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

[yves]

Yves didn't like fighting- He could, and was, honestly, quite frightening in a fight, but that didn't mean he liked it. It was so beneath him, much more suited to his war obsessed brethren, but when attacked and provoked, the fae didn't hold back.

He wasn't as strong as a vampire, but he was swift, elbowing his first attacker in the face before striking the other hard with his steel tipped umbrella. Yves could fence, brawl, even fire several different projectile weapons, but his best defense was the most simple and elegant- Magic.

Pushing his right sleeve up revealed several alchemy symbols carved into his skin, each once scarred so deeply it could never possibly fade. Usually he kept them well hidden with a glamour, but here and now they were impossible not to notice as he ran two fingers over a few of them in a graceful pattern, before turning his palm skyward to reveal a small orb of pure sunlight. It burned his fingers, but Yves didn't flinch before directing it towards one of his attackers.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa watched in awe as the ball of sunshine sailed straight towards one of the creatures. Vampires, then? She heard a growl behind her, and turned around just in time to step in the path of the third vampire, staring him down as he stopped in his tracks, mere inches from her. "No," she commanded him with all the steel she could muster.

Behind her, one vampire had been decked by the ball of sunlight, and was howling in pain as he tried to push the ball away, smoke rising from his flesh. But while other kinds of bloodsuckers would already have caught on fire, this seemed to be a slow, painful torture more than anything else. His companion had recovered, in the meantime, and leaped on Yves again.

[yves]

It was as if a switch had been flipped, and Yves' hair went shock white as the fae snarled and turned on his attacker, striking him hard and then slamming him against the ground. The blunt metal tip of his umbrella was hard against the vampire's throat, and the fae bared his teeth.

"I know it wont kill you, beast, but I imagine it would produce quite a scream- At least until I managed to penetrate your vocal cords. Shall we see just how accurate my aim is?"

At this point he wasn't even thinking of Vanessa. It was as if the whole world had vanished, and it was simply the fae and this creature. A being the doctor would gladly take apart, bit by bit.

[miss_ives]

The face of the vampire before Vanessa twisted into a snarl at Yves's words to his companion, but Vanessa sidestepped when he did, bringing him to a halt again. "Go, all three of you, now," she told him, her gaze dark as she stared him down.

After a beat longer, he whistled.

The vampire under Yves still glared up at the Fae, but he held his hands up in a sign that he would not attack him again. The third one was still whimpering under the magical ball of sunlight that would not leave him alone.

[yves]

The fae didn't look like he had any interest in letting the vampire up, and his fingers flexed around his umbrella before he finally looked back at Vanessa.

Some of his hair returned to it's usual colour, and he seemed to calm before lifting up his umbrella.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa had turned sideways to watch him, and had been about to say his name when he chose to let the vampire up.

"Disappear that bloody light and we'll go," the one who seemed to be their leader snarled at the Fae, even as his companion scrambled away from Yves and back to his feet.

[yves]

Yves still looked annoyed, but he vanished the ball of light with a snap of his fingers.

"Then go," he snarled, fixing his suit and taking a calming breath.

[miss_ives]

"She's not yours to have," the vampire warned him as the three of them hurried away, supporting the injured one among them. "The Master'll have you, miss!"

Vanessa watched them go with a thoughtful, concerned expression, then turned back to Yves. "I'm sorry you ended up in the middle of this. Are you all right?" He seemed all right, despite the shockingly white hair.

[yves]

"Fine," Yves insisted, pushing his hair back and looking Vanessa over.

"Did they harm you? Are you alright?" he asked calmly.

[miss_ives]

"They did not touch me," Vanessa answered his first question, and walked closer to him, watching him with her usual sharp frankness. "I don't think that they were allowed to."

[yves]

"What do you mean?" Yves asked seriously. "Are you protected somehow? Friendly with one of the old ones?"

[miss_ives]

Vanessa's lips stretched into a slight smile, but it was devoid of good humour. "No. No. I don't know, Yves," she admitted. "What are these old ones?"

[yves]

"I don't know the formal name, just the old vampires, the ones who run their little groups and make them behave or whatever. I make a point of not mingling with vampires, Vanessa. They have a tendency to get a bit rough with my kind. Though I suppose the same could be said for anything they find tasty," he huffed.

[miss_ives]

Her gaze darkened further, with her guilt for having put him in this situation, however unwillingly. "I'm sorry for my part in your involvement tonight."

Being treated as a tasty snack would never be pleasant, Vanessa suspected, especially for one with such pride as Yves - and especially by creatures so much baser than he was.

"But thank you, for stepping in."

[yves]

"You owe me no apologies. I chose to step in," Yves assured her. "It's alright."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa gave him a thankful smile and a nod. "They talked of their Master. So did Mina, when she came to see me," she stated. But more than that, there was something about the way they had felt that was similar to what she had felt in the presence of her old friend.

[yves]

"So they're connected to your friend somehow? Perhaps they are the ones holding her- We should follow them," he suggested.

[miss_ives]

The suggestion surprised Vanessa, and she did not hide it. "You would...?"

[yves]

"I'm not thrilled by the idea, but- For you, I would," he replied with a small shrug.

[miss_ives]

Surprise made way for determination, and Vanessa nodded. "Thank you." Again. She would not let her resolve falter by second-guessing herself. "Let's hurry, if we're not going to lose them."

[yves]

Yves nodded, then paused.

"Actually, we might be better off casting a tracking spell. We could be following them right back to a nest or something, assuming Vampires still do that whole nesting thing- And not all of them might be so worried for your safety."

[miss_ives]

Vanessa paused. "Can you do that even though they've gone?"

[yves]

"They laid their hands on me, I can use my jacket to focus the spell," Yves nodded.

[miss_ives]

So there was not the same urgency, and Vanessa's body language relaxed somewhat. "Do you need privacy?"

They were not too far from her home, after all.

[yves]

"No, but this will be easier to do from my spell room. Would you like to join me? If the spell works we may not even have to follow them ourselves, I might be able to send a sprite to scout them out," Yves said, always a fan of keeping his hands clean when able.