Charon wrote:Marcus looked at Nathaniel. "Are you hungry? Please, I would be a terrible host if I did not offer."
With a voice suddenly light, carefree, and above all very distantly aware of itself Nathaniel answers:
"Thank you for the generous offer but you see I am terribly hungry. I can continue a few more nights maybe--maybe not--and so according to the game I play I cannot yet drink." He sounds like he is reading lines in a commercial from the 50s promoting the joys of some cleaning product. As he finishes he licks his lips again. Audible this time.
"So you see, my thirst means I shouldn't accept your offer."
He adds as an afterthought, "At this rate I expect I will cease to function completely within the next two or three nights." Just as light and gay as before, and perhaps even more distant.
Marcus smiles, deep within himself shines the light of victory. "Well, why wait then, this meal is right here, you won't even have to struggle with him. Saving yourself a lot of time and effort."
Marcus pushed at the body he was talking about, tilting theman's head to better show off his neck.
"Oh no. I couldn't do that at all." Same light voice. "In fact, I think that I should inspect that ankle instead. I have some skill with first aid from my mortal days--in the boy scouts you know. Yes I think I will do that. A silly notion really, giving in to temptation when it is strongest."
As he rambled about this he did indeed move toward the injured man and he started to inspect the ankle. He ripped his shirt sleeve and wrapped the injury, improving on the hasty 'job' Marcus had done. He moved on to the man's clubbed head, scooting across the floor. He almost made it. He let out a very, very faint sigh as he looked at the neck. It had been so long, he could release control just this once. He really had held out a long time, considering. Never long enough though.
He whispers, "So much for that." He leans forward, unstraps his mask at key points and releasing his fangs, bites into the neck, drinks.
He finishes off the man's last blood, feeling refreshed. His face is visible to Marcus for the first time; it is not disfugured in any way, there is no visible reason for keeping it hidden under a mask at all times. In fact it is a face of unusual beauty with finely shaped curves and lines, pale but the more radiant for it. The lively blue eyes seem to match almost perfectly as he gazes deep into the staring eyes of the now dead man. A soft, lilting sing-song voice carries its way to Marcus' ears.
"Such a calm face, such a great grace, your eyes stare at nothing at all. Your sleep is from bliss, such ignorance I miss, go softly to the gates. Tell them I sent you, you fair, fair kine. Tricked into meeting the start of all things wonderful and kind."
"Go now, and don't let your troubles slow you or make you stray."
He stands up, a pleased, slightly crooked smile on his lips. His face was more than beautiful, it displayed every emotion that dared to cross the mind behind it, a swiftly moving mountain brook of emotions chasing each other. A look of weathered care crosses his face now.
"And so in the end even Nathaniel did what is best. He tries, really he does, but he has so very far to go still. You probably think him a fool who won't fully accept what he is--you are right. But he should be pitied, not scorned."
His face changes again, now it is pained, disgusted by the thought of something. He tosses the mask he had been holding absently aside. When it hits the floor a smile spreads across his face, relishing the dull ring, the thud.
"You probably want me to carry that sack of food to the basement for you, no?"
Marcus watched the man. For the first time realizing what it was he was dealing with, much like a child who plays with a cobra until the cobra spreads it's head and hisses. His composure never wavers though.
"I can manage it by myself."
Marcus watched him for a moment more.
"So you are of Malkav's blood? Nathaniel had me believing him to be a Toreador."
Already schemes formed, this would be useful... if he could control it.
He glanced around to assure himself that he wasn't being observed, then shifted down to his wolf form, sniffing the ground in an attempt to acquire the scent trail.
Carnage had taken place here, and inserting himself into scenes of conflict and strife were part of his mission.
"So you are of Malkav's blood? Nathaniel had me believing him to be a Toreador."
"Why mention Nathaniel when he isn't here? But since you bring it up, yes he has taken to going around as a Toreador.
As for your question, I have the gift of sight. Some call it a curse. Does that seem right to you?"
With that said he bends over and lifts the mortal and takes him to the basement without another word.
Marcus grinned. "We all have our own mixed blessings. I take it your other half doesn't much like you considering his distaste for what he is and your liking of it."
Marcus pushed the second body down the stairs, smiling a little as the body rolled down the stairs.
"I'm going to be asking for your assistance over in Gary once I'm done healing."
He licked his chops, savoring the taste and scent, before he began padding along after the trail. Here in the darkness of the railyards, he could pass mostly unnoticed, so long as he was properly discreet.
Rosemary makes her way behind Holden. Soon the distance is covered. A car must be recovered. As easy as it is to pick one off the streets and claim it, it also means more noticeability, and they must not be seen.
A puddle is in the middle of the driveway as it curves towards Marcus' house. A brief flicker for a moment, somewhere in the recesses of her mind, she recalls jumping into puddles for fun. The subconcious, the timid naievity of childhood, would rest now, as her monstrous form follows Holden.
Approaching the car, she memorizes the location of the establishment. He had mentioned this was Marcus' place. One never knows when that would come in handy.
Let me oouuuuuuuuut
"She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist."
Charon wrote:Marcus grinned. "We all have our own mixed blessings. I take it your other half doesn't much like you considering his distaste for what he is and your liking of it."
Marcus pushed the second body down the stairs, smiling a little as the body rolled down the stairs.
"I'm going to be asking for your assistance over in Gary once I'm done healing."
He ignores Marcus entirely as he carries the kine down into the basement. Marcus looses view of him as he places the man out of sight of the stairs before he appears again and drags the body to join the first, vanishing again. He makes some rummaging noises, as if looking for things to cover them with, and then slowly makes less and less sound, probably searching visually for a cloth or something. Focussing the powers of his clan he manages to vanish even more totally than mere shadow would allow.
Less than a minute later Marcus gets a nudge on the foot and sees the vampire half carrying the older body, the woman he had drained before.
"Pardon me. She needs to join the others in the basement, could you move aside?"
Marcus had been calling out to the kindred for much of that time until the nudge came. He looked back and was half tempted to snarl at the Malkavian. Instead he simply moved to the side.
"I take it you are talented in all the skills of Malkav's blood?" With any luck that wouldn't include the discipline the sabbat varient had.
As they make their way to the car, Rosemary says very quietly to Holden. "I have something I need to take care of. I will meet you back at the house. I leave the homemaking to you." She says with a hint of irony as she dissapears into the shadows leading up to Marcus' door. Holden drives off with the vehicle. Rosemary waits until all is quiet. All is quiet.
Mary, Mary quite contrary. How does your garden grow?
She tries the handle of the door for a moment, locked. So much for subtlty. She knocks on the door.
"She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist."
Charon wrote:Marcus had been calling out to the kindred for much of that time until the nudge came. He looked back and was half tempted to snarl at the Malkavian. Instead he simply moved to the side.
"I take it you are talented in all the skills of Malkav's blood?"
"All his skills? I think not. But thank you for the complement."
He let the body drag some more and decended the stairs. At the bottom he piled her on the fresher body, tucked away in a corner they hide the uncouncious man. He ascends the stair again.
"The live one may stir soon. Any rope?" He face is obscured by the shadow of the basement, but it is still a moving picture of expression.
Marcus heard the knocking on the door. "That is probably your other employer. About time he showed up. Answer it if you would, as I am currently, unable." Marcus moved his head in a way to represent that his legs were rather useless.
Charon wrote:Marcus heard the knocking on the door. "That is probably your other employer. About time he showed up. Answer it if you would, as I am currently, unable." Marcus moved his head in a way to represent that his legs were rather useless.
"Ah yes. Business. Nathaniel would be pleased to get this moving... though perhaps not too much.
I shall see who it is."
He opens the door and sees the Nosferatu Nathaniel had met before.
Marcus smiled as he climbed onto the sofa. "I will survive. As for helping hands my new friend here has done an excellent job of it." Marcus looked almost healthy from his position on the couch, save for the still ruined jaw.
Colors surrounding the triplets shift and are mottled. A brillant overlay of light blue and silver. Underneath, shifting in and out, ebbing and flowing, gold intertwines orange, pink, and white. Underneath still is a darker feel, a swirling black, deep red, and a lighter firey red. The two layers underneath seem brilliant and beautiful of their own regard, but oppressed by the surface. That which shines the most brilliant is the middle - flickering gold surrounding and protecting orange, pink and white. It is enough to give one a headache.
"She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist."
Cassie does not stare away from the beautiful creature. Somehow, she feels a connection to him. Rosemary may feel wariness to him, but the eyes are Cassie's.
The voice whispers to Marcus, "So I am not needed?"
Last edited by Bratty on Tue Oct 18, 2005 9:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist."