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• 

  Tempest April 28, 2020 at 2:29am

  “A serpent? I’ll have you know I am a DRAGON! Get it right!” Like the foolish young one he was, the beast hollered back his brutal when twitching an eye at him. True, his body shape held no resemblance to anything that slithered. “Okay- more so a drake. Drakes don’t have wings. But you get the point!” He corrected himself, shaking his head.

  Shortly after stepping closer on all fours, the trouble-maker of a Dovah froze again upon hearing what the man was clearly aware of. By this point, his heart skipped a beat. How in the hell do you know that? Whoever this mystery figure was, Tempest horribly underestimated him and his abilities, either humans were far more resilient than he anticipated, or there was something very unnatural about this man.

  “M-m-m-mm… You’re not exactly in any position to argue. I don’t see an army here to back you up! So what’s the point?” Deciding there’d be no purpose in denying who he really was, the azure scaled reptile already dismissed the likelihood of him being able to take it back by force. While waiting on his response, Tempest tilted his head and blinked.
  
  “Just saying, a lil knife like that ain’t going to do much. I mean, what’re you going to do? Call the cops?” In an effort to somewhat try and understand what his plan was and make sense of it all, the elder was unsurprisingly questioned about his methods. With the sea drake having little concern over what his talents were, he may have to be taught a lesson or two.
  
  ...Or find out the hard way that this was no ordinary man.
• 

  Ω April 26, 2020 at 4:06pm

  “Be still,” The demon chided in a low tone, seeing the man tensed like a cobra, coiled up and apt to strike on the invitation. How pitiful that it was a game it couldn’t play? Not like this. Not tethered to the mortal that had put up an unexpected fuss since their pact.

  “You are a smart man, I just might give you credit for what you think you know,” The words left Nik’s lips vehemently. A silence followed where for the moment, the Vessel wouldn’t move. “What you consider running is more a matter of patience. I have all the time in the world, both yours and mine. I could beg the same question... What has you running, Apollonius?” Rhetorical. Undoubtedly. Maybe even belittling with the tone the demon questioned it, pushing buttons just as readily as it could find them. Speaking of which, out came the cigarette from the boy’s jacket. The temperature in the car could have changed by the friction that came from the gesture, and yet, the demon went about its business to the tune of the vampire’s growls, lighting a fuse quicker than the end of the cigarette had been lit.

  A pity. What a waste.

  One moment, the cigarette was perched precariously within the Vessel’s lips. The next, the demon felt the brush of air that came from the vampire’s backlash, ever so closely to the boy’s face and quick enough that the entity’s own reaction wouldn’t occur. It all came in an instant and it was tossed out the window as an offering to the shadows that would accept it and forget just as quickly... The next moment a vexed smile crept across his face. His head turned toward Apollo as if the entity had deemed him worthy of attention. Those empathetic hues of black worked to bore through the man; if only they were able to.

  “If you would like to see how far the boy can run, then so be it,” The demon warned with a half-lidded stare across the vehicle. “You know how that ends… do you not?” One-part fact, one-part threat. Undoubtedly some-part bluffing. All of it was made cold by an unblinking stare. “Or you may return me to my realm, but I promise you... I will take him with me. I will remember who you are just the same.”

  The cafe. The bar. The calling card in the subway, and now… but why had the boy chosen to call the life-draining creature beside him of all of his choices? It was beyond the demon to know, but it was not out of its bounds to find out. His gaze cast back to the windshield, studying the street they had halted on as its final question was answered. “...How humane of you.” Empty praise at best, but it served the demon’s needs all the while. In the Vessel’s lap, Nik’s hands gave a slight tremble once more. The entity clenched a fist in an attempt to keep it still, to no avail. It was running out of time in the foreground whether it liked it or not. “What will it be, then?”
• 

  C. G. Sullivan April 23, 2020 at 8:57am

  

  To any common eye, it would seem that Cassella was only lost in thought. Sharper eyes might discern something else, however. Was she unsettled? No, but perhaps there was something in the way that head gradually tilted, or how her eyes squinted, zoning out. Perhaps it was the vacant expression on her face or the lighting, but that made her look misplaced. Archaic. The words weighed in heavily, but she was drawn to that nonetheless. Someone's current lifetime seemingly summed up in a few sentences. Was it hers or his?

   

  A quiet laugh actually escaped her at his remark about her perseverance, and once more, the warmth in her face returned. "Just trying, really. Can't stop there, though. Gotta try harder." No more time to continue this little conversation that sparked out of nowhere and Cass only nodded at the mention of work, letting another person head back to their merry ways as usual.

   

  Stranger.

   

  It has that classic, old-fashioned feel to it, that she couldn't help that tugging grin on her face. She mouthed the words 'see 'ya', not even knowing if that will stay true. The venue was big, after all. Crowded, for sure, unless he would be the only bartender there. But every once in a while there would be familiar faces chanced upon in a crowd and in a way, she hoped this man or the ladies she was talking earlier would be one of those. Cassella watched him head out, eventually gazing back down on the album that she had.

   

  "Y'all would have loved parties like this."

   

  . . .

   

   

  Preparations were made for the night. Cassella left her hotel, a taxi already hailed for her convenience. While the events earlier were not exactly forgotten, the young woman was more preoccupied with a few things-- her nerves for one, not knowing what to expect in a gathering this vast in a century like this, and a vanilla lip gloss conscientiously applied at the backseat.

   

  "Meeting up with a few friends?"

   

  The driver's query was met with a dejected smile from the rearview mirror. "I wish. But hey, maybe we'll make new friends tonight." Or maybe they'll find old ones too. Ah, she hoped. Why not both?

   

  "Well, be careful. Stuff can be wild around these areas sometimes! You'll think it's a little tamer in the city even in broad sunlight..." She listened in, allowing him to continue on. About the gangs. The thugs. The massive event happening that night. Not the first time she heard that from a human.

   

  When was it ever tame? When did sunlight ever stop anything? The only thing it ever did was stop her with a damned sunburn. Arriving at her destination, she happily paid and thanked the man who seemed equally ecstatic with the tip he received. In a trail of bobbling curls and fabric, she carefully slipped out. Far from the frail thing cocooned in linen earlier, this time she was a flimsy body bound in embroidered champagne silk and lace, skirts stopping above the knee. Nothing too complicated, it was a trusty little garment that she had worn a few times knowing that the simplicity of that thing suited her well. Even with the ribboned heels, her sprightly steps were silent.

   

  The woman knew the fact that she arrived a little early in the scene. She had her own reasons, mostly over the fact that she doesn't want to miss anything. A single glimpse in another direction at the wrong time might cost so much, and while it's impossible to observe every guest, the woman at least wanted to tell herself that tonight, she tried. Even at the time, there were those who were already punctual or rather excited for the party of the year, and the place was never short in faces.

   

  The other reason was that being early gives the best seats. Or at least, the liberty to choose. With delicate ankle straps, or a belly full of liquor, there's no way in hell she'd spend the entire night standing. Dancing, maybe. But never standing still...

   

  That evening, Cassella stood before the great doors of Everland. And from the outside, it was just as glorious, as those flyers promised.

   
• 

  Tempest April 14, 2020 at 10:18pm

  More than halfway into tearing through his meal, both jaws crunched through the meat when a rush of air brushed against his armored exterior, making him pause. With a few pieces still in his maw, the naive reptile turned his head left and right, feeling as if a set of prying eyes were observing his movements. Seconds later, his shoulders briefly raised and lowered themselves in a shrug, choosing to continue scarfing down his catch for the day.

  Upon taking the last bite on what little remained of that oversized shark, his gaze shifted around, only to notice something just a short distance away: a figure, and a familiar one! At that point, those emerald serpentine orbs of his grew wide while frozen there, and if he were in human form, his face would’ve been robbed of all color, petrified now. Those next few seconds felt like an eternity of shock after quickly realizing it was the same young man he jumped prior.

  ‘Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit! Wait, it’s just one guy with no weapons. What’s he gonna do?’ Tempest thought while trying to make sense of how he could’ve been there as well. Was this all just one massive coincidence? Or did that man go through all the effort of tracking his movements to confront him here? There was no way of knowing as of yet, who knows if there were any armed hunters in the vicinity. No, there couldn’t be, otherwise, his long-range hearing would’ve picked up something.

  Being the overly confident beast he was with no knowledge as to what Apollonius really was beyond the assumption of being a mere human, the sea drake pretended not to recognize him and spoke a question, hopefully, the similarities he had to his tone in human form wouldn’t be a dead giveaway, which it would.

  “Heeeey, uh- Can I help you?...”
• 

  Wɑʟkɪɳɠ ɕɹɐʑɣ March 12, 2020 at 5:11am

  
• 

  Ω December 9, 2019 at 10:27pm

   

  Nikolas took a breath of unease thereafter, his sweet time taken on it. Whether it was the notion of what the man beside him could have done or the ill sense that was creeping into his system as the demon’s grasp shifted, looking for a window through that soul of his. Perhaps a likely mixture of both was to blame with the way the Vessel was crutched on the passenger side door. He should have just gone home. He should have never left home. 

  He couldn’t just let go of himself, no. He couldn’t hold on any further either, with the turmoil of the night’s events stewing in his head and the stimulation in the vehicle he’d wound up in. Nik felt the other’s hand clamp onto his shoulder and flinched a fraction when his awareness of the surroundings has dissolved enough to be startled by it. Shit. He wasn’t thinking it directly, but he was feeling it, as the tug of war came closer to an end he slipped out of consciousness with the pit still settled in his stomach. It... wasn’t quite like falling asleep. His body eased up but it was involuntary. Even as the vampire’s hand retreated, there was a subtle tremor still present just below the skin.

  Then, the silence. Silence as the entity straightened its pose through the Vessel, sitting up straight and squaring his shoulders in a way the 22-year-old had never quite learned in his upbringing. The sound of the windows shutting piqued the entity’s interest, duly noting it, but the Vessel’s head would turn from examining the figure in the driver’s seat. It peered back to such red, burning hues with an idle fascination after the demon had spoken. It’s stare swept both up and down, pausing at the site of the scar that had told enough of a story to warrant its efforts of pushing the boy down. The taunt of a smile then slipped away from what were the Vessel’s features.

  “I am hiding no more than you are… you may consider that,” A velveted tone answered. As the man paused to find his words, the demon's head tipped to a different degree in waiting. What ran through its thoughts were the hazy images that had lead up to the alley. The entity’s brow furrowed once and relaxed again. “Had it mattered to me none, I would have let the boy wallow in his decisions. He dictates the dark arts like a toy… no less reckless than with his soul.” The observation was made in a listless tone, nearing annoyance to the matter. By the time the demon finished its words, a hand disappeared into Nikolas’ jacket. A single cigarette was pulled out, held delicately between his fingertips which had a slight shake to them, visible to a careful eye. His eyes left Apollo for the moment as a second hand raised. With a quiet snap of his fingers, the end was lit. “And you,” The demon raised the cigarette close to his lips. “You have a fascination with this human, do you not?” He drew in a breath of smoke as the question stood and exhaled it shortly after.
• 

  Tempest October 14, 2019 at 12:06am

  . . .

  How long had it been since their first encounter? Hours? Days? Well over a week had passed after the incident that resulted in him losing a certain item in the elder’s wallet. While the assailant seemingly vanished to who knows where, he unknowingly left a piece of himself behind, which would easily giveaway his scent so a trail could be followed.

  If such a pathway was followed, it would lead him far beyond those streets, headed directly towards the coast. Much of it trailed through sidewalks, alleyways, underneath overpasses, and the back sides of differing structures. Eventually, it shifted into a local park, an outlet boardwalk mall, along with other more upper-class parts of the city. Once it had reached a beach condo, the fishy scent continued on for miles up the shoreline, passing various resorts along the way.

  Beyond where man-made structures laid was a cut-off in the odor. At the location where it had ceased, the scent was at its strongest, which served as an obvious indicator that he was most active there. The place in question was a barren shore, surrounded by high dunes with a high amount of greenery among the sand. Further back laid a rising cliff face, consisting of a firebrick red and dark gray stone with a grassy patch at the top.

  Sooner or later, his target would show up…

  -----------------------

  The sands were remained hot under the sun’s gleaming rays, only to be partially obstructed by the shadow of a seagull gliding across effortlessly. Countless blades of grass and patches of clovers within the dunes were partially shaken by oncoming winds, which rustled the leaves of nearby trees. Several clumps of dead seaweed turned brown lined the shores where an endless amount of waves broke against it, periodically washing up more overtime. Occasionally, a sand crab or two would emerge from a tiny, unearthed hole and scurry across.

  A tiny trail of air bubbles created ripples at the surface, gradually making its way further toward the coast. What followed was a pair of two emerald orbs with serpentine pupils, both surrounded by matte azure scales.

  All surrounding water had shifted forward from the creature’s mass carrying it along. Within seconds of his enormous talons being able to reach the bottom, the hulking reptile marched ashore on all fours, allowing huge amounts of water droplets to descend from the bottom of his neck. It wouldn’t take him long to haul his immense weight ashore, carrying what appeared to be a whole Great White shark in his maw.

  The lesser predator was soon dropped with a low boom upon impact, given its sheer weight. Said aquatic male sat on all four limbs, only to place both front claws on both ends of the creature’s lifeless corpse. His jaws parted ways and latched onto its side, clamping down before tugging on it. A chunk of its flesh soon tore off while its organs slipped out. Upon chewing, he began swallowing the meat and proceeded to tear more off piece by piece.

  Add his lack of table-manners to the growing list of things the Elder noted.
• 

  C. G. Sullivan June 19, 2019 at 9:39pm

  Here she was, finding surprises as a luxury that she sometimes cannot truly afford, even with all the money that she had. Cassella had to live and breathe the details, quietly micromanaging things, for the most part, and her eyes cannot miss them. With all the things she had been dealing with, it was an eternal game of chess that needs to be predicted, with her or with someone else on the line. Some required the smallest gamble. Others needed lives.

   

  And yet...

   

  "I suppose you're right," Cassella chuckled. "A surprise or two won't hurt. Especially if it's something small and nice. Everyone can use a good one right now." A half-truth. But this woman was very good with halves of certitude. Most surprises toss her off the routine, the control, seed chaos and unpredictability, and yet the world feasts on her disdain and distress like cake.

   

  Even so, she was enjoying this instant discussion. It's not like every single day, some minor conversation will spark into something this...thought-provoking. If there was something that she learned from these conversations with youthful faces, it's either someone thinks and speculates ahead of their time, or they are way older than they actually look. With the last of the tea gone, Cassella settled this aside. "Fair enough, everyone does. Some just learn further through the harshest ends of it, whether they deserve it or not." She neatly rearranged her things. "But at the end of the day, we're all just trying what we can," she gently continued. "Heroes and villains alike. Most are driven by what they think was right." There has been the time that she has to take two different sides after all, and a time that she had to choose none. "There were some that were well aware of the monstrosity they've become. Wouldn't, or couldn't leave it at that. That's just me~" 

   

  A once-revered creature did tell her once that with riches and fame aside, sometimes, that's all someone can ever truly have. Those faded eyes visibly glittered at the mention of him being a bartender. Whether something subtly clicked in that pale head of hers or not, a lifelong gaze was given, limned with something else.

   

  It was amusement.

   

  Subtle amusement for the words that followed as a response to her signs. "I'd like to think that it's quite the opposite. I'm the one who's doing all the searching," came the soft reply. It was not the area that she was hesitant to explore, it was the result that always led her to nowhere. The subtle hope upon sauntering inside the doors, and the creeping, jaded feeling that hits afterward. The bitterness mildly masked by alcohol that returns worse the next morning. A low wince followed this silence. Admitting defeat was never a palatable thing... not even once, in hundreds of years. Yet there she was, confessing that in good faith-- to a stranger. "And right now, I don't think I'm very good at it." 

   

  "But you work there, eh?" she smiled. "I'd most likely see you there later. I'm not much of a drinker myself..." now she was just full of shit, speaking through a drained beer case for a night on some occasions. "...but I hope some cocktail requests aren't too weird for a bartender."
• 

  Agnes June 14, 2019 at 8:14pm

  "Bring her up or don't, I really don't care either way. And fine, Cornhair, I'll just have to come up with something different." Agnes spoke, a slight smirk creeping at the corner of her mouth. She was changing, the past didn't quite affect her as it usually had, but to a degree it still does in which she's trying to change. When offered more whiskey, she nodded to the gesture, and watched as he poured her a glass. Agnes listened as Apollo was describing this ally she found. "I don't know about loyalty, he has other priorities, and it's not like I need him beside me constantly. He is very conscious of reputation though, like he knows he must remain unknown. I feel as though my work just might break that, they won't know his name, but definitely his face." Apollo then described the sorceress which she was keen on having as an ally. "I don't think I can trust either of them fully, I don't know about you but words aren't enough for me. Making the sorceress an ally feels easier than the vampire, a few people who know him say he's dangerous and that he's learned how to manipulate people because he's centuries old. I empathize with being called dangerous, but who's to say he hasn't manipulated me already?" Apollo's advice seemed like the most that mattered in this situation, being an Elder and such.

  Agnes took a sip of her whiskey, the innocent smile he feigned didn't get much of a reaction from her. "I have conditions, my dear, I'm not the bounty hunter I once was." She said, taking another sip. "You have to be actively working with me, no substitutes, no goons. It has to be you, just as I'm making an active effort into this. If you want some of my own people involved, I'll oblige if they accept."  Agnes stated, leaning back and crossing her arms. "Now, what is it you're facing anyway?"
• 

  Ω June 14, 2019 at 7:47pm

  It was a strange thing, how the energy in a space could rise and drop, no differently than temperature. If it were on in the same, the car would have fallen several degrees after the question had been asked. Nik’s nerves did something similar when the single word fell from Apollo’s lips, ice cold. His lips pursed to a thin line as he studied the other’s expression— one part tension and another part being what was happening in the vampire’s normally serene hues. He’d seen it only a time or two thus far and it was no less intimidating than the last. Nikolas took another long breath, trying to keep the heartbeat which Apollo was tracking at bay. He still stared at the other in silence while that underlying human instinct of his was enticing him to get out of the car.

  He wouldn’t think of it, at least, not in the foreground of his head. The story, for better or for worst, wasn’t over, after all. He shifted in his seat a little, eyes falling between the driver and the cup holder. Once his words halted at the peculiar place, light blue hues perked up and studied the grimace on Apollo’s face. “Just like that..?” Nikolas murmured softly. When he spoke of the results his face fell entirely. A heaviness settled in his stomach. It was the expression of a timid human, one that had watched lesser demons swallow up and corrupt whatever paid them attention, but in the end, true violence and bloodshed was another thing. As he processed it, attempting to put the wicked imagery into his head but falling short in the process. Maybe it was that part of him didn’t want to.

  Silence festered in the car until Nik’s head shook. He spoke in a smaller voice. “I’m sorry. I mean... I couldn’t imagine it. I…” His words trailed off when they had to, a wave of nausea going through his system and forcing him quiet in order to handle it. The more his fingers quivered, he pulled them from the sides of his head and clamped them into fists. Was the car slowing? He couldn’t focus on that right now. Nik leaned up from his slump position with a look of strain on his face and leaned heavily against the passenger side door. White as a ghost, the lines on his face had deepened. He cast a look in Apollo’s direction at the second call for his name, a touch glossy eyed.

  The car had stopped. Oh Hell, did this really have to happen right now? After everything? “I’m fine…” He breathed, “I’ll be fine, I just need to- …” Nikolas’ expression tightened in frustration as he gritted his teeth to the matter and lowered his head again. To not fight felt like letting himself be dragged down by his feet and drowned. His breathing was laced with panic when it picked up as shallow, ragged breaths. It only grew worse as he felt himself slipping down into that same hole; whatever place he went while the entity crept its way through his skin, and for who-knows-how-long. His consciousness came and went in waves, as did his thoughts of the car, Apollo, or any mission of getting home he had started out with, up until the shaking subsided.

  Then came silence. Slowly but surely, he started to catch his breath. Nikolas’ hunched figure relaxed. Clutched hands loosened and his trembling ceased. His heart rate fell back to resting at an abnormally quick rate. Given another moment, he sat up in his seat and let a long breath pass through his lips… Nikolas Everett had never sat that straight before in his life. He studied the windshield in front of him briefly before his head turned toward Apollo. What were once blue irises had taken the form of solid pools of ink. They stared the vampire down like he was somehow a new presence in the space. His head tipped a few degrees to one side. “...That is quite touching, is it not?” The stoic expression wore was broken as a quaint smile spread upon the Vessel’s lips.