((Leads on from A-Hunting We Will Go.))
Vampire and slayer faced one another in the shadow of the fountain, the quiet sounds of Founders Park at midnight coiling around them both as the full moonlit breeze ruffled clothing and soothed tensions. It was time to have an end to this temporary alliance.
Four days. Four days to get over the headache so efficiently inflicted upon her by a woman she had previously considered to be a bit of a waste of space. Four days to fill Rufus in on all the details of what had happened during the hunt. Four days to tie up loose ends. Four days to plan for this important moment.
With the unwitting assistance of most of the Plaza staff, Lei had trained herself for the next few minutes ruthlessly, making use of her heightened hearing to eavesdrop on encounters between them that would otherwise have been missed by, say, Rufus. The myriad of human emotion and desire was right there, in her base of operations, if you knew where and how to look.
He stood not more than three feet from her, now. Marcellus, the vampire who had betrayed his sire for the chance to rule his own little cartel of vampiric minions under his own control. Marcellus, who only had this narrow space of time to assert his mental dominance into the gaping chasm left behind by Josephine's unfortunate demise or risk losing all of them to madness. Marcellus, whose greed and hunger was pricked into blazing life by the pretty picture presented to him.
Lei had planned for this meeting very carefully. No weapons about her person. No holy water drunk beforehand. No cross guarding the delicate curve of her throat. Gone were the business-like leather jacket and jeans, replaced with a floating dress of pale cream, belted with a wide weave of satin threads that sat snugly about her midriff and waist. Her hair had been left to wave about in the breeze that brushed them both. A very pretty picture for a vampire who believed himself to have won.
He was so confident of his victory, of his ability to take whatever it was he wanted, that he had come out here tonight alone. There was nowhere in this park to hide minions anyway, even if they were fully under control. And now, it seemed he had the very thing he had begun to plan for in the secrets of his own underground world.
"You wish to be reborn to darkness?"
Lei nodded, her lips twisting in a painful parody of a smile. "It's going to happen sooner or later," she shrugged, aware that as she did so, his eyes never left the carotid pulse beating in her neck. "I'm living on borrowed time, and we all know it. Why should I spend the last year, two years, of my life protecting ungrateful idiots who don't even know I exist, much less prevent themselves from inviting blood-kind to feed from them?"
The vampire's hands clenched together in front of him, hiding the tremble that betrayed his own excitement at the prospect of a willingly turned slayer at his side. She would be a favored pet, a lover, a partner. With her at his side, he could build his own clan, heedless of interference from others. "Why me, my dear?"
"Why not?" A slow step was taken toward him, her hands folding girlishly behind her back as she smiled in a shy manner, biting her lip. "You fascinate me. I could spend a long time learning just why that is, if you help me to embrace the darkness." Her head tilted back as she took another step, closing the distance between them to barely a foot, whispering one more word. "Marcellus ..."
The sound of his name on her lips, whispered with longing, was his breaking point. The vampire reached for the slayer, drawing her close to him, savoring her warmth in this one moment as something soon to be taken from her forever. "As my lady commands," he whispered back, frozen lips brushing her temple, travelling down to lay a tender kiss to the vibration of living blood just beneath her skin.
He revelled in the way she seemed to mould herself to him, her hand rising to delves fingers through his hair, holding his lips to her throat in tender submission while the other hand slid between them to rest over his own unbeating heart. It seemed such a sweetly trusting display ...
"Marcellus?"
He paused in the act of extending his fangs, drawing back just enough to murmur into her ear, "Yes, my dear?"
"I lied."
It was only then, in the miniscule moment before his death, that Marcellus felt the point placed so carefully against him. His head reeled back to offer the sweetly smiling slayer a snarl of betrayal as she threw her weight and force and skill behind her hidden stake - made from pencils that that been secreted in the wide cling of her belt - forcing wood and graphite through clothing and flesh and muscle to pierce his heart.
Marcellus, the vampire whose greed made him foolish despite centuries of intelligence in the hunt, exploded much like his sire before him, in flaming ash and soot, the ghost of his last scream clinging to the air. And echoing his scream, all across the city could now be heard the shrieks of the remnant of Josephine's clan as the last stablising influence on their minds was torn from existence with a simple thrust to the heart.
There would be a few out there who would not lose all semblence of their nature into the madness of an unfettered mind, of course. While those few went on a rampage of blood, berserking through the streets to kill anything that moved, most would simply lose their minds altogether. There would be many little piles of forlorn ash and soot decorating the street come daybreak, when a clan of vampires too stupid not to drink directly from the living would simply walk, en mass, into the rising sunlight.
The others, Lei could take care of tonight and tomorrow night. She smirked to herself, batting the last earthly remains of Marcellus from her face and dress, twirling her impromptu stake thoughtfully in her hand. Not the most elegant of weapons, but it worked in a pinch. She'd have to remember that. But for now ... she headed for the edge of the park, where her usual array of weaponry and clothing had been hidden before dusk.
With her loose ends tied up, it was time to go back to work.
Vampire and slayer faced one another in the shadow of the fountain, the quiet sounds of Founders Park at midnight coiling around them both as the full moonlit breeze ruffled clothing and soothed tensions. It was time to have an end to this temporary alliance.
Four days. Four days to get over the headache so efficiently inflicted upon her by a woman she had previously considered to be a bit of a waste of space. Four days to fill Rufus in on all the details of what had happened during the hunt. Four days to tie up loose ends. Four days to plan for this important moment.
With the unwitting assistance of most of the Plaza staff, Lei had trained herself for the next few minutes ruthlessly, making use of her heightened hearing to eavesdrop on encounters between them that would otherwise have been missed by, say, Rufus. The myriad of human emotion and desire was right there, in her base of operations, if you knew where and how to look.
He stood not more than three feet from her, now. Marcellus, the vampire who had betrayed his sire for the chance to rule his own little cartel of vampiric minions under his own control. Marcellus, who only had this narrow space of time to assert his mental dominance into the gaping chasm left behind by Josephine's unfortunate demise or risk losing all of them to madness. Marcellus, whose greed and hunger was pricked into blazing life by the pretty picture presented to him.
Lei had planned for this meeting very carefully. No weapons about her person. No holy water drunk beforehand. No cross guarding the delicate curve of her throat. Gone were the business-like leather jacket and jeans, replaced with a floating dress of pale cream, belted with a wide weave of satin threads that sat snugly about her midriff and waist. Her hair had been left to wave about in the breeze that brushed them both. A very pretty picture for a vampire who believed himself to have won.
He was so confident of his victory, of his ability to take whatever it was he wanted, that he had come out here tonight alone. There was nowhere in this park to hide minions anyway, even if they were fully under control. And now, it seemed he had the very thing he had begun to plan for in the secrets of his own underground world.
"You wish to be reborn to darkness?"
Lei nodded, her lips twisting in a painful parody of a smile. "It's going to happen sooner or later," she shrugged, aware that as she did so, his eyes never left the carotid pulse beating in her neck. "I'm living on borrowed time, and we all know it. Why should I spend the last year, two years, of my life protecting ungrateful idiots who don't even know I exist, much less prevent themselves from inviting blood-kind to feed from them?"
The vampire's hands clenched together in front of him, hiding the tremble that betrayed his own excitement at the prospect of a willingly turned slayer at his side. She would be a favored pet, a lover, a partner. With her at his side, he could build his own clan, heedless of interference from others. "Why me, my dear?"
"Why not?" A slow step was taken toward him, her hands folding girlishly behind her back as she smiled in a shy manner, biting her lip. "You fascinate me. I could spend a long time learning just why that is, if you help me to embrace the darkness." Her head tilted back as she took another step, closing the distance between them to barely a foot, whispering one more word. "Marcellus ..."
The sound of his name on her lips, whispered with longing, was his breaking point. The vampire reached for the slayer, drawing her close to him, savoring her warmth in this one moment as something soon to be taken from her forever. "As my lady commands," he whispered back, frozen lips brushing her temple, travelling down to lay a tender kiss to the vibration of living blood just beneath her skin.
He revelled in the way she seemed to mould herself to him, her hand rising to delves fingers through his hair, holding his lips to her throat in tender submission while the other hand slid between them to rest over his own unbeating heart. It seemed such a sweetly trusting display ...
"Marcellus?"
He paused in the act of extending his fangs, drawing back just enough to murmur into her ear, "Yes, my dear?"
"I lied."
It was only then, in the miniscule moment before his death, that Marcellus felt the point placed so carefully against him. His head reeled back to offer the sweetly smiling slayer a snarl of betrayal as she threw her weight and force and skill behind her hidden stake - made from pencils that that been secreted in the wide cling of her belt - forcing wood and graphite through clothing and flesh and muscle to pierce his heart.
Marcellus, the vampire whose greed made him foolish despite centuries of intelligence in the hunt, exploded much like his sire before him, in flaming ash and soot, the ghost of his last scream clinging to the air. And echoing his scream, all across the city could now be heard the shrieks of the remnant of Josephine's clan as the last stablising influence on their minds was torn from existence with a simple thrust to the heart.
There would be a few out there who would not lose all semblence of their nature into the madness of an unfettered mind, of course. While those few went on a rampage of blood, berserking through the streets to kill anything that moved, most would simply lose their minds altogether. There would be many little piles of forlorn ash and soot decorating the street come daybreak, when a clan of vampires too stupid not to drink directly from the living would simply walk, en mass, into the rising sunlight.
The others, Lei could take care of tonight and tomorrow night. She smirked to herself, batting the last earthly remains of Marcellus from her face and dress, twirling her impromptu stake thoughtfully in her hand. Not the most elegant of weapons, but it worked in a pinch. She'd have to remember that. But for now ... she headed for the edge of the park, where her usual array of weaponry and clothing had been hidden before dusk.
With her loose ends tied up, it was time to go back to work.