|
Post by Admin on Feb 10, 2015 21:50:15 GMT
Whole again, something deep within him sighed relieved. Now we are ready to do as we were made.
Dropping into a low crouch, Jashin took one last brief moment to revel in the feel of the soft earth as he dug the claws on his hands and feet into the damp earth and tensed his body. His rediscovered tail lashed for an instant before going still, and his body sang with balance and energy. Purpose. The Hunter could still feel the chiera ahead of him. Keen eyes picked out her trail leading to a dilapidated manor of some sort, long since fallen into disrepair and overgrown to nigh-obscurity. The chiera's scent led straight there, though the sea breeze was quickly scrubbing it from his mind. Jashin could feel his lip curl as his instincts urged him on, and he felt ready. With a burst of raw power, he tore across the field in surging leaps.
The ground flowed beneath him as the Hunter raced across an overgrown courtyard, weeds and brush nearly hiding the rough-cut cobbles. He skidded to a stop several paces away from the manor's front wall, obscured by trees and draped with woven strands of ivy, and lifted his muzzle to scent the breeze. A dying part of him felt foolish for acting the animal that he felt he had become, but the pride he felt in his true divarian shape overwhelmed it quickly and brought it to silence. This was what he was, what he always should have been, and what his Goddess had made him to be. As soon as he caught the scent of her blood, he was off again and his pride and confusion forgotten in his rediscovered purpose.
He was a hunter of chiera, the enemy of the People.
She heard the house's warning keen in her mind that there was danger nearby, but she ignored it, welcomed it. Her hands went to her head as her knees hit the cobbles on the back patio. The ocean disappeared from her mind as if the whole world had suddenly gone still and silent. She felt the Beast come to the fore even as her own internal scream fell on no one's ears.
It was as if she had been locked in a tower and was watching the world go on without her. She pounded inside her own mind wanting control... but it was too late.
The Beast rose back up and turned to face the expanse of high grass that wrapped around the side of the house. There was another beast here. But it was not kin. It was something else. That meant it was dead.
The woman who stepped round the side of the house bore little resemblance to the woman the Hunter had been chasing. This woman showed no signs of pain though her silken shirt hung in tattered strips down her back. The scent of blood encircled her from the shredding that had claimed the once beautiful material. Her eyes were of such a deep crimson as to be nearly black. Once in a while the nearly passed moon glinted off them giving them a look of blood rubies. Her nails, if they could still be called that, had grown into elongated claw like digits. Their razor sharpness obvious to any who cared to look.
But it was her face that had changed the most. Somehow, the woman he was hunting was gone. Not physically, for she stood there in the clearing plain as the ocean that spread out behind and below her past the cliffs behind the house. Before him now stood a predator, not prey. Lips sneered at him and flashed fangs of porcelain white. And the words that came were definitely not pleas for her life.
"She is mine. You cannot have her. But I will be happy to let watch as I spill your blood she so desperately wants to taste." The taunt was deep and guttural and the soft laughter that rippled behind it was anything but feminine. Had it not been for her familiar scent and the fact he knew how she had come to look so disheveled, she could have passed for an evil version of a doppelganger.
Jashin pressed his shoulder against the stone wall a pace from the corner of what appeared to be a balcony of some type. Unlike the rest of the grounds, the stone was devoid of brush or dirt or nature. The chiera, or whoever deigned to live here, had obviously taken a bit of care to keep this hidden section of the manor in its intended state, though not perfectly. Cracks could be seen in the swept stone. A patina of lichen bled from the mortar where the sea air's dampness had set in. A few of the urns and pots were far too overgrown, or were broken and their contents spilled, forgotten. Hers was the only scent here, strong and old. He could not find the trace of another sentient creature, giving him pause for just a moment.
Perhaps she had been telling the truth after all, he mused. The laws and my duty, however, are clear.
The Hunter gathered himself and rounded the corner, clawed hands held up before him in a loose guard stance and tail held low behind him for balance. It was an odd dichotomy, his primal appearance blended seamlessly against his cultured training. Although well pleased to be a true divarian once more, his newly-returned body felt out of place still. Awkward. Such a thing could get him killed, but it was a risk he had to take. Part of his mind wondered where his armor and fali'sara had gone, and how he would return safely to Conclave without causing a panic, but he mentally packed that away for later. Plenty to be concerned with in this moment, he chided himself. When his eyes fell upon the chiera female, his stomach turned to lead and an anxious pulse built in his ears. He had not been the only one to undergo a strange metamorphosis.
Where his change had been almost purely physical, there was little different about the chiera woman beyond her bearing. She stood, confident and upright, before him and showed no sense of fear in her dark crimson eyes. There was a malevolent pulse in that blank gaze, pinpricks of primordial hunger burning like embers and burning into him. There was a tightness to her skin, as if her muscles had shifted a bit to better accommodate the predator she now resembled. Taloned hands as dangerous as his own hung proudly at her sides, and her alabaster skin danced with the waning moonlight. When he purred her taunt, there was little doubt left in Jashin's mind that something had shifted drastically within her.
A different animal, his instincts told him. Purely chiera now.
Jashin's amber glare did not phase the woman in the least, and he adjusted his stance just a bit. Whatever about him let the Hunter know what she was had changed as well, the bloodlust having sharpened into a razor focus that left his mind clear to consider his situation while leaving him poised to strike. It was almost impossible to comprehend, the woman he had chased in the woods with the thing that stood before him. Whatever compassion and humanity he had seen in here was simply... gone, wiped away and replaced with pure need. The woman looked at him as a wolf would a deer--as he himself had looked at her only moments before--and there was not a shred of hesitation against what she intended.
The rules of engagement had changed, Jashin knew, and his mind raced to take it all in. Everything he had been led to believe about the chiera, from Conclave's teachings to the lessons of his own people, was a warped image of the true reality he had--and still was--experiencing. Everything inside him screamed to attack, to tear her to shreds and wipe her memory from the face of Enos. Yet a small voice within him, refusing to be crushed or washed away in the din of his bloodlust, warned him that more was to unfold here...
...if he could survive the next few moments.
"Doubtless blood will be shed this night," he retorted, his voice the grumble of mountain stone. "You overestimate yourself, however, for you know not what you face. Come, vampire, and learn."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 10, 2015 21:58:50 GMT
The creature before Jas made no comment in return.
The Beast felt no need to explain himself to this one before him. Certainly he looked like a Were, but the Beast knew there was something different. This would be no easy adversary to merely pin down and rip his throat out. It grinned as Alexa seemed to fight within him. He would see to her feeding. It had been too long. But this one was special to her, so he allowed her to remain part of his conscious so she would watch and see what she truly was, a hunter and predator. This one before him was not going to be a pet, or lover or even a thrall if he had his way... which he usually did.
Alexa watched almost as if in a dream as she lunged towards the creature before her. He smelled like her Hunter, and even had the eyes of him, but his form was different. She knew he wasn't a Were because she knew there was an Accord and they wouldn't dare pursue her to her Sanctuary, much less continue onto the property.
Which led her to question another thing. Why didn't Serenade hurt him like it did all other intruders? It was as if her house defenses hadn't worked on him.
The Beast locked down the random thoughts and soon even her whimpering and useless attempts to regain control were lost as claws and teeth were bared in the leap towards the abomination before him. Blood was all that was on its mind.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 10, 2015 23:19:20 GMT
Feb 10, 1700 Norfolk, VA Home RPd on Yahoo Messenger
Jashin was ready for her assault this time, and it was definitely not to turn and run. Something had changed in her, and the feral look in her eyes was a testament to just how much. There was to be no parlay, no pleading. She meant to kill him now, quickly and perhaps as messily as she could manage. The Hunter had seen beasts of the wild places kill with savage efficiency, but the dark glint in her steely gaze burned with intelligence. Worse, it was devoid of any mercy. He had seen that look before in House Selimnar, a look that meant Jashin would suffer greatly if she gained any kind of advantage over him.
The divarian, of course, had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.
Dropping his weight, Jashin gathered his legs beneath him and surged forward. He tucked his body and rolled over his paws as he planted them on the patio, letting her pass over him close enough that his fur brushed the tatters of her bodice. The Hunter sighed inwardly as his thick tail did not react entirely as anticipated, thumping against her chest instead of the hammerblow he intended it to be. He sprang upright once more and skidded to a halt, his tail whipping about behind him to turn him to face her once more. Amber glare met crimson snarl once more, and his corded muscles tensed for her next move.
She leapt over him without intention and managed, even with the offset slap of the tail to distract her, to land and roll to her feet. Turning swiftly she noticed their locations were reversed. The creature before her, because now as her gaze became more intent on the form the word "Were" was highly inappropriate, was now three steps up on the stone patio and Alexa was now on the grassy carpet of the property staring up at him.
"You are quick. I will give you credit where none was a moment ago. But you must realize this is futile. I will feed on your blood to feed her and then all this confusion you both suffer will be gone and done." Alexa's voice was deeper than her normal timber, as if she had crossed a sultry bedroom voice with a dominance that refused to be ignored.
"I will end her suffering torment at wanting to know you better, and end your torment of wondering what you are. Is that not a fair trade, stranger?" She leapt again. This time with less arrow-like grace and more full bodied in her charge.
Jashin's trailing foot slid back along the broken stair to lock into the joint of the landing, legs tensing to receive her while his torso and arms shifted. He had little doubt that he could leap and dance about to evade her for a time, but they would have to meet at some point; he would be no better prepared than he was now, and he wanted their meeting to be on his terms and not hers. He snapped a clawed knife hand at her, his other arm tucking close to his body as he braced himself for her weight.
She had been prepared to meet his stance, but not the follow through he planned. Alexa managed to grab his outstretched arm though her grip of his trailing arm slid off with the barest of scratches left behind. But as his body twisted to throw her, she dug deep with her right hand trying to maintain her grip.
The grip failed, rending flesh, though she wasn't sure how deep. And the momentum, unable to be stopped on the moss slicked stone, left her off balance enough that when he released her, she slid into the side of the house and fell on her backside. Leaning on the house, she shook her head and braced her hands about to push off and come at him again. A deep growl of rage at losing her mark once again, fell between clenched teeth.
As the two made contact, Jashin's knife hand became a claw that snaked to grab her as she tried to grapple him. He snarled against the pain of her claws slashing through the fur of his arm, but it was not as bad as he imagined it should have been. The Hunter snapped his wrist and managed to catch the fabric of her tattered blouse, and he pivoted. The already damaged cloth gave beneath his sharp claws, but he managed to turn her momentum against her enough to send her sprawling.
Tail finally working in his favor, Jashin whipped around and leapt at her as he heard the satisfactory impact of her body against the building, claws spread and arms held just-so from his body as to not leave his body completely exposed. He roared with fury, the bloodlust singing through his veins boiling to a heady brew that spurned him onward.
The salty sea wind in the predawn wind blew across her bare chest where the shirt had been torn in the toss. Her corset still managed to hold remnants of material as it maintained its hold around her waist and lower ribcage.
Seemingly unaware of her half naked state, Alexa pushed off the stone with all her might to meet the foe coming at her like a cannon ball. She didn't get up far enough to find her footing though, and as he slammed into her she would fall backwards carrying them both to the ground with enough force to cause her head to thunk against the ground as her back connected at the same time.
The stun gave Alexa enough time to struggle to the fore of her mind. Her eyes shifted from the almost ruby red blood lust to her previously lighter crimson from the fight.
"Please... I don't want to hurt you..." But a second later her eyes shifted once more and a growl ended the thought as she glared up at him.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 11, 2015 0:28:23 GMT
With a growl of triumph Jashin smashed bodily into the chiera and felt his claws wrap around her throat. Twisting his body and heaving with all his might, the Hunter bore his prey to the ground. A ripple of deep satisfaction resounded through him as he heard the solid smack of her flesh striking hard stone and the resounding of her skull on the ground. He had no illusions that she would be outright slain by the force of the blow, but he found her injury nearly thrilling.
And slightly horrifying as well, he admitted to himself. The People were not ones for wanton abuse, needless pain. Even as warriors, respect for one's opponent was a foundational tenet of their training. It was not considered honorable to toy with one's prey, and the mercy of a swift death was every combatant's right. A chiera should have been no different, no matter the seething urge to tear her apart. His claws tightened about her slender neck, pinpricks of crimson blossoming beneath their sharp tips, and his other hand drew back to deliver a quick strike to her exposed chest. He would grant her the honor she would have stolen from him and end her suffering, quickly and cleanly.
Stop.
The Hunter's deathblow stopped mid-flight as he saw her crimson glare melt to rosy confusion before hardening once more. It had been a palpable change, as if he had caught a glimpse of someone else entirely. As if she had become the woman in the woods once more before the predator within her could collect itself. The divarian could empathize, for he was at war within himself for what his body desired to do and what was honorable. That ghostly shriek returned at that moment, crashing over him once more and threatening to sweep him under again. Yet this time it could not carry him off completely, only rattle him. The mental keen was a river torrent, his resolve a heavy stone, and it smashed him all about without destroying him as it had before. Jashin's claws curled into a fist and he brought it smashing into her core instead of her heart, and the wail subsided.
Alexa had been waiting and as the stun of the fist to her gut knocked what little air was needed from her lungs, she had a moment again to press the Beast back and crimson eyes stared at him as hands gripped his sides to dig her claws into his flesh as she screamed and pushed with all her might. "RUN! Or kill me... please..."
She thrashed under his weight trying to hip toss him or at least roll them over, but her booted heels kept slipping on the stone and she couldn't get purchase to brace herself for anything more than writhing under him.
At that moment she had an idea. She jerked her chin with as much force as she could and tried to bite his arm that was braced at her throat. If she could loose him, get into the house, into the basement...
But that seemed so far away, miles from where she lay right now. So first things first. She had to break free... again. Teeth snapped towards his exposed forearm. She only hoped she could pursuade him to let her go without harming him too much.
His bodily blow rocked her, but he nearly cursed when it did not have the desired effect. Something inside him chuckled at his vexation, and he cursed himself again for his ignorance. Chiera still bore the physical form of their old lives, but as undead they did not have many of the restrictions. He had never seen Carmine eat save for formal functions and out amongst mortal men and women, so why would breathing be any different? The Hunter felt her buck and squirm beneath him, and he dropped his weight to nearly lay atop of her to make it as difficult to roll him as possible. Jashin knew that if she managed to get him in a similar hold, he would be at a severe disadvantage.
The chiera twisted yet again, and he nearly laughed as she tried to bite him after begging for an end to her existence. The poor creature was not merely at war within herself, she was crazed! And yet the more he tousled with her, the more it made sense to him. The woman he had chased through the woods had not the potential for this level of ferocity; whatever he was grappling with now was, indeed, a separate creature. It was a beast, hunger and rage personified.
Just so, that voice within him agreed. A beast without humanity, without regret. She is lost.
Jashin's mind reeled with all the implications. He no longer knew what to do. The right and honorable thing was lost. Chiera were a plague to Enos, to the People. The call from within to destroy her should have been the one he heeded, not the whisper of doubt from his heart. Yet if she wrestled with the hunger in what she was, could he discount that struggle and put her down as the dark creature all chiera inherently were? Would destroying her before her conflict was over not be more cruel than allowing her to quite possibly emerge victorious? History had shown that such a concept bordered on lunacy, and yet...
As her teeth struggled to latch on his forearm, Jashin felt his free hand move almost of its own accord across the side of her head in a powerful slap. His body twisted and flooded the blow with all he could muster even as his legs bunched beneath him.
The smack rocked her to the core and Alexa managed, once more to push the beast back. This time for more than just a moment. As the taste of blood from biting her cheek in the abuse, and the return of herself to her mind, she went still under her assailant. Her hands dropped to her side and she looked up at him with pleading in her eyes.
Hands withdrew their claws from his waist and teeth were veiled by lips receding from their gaping maw. "Please... let me go. I can feel the sun coming. If you have any pity in you at all... don't let me burn."
She could feel her need to feed all the more keen from the excitement and struggle, but she wrestled with it. Her body taunt and the internal struggle for control raged on despite the apparent calm exterior.
A soft whimper in her mind as she tried to hold the beast at bay was echoed with the growl of the beast wanting to feed before the run rose. But as she spoke of the sun's pending rise, the beast withdrew slowly. It may want dominance and control, but it didn't want to die. Self-preservation, in them both, meant Alexa was able to shudder, but remain still, arms wide and resting on the stone as she stared at Jas. "It's your move... or you can kill me and be done with it." The last was said with as much indifference as if she had stated the grass was green.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2015 0:29:41 GMT
Jashin felt his glare soften and his muscles relax as she went limp beneath him, almost resigned to her death. Her voice was oddly passionate in its emptiness, neutrality that he had not seen in her kind before. Whether he allowed her to live or he ended her in this moment, both things hung in equal measure in her stare. Perhaps what stayed his strike was the flicker of something deep in her eyes that he knew all too well: guilt. Whatever it was, there was a loss there, whether in herself or in something she had held dear at one point.
Quite possibly both… and that rankled him all the more.
As his hand tightened on her neck, her hands reflexively came up to grip his wrist and try and wretch him free. She didn't breathe, so breath wasn't necessary. But to have her throat ripped out would still leave her helpless and unconscious and take a very long time to heal while leaving her vulnerable in torpor.
So intent was she on keeping her throat intact that she failed to see the blow that came down and ripped her chest open as claws slammed down between ribs and edged close to her heart. She tried to scream but the onslaught of mixed emotions and sensations left her silent as her mouth gaped waiting for sound to exit.
A searing pain lanced through her at that moment and like an explosion, blew them apart. He was tossed back from her, claws yanked free of her chest from one hand, the other hand nearly tearing her throat out in reflex as it sliced furrows along her neck on his suddenly unwilling departure from her.
She gasped and rolled to her side clutching her chest and half expecting to feel her heart fall into her palm. But it didn't happen. She was still alive, for what that meant to the undead. Looking over at Jas she half expected to see a charred body before her. But like her, he seemed intact. She felt the sun coming and knew she didn't have much time, but she felt compelled to waste several seconds watching him till his chest heaved in a breath. He would be ok.
Knowing that somehow made her feel better. Odd since he had just tried to kill her. But then self-preservation kicked in and she slowly began the grueling painful crawl into the house.
It seemed to take forever, but as the predawn light flashed over the ocean outside, she managed to crawl far enough in that the heavy curtains and the bulk of the couch would shield her from the light. As she pulled her feet those last couple inches to safety, her mind finally caught up with the pain and she screamed just as she passed out.
The sun crept over the horizon a moment later and her bloody, torn body lay in the darkness of the house as she slipped into her daylight torpor.
Jashin snarled as his back smashed into the balcony railing, and he knew that something within him had fractured. It hurt to breathe, took effort to move, and his mind swam with pain. The spell had simply been meant to stun her, to jolt her with a whisper of life and hopefully disorient her. Yet something deep inside him had slithered up and wrapped itself about his magick, driving his hai'zjin still further to reach every corner of her being before retreating into him and going dormant once more. So many surprises, new experiences, and his mind was too numb to process it all. The Hunter rolled over experimentally and was rewarded for his effort with more pain. Vertigo churned through him and emptied his stomach on the cool stone, the world about hum thrumming in time with the pulse in his ears.
Swift on the heels of his pain came the panic when his warrior's mind realized that, while he was wounded and disoriented, his prey might still be a danger. Surging to his feet and fighting against the rush of vertigo that threatened to twist him double once more, the divarian set himself in a loose defensive stance and looked about almost groggily. Jashin tensed as he noticed something move on the edge of his vision, but was almost immediately relieved to find her crawling for cover.
Carefully and with great purpose, Jashin's lithe claws traced a pattern in the air and turned his hai'zjin inward to brush away the worst of the pain and nausea. The pain and damage were not truly gone, merely masked; he had not proven himself strong enough in the Realm of Water for anything stronger. His vision cleared, and he dropped into a crouch until she had slithered out of sight. Patience, his instincts cautioned just moments before he felt the sun's warmth break over his back. All chiera, no matter how ancient, could not deny daylight's authority for long, let alone face it directly.
Jashin counted to one hundred before he padded into the room to search for her. His claws were held ready as he passed from light into shadow, but there was no need for such caution. The divarian's senses pulled his attention to a faded couch, and he knew she had taken refuge there. It was a feeling he had not experienced in many years, the emptiness of a chiera in torpor. It was not merely the absence of life that he sensed, like that of a stone or chair, but a void of life that seemed to tug feather light on the world around it. As he neared, that deeper force winked to life again in response to that void, and he felt an echo ripple from her.
"Va stu'ges?" (“What are you?”) He murmured to himself, drawing around the back of the couch to make certain that she was not deceiving him. Yet there she lay, curled into a tight fetal position with her arms tucked across her face and bare chest. The chiera did not twitch or react when he toed her boot, and he relaxed. She had apparently crawled into the deepest shadow the couch and nearby table could cast before the sun's weight pressed her into oblivion. Jashin looked from the doorway to where she lay, and his mind noted the slant of the sun on the far wall. It did not take him long to realize her shelter was not completely safe; before mid-morning, she would feel its searing touch upon her flesh.
He could easily let her burn; he could push the couch aside or leave her to her fate, the result would be the same. Divarian honor would not allow him to do so, nor his morality. He was no je'aisa, no murderer, to kill her in her sleep. Truth, it would be the sun's light that would end her, but leaving her to such a fate made him as culpable as had he delivered the final blow himself. That did not take into account his duty to the victims he had come out to avenge, and to Conclave. There was no justice in slaughtering her like this, nothing beyond vainglory. Sighing heavily, Jashin cast about the room.
From the tattered and worn trappings, the room had once been the living quarters for someone of status amongst men. Moth-worn carpets and drapes had been unfurled and set back to proper use, chipped furniture toppled where it had been blown over by errant winds save for the couch, table, and a few chairs. It appeared that the chiera had made a token attempt to make the space livable for her purposes, for the stone was largely free of moss and overgrowth. The ashes in the fireplace were long-cooled, but banked carefully for later use. A pile of discarded books lay nearby, probably for kindling, their pages nearly blank from weather and time. A few tomes remained on the shelves across the room, but he could not make out their condition from his position. Shaking himself, Jashin rummaged about until he found a faded blanket to toss over her before ripping down one of the useless curtains. His claws made quick work of the fabric, and he used the thicker strips to bind her hands behind her back as well as her feet. Jashin grumbled as his body reacted to her alabaster curves, and he pulled the blanket over her exposed body until he was sure the sun would do no harm.
The divarian plopped down unceremoniously into a corner within view of the chiera and folded his arms across his chest. In his current form, he could not return to either Conclave or the Wandering Minstrel. There was just too much potential for panic and worse having a "monster" traipsing across Aisan. As much as he hated to admit it, he was stuck in the ruins of the manor almost as surely as she until he could regain his more human visage. He held a paw up before him and stared at it intently, as if it held the secret to his plight.
Jashin tried to find solace in the fact that he had the entire day to figure it out, but he held little hope that he could learn to shift in such a time.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 12, 2015 4:39:11 GMT
Alexa slept in total oblivion to what was happening around her. She had no notion that her nemesis has taken the time to protect her from the sun’s pending flames, or that he now sat watching her as he examined his new form in intricate detail and concentrated on each sensation trying to change himself back.
He stared at his hand long enough to make his claws begin to recede. But as he concentrated on trying to do the same to the animal feet he had acquired, his concentration on this hand slipped and his claws returned as if never shifted.
She was oblivious to the ties that bound her wrists and ankles. And she was oblivious to the fact that as he relaxed between tries, Jashin regarded her more than slight curiosity.
In time, the man before her (if he still called himself that) fell asleep as the sun crested its zenith and began to head towards its mountainous resting place.
As evening approached and twilight cascaded darkness over the manor like a thickening blanket of black, the vampire began to feel consciousness return to her mind. She was first aware that she ‘was’ conscious. She hadn’t been slain and hadn’t been set forever in torpor to endure the agonizingly slow healing process many would torture her kind with.
She slowly opened her eyes and scanned the room like a mouse venturing into a dark abandoned kitchen. She was aware there was a predator about to leap at her, but if she remained still and silent, perhaps it would think she wasn’t there and would go away.
Though she couldn’t see him, she became aware of him almost immediately. She heard his heart beat and the whisper of going in then escaping his lungs as he quietly breathed somewhere behind her towards her feet. Frowning, she shifted slowly to turn towards him. It was then she became aware of other things. For one, she had been hobbled and bound. She could stretch her legs out slightly, but her ankles were wrapped awkwardly over one another. Her wrists had been likewise hindered. There was braided cord tying her wrists together and he had rolled her enough that she was half on her front, half on her side with her arms behind her. She lastly noticed a blanket over the top of her.
For all his desire to kill her, he had bound her and protected her from the day’s brightness. That made her frown even more.
Licking her lips in determination, she began to slowly start wriggling her hands in hopes of slipping her bindings. As she moved, her feet awkwardly shifted and the coffee table in front of the couch was knocked with enough force to rattle a couple trinkets on top of it.
Alexa froze and waited for the blade that would surely end her life. After all… he seemed noble. Perhaps he merely wished to face her as he took her life.
|
|
|
Post by Jashin on Feb 12, 2015 6:29:08 GMT
The cold stone against his back crept into his muscles like a poison, moving languidly over him and filling each nerve and fiber with their chill. So intent was he on his clawed paw that it wasn't until he decided to take a break from his introspective meditation that the divarian learned just how much pain a stiff body could offer. Although by no means a master in meditation like other Hunters of the Conclave, he had shown quite an aptitude for being still when necessary. Granted, much of that training came in the perfect blackness of an oubliette beneath the Conclave grounds. Here his meditation had been voluntary but no less vital. Before the idea was to purge Jashin of his dependance on Carmine and break him of the madness instilled by her death while bonded to him; here it was an attempt to regain his sense of self from his rediscovered...sense of self. Jashin found himself more than once wondering which form he considered "true," the fur-clad shape he currently inhabited and had been born into, or the strange human amalgam Carmine had forced him to be and he had made his own. It was a conflict he was not able to resolve before midday, and the pain that lanced up his spine when he moved only pushed that conflict aside for matters more present.
Jashin groaned softly as he stretched and turned where he sat, muscles vibrating as energy rushed in and tried to flood the ache out. There were several rather noisy pops and crackles here and there, but it was nothing he could not deal with. He also felt the surge of anguish spill across his right side and down his hip, a reminder of his impact with the balcony railing where the chiera had thrown him. As always his body showed its remarkable recovering ability, for it was not the fire it had been before. It was merely embers now, still bothersome but only just. The Hunter took the time to stand and stretch his legs, then his tail as an afterthought, before resuming both watch over the slumbering woman and the study of his body. Time passed, but all Jashin had managed to do was alter his pigmentation a bit and retract his claws. Progress was progress, he allowed himself to admit, but it was far from what he needed to accomplish before his return to Conclave through Aisan.
A shuffling sound snapped his head up and made him scowl at the room. The air was growing cold again, and the rush of the ocean outside had become a thunderous roar instead of the gentle susurrus it had been earlier. By the fiery light dancing along the far wall and the dwindling sliver glow, it was almost fully evening. Jashin had fallen asleep. His divarian instincts whispered to him then, and he felt the chiera beyond the couch and beneath the blanket. The void was gone, and the tainted life seethed in his mind's eye. The Hunter flicked an ear in annoyance, but did not move to deal with her. That part of him that empathized with what he had seen the night before still burned with curiosity. If the Conclave had managed to pull him back from the brink of oblivion or worse, what could be done for her? Could anything, save a swift end? Jashin found himself honor-bound to let her make that choice, as Ero had done for him. In a strange way, the divarian felt that perhaps by showing her the same compassion that his anjir had shown him, he could begin to repay Ero for his trust and mercy.
"I... know you are there," Jashin said carefully, his jaw working out each word without imperilling his tongue between razor teeth. Ever since regaining his native shape, he had felt more himself and certainly more in touch with the People. Still and yet, the chiera would likely as not misinterpret the customary greeting of I see you. His sigh came out in a guttural rumble before he could help himself. Perhaps she would think him growling a warning, perhaps not. "How this eve unfolds lays completely in your hands."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 7:17:08 GMT
*Completely in your hands...* That's what the voice said.
But she was bound on the floor. If she struggled hard and used all her might, she could probably break free of the bonds. Afterall, they were mere rope. Not some enchanted bindings. But she was tired, weak, and she hadn't fed the last two nights. After last night's tussle, she was in no shape to expend more energy than she had to. She didn't want to risk reawakening the Beast again.
"I am not sure that is much consolation, Sir... As you obviously have me at a disadvantage. Are you going to kill me?" She was straight to the point. Shifting her body slightly, she rolled to her stomach, then onto her left side so she could see under the couch and out the door at the coming night. Tilting her chin down slightly she could also see her captor in the corner. He looked like he had the night before and it was curious to her why he had not changed back. Or perhaps he had changed back then changed again to this form when she woke.
"You aren't a werewolf are you?" Something in him smelled different than the Were she knew in the forest. She had come across them a time or two, though not enough to give names or ranks beyond the Alpha she knew because she had to. But this one before her, he was different. She took a moment to look at him closely since she couldn't before. His fur looked soft and his eyes kind, though angered for some reason. Perhaps he was mad she wasn't dead.
She looked him up and down and judging from the way he was sitting, guessed that standing she would probably only come to his chin. Formidable... that was the word that went through her mind. "Why are you here?" She stopped then and rested her head back on the floor. Twisting a bit to try and get comfortable in her bound position, she had come to realize that in rolling over, she had bound the blanket more fully about her. If he came at her now, she certainly was at his mercy.
|
|
|
Post by Jashin on Feb 13, 2015 10:16:04 GMT
Jashin let the silence stretch. Partly because he could, to give her situation a bit of gravity. Mostly because he wasn't sure what his answer should be. He heard the fibers of her bindings creak a bit as she tested them, but the chiera did not break them as he knew her kind could. Her voice sounded confused and exhausted, teetering on the abyss of hopelessness. There was a flicker of steel somewhere in there, as if she had regained a shred of her confidence, but also a great deal of resignation. It was a curious thing. Her scent did not reveal anything to him, which made the chiera hard to read. She smells of damp earth and old things, perfumed with flowers and moonlight. The divarian wondered how much of her mortal scent she had retained, and how much her corruption had bled into her. Carmine had never Taken a mortal when he was with her, nor had she allowed him to be anywhere near a mortal that had, so Jashin was clueless on what such a violent transition did to a person. Such a thing nearly happened to him, but thankfully...
The Hunter barked a laugh. "I am not Were. Such creatures are Gründ's children, fully of the Lesser Races. I am not. Whether I am to kill you or not, I have not decided."
It was a struggle not to proudly proclaim that he was of Divaria, but if she were an educated woman she stood a chance at figuring such a thing out for herself. There were only three Elder Races--aelfa, umava, and divarian--and all had faded to obscurity. From the teachings of the People, the umavan were truly lost to the Realms. Yet the aelfa and divarians had withdrawn from Enos after the War of Children. The aelfa had done so to preserve the last of their number; Divaria had been taken from Enos after the fall of the Empire of Blood for the good of the Lesser Races. Belzha's children were beings of Entropy, tools of the Cycle's end that had been reshaped to amend Droa's betrayal. With the chiera gone, there was simply no need for the divarians to remain. Nothing was left to cull. Yet every divarian was a born warrior--a destroyer--and there was no quelling the urge to do the Cycle's work. The Elder Divari decided that Enos belonged to the Lesser Races in full, and so the divarians became a story, then a myth, and finally forgotten. Forgotten until strangers had come to Divaria, shattered the Periphery, and stolen one of the Shards. Until strangers had taken divarians as slaves and tossed them headlong into a world they no longer knew.
"I am here," Jashin said, shaking the bitter thoughts from his mind, "because people are missing. Mortals, all. I was tasked with their recovery, whatever their state. You were too eager to flee, which causes me to think you know something. Do you?"
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 10:26:12 GMT
She shook her head slightly and tried to look at him. "I fled because I sensed danger. I fled because you know what I am and therefore would assume I had something to do with it." She didn't add that she fled because she was curious about him and that, in and of itself, was dangerous to them both.
"I admit I know nothing of the missing people. I live here, alone. And I keep to myself. But if you want a place to look, check the home to the west of here. Slightly north but back about halfway to the tavern. It is rundown and supposedly vacant. But I have seen and sensed something more there recently." Closing her eyes she tried to relax. Without opening them, she continued in a softer voice. "I had nothing to do with it... I give you my word."
As he had spoken of lesser races and such, she had no idea what he was speaking of. That would have been Devon's area of expertise. With the thought of him, she rolled over once more so her back was to him. She didn't want him to see her inability to hide her emotions. And right now the pain and rage on her face from her loss was more than she wanted him to see. "Just go away... or kill me. But leaving me here and you staying, is dangerous." If she let herself slip, the Beast would find the strength to break free. And she doubted she had the strength in her to fight him off a second time.
|
|
|
Post by Jashin on Feb 13, 2015 11:03:40 GMT
Jashin's ears pricked up at her voice, straining to ferret out any deception or misdirection. He was admittedly not as proficient with such nuances of the human world as he would have liked, but he was determined to learn. The People had no need for open deception, had no reason to lead another of their own kind to harm or ruin. Such an idea served no one; what affected one rippled outward into the whole of them. Both Carmine and Ero had laughed at the confession of such a discipline, but they were both of mortal stock. Such illusions could not be held against them; children were meant to be led to the right Path, and the Lesser Races were still young yet. The chiera woman seemed to be speaking the truth about her solitary living, and of the curious place not far from here. She seemed concerned for his safety, whether from herself or others of her kind. Such a thing made him wonder as to the why of it. Every chiera he had seen or known had little regard for the well-being of any other race, even their own. And especially that which they considered prey. Was it some odd gesture of respect, since he had bested her in combat?
Jashin shrugged, then stood at a thought and moved to the fireplace. Rummaging through the ash with his claws, he removed a piece of charred wood and nodded in satisfaction. He moved carefully about the room, moving the few furnishings to create an open space two paces across without losing sight of her. The Hunter could feel her watching him as he crouched and began to draw on the floor with the charcoal sliver. A small circle first, then a ray to another small circle. Next came a square around the first circle, and a larger circle about that. Once he was satisfied of the shapes, he began to add glyphs about the circles while he murmured to himself. The Hunter reviewed his work once more, then shifted himself closer to the small, satellite circle. Taking a breath and gathering his hai'zjin, the divarian touched the small circle and let the power slither down his arm and into the design on the floor. A flicker of moonlight glow flashed from his claws and raced along the charcoal ray to the larger circle, the air rippling within before fading. Like paper in a flame, the design crisped and vanished like dust on the wind.
Time passed, and the Hunter did not so much as move. His eyes were fastened to the chiera, silently willing her to remain still as well. The tension in the room between them grew, but before either dared to break it there was a flicker of movement at the door. A stag strode into the room without hesitation, hooves clacking loudly on the stone floor. Jashin's muscles tensed as the beast passed him, neither turning nor even reacting to his presence. It was as if both the divarian and the chiera were invisible. The stag paused and sniffed the spot where the arcane design had once been before flicking an ear and going still. A heartbeat later its entire body shuddered, and it collapsed bonelessly. Jashin padded to the beast and checked it over without touching it. Nodding once more he grasped its hing legs and jerked, sliding it across the floor to bump against the chiera.
"Eat."
|
|
|
Post by Admin on Feb 13, 2015 11:16:29 GMT
At first she was upset he was scrawling on the floor with coal when it dawned on her it was probably to do something to her. Better not be upset too quickly or a death pyre is what it would likely be. But as he locked eyes with her and crouched, something inside her thought better of him than that. This was different. Had she had breath, she probably would have been holding it as he was.
When the stag came into the room, her jaw slacked in surprise. Then something inside her jerked. This was not a pyre for her, but a summoning. He had summoned the stag for her... to feed from. Her confusion was evident. "Why are you doing this?" Then something inside her made her visibly jump this time. The Beast heard the creature's heartbeat just a hand span from it. And it wanted out to feed.
She bit her lip and closed her eyes tightly and tried to roll away from the offering. Her voice cracked as she realized she was helpless from being bound and from being entangled in the blanket from her tossing and turning. "Run... go away...please... I ... I can't keep it controlled. I don't want to hurt you." Her pleas started simple enough. But in a few moments were repetitive murmurs punctuated by almost feral growls. "It's been too long... I can't control it... please..."
She began to struggle now in earnest and her hands yanked and tugged at the ropes. The creaking letting him know it wouldn't be long till the blanket hindered her no more and her bindings would tear like paper.
|
|
|
Post by Jashin on Feb 19, 2015 7:39:59 GMT
Jashin pointedly ignored her pleas. Standing, he found a sizable piece of firewood and tucked it under one arm. While she writhed on the floor near the dying stag he worked calmly with the last of his charcoal, scribing another circle close to the doorway. It was a bit more complex than the first, consisting of a triangle circumscribed by three circles of runes. Once done his claws made quick work of the hunk of firewood, whittling the large piece into sharp shards no longer or thicker than his digits. Jashin could feel the chiera wakening to whatever had gripped her the previous night, the dark hunger welling from within her like a spring to fill her lithe body. He shrugged inwardly, laying the wooden fragments within the triangle as if he were a hawker arranging his wares for the day's sales. Careful, methodical and with purpose. No more hurried than had he all the time in the world. Once his work was done, the divarian retired to the corner he had occupied that day. Dropping to his haunches, he watched her and waited. His amber eyes never left her, barely blinked.
"Eat," he whispered once more.
|
|
|
Post by Admin on May 27, 2015 22:31:42 GMT
Her struggle, while manifesting itself with the slow but sure loosening of her bonds, was also internal. She needed to feed, but didn't want to loose the Beast. She whimpered but in her struggle and hunger, it came out more of a low, guttural growl. The smell of vitae assailed her senses as if she were hit with a large pole. The pain was nearly physical in her need to feed. Without realizing how she had moved from her prone position to crouching, she was soon kneeling over the fallen offered prey and tearing at its flesh for the ruby treasure inside.
Bonds were forgotten in a pile by the shoved back couch, and the cover was tossed, equally forgotten, near the fireplace. She knelt by the deer in tattered clothes and fed with no regard to who else was still in the room.
Her back was to him as he watched. He would see the scene and the near physical change in her as the Beast was sated and soon she was no more than a vampire licking a wound like any other.
Nearly twenty minutes passed before Alexa was able to shove down the craving, viscous Beast in her mind and regain control of her senses and abilities. As the final beat of the creature's heart marked its true death, she ran her hand across the back of her lips, smearing blood across her right cheek, and rolled over to lay beside the gifted feast. She rolled her head to the side and looked at Jas in the corner behind his runic markings and small pile of spikes. "Why...." was all she said. But that single word held such a plethora of questions that nearly any one that he chose to answer would give her more information than she had now.
|
|
|
Post by Jashin on May 28, 2015 1:18:40 GMT
Jashin felt a twinge of revulsion as she fed. He supposed that was the most polite term he could conjure, despite all of the guttural and base noises she made while she literally sucked the life from the beast. In his heart he knew it was the way of things, the way the world worked. Predator and prey. Yet some aspects of it were horrid or base, no matter how refined a guise that could be placed upon it. Oddly, the divarian did not find himself hating or reviling the vampiress for what she was doing. It was most likely from living amongst their kind that had either dulled his senses or given him a darker understanding. Carmine had done no less, done far worse. And to him, no less. But where his former Mistress reveled in the Longing--yes, that was what the Blood called it in polite company--when she feasted on his flesh and blood despite the agony to them both, this woman obviously felt remorse and regret about indulging in the lifeblood of another living being. It was in the set to her shoulders as she gulped the hot fluid, the way her muscles twitched and shuttered as she regained herself inch by inch. He wanted to laugh in a way when she rolled off the now-corpse like a sated cat, fat and fed, to stare at him with eyes that weren't truly seeing anything all. Jashin simply waited, crouched nonchalantly against the corner, until he knew she was looking at him once more.
"Why...?"
The divarian shrugged. In many ways he did not know himself. Did he pity her plight for some reason? Did some dark part of him want her at her best, that the Hunter could put down its Prey with pride? He looked down at his paws, his long powerful digits that ended in claws wrought from nightmares, and made a face. There was no real way to know what she was asking, and no real way to know for certain if he even had any answers. All he knew is that it was somehow the right thing to do. Despite his mission, and despite all of his traditions and teachings, there was something more to the workings of the dark world he had been thrust into. Perhaps in answering her questions he could understand the answers to his own. But no, not tonight and not like this. He shrugged again, amber eyes locking with hers in an empty stare.
"We are kindred of a kind, you and I," Jashin rumbled. "I have no desire to bring you to harm, but there are things that I must learn myself. As it stands, you are the only trail... No, that is not the word. Scent? No. Bah, but your language suffers much in complex and empty sounds. Lead? Yes, that is it. You are the only lead that I have."
|
|