Deathknell Chronicles- Danielle's Prelude

[daelrog]

Danielle was jogging in her neighborhood, almost back home. Her mother wouldn't be happy with her. She was late, but it had been a really bad day, and she needee the extra three miles to break off some steam. One of Mallison's wretches tried to smart off about her sister, prove how cool she was. Daniell's didn't even know the Freshman's name, only that she thought if she spoke ambiguously, she could tell Mallison and the others that she was talking about Katrina, but she could tell Danielle she was talking about someone else.

A well place step on her foot shut her up. Danielle had to talk to the counselor again, but luckily he had let it slide this time.

Just one month away from graduation, and she could start over again, mostly. She had an option to go to the University of Washington, but it wouldn't be paid for. She'd get away from most the other kids. On the other hand, she had some money going to Havensworth Community College, and it was a lot cheaper to begin with.

Danielle stopped at the far end of her street. She could see her house, but one of the large, black lampposts had been knocked over and lay in the iddle of the road. She hadn't been gone more than an hour. What happened?

[dancrilis]

So cost over comfort was the deal with college, standard of education also counted she supposed (and as her mother reminded her frequently), dealing with the Mallisons of this world for a few more years was a grating thought but people like that were likely everywhere.
She also wanted to be self sufficient, but was pride worth the cost?
Probably not she admitted.

Noticing the lamp she was tempted to jog on home, after all it was not really her issue ... but considering that it was getting dark and that it could potentially cause an accident she felt the need to review.

She approached to see if the cause of the damage could be determined and once that was done and making sure there was no electrical danger decided to try to move it, she was aware that leverage would be vital to getting it out of the way of traffic so manoeuvred herself accordingly.

Sure depending on material within she might only look daft, but the attempt had to be made to at least budge it to safety.

Her mother was unlikely to get any less happy, even if she was home herself.

[daelrog]

As she appraoched the lamppost, she saw there was someone standing there at the base, where it had been broken. She recognized him. He was a boy from school, a grade younger, maybe? Hadn't seen him for a few months. "Hey... Danielle."

He was wearing a black hoody and old jean. The jeans had a few hoels from wear and tear, natural wear and tear.

For the life of her she could nto remember his name. They never even had a class together.

[dancrilis]

Noting the face, no not a clue to the name, oh well must people didn't notice when you didn't say the name anyway, "Hey", did he live nearby she thought or just out for a walk himself?

"You see what happened here to the lamp post?", she approached the base to get a look, he was probably doing the same, "also I would like help moving it to avoid any potential accident", shrugging "if not no worries, understand that at this time you might need to get home for dinner" she was getting hungry herself, and the younger student might be more of a chore then a benefit in this regard, one of the neighbours would likely help if needed anyway.

[daelrog]

"Yeah... I broke it. I knew you were out running, and I thought this would get your attention." He shrugged his shoulders. "You... busy right now?" He left hand was shaking as if he was scared. His voice stayed even though, at least as much for an awkward guy like him ever did.

[dancrilis]

Oh far crying out loud, she thought, a vandal with some creepy stalker crush. Looking at the lamp post he likely just pushed it over when it wasn't securely fastened, "Yes I am busy", sighing, "listen if a car hits that it could cause an accident, people could get hurt", looking at the guy h was shaking maybe nerves maybe drugs, "help me set it on the sidewalk out of the way, and then I will give you the greatest gift you will ever receive, namely some good advice".

She took a hold of the lamp post and waiting a second or two to see if he would help, then began to move it out of the way.


I am taking it that this is a lamp post in this kind of category, so not much trouble to move.
http://www.coblemetalworks.com/lamp.html

[daelrog]

"No." At first he didn't move. "No, Danielle." She could feel herself... almost drawn to him. Almost. He looked at her. "You aura... no, that's not good at all. We'll change that." He pulled something out of his hand, a bottle. She couldn't see what waso n the label, but could guess when he also took out a white handkerfchief and pour some of the clear contents on it. We're going to go somewhere, far away."

He looked pale and ragged. By the tone of his voice, she could tell he was serious.

[dancrilis]

Yuck she thought I was actually interested for a split second there, I am really that sad, stepping over the lamp post facing him she began to back up to one of the house doors.
Preparing to kick him if he approached, step one keep awareness of the enemy, step two defend yourself if needed, step three even with cause to be overconfident don't me ... and she really really wanted to start beating on this sicko, step four get assistance.
Follow the steps and you should be fine she had told people time and again, time to but it into practice herself.

"Listen creep, I am not going anywhere with you, and if you approach me I will make you regret it, I am going to get assistance from one of the houses and then you can have a nice conversation with the police and a psychiatrist", she voice calm, "unless you have done something, then in a few years you might be able to live a fairly normal life".

Racking her brain for info on abductors and serial killers motives, his mention of 'aura' likely meant he was fixated on her and thought she was somehow wrong, he likely also intended to make himself feel powerful by making her someone known to be able to defend herself into a victim.
Or she thought she had heard something to that affect.

Either way this could get very very bad if he somehow managed to capture her.

[daelrog]

"You still don't get it." That's when she saw the fangs. "I'm already dead." His hoody fell back and she could see his skin was pale white. His hair was in tatters, looking as if he had been living off the streets. He has some tattoo markings too, faint, streaking across from his right ear to chin. His eyes ahd a red tint.

He moved forward. The boy was fast, he was right in front of her face with the handkerchief in her face.

You are still free to act. The choloform is going to make her dizzy, but he's a big clumsy, and she can step back away from it.

[dancrilis]

Jesus, well that answered the drugs/nerves question anyway she thought immediately, definitely drugs, taking a step back and holding her breath in case he got closer she aimed a kick at his knee ... soft areas were good when someone was mentally aware but useless for someone deadened to pain, a broken knee was still a broken knee however.

If she could take him down quickly then not only would she be safe but if he was acting with others they could be found also.

But she didn't want to commit to it to heavily and risk losing balance and being caught.


Not sure if you want to start a combat scene of keep it descriptive.

If you do want dice rolls please see below.

Dex+Brawl: [roll0]
I have taken dice away for a potential dodge action, if more should be taken for being dizzy please let me know. (Diff 7 for a kick).

Damage: [roll1]
One additional for a kick.

Potential additional damage for a well placed kick (i.e extra successes).
Damage: [roll2]

[daelrog]

Bad luck. No successes. Not a botch at least.

She tried to kick him but he stepped back, he almost seemed to lose balance. His face contorted in a scowl. He looked like he was about to shout, but only a single word came out. "Sleep."

And that's what Danielle did.


-


She woke up. For a minute it was confusing... she was in a Kentucky Fried Chicken of all places. It was dark, with all the lights out. She felt a shiver up her spine, and then hunger. Hunger for...

No, something wasn't right.

The boy walked from out of the bathroom. "Danielle! I see you're awake. Here, I got you this, drink up." He was talking to her in a jovial tone, as if everything had been set right. He had two water bottles full of something red. She wanted to drink from them. He put them in front of her. "Don't worry, it's still fresh. I can get a few more if you like."

Go ahead and choose your disciplines. You can take any combination of the standard eight.

[dancrilis]

Ha well I made that too easy, rolling D6's and aiming for a 7 is no way to win a fight. I feel daft now.

She was shocked one minute she was preparing for a fight, and the next she had fallen asleep, she must have inhaled to much before pulling back ... or worse he had managed to inject her with something while she was focused on the cloth, stupid she thought, but I am still alive and not restrained, so there was still time.

A Kentucky Fried Chicken, meant he would have to move her soon before it opened, unless it was out of operation but then he would still need to move on in case of a inspection of the property.

Looking at the red bottles she was indeed thirsty, but had no intention of taking anything from this young budding psychopath, glaring at him she knew his game, Stockholm syndrome, and if he thought she was falling for that he had another thing coming.

That meant that there was nothing fancy to be done, no tricks or stalling tactics, hell he might want to sell her as some human trafficking ring and so might have friends on the way ... and her mother would be worried sick ... again ... because of this loser.

She looked at him with undisguised loathing and noting his jaw line she swung for the teeth with all her strength, her focus on beating until he would never be capable of doing something like this to anyone again, this time there was no restraint it was win or die time.


Brawl+Dex (Diff 6):[roll0]
Damage (Diff 6): [roll1]
Additional Success Damage (Diff 6):[roll2]

[daelrog]

We'll roleplay this one. No doubt she did some damage.

Her fist connect to his jaw, hearing a pop as it was dislocating. He fell to the ground hard, screaming. "What's wrong with you?! I just helped you!" One of the water bottles had fallen out of his hand, and its contents were pouring on the gorund. It was blood, there was no mistaking it. Why she was craving it she didn't understand. She was craving it though.

The kid tried to crawl away to get some distance from Danielle.

Roll self sontrol for frenzy. You have four dots of blood right now (he was nice and gave more than the minimum. Let's say difficulty 5.

[dancrilis]

"HELP ME" she screamed, moving forward and stamping on his knee, "you kidnapped me, drugged me, and now somehow got me thinking about thinking blood, what is it laced with some addictive additive for your sick fetish", kicking him again hard in the ribs, "something you have already exposed me to", she yelled.

There was a part of her that knew she needed to get control, she was losing it like she had with that fat girl whose name escaped her at the moment, except this time there would likely me no intervention, no help for this creep, just a solid beating until she got tired, she had to stop, had to get the police to question him, had to get herself to a hospital ... had to avoid murdering the horrible sorry excuse for a human being in front of her, and had to stop thinking about whatever was in those bottles and how it might help her relax, that was likely the scum-bags plan, had to calm down even if he really really deserved it.


Lets see where this takes us.
Self-Control:[roll0].

[daelrog]

"Stop! Stop!" He squealed rolling on the ground. Then he got mad. "ENOUGH!" The voice was guttural, like something else was buried deep beneath him and finally burst out. He rolled up and shoved Danielle away. Her head snapped back as she hit the wall, and everything seemed dazed.

The boy walked three steps towards her before stopped. His face turned to the left. "Who the hell are-"

His words were interupted when a knife shot out from someone out of Daniell's sight, lodging itself between her kidnapper's eyes. She was still dazed as the attacker walked confidetly. Somehow, some way the boy from her school was still standing, cursing. Danielle couldn't see the face of the man who stood over the deranged kid, but whatever he saw cause him to lose his confiedence. His lips trembled and his eyes wavered. "P-please-"

The stranger crossed his arms, and buried a sword into a kidney. He lifted the screaming teenager into the arm, and with sheer force cut up and across, forming an X. Danielle's attacker fell in pieces, wet thuds hitting the ground.

"Are you hurt, girl?" The voice was low and calm.

[daelrog]

"Stop! Stop!" He squealed rolling on the ground. Then he got mad. "ENOUGH!" The voice was guttural, like something else was buried deep beneath him and finally burst out. He rolled up and shoved Danielle away. Her head snapped back as she hit the wall, and everything seemed dazed.

The boy walked three steps towards her before stopped. His face turned to the left. "Who the hell are-"

His words were interupted when a knife shot out from someone out of Daniell's sight, lodging itself between her kidnapper's eyes. She was still dazed as the attacker walked confidetly. Somehow, some way the boy from her school was still standing, cursing. Danielle couldn't see the face of the man who stood over the deranged kid, but whatever he saw cause him to lose his confiedence. His lips trembled and his eyes wavered. "P-please-"

The stranger crossed his arms, and buried a sword into a kidney. He lifted the screaming teenager into the arm, and with sheer force cut up and across, forming an X. Danielle's attacker fell in pieces, wet thuds hitting the ground.

"Are you hurt, girl?" The voice was low and calm.

[dancrilis]

She tried to make sense of the scene before her, her attacker had flung her off ... that could be the drugs, then she had been saved be something out of a slasher film, only the knife and sword wielding psyco was on her side ... no that sounded unlikely.

Calm voice, measured movements ... so not likely a junkie, maybe a vigilante after kidnappers, someone like from that film deathwish? No that seemed unlikely also.

He had killed a man, right in front of her, he couldn't let her go now, so fight? No he had a sword and the strength to use it ... she had not felt like this in memory - she was helpless - he would kill her if he wanted to, she had been helpless in circumstances before but not physically powerless like now she always felt she had a chance before ... but looking at the man with the sword and and looking at the body ... not this time.

Say something, she thought, anything before he decides to finish this, "I think I have been drugged, and I need to go to a hospital" she was babbling, "You shouldn't have killed him he might have other victims alive somewhere, I ... I need to tell the police. I don't know who you are, or whether you are part of his freaky group or if he acted alone, let me go right now and I will forget about your description when they ask, after all you wouldn't have been part of the kidnapping ring or whatever right" ... she was shocked by her words, am I really that weak, did I just beg for my life with 'let me go and I won't tell anyone', yes right now she was, she had to save herself and if that meant begging she would beg, she had to get home to her mother she couldn't let her lose a second child.

Rubbing the back of her head to see if she was bleeding she slowly stood up against the wall, not daring to move in case he snapped but ready to run if needed, rule one still applied keep awareness of the opponent she could hopefully do that.

[daelrog]

"The thing I just killed with a rot, it was already dead thing. You'd probably call it a vampire. I've been tracking him for a week now. He'd killed three people in that span, and you were going to be the fourth. You can tell the police what happened, but they'll throw the file into some dusted corner of their archives. I know."

He turned around. Vigilante might have been right. He was wearing a mask of a hideous, snarling canine. He was wearing a camel colored trench coat, but she could see a glimmer of silver underneath as the man was well armed with a variety of blades.

"You probably don't believe me. It doesn't matter."

Danielle could see something happening to her abductor's body. It grew paler and ashy in only a few seconds. The masked man stamped his foot on the dead boy's head and it burst into ash. "A dead thing already," he repeated. "You should leave this place. Your safest bet is to pretend none of this ever happened. They have eyes and ears in the police department."

He wore a pair of working gloves, and reached down with one to help her up.

[dancrilis]

Remain calm, remain calm, remain calm, she repeated the litany in her head, she had thought the dog masked man was crazy or talking of a cult group right up until the boy turned to ash ... would his image now be on milk cartons and the news as another missing person yet to be found ... probably. She started to feel bad for his parents and any siblings, but caught herself she could consider that later.Remain calm

So no police, what could she tell them anyway ... I was abducted by someone, but got away, I can describe him but you can't find him, he was killed by someone in a dog mask and turned to ash ... yea that would go over well. She nearly became hysterical. Remain calm.

"Thank you", she wheezed "... where are the other victims, their families need closure", and so will I "... who was he also his family might need the same". Thinking about the police, "You might be right about the cops I couldn't explain this without looking crazy anyway" ... maybe she was crazy she considered, but ruled it out as unhelpful.

She took the offered hand and allowed him to help her stand, ready as she could be to defend herself if she needed, she would find a phone apologise to her mother get to the hospital to ensure she was ok ... maybe she had been laced with a hallucinogenic, she hoped so but somehow doubted it.

"Thanks for helping me, and for the advice", she moved towards the door, hoping he would let go of her hand, but forcing herself to wait for potential answers to the information on the other victims.

[daelrog]

"Closure is a dream, girl. Take peace knowing he won't kill again." He allowed to walk halfway to the door until he spoke again. "Wait." If she turned around she would see him picking up one of the water bottles. "Now that I look at you, you seem very pale. No doubt you are hungry as well."

His stomach churned and her spine felt as if hit by a ball of ice.

"It appears I was too late to save you."

[dancrilis]

Standing looking at him for a split second and for that split second she looked right into his eyes, her thin veneer of calmness evaporated and she took off as fast as she could, through the door she was at only slowing to catch it with her foot to try to close it without slowing to much.

Step one had taken a new meaning, don't die, he was good with knives so she ducked and weaved to make herself harder to hit, her awareness going into overdrive picking out the best path jumping tables as needed and putting chairs between them, she aimed for the main door, hoping that it was left open by the dog faced man when he entered, but mentally prepared to go through the glass if needed.

Who killed the girls - the kid or the man - at this point she was thinking it was the latter.

Get out, get safe, get help.

[daelrog]

Danielle was fast. The man was faster. She avoided one strike she did not even see, but heard as stell scraped off the pavement.

However, the next strike connected, cutting her heel, and forcing her to fall over. As she fell she rolled onto her back, looking up at the man. He truly did look the monster.

"Adustum." The word flowed from the man's mouth and the swords in his hand began to glow organe with heat. As he raised the sword in his right to cut her down, a shot wrung out and the man's shoulder jerked backwards. As it did he flung his other blade towards whoever had shot him.

In the next moment a figure flashed before her eyes and was on top of the vigilante, tackling him to the ground.

[dancrilis]

This time she was not waiting around for the resolution of the interlude in her nightmare. She reached for the knife to pull it out of her heel on instinct and stopped, that could lead to more blood loss and damage, instead she just tried to stand test the leg, taking a good look at the pair as she did so.
Then wincing in pain she started for the door where the newcomer had entered from, hoping they had left it open.

[daelrog]

It was hard to stand, she could put any pressure on her injured foot. She watched as the vigilante shoved his attacker off of him. The new man was handsome, with golden hair, blue eyes, and birght white teeth. A healthy tan, he was no doubt one of the msot handsome men she had ever seen in her life. The way he moved was almsot hypnotic, like a dancer, but far faster.

She could see a woman pulling out the sword that the vigilante had thrown out of her knee.

Another person was running up, another man with dark hair and broad shoulders. An unmarked van was speeding towards them all, even further away.

"Deus ex humanitas." The vigilante spoke the words, his golden enemy, stopping, choking on air by the looks of it. It was enough time for the vigilante to remove his head from his shoulders, his body crumpling into a withered husk as he fell.

The vigilante turned his gaze onto Danielle again and moved for her, but was knocked off his feet, this time by some unseen force of will, throwing him twenty feet, rolling on the asphalt.

The care came to a screeching hault, the female driver called out to the others. "Grab the girl." Danielle couldn't move away as both the broad shouldered man with dark hair, and a distinctly Greek look now that she could see closer, and the young, thin, attractive black woman took her by both shoulders, and moved her into the van.

She could only see for a moment as the vigilante began to rise to his feet as the doors closed, and they sped away.

"Jesus Christ Al! When did Jackal Nine-blades come back?!"

The woman driving didn't look back. "I don't know Trent. We'll figure it out later. Question the girl."

"He killed Brett! He was our best!"

"I know damnit! Question the girl, we're heading to the Prince."

"She's been embraced." This time it was the black woman who spoke. This van fell silent.

[dancrilis]

As the man saved her she couldn't help being drawn to him, feeling like one of those princesses in fairy tales being rescued from a monster by a handsome knight, she snapped herself out of it quickly.

Think Danielle she said to herself, van and a gang, likely the boy's friends some to pack her off, before the deal was interrupted by vigilante, come for the merchandise.
That made sense to her at least, what about the ash, and the orange sword, and the speed, and the force of air ..., she would think on that later.

She had screamed after her saviour was decapitated and the man had approached her, but had at least futilely raised her arms to defend herself before he flew backwards, then she found herself bundled into the van, likely for auction.

She tried to commit the names to memory, the driver was 'Al', the head pretty man was 'Brett' - or maybe that was the boy who kidnapped her?, she hadn't caught who was addressed as 'Trent'.

Looking for a way out of this could she survive opening the back door and jumping?, maybe, would it be better then being sold into slavery, probably, the course set.

She waited for her moment while they talked about how she had been hugged, which she imagined was a horrible euphemism. She instantly reached for the knife in her foot, "No one has 'hugged' me, and of any of you bastards try to 'hug' me you are going to lose something important", stupid you should appear weak and pliant and focus on escape, but the words were out before she considered them.

[daelrog]

Trent's look was murderous, and the woman's was mild surprise. It was Al who spoke, her voice smooth like velvet. "What is your name child?"

[dancrilis]

With her hand on the knife at her foot she carefully eased it out it didn't seem to be holding blood in so she was lucky it hadn't hit anything vital. The weapons use was mostly to distract attention from herself onto it, he would still be more comfortable with her hands.

She focused on the one called Trent the angry one, anger she could understand it was normal recognisable and controllable, this man did not scare her like the dog masked man did ... she could understand this situation in a manner of speaking, she had threatened him, he had lost his buddy Brett, and his kidnapper friend that had started all this.

Now if she could control her own anger she might have a way out of this, he was a big man, if he fell against the door they would likely open and she could use his body as a cushion ... but he would likely die ... she didn't want that on her conscience, quelling the thought she wanted a different plan but she doubted it would work.

Keeping her eyes on him, but speaking to the woman at the front, "how about you pull over and we - as in me and you Al - get a coffee where I feel safe in the presence of other people and you can tell me who you are, and if I trust you I might reciprocate", she didn't think it would work - in fact it working would be some sort of a miracle. For starters the boy knew who she was so they would too, how else to explain how they had found her other then a pickup point.

But if it didn't work then Trent seemed the type to react with violence, and she could revert back to plan B, and fully expected to have to in the next few seconds, and she could at least claim to have tried to be peaceful.

She stretched out her legs to work out the chinks in the muscles and try to determine damage to her injured foot, but mostly to make it easy to trip the man if he moved at her.

[daelrog]

Al spoke again, as she pulled a fast corner. "We don't drink coffee any more and neither do you." She thought for a moment. "Feel for your pulse. Listen for a heartbeat, any heartbeat. No? How about try holding your breath, close your mouth and plug your nose as long as possible, see if it begins to hurt. Look at your skin, does it seem pale and cold? Now please, what is your name? First name will do, make it up if you want. I'd rather call you something besides 'girl'."

[dancrilis]

Danielle broke one of her rules, and closed her eyes to her surroundings and breathed, in and out, in an out, and thought about the night, mostly about the man with the sword, 'You'd probably call it a vampire', 'you were going to be the fourth', 'It appears I was too late to save you', it was clear what he thought, and clear that the kid had brought blood and turned to ash.

Logically she should have been breathing heavy after beating on the kid, after fleeing from the man, and now that she was comparatively safer she should be coming down from adrenaline and feel exhausted, she didn't.

The knife wound should be bleeding more even if she got lucky, though it did hurt, and the woman beside me had pulled a sword from her knee, she opened her eyes and gave the woman's knee a sideways glance.

She had found that she had stopped breathing in an out some time ago lost in thought she had not continued reflexively, thinking about it made it uncomfortable, but there was no pressure to demand to start.

Her first instinct was to bolt for the door, but logic placed that as also the wrong move.

"Danielle", she wheezed without air to force the word, then taking a breath "Danielle", lying out of spite would seem a little pointless now, maybe they can explain and help me, with the night that was happening she suspected not.

[daelrog]

The woman's pants were still cut, and there was dried blood, but her knee was closed.

Al spoke again. "All right Danielle, sounds like you're starting to get the picture. Now, here's a brief explanation for you. The boy who abducted you broke a lot of our rules, including making you one of us, he didn't have permission to do it. Now we have to take you to the man in charge of us, we call him the Prince. He's going to figure out how best to sort this out.

"I'm going to tell you now Danielle that there's prejudices with our kind, and unfortuantely you've got the short end of the stick. There are clans, families if you will, of vampires. Then sometimes there are people turned whose sires get killed right away, abandon them, or have a sire or someone who's sire was killed right away, abandoned, and so on. These vampires are clanless, no one knows their lineages. Billy was a clanless, which makes you one too. Not only that, but he shouldn't have embraced you.

"Now you're probably thinking none of that matters to you, but it does. There are going to be people around the Prince who are going to want you dead, permanently because of it. When you hear Caitiff, that means clanless. When you here generation, that means how many steps away from the original vampire you are. I'm pretty sure Billy was 13th which makes you 14th. That's another thing against you. They'll call you thin blood.

"Now then, when we get there, you need to remain calm. We'll get you some blood so you don't frenzy. No matter what anyone says, no matter what happens, you need to remain calm, because if you panic, it's only going to get worse. I want you to walk out of there in one piece, but that's going to be up to you. There's no going around this, Danielle. The only way out of this is by seeing the Prince. He's the only one who has the power to help you now."

Trent shook his head in disagreement, but didn't argue.

The other woman spoke. "My name is Iris. Listen to Al, she knows what she's doing. She did the same for me for when I was embraced."

[dancrilis]

She considered Al's words as she explained the caitiff, she had studied enough languages to take a guess at the origin even if she had not encountered it before.

So Billy was his name ... she tried to think if she had ever spoken to him, hurt him in some way to cause him to want to curse her like this or was it just fixation and spite.

"So I'm a bastard's bastard who broke the rules, you would think that his sire" as the woman had implied the creating vampire was called "would be the one with questions to answer rather then me, but anyway, and I am to impress this prince if I want to live, and if I don't then then I likely die, that about it?", the word want left it ambiguous as to if she did or not, she collected her thoughts, and decided she did.

"So no making more vampires", her face took on a disgusted look at the very idea, "and other rules I should know of?", thinking more, "and what will likely get the prince to leave me alone", considering "and I imagine I don't call him 'sire' as you have a different usage for that, 'my lord', 'your highness', etc, any preferences".

She then stared at Trent, "and you seem to disagree with Al, is that about the prince, or about 'helping' me. Or both", the word helping dripping with sarcasm.

She still was unsure about all of this, especially now that it was join or crazy cult or die but she could plan along for now, mostly as she didn't seem to have a way out.

She looked at Iris, "So you are a caitiff also. Well to be honest Iris, I think you are all wacko members of a crazy cult, a cult that recruit members against there will and kills those who refuse, and due to the poisoning effect that comes with membership there is no getting out normal anyway ... so my trust is fairly low right now", considering for a second then getting somewhat optimistic as an obvious solution hit her "wait ... can I go back to human, blood transfusion, waiting for some hunter to kill the first vampire, living a selfless and good life ... that kind of thing?", she looked around with some hope as the idea occurred to her, but given the night she was having started to slightly lose it even before anyone spoke.

[daelrog]

"That's pretty much the sum of it Danielle. As for the rules, you'll here them soon enough. Right now try not to think too hard on it. Focus on something pleasant, and keep your mind on that."

Trent shrugged his shoulders. "Never met a Caitiff who turned out good. Don't see a reason to trust you." He barked a laugh when she called Iris a Caitiff.

For a moment Iris looked disgusted at the remark, but composed herself and let Danielle finish. "Actually... I'm Al's childer. Clan Toreador, Clan of the Rose. And I'm afraid not Danielle, the curse lasts until you are a pile of ash."

Al spoke again. "Danielle, the fact that you don't trust us is a good sign. Offer respect to any and everyone kindred you see, be polite to their servants, but don't trust any of them. I'm not asking you to trust me either, just be grateful I'm about to stick my neck out for you."

So we're about wrapped up. Danielle will get some mroe blood when they get there. She has three blood points right now. Feel free to respond, and wrap things up. We can also go back and forth once or twice more if you want.

[dancrilis]

She shoulders slumped, mostly at being told that their was no way back but Iris's reaction to being called Caitiff helped clarify how she would be thought of.

She rode in silence for a while, thinking about her life and how she had gotten here, she considered Mallison and her group from school to today, the normality of that annoyance compared with now made it feel like a long time ago, before 'Billy' had ruined her life, "Who was Billy", the words were more her speaking out loud but after they were spoken she felt she should follow up, "I thought I recognised him from school, but I didn't know his name until you mentioned it".

She continued in silence whether she got an answer or not, and this time thought about more important things, she had to survive for her mother, to survive she needed to impress the prince, to impress the prince she needed to ... well she supposed she would need to meet him and gauge him.

"Ok ... " the words were hard to get out given her view on them, but the advise seemed good be polite and respectful, "thanks for helping me, and for the advise", there was no sarcasm in her voice this time, "but if I am not meant to trust you then why are helping me" her words were spoken slowly and chosen deliberately to try to avoid offence, "not to sound ungrateful are rude, but why stick your neck out?", she looked wearily around.

After this she focused on music, playing out the piano in her head while her figures miming the keystrokes on her knees, she could get lost in that for a while at least, something that didn't require a wider area but could still ease her mind, the music wasn't particularly well written being her own piece composed to her sister about - in her mind at least - a lost child trying to survive, it was oddly comforting to her.

[daelrog]

Trent answer the first one. "Billy Clover, a punk kid who ran into some nomad kindred eating. He got to keep his neck when he turned his sire in. Apple didn't fall far from the tree. Hope you're smarter."

Al didn't hesitate to answer Danielle. "Because I plan to use as bait for Jackal the Nine-Bladed. He will find you again, and this time I want to have the jump on him. If I can convince the Prince and the other elders that it's a good plan, you'll earn your right to live by helping us. Once the hunter is taken care of, you'll be free to survive as you will."

[dancrilis]

So I am to have no freedom any-time soon, I am a pawn, but a knowing pawn ... but if that man was after her maybe he would come after her mother, neighbours, her friends - such as they were, did living place everyone she cared about in danger. "Who is Jackal the Nine-Bladed, and why would he care about me particularly", she asked absently focusing still on her keystrokes ... stopping momentarily "Why didn't you take care of him earlier today, after you knocked him back with the air, why not just shoot him and keep him pinned", the concept of doing this to someone, to kill someone with such premeditation disgusted her, but it seemed to be the kind of thing these people would do, "I won't be part of placing anyone I care about in danger Al", she sounded as resolute as possible on this last part.

She returned to the silent music.


I am assuming she lost a point of blood to the knife wound, as you said 4 earlier.
When feeding I would like to use the first few to heal the leg wound when we get there.