two, three--" and they hefted the man up. Molly spoke as they helped move him.
"You're
right, but it's for your own good." About how much information she was
sharing with Alex-- she was only getting bread crumbs, this was true.
But according to Molly it was for her own good-- one could imagine that
Alex loved being told that.
"I know so much, Alex. I
don't know where to begin to share it all with you. I don't want you to
know how to interact with those guys because they're dangerous as hell
and they'll use you. In ways besides how this poor guy was, too.
"But I'll tell you. I'll answer your questions."
They were friends, and they were both in this after all.
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