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Post by Vivian Nazarova on Aug 3, 2009 12:46:07 GMT 1
[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/H2/Viv12.png,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/Viv1_02.png][atrb=style,padding:0px 50px;background-position:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;] Okay, to put it mildly: Being a vampire sucked.
Vivian grinned at herself. Heh, well, they sucked too, but more than that, it was a pain in the neck to be one.
... Wow she was on an accidental pun-roll tonight.
To start with, everyone was asleep when she was, and there was practically nothing to do unless she felt like visiting Scores, the one place still open at ridiculous o’clock, and somehow she didn’t see that happening any time soon. Poor Scotty usually tried to stay up when he was around but Vivian always had to shoo him off. After all, he couldn’t go to school with only half his brain-juice.
So, she was doing what she did more or less every night once she’d finished all the crosswords and puzzles in the Daily Prophet: Walk. Hogsmeade was like a whole other village at night. The lamps kept the place lit but it was kind of a ghost town. Nothing moved unless the breeze forced it to. Before her change, walking at night might have scared her, but hey, like Dacian said, she was top of the food chain now, right? What could happen?
She had learned a while ago that thinking too much wasn’t good for her brain. She tended to create problems for herself by overthinking. Instead she just focused on the one foot in front of the other mechanical movements of walking while the newest song to come out of the Wizarding Wireless Network ran on an endless loop in her head. Okay, so all she knew was like, four lines of the chorus, but whatever.
Something made her glance up. She could see the tree tops of the Forbidden Forest away over the village roofs. Heh. Oh God. Sneaking into there had always been somewhat of a fantasy for her as a Hogwarts student. The big, scary forest and all that. She may have to try and go up there one night, but not now. For that she needed appropriate footwear and these shoes were too nice to ruin with a midnight hiking trip. Hey, she was a vamp right, what was going to try and attack her if she just kept near the edges?
If Dacian could see her he’d probably have an aneurism, if that was still possible at all for the undead. Somehow, being aware of her surroundings had never been her strong point. After all, what could possibly happen in the middle of Hogsmeade, right? |
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Post by Samuel Jacobs on Aug 3, 2009 13:34:11 GMT 1
Perhaps not an aneurism – that was a good way to waste blood – but Dacian certainly wouldn’t be pleased. Samuel wasn’t even her sire and he was worried. She might have fangs now, but that certainly didn’t put her at the top of the food chain. Bounty hunters, Silas Rosier, even a lucky werewolf on a full moon could snuff out that light of her life.
Samuel followed at a distance, not exactly stealthy being one of the only two people out in Hogsmeade this late, but Vivian did not even notice. Dacian had mentioned she was a little bit… out of tune with her new instincts, but Samuel had not realised just how off-key she was. He followed her from the Hogs Head, all the way into town without her noticing. She didn’t look back once. She looked up once when they walked through the main street and Sam thought that perhaps she had senses something, but she only looked toward the hulking black forest on the edge of the village.
Samuel sighed. The girl needed help but if she continued to refuse it, she was going to learn the hard way that crosswords and newspaper puzzles were not the hardest thing to endure in her new life. When it seemed she was never going to look back and spot him, Samuel decided it was high time he made her notice.
Veering off the main street and cutting through back alleys, he ran ahead of Vivian and rejoined the main street ahead of her. He leaned back against the nearest shop wall and simply waited for her to finally notice him. He might look a little sinister, robes falling about him and hiding his comfier human attire, but anybody out this late was hardly pegged as a good citizen. Vivian had to have some instinct, surely?
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Post by Vivian Nazarova on Aug 3, 2009 15:08:47 GMT 1
[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/H2/Viv12.png,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/Viv1_02.png][atrb=style,padding:0px 50px;background-position:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;] Woah, hang on. Vivian eventually caught sight of the stranger lurking in the alleyway. She stopped, hesitating, peering up at him and weighing up her options. Hogsmeade was usually a friendly sort of place, but, well, you know the stories on the news sometimes; things happened, and that guy looked all nine kinds of shady.
It was all well and good to think she was the shit when there was no one around, but the old ‘Safety First’ motifs drilled into her head from a young age hadn’t quite gone to waste yet. After all, it would hardly kill her to show a little caution. She wasn’t exactly looking for a confrontation where she didn’t want one and she could see how she might look like an easy target to anyone else strolling around.
Digging her hands into her pockets, she started walking again, slowly crossing to the other side of the street so she could give the stranger a wide berth. If he came at her she had plenty of forewarning and she was willing to bet she could run a lot faster than he could. Still, she couldn’t rule out spells, and Vivian stepped up her pace just in case.
Something was putting her unusually on edge about all of this. Something wasn’t entirely right. Oh well, she could probably chalk that up to technically still being a fifteen year old girl on her own at night with a suspicious stranger nearby. Old habits seemed to die hard, and she was glad when she could no longer see him.
That had been painless enough. |
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Post by Samuel Jacobs on Aug 4, 2009 14:16:58 GMT 1
Samuel smiled to himself. So she had some survival instinct. He waited until she was across the road and past him before he pushed away from the wall and started after her at a brisk pace. He was glad at least that she was nervous enough to avoid him. If he had been human, he wouldn’t be too much of a threat, but she was still young and inexperienced. She seemed inclined to avoid trouble, which was good. The problem would come when trouble came to find her.
She did not however seem to realise that he was technically a threat, as she would be making more of an effort to flee. He felt a little cruel, frightening her for the sake of a little test, but it was necessary, and he fully intended to apologise. He kept back to begin with, letting her get a lead before lengthening his stride to catch up, letting his shoes slap the cobbles with each step to alert her.
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Post by Vivian Nazarova on Aug 4, 2009 15:46:27 GMT 1
[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/H2/Viv12.png,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/Viv1_02.png][atrb=style,padding:0px 50px;background-position:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;] Vivian didn’t notice that all was still not well until she heard the sound of shoes on the cobblestone behind her. That’s weird. She didn’t remember anyone being behind her, unless someone had just stepped out of a building or- She had just turned her head to glance behind and spotted the man from the alleyway walking behind her. Uh oh. That was... not good. No, that was not good.
Vivian didn’t know who to fear more for: herself or him. The man clearly had no idea what he might be up against. However, she could just be completely misreading the whole thing and jumping to conclusions or something. It was far more likely he was just going home. After all, it was Hogsmeade! What could happen in such a sleepy little- Wait.
She’d almost forgotten about the strip club, the people being tortured on the street, that she been murdered very near here... Okay so the place was clearly not as innocent as it had been once upon a time. Hogsmeade was definitely not the same village any more.
Vivian picked up the pace, her whole body stiffening as all sorts of nasty conclusions ran through her head. Hell, of course Hogsmeade wasn't the same. The vampire population practically outnumbered wizards now and...
Oh God. Vivian let out a stifled gasp of realisation and turned her head to look at the stranger again. She had just discovered the reason behind the strange feeling she was getting. Like the background music in a room that eventually stopped, it had taken her this long to realise the stranger, whoever he was, was lacking a heartbeat.
Panic slipped in. Okay there was no way this was a coincidence, omigoshnowwhat!?
Okayokayokay. Vivian clenched her teeth. If her heart was working it would be running at a thousand miles an hour by now.
Okay. Oh God. She hissed in a breath. Think.
After all, this still might be completely innocent. He might actually just be going home like she first thought. Vampires lived in houses right?
What would Dacian do?
He’d... he’d...
Vivian glanced behind her again. Still following. Oh God he was getting closer. Her pace quickened.
He’d... confront anyone following him, probably. However, Vivian couldn’t see herself pinning another vampire by the throat any time soon.
Oh God, she wanted Edward.
Taking in a breath to steel herself out of force of habit as opposed to any actual need for air, Vivian turned herself so she was partly walking backwards in order to look at the stranger and still keep walking. His reaction should give her either warning if running was definitely in order or not.
“Can I help you?” she asked submissively, trying to sound confident and failing utterly spectacularly. Even a blind man could tell she was freaked. |
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Post by Samuel Jacobs on Aug 5, 2009 10:07:54 GMT 1
Thankfully, Samuel wasn’t blind and unlike some vampires, he shared an empathy with mortals. That slightest of gasps when she saw him following was loud enough to his ears that she may as well have been screaming. He felt a twinge of guilt, but he had to test her reactions somehow. He kept up with her hurried pace, but kept that same distance between them. Keeping up, but not gaining.
She kept glancing back, and he wondered if she would run. Thankfully, she chose the easer option and turned to face him, still moving away. He slowed instantly, keeping that same distance between them. He lifted his hands from under his cloak, palms out and gave a close-lipped apologetic smile. “Actually, Vivian, I was hoping I could help you.” He hoped that didn’t sound like some creepy come-on. he was sincere, but he could see she was frightened and likely to take any response badly. She probably wasn’t expecting anything good to come of this.
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Post by Vivian Nazarova on Aug 6, 2009 9:41:28 GMT 1
[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/H2/Viv12.png,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/Viv1_02.png][atrb=style,padding:0px 50px;background-position:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;] He was hoping he could... what?
Vivian slowed down inadvertently, expression turning to a confused frown. For a second she almost fell for the idea that he might actually be out to help. After all, with Dacian gone maybe someone else had been sent to look after her? A friend or a relative or something? Dacian couldn’t have been that much a loner, could he? Someone else other than her and Cassie had to be suffering for his death, surely.
But then, what would Dacian tell her to do in this situation? She always thought he was obscenely paranoid but maybe there was a good reason for it after all. If this was what she had look forward to for the rest of her life, gaining some notion of who to trust and who not to trust was going to be an imperative skill. Maybe the old bastard was right after all. She wished she'd paid more attention when he tried to tell her stuff, and Vivian felt a stab of guilt for never listening to him like she ought to. Poor man, he'd only been trying to help, after all...
The fact the stranger hadn’t jumped on her immediately seemed to have bolstered Vivian's confidence somewhat. At least he wasn’t getting any closer this time. “Vot do you vont?” she asked, hoping to sound somewhat more challenging than last time. If he was being genuine, well, it’s not like she had anything lose. But if he wasn’t... |
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Post by Samuel Jacobs on Aug 6, 2009 10:56:05 GMT 1
Samuel slowed with her, barely moving now. “My name is Samuel Jacobs, I come from a coven of vampires that are very interested in seeing you safe.” Speaking, his voice had a hint of accent which had a tendency to add a guttural bite to his words. He smiled, hoping it was as sincere as he meant it to be. “We know a lot about you, Vivian, and your sire.” That made them sound like stalkers, but hey, it was an occupational hazard.
Dacian was supposed to be dead, and Samuel was not going to enlighten her otherwise just yet, but it was going to be tricky explaining exactly how they’d discovered her so fast. Dacian did not usually associate himself with covens, and he did not have many friends among them. Luckily for Vivian, she was not too old that the covens had declared her tainted by the rogue teachings of Dacian and they were happy, even eager, to accept her into the coven.
“What I want is to take you to my coven where you’ll be with others like us. You’ll be safe, and you’ll have company.” The problem with Vivian was that she was surrounded by mortal ties. After a lifetime, she would be more willing to join a coven purely for the company. Mortals had a tendency of dying after a while, while vampires kept going. Vivian would eventually outlive her friends and family, and that would give her the incentive she needed to join the coven.
But a lifetime was a little too long for some vampires, and patience being a virtue you’d think most vampires would adhere too with so much time on their hands, there was surprisingly little of it among their kind. They were typically impulsive and impatient. If Vivian was too slow to accept the offer, it might not come round again, and she would go to waste.
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Post by Vivian Nazarova on Aug 7, 2009 7:41:06 GMT 1
[atrb=width,450,true][atrb=cellspacing,0,true][atrb=cellpadding,0,true][atrb=border,0,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/H2/Viv12.png,true][atrb=background,http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v321/1300666/Characters/Vivian/Viv1_02.png][atrb=style,padding:0px 50px;background-position:top;background-repeat:no-repeat;] “We know a lot about you, Vivian, and your sire.”
Yeah, there was no way that couldn’t be made to sound ominous. Vivian stiffened again, suddenly liking the sound of this less and less. What did they know and why?
As he kept explaining, Vivian slowed down and eventually stopped to listen, standing with her hands in her pockets and wearing the same frowny look she always wore when she was running things through her mind. The offer, at face value, didn’t sound that painful. If anything it sounded like a, well, Vampire Hogwarts if that made any sort of sense. Although why hadn’t Dacian mentioned them before? Were they more appropriately a Vampire Orphanage? If that was the case she didn’t need one. Lenny looked after her just fine.
Company? What was that supposed to mean? She had plenty of company in Hogsmeade. Or did they mean vampiric company? Other people counted too! “Where is it?” she asked suspiciously. If it was a Hogwarts type deal, then coming back wouldn’t be an option and there was no way in any conceivable universe she was going to leave Scotty behind. Dacian had already tried and failed as far as that was concerned. |
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Post by Samuel Jacobs on Aug 31, 2009 10:16:04 GMT 1
Samuel stopped with her, mirroring her position on the cobbled street a fair distance back. Their conversation didn’t need to be loud to cover the distance, and his voice was quiet and calm. “The main coven itself is based in York, but we have stations in most major cities that you could live in once you’re accustomed to life with us. You’ve had a bad experience with vampires thus far, and understandably you’re more than a little suspicious, but you’ll find some friends amongst us. I know a fair few teenagers like yourself who are looking forward to meeting you.”
The old vampire gave a closed-lip smile, eyebrows lifting. “Lenora will give you her opinion about us which is undoubtedly less favourable, but I ask that you reserve judgement until I’ve answered all your questions. You can trust my word, Vivian, though I understand I have to build that trust first.” He gave a shrug. He didn’t seem impatient by that idea, though this would be a little easier with Dacian to give him a reference.
“I won’t pretend I have all the time in the world for you to make a decision, but I’m going to answer any and all questions you have.” He cast a glance at the empty street and smiled. “But unlike some traditionalists, I don’t believe a dark alleyway is the place to discuss this. I’m staying at the Three Broomsticks. Between sunset and midnight for the next month I’ll be in the public bar area if you want to continue our chat.”
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