OTA

[miss_ives]

Vanessa had always had sharp instincts, and had long since learned to follow them. That night, as she walked home after dark, there was that odd pinprick on the back of her neck. Someone was watching. And as it lingered, she trusted that she wasn't simply being watched, but actually followed.

Her heart beat a little faster as she picked up the pace, cursing the fact that she was far from any busier street.

London, her home, the city she knew and loved, suddenly felt like a strange, dark, dangerous place. The lampposts felt less efficient than normal, and her steps on the pavement sounded louder than they ought to. She glanced back and saw three men a few yards behind her, hardly more than dark figures, doing nothing to hide themselves.

When she turned into the next street over and they were still following, her mind was made up. She stopped walking and turned around, a forbidding look on her pale features.

The three men slowed their steps but eventually came into clearer view, stopping a few feet from her. They were even paler than her, with sunken, abnormally clear eyes, and they felt wrong to her. Not, she reflected, unlike Mina had.

"What do you want with me?" she demanded.

They shared a look, and the one in the middle replied, "We don't want anything with you. We're not allowed. Our Master, however..."

Their Master. Mina had used that word as well. "Where is he?"

"Do you want to meet him?" the same one offered, stepping slowly nearer Vanessa.


((Feel free to stumble across Vanessa having a chat in a dark street with some vampires, Penny Dreadful style! They'll probably attack you if you try to jump in and get her away from them. Good times!))

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[miss_ives]

Vanessa had not realised that she was steeling herself against anything until he waved his hand, and some of the tension in her shoulders unlocked. "Were those wards?" It was the only thing she could think of.

[yves]

"Mmm, sharp senses," Yves replied, nodding in approval as he led them to the door and dug out his keys to let them in. "Most people don't notice."

[miss_ives]

Most people hadn't been taught how to be a daywalker, although Vanessa was still reluctant to call herself one of them. She did not feel as if she deserved it, and she certainly practiced what she knew little enough, save for using the tarot. "Most people aren't so sensitive to magic," she simply answered, which was also true.

[yves]

"No, I suppose not," the fae agreed, inviting her into the narrow but grand looking house. Everything was dark and rich looking. Warm woods, luxurious fabrics, all mixed with functional, but very vintage, looking furniture.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa unbuttoned her jacket as she walked into his home, and could not resist reaching out to trail fingertips along the dark wood of a table they walked past. She followed Yves silently, taking in everything about his home.

[yves]

Yves was a terrible host, not pausing to take her coat as he shrugged his own off and slung it over his arm. Lost in thought, he was silent as he led the way towards a room hidden behind one of the bookcases in the parlor- A room that couldn't be there. An impossible space hidden in plain view.

The room where he did most of his spellwork, separate from the basement lab and his experiments.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa thought nothing of it, instinctively mimicking his actions, jacket folded on her arm as she followed him. She was much more focused on the room, when the bookcase slide aside to reveal it. Something about the space it inhabited was off, and she took a second to steel herself before following him in. Her skin prickled, something tugging inside her.

[yves]

The room wasn't huge, but it was large enough to contain a large alter, and an odd looking stove, as well as several bookshelves full of old looking tomes and various items.

Spreading his coat out over the alter, Yves began to gather up the ingredients he'd need for the spell.

"I'd say make yourself comfortable, but this isn't really the place for it."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa kept her jacket on her arm, stepping nearer the alter as if drawn to it. It was very telling that her first thought was not to look at the books, but she felt very much the moth drawn to a flame, right then. "Not quite," she agreed, watching Yves's precise gestures as he worked.

[yves]

"I also apologize for any nausea you might experience while in this room. Transplaced space can effect some people quite a bit. Feels somewhat like sea sickness, I've been told."

[miss_ives]

"I'm fine, for now," Vanessa told him, frowning slightly and looking up at his face. "Transplaced space?" The sound of it sounded like it might explain the impression she had had earlier.

[yves]

"Mmm, space borrowed from somewhere else. Another realm in this case. Perfectly safe," he added as he set to work.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa was as curious as ever, but rather than ask what realm - or hazard a guess - she fell silent to watch him work instead. The magic in the air prickled against her skin, and something was tightening in her chest that she could not easily identify.

[yves]

Yves crushed several of the ingredients in a mortar and pestle, dusting it out over the coat. He whispered a few words, and a faint light began to glimmer.

"Ah, that was easier than expected."

[miss_ives]

"Can you tell where they've gone?" Vanessa asked, unsure what to make of the faint light, and the way it felt.

[yves]

"No, but our friend here does. It's going to hunt them down, asses the threat, and then return to us with the intel. ...And in the meantime, we can have tea, if you'd like. Or we can follow, if you'd like."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa wanted, desperately, to follow. Mina might be at the end of that quest, Mina who needed her help. But she resisted the urge to say so immediately, and took a moment to force herself to focus. "Tea would be more prudent."

[yves]

"It would, but one doesn't always have to be," Yves allowed, offering what was almost a sympathetic sort of look.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa felt on the edge of a precipice, all the more with how the magic in the room felt. Normally, she tended to step back to safety, in these situations. But nothing about how she felt was normal, and Yves was by her side. "Let's be daring," she decided, looking up to meet his gaze.

[yves]

Yves nodded, a quick but sure tilt of his chin, and he left his coat where it was in favour of catching the little ball of light he'd summoned in his hand.

"Then we'll follow. I have a car, that might be best," he added, already leading the way out of his impossible room.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa was already sliding her coat back on, and she followed him out of the room, feeling oddly empty and a different sort of off balance as they left it. But there was a lot to focus on beside that, and so she did, quiet and determined as she fell in stride with Yves.

[yves]

"I'll need you to keep a close eye on the sprite while we're on the road," he said, leading them out to a very plain looking black car that was parked around back. "They can get a bit over excited."

[miss_ives]

"Let me drive," Vanessa suggested. "I know how to handle a car much better than an overexcited sprite."

[yves]

Yves looked unsure, clearly a bit unwilling to give up control in this situation- Or any, if he were honest. She had a point though, and after a beat he reluctantly offered the keys.

[miss_ives]

With someone else, Vanessa might have promised not to get a scratch on the car. As it was, she had an inkling that Yves' reluctance was about more than just the plain-looking car, and she simply took the keys with a short nod, then walked over to the driver's side.