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[P] Starvation Mode FIN; Marion and Irena
Topic Started: Sun Oct 15, 2017 4:15 pm (513 Views)
Irena
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She’d thought that Balefire would be the perfect place to get lost. To eke out some kind of existence in the dark. Never in her wildest dreams would she dare to think she could thrive here, but to live each day without a shadow hanging over her would be enough. Watching her back every moment was taking its toll on her, Irena could feel it in her bones. And worst of all, she could feel it in her shrunken, hollow belly.

It was becoming harder and harder to mark the passage of time the longer she stayed here. Without the warm glow of the sun, instead she counted the hours by how long she could stretch between meals. Hours turned into days before her eyes, as she realized she had made a mistake coming to the City of Lanterns. People were too suspicious here, always on their guard. Everyone expected danger around the next corner. She stuck out like a sore thumb, frankly, so used to her clear eyes and cultivated smile buying her the kindness of a stranger.

Her luck had finally run out, it seemed. The day had been fruitless, as usual. Too many windows shuttered, too many strangers with too tight holds over their pocketbooks. The only difference was that she was on her last legs. “When I fall asleep tonight, I wonder if I’ll wake up.” She wondered, her thoughts bordering on delirium. Already white spots began to dance in her vision, and she sidled up against the nearest building to lean against the wall for a minute.

I just need something. Anything. Just enough to get through the next day.” She prayed, though she knew she wouldn’t like who was listening. Her eyelids were so heavy… she fought against closing them, knowing it would leave her vulnerable to the endless night, and the ruffians like her who worked in it.

Just as her eyes fluttered shut again, a girl walked past her field of vision. A young girl, probably not any older than Irena herself. She found this incredibly unusual for this part of the city. Irena was used to being the only young woman without an escort. A lady on her own could be an easy mark… and that was something Irena was desperately counting on. Slowly she peeled away from the wall and trailed after the girl, taking note of her as she went.

Tall, much taller than Irena herself. Her face still had the fullness of youth, even though Irena could see her sharp cheekbones framed by the curtain of her dark hair. She was thin, bordering on frail, and while a younger Irena would have worried about her health, the current one only acknowledged it as an advantage in her favor. “Easy enough to take out, if it comes to it.” She thought, ignoring the fact that she wasn’t exactly in fighting shape herself. Hopefully it wouldn’t come to fighting. Irena planned to be in and out before the girl even knew Irena had been rummaging through her bag.

There was something odd about the way the other woman scanned the crowd, though…

Irena drew closer and watched the girls cold blue eyes flick back and forth over the passerby’s that moved out her way. An almost predatory gleam in her eyes.

If she was better fed, more cautious, she would have stayed back. Every sense screamed at her to stay away. “She’s looking for something. Or someone.”, the dark corner of her mind hissed at her. But the gnawing pain in Irena’s stomach couldn’t be ignored any longer, and desperation makes fools of us all. Quickly and silently she shot forward, bumping into the taller girl and simultaneously slipping a hand into her bag.

“Watch it.” Irena snapped as she palmed the girl’s coin purse. If you started out defensive, most people were too flustered to question your close presence any further. She turned to leave, but was stopped short by a cold hand digging into her shoulder and spinning her back around.

Irena looked up into a pair of icy blue eyes, made even more terrifying by the amount of rage behind them. The girl’s face was a barely concealed mask of hate, and Irena would have trembled if she hadn’t been so tired. “Pretty.” She thought dreamily, swaying on her feet, the bright lights swimming in her vision again.

“And where..”, the girl seethed, “Do you think you’re going with that?”
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Marion
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Marion’s parents never knew what to do with her hunger. Some rare nights, growing up, her tears could persuade her mother to open a vein and let her suck. Her father never approved of this. He didn’t trust his child to be anything but a monster—and so he preferred to keep her in the basement, locked behind a door so that she couldn’t harm them. This did not resolve the problem of her hunger, but instead delayed it for another day. They fed her sheep’s blood, and after a long period of hunger, anything will taste good—but it was human blood that tasted best to Marion, and human blood alone that satisfied her.

Once she got older, and learned how to sneak out of the house, she caused trouble preying on the neighbors. That resulted in more punishment. The only time in her life when a full stomach came without consequence was when she bought from a blood vendor, but there was only one in Balefire who she trusted not to spike the blood with hallucinogens or poisons, and he’d recently turned her away. I don’t want street rat clientele anymore, he’d said.

And so she was back to square one.

It was with a predator’s eyes that she looked through the throng of people gathered in the streets that day. Marion didn’t mean to regard these people with a hunter’s gaze, but the pain of her empty stomach clawed at her insides. Desperation motivated her to action. She’d never attacked someone before, and knew what attacking someone after the Taming could mean. How could she do this without getting caught and, worse yet, being marked zakona? Already the sheriffs had mistaken her more than once for some zakona that had eluded their capture for years—

“Watch it,” a small, skinny girl said as she bumped into Marion’s side.

“[removed] you,” Marion hissed, not about to be blamed for the action. Eyes narrowing, she watched the girl for a moment, then reached down quickly to her pocket where she felt the absence of her coin purse. Marion quickly reached out and grabbed the other girl before she could get away. She knew that trick. The bump-and-grab. It was one of the first pickpocket lessons she’d learned, and she wasn’t about to let some runt take the little money she had.

“And where,” Marion seethed, “do you think you’re going with that?”

With her other hand, she pointed down to the coin purse the other girl had swiped. Her mouth twisted into a deep frown, lips parted slightly to reveal the point of fangs. The frown deepened as she got a better look at the girl: small, scrawny, with deep bags under her eyes. She wobbled in Marion’s grip, as if she were standing on air and not on solid ground.

It would be so easy, Marion thought. So easy to wrestle this girl into a back alley and sink her teeth into her neck. So easy to leave her there.

Who would miss a grungy pickpocket? No one.

“Hand that back over and I won’t shout for the constable,” she said. She sunk her nails as deep as she could into the girl’s arm, less to punish her and more to restrain herself from committing the action she’d endeavored her whole life to avoid. “We’ve all got to eat.” Marion’s stomach howled at the very thought of eating.

“Next time don’t try stealing from another street rat. We know the same tricks.”
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Irena
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In the dim light filtered through the glowing orange lantern above them, Irena caught a glimpse of the stranger's pointed teeth when she peeled her lips back in a snarl. "We know the same tricks." the girl snapped at her, then reached a long arm over to pry the coin purse from Irena's grip.

A vampire. There was no mistaking it, now that she could put the pieces together. Her sharp teeth, the cruel eyes, an almost otherworldly beauty settled over her emaciated frame. One of the books Irena had been taught to read with contained stories of the creatures, and she begged all adults present to tell her any more they knew off hand. She was scared positively silly, imagining a world where these beings roamed freely.

And now the danger was standing right in front of her, one hand still gripped around her shoulder, the other trying to pry Irena's fingers away from her stolen property.

"No." Irena whispered, her voice paper thin. She automatically tightened her grip. The stranger gave her one flashing look of irritation, the only sign that she had been heard.

Irena braced one foot against the ground behind her. "I said..NO." She growled, throwing her shoulder forward into the girl's rib cage in one fluid motion. The impact wrenched her arm free and put some distance between them. They were standing less than a foot apart now, glaring fiercely at each other while the foot traffic moved fluidly around them. At least no one was paying them any more attention than usual.

The raven haired girl bared her teeth once more, raising one hand to sweep away a shock of snow white hair from where it had fallen into her face. With a jolt, Irena realized that her adversary wasn't meeting her eyes anymore, instead her attention focused somewhere on her neck. Drawn to the frightened, quickly beating pulse point in Irena's throat.

Her mouth went dry as she watched the girl's feature settle into an expression Irena knew well these days. The pinched, excruciating look of someone or something who hasn't had enough to eat in a long, long time.

"I.." She faltered, mouth going dry. Should she beg for mercy? Throw herself at the girls feet? No, her mind whispered. Fight. Survive. All you need is a moment to disappear into the crowd, with the girl's gold as a bonus.

An admirable plan. One she would have loved to execute. But her second wind could only last so long, and she had already been so long without rest. Against her will, she felt her body pitch forward, feet stumbling. As her eyes flickered shut, she caught one last glimpse of the vampires face. "She looks...alarmed.." her mind provided before finally going dark, expecting to smash into the ground at any second.

Instead she was caught by a pair of slender, cold arms.
Edited by Irena, Tue Oct 17, 2017 3:41 am.
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Marion
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Bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum-bum—

Marion’s eyes settled on the center of Irena’s chest, where her frightened heart beat wildly against her ribs. Then her gaze flicked upward to her neck. A human eye would not notice the artery pulsing beneath the skin, but Marion was not human. The skin of Irena’s neck jolted almost imperceptibly with each swift thump of her heart, and blood sailed easily from brain to toe.

It would be so easy.

So easy, to just step forward, take her by the hair, wrench her head to the side—

Irena began to wobble on her feet. Startled from the fantasy by Irena’s sudden pitch forward, Marion’s eyes widened as she realized the measure of the other girl’s destitution. Lunging forward, she caught the other girl before her body hit the ground. Though slender, her arms were strong enough to support the weight of another person—especially when that other person was inches shorter and half starved.

The other girl’s flesh was hot against her own cold skin. Hot, alive, burning with the flourish of blood. Gritting her teeth, Marion wrenched the filched coinpurse and deposited it back into her pocket. They couldn’t stay here. For a vampire to hold an unconscious human in her arms—it would look too suspicious to the constables. They would think Marion did something to her. Alarmed by the perils of this situation, Marion hoisted Irena half over her shoulder and began to move with feigned confidence toward somewhere dark and secluded.

Shit, shit, shit, Marion thought; it was easy to think of killing someone, and another for that person to end up half-dead in her arms.

Maneuvering into a dead-end alleyway, Marion set Irena down, leaning her up against the cold, wet corner of brick where two buildings met. There were no lanterns here; she hoped that, deep in the alley, no one would find them. With uncertain hands, Marion began to slap both of Irena’s cheeks.

“Come on, wake up,” she whispered. “Please wake up. Come on. Don’t get me in trouble with the constables. Rise and shine, sleeping beauty.”

Not far from where she knelt, a pipe dripped water. Probably dirty water, but what choice did she have? Marion scooted over to it, cupped her palms, captured enough dribble, then splashed it into Irena’s face.

“Wake up, wake up, come on.”
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Irena
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"Rise and shine, sleeping beauty!"

The next thing she knew, she had a face full of cold water, and someone was shaking her awake. Irena cracked her eyes open, and as her vision came back into focus she found her unlikely savior was the vampire who had threatened her (minutes, hours, how long had she been out?) before.

"Wake up, wake up!" The girl was murmuring, smoothing the hair back from Irena's face with surprising care. She raised her hand and swatted the girl away.

"I'm fine." Irena coughed, settling her back into the stone wall behind her. It appeared that the stranger had dragged her into a side alley. "A fitting place to die.", she thought darkly, but when she met the girl's eyes again she saw only..concern?

"Like hell you're fine." The girl scoffed. "When's the last time you've eaten anything, runt?" She eyed Irena pointedly, lingering on the sharpness of her collarbone and the many places she'd had to rip her clothing to retie it smaller.

"I could ask you the same question, Vampire." Irena snarled, drawing her knees up to provide a barrier between her and the dangerous stranger she was actively insulting. The girl rocked back on her heels, looking almost amused.

"Please, you don't need to call me by my formal title. Marion is fine." She smiled, making sure to reveal the sharp points of her fangs once more. Irena shrunk back even further, wrapping her arms around her legs.

"...Irena.." She said softly. Suddenly tears welled up in her eyes, and she furiously brushed them away with the back of her hand. "Are you going to kill me here?" She spoke flatly, already resigned.

To her surprise, the vampire "Marion" let out a sharp bark of laughter. "No, you idiot. I'm going to feed you." At this she tugged at one of Irena's arms, dragging her to her feet.

"But..aren't you, you know." Irena felt awkward, as if she was trying to talk herself into her own execution. "Hungry?"

"Incredibly so." The vampire said dryly, but she carefully looped an arm across Irena's back for support as they both strode back into the well lit street.
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Marion
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In the well lit street, Marion forced herself not to think of Irena’s warm body. As close to death as she might have been, she was still far enough away from it that she was warm. No matter how much fresh blood she drank, Marion would never achieve that same level of warmth. It fascinated and intoxicated her, and her fangs ached with the desire to slice into that liquid heaven—but the passersby of the open street prevented her from pursuing her instincts.

Too many people were watching.

In Balefire, even after the Taming, most people were willing to turn a blind eye to crime—as long as the crime was performed in at least some kind of seclusion or some degree of subtlety. The people who passed them on the street surveyed the pair with a suspicious glance. It wasn’t quite right that an undead girl should half-carry another down the street. They probably think I’m carrying her off to kill her somewhere, Marion thought.

Instead, she helped Irena into the tavern just down the block and across the street. A weathered wooden sign over the door called the place La Luna. Inside, the tavern was decorated with hanging white lanterns, each in the different shapes of the moon. There were full, round globes and sliced crescents, each with white flames inside. Then there were half-globes with purple lights, and even black globes—new moons—that hung with dim, silver flames burning away.

“Can we get a booth? Tucked away, preferably,” Marion asked the hostess, who was a rather cheerful looking, middle-aged woman whose demeanor was reminiscent of a golden retriever. The hostess looked perfectly pleasant until she got a good look at Marion.

“Oh… um… I’m sorry, but we can’t serve—”

“I don’t want anything,” Marion said. “My friend needs something to eat.”

“It’s not because we don’t like vampires—it’s just, uh, we aren’t a certified vendor—”

“Whatever,” Marion snapped. “Listen, she just needs to eat something, okay? She fainted. I’m trying to do something nice here. It’s kind of an emergency.”

Grabbing one menu, the hostess escorted them to a booth tucked in a corner under a series of deep indigo crescent moon lanterns. She scribbled down Irena’s order and disappeared. A moment later she came back with water, to revive her, and light snack food to hold her over until the meal came. La Luna wasn’t particularly busy that night, so the food came quickly from the kitchen.

Marion sat there for a couple long moments, watching Irena eat. Enthusiastic to the point of sloppiness, Irena gorged herself on the meal presented to her with utter abandon. Marion, meanwhile, sat back and folded her hands in her lap.

“All right, Irena,” said Marion. “A couple questions. One: how long has it been since you last ate? Two: how long have you been pickpocketing? My guess is you haven’t been at this very long, because if you had any amount of experience, you would have known that I was a bad target. You always go for the old ladies first. Or the younger pickpockets, the street urchins and orphans. You could fight off a ten-year-old better than you could fight me. Third question: you’re not from Balefire, are you?” Marion’s eyes narrowed. “How the hell did you end up here?”
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Irena
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Irena swallowed her last morsel and shoved her plate away, suddenly unable to meet Marion's eyes. This line of questioning made her very uncomfortable, to say the least, but the girl had done her a potentially life saving favor. And there seemed to be no ulterior motive in her eyes, simply genuine curiosity.

"Days." She spoke finally, voice soft. "I don't know how many, maybe four or a little longer. And to be frank, my last meal before that wasn't exactly what you would call filling." Her eyes briefly flicked to Marion's own. "But I suspect that's a feeling you're familiar with as well."

Marion gave only a curt nod, then gestured for her to continue. Irena sighed, resting her elbows on the table, one hand running through her hair. "As to how long I've been...living...like this. A year, give or take a little bit. It's hard to remember sometimes." She gave a small, rueful smile. "I'm almost embarrassed you have me pegged as a beginner, I was beginning to think I'd gotten the hang of it. You didn't seem like someone who was out to steal someone else's hard earned money. I didn't realize you were...like me."

Irena leaned back, studying Marion's face. "No. You must have been out looking for something else." Now it was Marion's turn to look away, and Irena let the moment pass.

"I haven't been in Balefire long. Just long enough to realize it was a [redacted]ing mistake to step foot here." She answered sullenly and fell silent, almost startled when the vampire spoke again, reminding her that she had also asked where Irena was from.

"I.." Irena swallowed a lump in her throat, surprised by the honest answer she felt bubbling to the surface. "..away." She said quietly, forcing the other girl to lean in closer to hear her. "Far away..I didn't know how big Imythess was before I got here, I'd only seen a map once or twice my whole life. I was lucky I even spoke the same language, at least that's one thing they did right."

"Your family?" Marion prodded gently, and was shocked by the hollow look Irena gave back to her.

"Something like that." She whispered. Shaking her head, she continued. "I didn't know how to do anything. I didn't even know what money was, but I learned quick enough that I needed some in order to scrape out a living. This wasn't my first choice to come here...it's actually pretty close to my last."

Irena leaned forward then, lips curved into a smirk. "But enough about me, Marion. Why don't you tell me how a damn vampire has trouble finding enough to eat in this city full of cretins? That's what I'm interested in. The way I see it, plenty of blood bags just walking around, minding their own business. Too many for the constables to care if one or two go missing."
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Marion
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“It’s not that simple,” Marion snapped. “Of course you’d see it that way. You don’t have to live it.”

With a deep frown, Marion turned to look away. The wall next to her suddenly seemed of moderate interest, with the infinitesimal cracks in the paint and little revealed chips of wood. La Luna wasn’t an upscale place, though it tried to look cute—and succeeded, for the most part. On the table was a little jar filled with foiled candies, each of them shaped like crescent moons. Since Irena hadn’t ravished them yet, Marion assumed she hadn’t noticed them, and pushed the little jar across the table to her.

“Ever since the Taming, it’s… hard,” she said. “Everyone looks at you like you’re up to something. Balefire is full of vampires, but it’s—I feel like they’re all different from me. They have a community, I guess? It seems like they’re this giant club and you can only get in if you’re rich. Which I’m not. And I have two very human parents, and no way of getting those vampires to help me out. Those other vampires can pay people to give them blood. They have these giant parties and they actually—invite humans and elves and every other species—and they pay them to give their blood. I can’t pay anyone anything.”

That was only part of it.

“A lot of criminals are vampires, or used to be. After the Taming I started hearing about different blood vendors who were spiking their stuff. Poisoning it. Or not even using real blood—making an imitation, somehow. Vampires getting sick. There was only one vendor in all of Balefire who I trusted, but the blood business isn’t cheap. He’s catering to wealthier clientele, now, and I was making him look bad by hanging around.”

She chewed her lip. “I’ve thought about it. Picking someone off. The constables have so many things to worry about—would they really come looking for me? Would they really care if some street rat went missing? When I saw you I thought I finally had an easy target. Who would care if you disappeared? Uh, no offense, but I mean—you’re not a Balefire native and you look like a homeless orphan. So you can see why I thought that. But I’ve… never done that before. Hunted. Gone looking for live prey.”

Uncertain whether or not to feel ashamed by that, Marion swept her hands through her hair, playing a little bit with the silver-star strands, before tucking it all behind her ears.

“I’m not expecting you to feed me now that I’ve fed you, by the way. This wasn’t a buy-a-lady-dinner-and-see-what-happens… kind of… thing. I just didn’t want you dead in my arms and have the constables start asking me questions.”
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Irena
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Irena had listened to Marion ramble on in silence, but now her lips quirked up in a smile. "Homeless orphan...I look that bad, eh?" She glanced down at her shirt, which had been ripped down both sides and tied back together in strips. Having given it a once over, she shrugged. "I've looked worse."

"Besides." At this she leaned back, clasping her hands around the back of her neck, trying to adopt a relaxed pose. "You're only half right." Seeing Marion's questioning look, she clarified. "Being homeless. Obviously. But orphan..let's just say I'm the one who chose the end that agreement."

As they lapsed into silence, she tried and failed to stifle a yawn, catching Marion's attention.

"I did have a place I was staying, but..I don't think it's safe to sleep there any more." Irena offered, rubbing at her eyes for further effect.

"Oh?" Marion probed further. "What happened? Constables catch onto you?"

Irena fell serious. "No.." She answered flatly. "Nothing like that..I don't even know for sure.." She glanced at Marion, clearly struggling with whether to speak. "Something is happening. I'm not sure who or what is responsible. But girls..women..that I've seen from day to day just aren't there anymore. And the ones that do show up again..well, not all of them makes it back, if you know what I mean."

She raked a hand through her unruly hair, face twisting. "I know this sounds crazy. But I feel like I'm being watched sometimes, that's why I'm in a different part of town tonight. It was like I was being.."

"Hunted." Marion finished her sentence, and the two of them made eye contact over the table. Irena nodded slightly. "Have you gone to..?"

Irena snorted, finding some amusement in the thought. "To the constables? Please. Like they'll care that some street rat goes missing here and there. They'd probably hunt the sicko down just to give him a medal. No. Nobody cares."

She glanced down, hands curling into fists under the tabletop. "I could do something, maybe. I may not look it, but I can take care of myself. This wouldn't be the first time someone figured a tiny woman was an easy target for something awful. But I'm not exactly in fighting shape these days..If only.."

Irena met Marion's gaze again, eyes narrowing. "If only there was someone who could help me...?"
Edited by Irena, Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:13 am.
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Marion
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“I can’t help you,” said Marion.

It was too dangerous. They didn’t know who they were up against. All Irena had to go on was a feeling—and though Marion would never discount the significance of instinct, that alone could not sustain an investigation. Women and girls were disappearing, but where were they going? What manner of creature pursued them? Irena felt as though she was hunted, but what was it that was hunting her?

Someone like me, Marion thought, or worse.

Vampires only required blood. Some other beasts needed flesh.

The Taming had not entirely cleansed Balefire of its beasts.

“I mean—I could.” Marion’s shoulders heaved with an impatient sigh. Too many thoughts jumbled her mind. One path of possibility began, only for another worry to intercept it. Clenching her eyes shut, she pinched the bridge of her nose, took a deep breath, and then continued, “But—okay—say I help you. Say we get this guy—what happens afterwards?” She released her nose and splayed her fingers in a tense star of frustration. “We go to the constables? Collect a reward? They probably don’t even know what’s going on. If anything they’ll toss him into a cell for the night and let him go the next day.”

Marion’s stomach grumbled.

It spawned an idea.

Lowering her eyes, Marion looked down at her body. Beneath her baggy, worn clothes, there wasn’t much of her. Small. Scrawny. But strong. With the instincts of a hunter. If she had a beating heart, it wound have pounded now with anticipation and fear.

“Do you think…” she began slowly, taking her time before she finished this sentence, for once she finished it she would enter an entirely new territory from which she could never return—

“… anyone would miss him?”
Edited by Marion, Wed Oct 25, 2017 9:04 pm.
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The smaller girl leaned forward, her golden eyes wide and shining with anticipation. "No." Irena breathed, "No one ever misses a man like that."

Across from her, Marion gently bit into her lip with a sharp canine, face thoughtful. Irena rushed her words, certain that if she took too long the tentative plan would disappear like smoke in the air. "We could find him. Incapacitate him, somehow. And then, afterwards, you can do...whatever you need too."

Marion sucked in a sharp breath. "You want to keep your voice down?" The vampire whispered roughly. "We might be planning a murder here, not a damn tea party."

Face red, Irena shifted to move closer to the center of the table, motioning for Marion to do the same. The two girls leaned towards each other, heads bent so close together that raven and chestnut hair mingled together as it spilled upon the wooden surface.

"If I'm right," Irena said softly, "and I have attracted some kind of notice, he might just come to me..us. All I need to do is spend a little bit of time in the right neighborhoods. I'm sure he knows a lovely spot, out of the way, no witnesses...wouldn't it be a shame if it just didn't turn out the way he planned."

A polite cough caught their attention, and the girls turned in unison to see the pale faced hostess wringing her hands next to their booth.

"Terribly sorry.." the frightened woman began. "But if you're done eating, we would appreciate if you two would...move along for the night." The hostess eyes flicked over to Marion and she flinched away at the vampire's cold glare, settling on Irena's face instead. Marion rolled her eyes, throwing a few gold coins onto the table before brushing past the woman on her way up. Irena scuttled after her, knocking over some of the empty plates and glasses in her rush.

"Sorry. So sorry." She apologized, hastily following Marion out the door. In the street, the taller girl was muttering under her breath about poor service and wasted money. Irena grinned, flashing the shiny gold pieces in her hand.

"This money?" She asked innocently, laughing as the startled look on Marion's face transformed into one that looked halfway impressed. Irena shrugged. "She was awful. Giving us trouble just because you're..you know. Like you were going to tear my throat out in the middle of a bar." She tossed two of the coins back to their rightful owner, pocketing one for herself. "Finder's fee."

The two began to amble down the street, picking up their earlier conversation. Marion questioned her about whether she could really entice a serial killer out of hiding, and Irena chuckled.

"You don't think I can play the damsel in distress? I was seconds away from turning on the water works earlier. You would have cried too, my act is so pitiful." Irena scrunched up her face, tears welling up in her eyes. "Oh no, please don't kill me, Mari. I'm so young, I've got so much to live for." Her voice was a mixture of wailing and laughter, the first genuine humor she'd felt in weeks. Teasingly, she reach out a hand to clutch Marion's arm, fingers wrapping around the vampire's exposed forearm.

The dark haired girl had laughed along at Irena's theatrics, but the second Irena brushed her skin Marion wrenched her arm away. "Oh.." Irena trailed off. "Sorry.." She wasn't sure what exactly she had done wrong, but the mood shift was palpable. The two walked along in silence for a time before Irena got up the courage to speak again.

"Uh." She said shyly, aware of how pathetic she was going to sound. "I'll need to sleep some before we do this. I'm near dead on my feet, pardon the expression. Do you have anywhere safe I could rest for awhile?"
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Marion
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Do you have anywhere safe I could rest for a while?

Marion scoffed. She bit her lip, and shook her head. Glancing at Irena as if the request were audacious, she looked about to speak—some cutting remark was coming, surely—and then opted not to say anything. Instead she turned to examine the street ahead of them, biting her lip, thinking.

“Yeah, okay,” she said finally. “Just, like—don’t touch me like that again.”

As they reached the corner of the block, Marion double checked the lantern-lit street signs , then took off to the left. Gesturing with a nod of her head for Irena to follow, Marion sunk her hands into the pockets of her trousers and kept her head down. For most of the long walk, she didn’t speak, not even to tell Irena where they were going. It became evident after about fifteen or twenty minutes that they had traveled into a different district of Balefire: this residential area wasn’t busy with shops or constables, and the houses were each spread out. Ample lawns and a wide street provided moderate privacy between each house.

Though it wasn’t one of the wealthier circles, it was by no means the slums. Each house, though plainly made, had some sort of pride in its stature. At the end of the lane there was one house whose lantern was burned out. Stepping over the grass, Marion lead Irena up to the front door, removed a pin from her long black hair, and picked the lock.

She winked. Opening the door, she gestured for Irena to enter first, then followed.

The house was empty inside. There wasn’t any furniture. A lighting fixture hung from the ceiling, and Marion struck a match to light the candles, casting an orange glow over the empty parlor.

She took a breath.

She was letting Irena into her world.

“The family that lived here moved out a couple months ago, and it hasn’t been sold yet,” she said. “So for now I use it.” She grinned.

“I’m going to put a nice little sofa right here,” she said, and moved to stand by the large front window. “And then, on that wall across? I’ll hang a painting. Maybe it’ll be a painting I paint, so when my guests compliment it, I can say, thanks! I made it it! And soak up the praise. Then I think a little coffee table right here—” she gestured with her hands “—in front of the sofa.”

She looked to Irena.

“What color would you paint the walls?”
Edited by Marion, Thu Nov 2, 2017 8:21 pm.
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It took Irena a moment or two to catch on to the game, but when she did her face split into a wide grin. "Hmm.." She contemplated, tapping her chin with her index finger. She slowly wandered around the room as if deep in thought, careful to skirt the edges of the "coffee table" Marion had pointed out.

"For a room like this..let's see. I would have to go with blue." She lifted a hand to trace the faded wallpaper. "A bright blue would really cheer the place up, like the sky on a cloudless day." Her voice trailed off, realizing what she had just said. When she looked over at Marion, she twisted her face up into a wordless apology, leaving the ball in the vampire's court.

Marion rolled her eyes and waved her wrist dismissively. "I'm not a baby," she said, "don't worry." She looked down at the hardwood floor, covered in a bit of dirt from their shoes but undamaged by rain or muck. "Would a purple rug match the walls? Deep purple. Light twilight."

Irena exhaled slightly, relieved that Marion was going to let her misstep slide. "Purple would look nice." She said absentmindedly, chewing on her bottom lip. Suddenly restless, she circled the room again, sneaking quick glances at the other girl as she contemplated whether it was smart to ask what was on her mind. Ah, [redacted] it. "How old are you?" She blurted out, unable to live with her curiosity any longer.

Marion lifted a single brow. A moment passed, and then a smirk slid across her mouth. "Guess."

"That's not fair." Irena raised an eyebrow right back, trying her best to look as confident as her companion. She got the vague impression she was failing miserably. "I barely know anything about vampires." She argued. "You could be 90. You could be 400." A beat passed before she continued. "No." she said, voice softer. "You wouldn't be having this much trouble if you were that old. I think you're young. I think you're probably like me."

At her side, Irena's hand twitched, fingers moving as if counting off numbers before finally settling on an answer. "I was 18 not too long ago. That's the last time I could keep track." She said. "I don't know how much older than that I am now, but if I was a betting person I'd say it's not by much." Breaking eye contact at last, she feigned interest in another corner of the room. "So, how right am I?"

Marion's smirk waned a little. "Eighteen," she said. "Nineteen soon. Really hoped you'd think I was ancient, but I guess an ancient vampire floundering for food would just be embarrassing." She walked off down a hallway, gesturing for Irena to follow. The hallway had three open doors, two on the left and one on the right. "Which room would be yours?"

Taking her time, Irena surveyed every room carefully. She could sense now that this game held a lot more meaning for the other girl than Marion had originally let on, and she was determined to play it right. Eventually she made her way back to the room on the right for a second time, Marion silently trailing behind her. "This is the one." Irena declared. "I can feel it. It's the only one that could possibly have enough space for me." To punctuate her point, the petite girl flung her arms out, spinning in a lazy circle. She had indeed chosen the largest room of the three.
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Marion folded her arms over her chest. Watching Irena spin through the room, she leaned back on the door’s open threshold and chewed her lip. “Well, then we have a problem,” she said, “because this is the room I like most.”

Stopping short, Irena turned to face the other girl. "For real?" She asked, tilting her head in curiosity. "But this one has all these...windows. There is even a skylight. Don't you need to sleep underground or something?"

Marion began to laugh. It was the first time she had laughed all evening. Her laughter was short and sharp, like a dagger—it filled the room with a staccato that cut the air. “Yeah. I sleep underground in a coffin.” More like on a damp mattress, she thought bitterly, recounting all the evenings locked in a basement. “And I need to have some dirt from my homeland next to me or else I have terrible nightmares. Daymares?”

"Fascinating." Irena drawled, doing her best to look awed. She drew closer to Mari, careful to keep her expression blank save for the twitch of her cheeks as she fought to hold back a grin. "Tell me, do you show up in mirrors? Or will our room be a mirror free zone?"

A single brow perked upward. “Our room?”

"I'm generous like that. We can share, I won't make you take one of the sub par rooms across the hall. Like a peasant." She spat the last word out, face finally transforming into a wide smile.

There it was again: the loud laughter. Appalled to the point of delight, Marion’s shoulders shimmied as she grew more comfortable leaning against the doorframe. A grin spread across her lips. “I hate to tell you this, Rena,” she said, “but we’re already peasants.”

"You're a peasant." Irena pointed a finger in Marion's direction, resuming her slow spins around the room. " I am a princess." She declared, arms slowly looping through the air. "Always have been. Just a little down on my luck at the moment. That will pass."

Marion squinted. "No way," she said. "No, I don't believe that for a second." She paused. "Are you really?"

Irena let out a short, barking laugh. "No." She admitted. "Not really. Irena was a princess in a book, though. I read that book cover to cover when I grew up, I'm surprised the pages didn't fall apart in my hands for how many times I opened it."

Marion's smile wavered. "Well that's nice. That your parents named you after a princess in a book," she said.

A tighter smile appeared on Irena's face, pressing her lips thin. "They didn't name me anything. Not unless you count 'sweetheart' or 'darling'. Like I was a cat or something." She shook out her hair, as if she could expel the bad thoughts crowding her brain. "I chose my name. They went along with it half the time rolling their eyes when I corrected them. Jokes on me, I guess. Because they wouldn't have a name to track me down with otherwise."

"Why are they tracking you down?" asked Marion. The smile on her face turned grim. "Kill someone back home and it didn't go so good?"

She shook her head again, then leaned against the wall opposite Marion, folding her arms. "I was supposed to do something. I didn't want to. That's the simplest way I can tell the story, and no offense, but I don't usually like to get into the complicated one." Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair before twisting her face back into a smirk. "Besides, I'm sure you're way more interesting to talk about. Vampire with human parents, eh? How's that working out for everyone?"

"I don't like sob stories anyway," said Marion. She knew all about refusing to do something that was expected. Curious as she was, she felt it might be better if she didn't know—at least for now.

The question into her family life twisted her mouth into a frown. Marion averted her eyes, looking around the room now instead of at Irena. Finally she mustered her courage and looked back to the other girl, smirking. "It's not working out at all," she said. "They're terrified of me. As they should be." Marion scoffed. "I've never killed anyone, Irena, but I almost have. And I liked it."

The response was unexpected. The smaller girl filled the room with high peals of laughter, learning forward to keep herself upright as her chest heaved. "Oh, Mari." She choked out, bringing her head back up to flash a grin at the other girl between giggles. "Is that a threat ? I thought we were beyond such things. I thought we were bonding."

Marion didn’t expect the laughter, but she felt almost electrified by it. It ought to have scared her that Irena didn’t take the warning seriously, or take it as a warning at all. Instead it reassured her. Made her excited for later. For her first kill.

“Isn’t killing a man the ultimate bonding experience?” she asked. “I’m just saying later… will be… good, probably.”
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Irena squinted and shrugged her bag off her shoulder, where it hit the ground with a soft thump. She flexed her arm, rubbing out the stiffness in her shoulder. As if against her will, her fingers trailed downward to pluck at the ends of the grubby bandage starting at her elbow. "I wouldn't know." She said absentmindedly. "The bonding experience thing. I was always alone."

"Yeah," said Marion. "Me too." She thought briefly of Eshan, then felt simultaneously embarrassed and angry. "Friends generally don't work out for me. The last person who said he was my friend..." Marion trailed off, then shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Sometimes it's better to be alone. At least that way no one can screw you."

The brunette pushed herself away from the wall and began meandering lazily around the room once more. "No friends. Family sucks. " She ticked off on her fingers. "Doesn't sound like a lot is keeping you here, Marion. So my question is, why stay?"

Marion snorted. "You've got to have money to leave," she said. She raised her hand and began to tick off her fingers, mirroring Irena: "Money for travel. For inns. A bit extra so they'll put you in a basement room, maybe. For food. For emergencies. Money to start over in a new place. What's the point of starting over if I get to Cascadia and I'm just a lowlife streetrat all over again?"

Irena hummed softly. "Cascadia. Interesting. What would you do if you got there, besides be a lowlife streetrat?" She had come to a stop next to the taller girl, who was still leaning against the door frame. While Marion eyed a corner of the room thoughtfully, Irena fought against reaching out to stroke a strand of glossy, black hair. She shrank back and curled her fist into her side instead, remembering how Mari had rebuffed her in the street earlier. The vampire didn't seem to like to be touched, as much as Irena longed for some kind of compassionate gesture.

"I want to be an apothecary," said Marion. "Have a little shop filled with different things. Flowers. Plants. Medicines and poisons." She flashed Irena a toothy grin. "It doesn't have to be Cascadia. It could be anywhere in the world. I'd go anywhere to start my new life." A brow lifted with interest. "Where are you gonna go? Since people are tracking you down. Can't stay put for long it seems."

Settling herself against the wall again, careful to leave some distance, Irena shrugged. "I haven't really thought about it." She answered honestly. "I like to be on the move. And there aren't many things I can do...well. You could say I have a very limited skill set. Couldn't really see myself settling down anywhere even if I didn't have people chomping at the bit to drag me back by my hair."

Marion grinned. "Let me guess. Your talents include... running away, getting yourself into trouble, and miraculously surviving? No, you can't make a living out of that, I bet."

Irena laughed again. "You've got me all figured out, Mari. Maybe I'll join the circus someday, who knows. Somebody must need me around, somewhere." She stretched out her arms, sliding her back down until she was seated on the floor. "I'm going to sleep here." She declared, tilting her head to make eye contact again. "You can stay in our room in you want. I don't snore." At this she hesitated, doubt creeping into her features. "You do sleep, don't you?"
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