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!))

Comments

[miss_ives]

Vanessa was quite certain she had done nothing of the sort, but it was perhaps not the best time to argue about the exact manner in which she had annihilated the creature. "I wasn't sure what the magic would do," she simply answered, forcing herself to look up from the pile of dust he had turned into.

[kersenjr]

"Holy fucking shit," Bonnie said, her voice breaking and tears welling up in her eyes.

[miss_ives]

"Is it best if I leave you?" Vanessa asked, although she did not like the thought of it. But she was not certain that she wasn't making things worse.

[kersenjr]

Bonnie just cried for a moment, then asked, "Why were those guys following you?"

[miss_ives]

"I don't know," Vanessa answered. It was the truth; she did not know why, although she suspected part of the truth, she surmised.

[kersenjr]

Bonnie was quiet for a second, looking down at the dust that was clinging to her clothes. "There's bits of the guy on me."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa wasn't sure what kind of answer to make to that statement, inaccurate though it sounded. "Will you be all right?" she asked instead.

[kersenjr]

"I don't know," Bonnie said, her voice breaking with emotion.

[miss_ives]

"Will you let me walk you home?" Vanessa asked.

[kersenjr]

Bonnie wasn't sure how to respond. She didn't particularly like the idea of spending more time in the company of somebody who'd just killed someone else with black magic, and she didn't want to have to explain to Kersen who the woman was, but she didn't want to be alone, either.

"Sure. Whatever." She was still standing in the same spot, against the wall with the dead vampire's remains in front of her.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa was reaching the end of her patience, as it turned out. Responsible though she would have felt if the vampires had killed the girl, she could still feel the verbis diablo clinging to her like a film of something oily and wrong. The dismissive, sullen teenager attitude was fraying her already shot nerves, and she had just lost what might have been a chance of helping Mina.

"Where do you live?" she asked, somewhat still keeping a hold on herself.

[kersenjr]

"In a house," Bonnie said. She wasn't intentionally being a smartass. She was still in shock and her mouth seemed to be running on autopilot.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa took in a deep breath, then briskly walked over to the girl - not in front of her, but to her side, since she had no intention of stepping into that pile of dust. "What's your name?"

[kersenjr]

"Bonnie," she answered, without actually looking at Vanessa.

[miss_ives]

"And where is your house, Bonnie?" Vanessa asked, her voice tight.

[kersenjr]

"Near Hampstead Heath," Bonnie said, not wanting to give an address, but it was still a lot more helpful than her previous answer.

[miss_ives]

"I'll order you a cab," Vanessa stated, opening her bag to get her phone out.

[kersenjr]

Bonnie nearly snorted a hysterical laugh, but she managed to hold it in. Barely. "I'll get this dust shit all over the cab."

[miss_ives]

"There's hardly any on you," Vanessa replied, getting a tissue out of her purse instead. Truth be told, there was hardly any left in the street; the slight breeze on the air had blown it all away where it was undetectable. Still, she unfolded the tissue and held it out to the girl.

[kersenjr]

Vanessa was right, but to Bonnie it felt like she was coated in the stuff and would never get it off. She started crying again and ignored the tissue, too upset to bother with it.

"This is so fucked up."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa would do it herself then, dusting the girl off with the tissue."Perhaps next time you find yourself in such a situation, you will heed people's words and leave them to it," she suggested, her tone sharp.

[kersenjr]

"Are you serious?" Bonnie said. "You're telling me off for not leaving you alone to get killed?"

[miss_ives]

"You speak of things you do not understand," Vanessa told her, a flash of temper in her eyes. "We would both be better off if you had left when I asked you to." She shook the tissue out, then bunched it up and put it in her purse to throw away later. She stepped away as she pulled her phone out, intending to order the girl a cab.

[kersenjr]

"Really?" Bonnie shot back. "How much do you know about vampires?"

[miss_ives]

"How much do you know about me?" Vanessa shot back, eyes flashing again, temptation so close to the surface. She turned back to her phone and quickly made the order. "Your taxi will be here in two minutes. Go home, recover, and stop stepping into situations you don't understand. You almost died tonight."

That said, Vanessa turned to go, everything in her body language screaming tension.