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 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.

[miss_ives]

Vanessa nodded at his offer - the urgency was less, but not gone altogether - and fell in stride with him as she echoed, "A sprite?"

[yves]

"Or an imp, I suppose, but sprites are faster," Yves shrugged.

[miss_ives]

"And either would do your bidding," Vanessa stated, no less awed than she always was with Yves' magic. Fae magic was nothing at all like a daywalker's.

[yves]

"Yes, creatures like that can be easily paid to do your bidding, if you know how to summon them. ...I can try teaching you, if you'd like," he said, offering her his arm as they walked.

[miss_ives]

"You could?" Vanessa asked, taking his arm and naturally matching her pace to his. She had not thought that she could practice his kind of magic.

[yves]

"I can't say if you'll be able to master it, but- I suppose there's no harm in making an attempt, is there? At worst I'll waste some of your time," Yves shrugged.

[miss_ives]

"At worst, you'll waste some of yours," Vanessa replied honestly. She could not imagine any time she spent with Yves, never mind attempting new magic, to be wasted.

[yves]

"Fair enough," the fae nodded, not about to dispute how precious his time was to him.

[miss_ives]

"How near are we to your home?" Vanessa asked. She had never been there, after all.

[yves]

"Four and a half blocks," Yves said, always hyper aware of where he was in the city. "Not far, I promise. In the meantime, tell me where you were headed when those things approached you. Were they following you?"

[miss_ives]

"They were," Vanessa confirmed, glancing at him as they walked. "And I was headed home. But I initiated contact. I don't know whether they had planned to."

[yves]

"How long had they been following?" Yves asked, frowning deeply. "They could be waiting for you back home. Stalking you."

[miss_ives]

"They will probably pick up my tail if they want to," Vanessa stated. "But I don't think that they're an immediate danger to me."

Everything about their encounter said that they were not going to touch her.

[yves]

Yves didn't look as sure, but he tended to be paranoid, and always anticipated the worse.

"My home is just up ahead," he said, pointing at a three story home with a dark blue door, wedged tightly between two similar style buildings. As they approached, he took down his wards with a wave of his hand.

[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.