To Those I Loved, Remeber Me For I Shall Not. (Soft Closed)

[Eleanor]

(( Sire found but others are welcome to make tappy taps on the keyboard with me.))



Everything hurt. Pain was her greeting to the world before her eyes even opened. Once they did, everything became so much worse. Hot liquid dripped into her eyes causing them to burn. She wiped the fluid away with the heel of her hand then was confused when she found blood on the skin that had touched her face. Gingerly, she felt around her skull before hissing as her fingers came in contact with exposed flesh and something sharp just above her left ear and the sensation left her woozy. She froze for a moment to take account of her body. She was lying on her back on a rough surface with her left side pressed against a wall and a heavy mass on her right side. Her left side felt shattered, her upper arm and at least a few ribs were broken but as her focus moved further down the pain seemed less critical. Some bruises and cuts, maybe small fractures at worst but her back and legs were functional, if not protesting, as she used the mass on her right to raise herself slowly. The groan that escaped her was drowned out by the sound of cackling and breaking wood. In her half up position she saw the front half of of the room, a living room maybe, on fire. That would explain the burning hot air in her lungs. Glancing down she saw the mass that had her pined to the wall was a body. A body of a large yet unmoving male. His eyes were blank and staring at the spot she had just been. She didn’t know the man’s name or what he was to her but she felt an overwhelming sense of grief when she saw the soulless eyes. But she needed to get out before the roof came down on her and finished whatever job was started. So supporting her broken arm with her good one she got to her feet, having to lean against the wall for a moment to get her bearings. That’s when she saw two more bodies. A younger side of middle aged woman laid across a broken coffee table still desperately clinging to the young woman in her arms despite neither one of them needing protection anymore. The image about took her to her knees again. Their bodies had been mutilated with deep slashes covering the flesh and as she looked down to the man beside her she found he had similar injuries. These people had been attacked. Did she do this? She had no sooner thought the words than a resounding ‘no’ echoed though her head. Her heart hurt worse than her physical wounds but despite how much she wanted to just stay here with these people the air was getting hard to breath from the smoke. She spotted a door hanging oddly off its hinges and carefully stepped over debris making her way though the exit.

Once outside the view was no better. Bodies lay in the makeshift dirt street while several of the small homes were fully engulfed in flames. The lack of sound besides the roar of fire haunted her as much as the carnage did. None of the faces told her anything except of more loss. Out here was no safer than the burning home she just left. She needed to be gone if whoever or whatever did this came back. And she couldn’t move fast. So she moved towards the trees as fast as her legs would allow, still cradling her left arm, and only briefly looked back before the density of the trees blocked her view of a place she couldn’t shake the feeling she would always miss. The smell of burning wood and flesh took longer to escape. It clung to her clothes and skin like a sadistic brand of scent. Her throat still burned from the heat and smoke while she felt her mind start to go cloudy like she was about to blackout. She let out a cry of pain as she intentionally jostled her injured arm, but the pain brought her back to awareness. She needed to find help before the blood loss or other injuries claimed her and she needed to keep moving to accomplish that. She wasn’t looking at the ground and was startled when her foot suddenly sank into about a foot of water. Looking down saw a short creek, no bigger than a yard and a half across and maybe a foot and a half deep. Her skirts got wet as she knelt on the edge but she hardly noticed as she scooped the cool water to her mouth. It took the edge off the burning in her mouth and throat but the cool water was too comforting. After only a minute she realized if she stayed any longer she the gentle sound and soothing sensation of the water would lull her to sleep. And then she would die. So she stood, and crossed the water and kept walking. She didn’t know how she was still alive or conscious. Her head hadn’t stopped bleeding and most of the blood that had the decency to not trickle into her eyes was dripping from her long copper hair causing it to be heavy down her back. Her arm was throbbing with each step she took and she realized she was barefoot. She allowed herself this small happiness. The soft grass and connection to the earth brought her a sense comfort and while she couldn’t explain why it felt right. It just felt like this was one small thing she could still claim as hers after everything else had been taken from her. And she was getting upset with herself for not understanding why she felt this way. She didn’t know the bodies she saw. Yes something horrible happened there but its not like she loved them. If she did, she would know who they were. But still, her vision swam with the memories of their motionless faces as a skyline appeared in the distance. And not a moment too soon. She wouldn’t be able to fight the darkness for much longer.

Dawn was threatening on the horizon as her feet finally hit pavement. This sensation she didn’t like barefoot. It felt wrong and artificial. But its not like she had a choice. So she kept moving down the still empty sidewalk looking for anybody that could help her. Each step was more difficult than the last and the edges of her vision were a cloudy gray. Leaning against a lamp post to examine her options she found a subway station sign. People had to be a subway station no matter how early it was, right? So she followed the signage the several blocks, her breathing becoming more labored. She was apparently coming to the less busy side of the station but a handful of people were getting on and off busses across the street.

“Help”, she attempted to cry out but found even she could hardly hear her own voice. Once again she leaned against a post and this time her legs didn’t threaten but warned her they were not cooperating with her any longer. She tried to scream for help but all that did was cause a coughing fit that sent pure agony from her ribs and head radiating through the rest of her body. Her legs took this as a personal attack and gave up trying to keep her upright. She slumped to her knees which jarred her arm and her skirts did little to cushion the impact to her kneecaps. Through her darkening vision she saw all those people but none of them saw her. They were busy with their own lives trying to get to work. If she had known she would die either way she wouldn’t have moved from the man that had been by her when she woke hours ago. It would be better to die with those nameless faces that she missed so much than here alone. But she made her choice. And the gray turned to black.

[Zach]

There I was again tonight
Forcing laughter, faking smiles
Same old tired, lonely place
Walls of insincerity, shifting eyes and vacancy
Vanished when I saw your face
All I can say is, it was enchanting to meet you

It wasn't uncommon for the smell of blood to be lingering in the air. If he was honest, he was sure the metallic scent clung to each and every one of the hairs in his nose. Naturally, he didn't mind it. What vampire complained about the smell anyway? But for the last few weeks, Zach found himself unable to enjoy it the same. Conflict. Promises of war. All the things that made the city riveting and thrilling were all things missing from the whole ordeal. Sure, he burned. Sure, he bled. But intermingling with the scent of blood was another: disappointment. Disappointed in the turn of events. Disappointed in the swirling emotions around the recent events. Simply: just disappointed. He tried to put up a good front. His husband, along with his other counterparts, bore most of the blaring responsibility in the organizing and communication stand point. Yet, no one seemed to enjoy it; which, made it very hard for him to find the enjoyment of it. That, and Zach realized he didn't enjoy seeing how his family had to deal with certain narratives.

It was one of the reasons he found himself in the streets this very evening. Eager for a scenery change, Zach convinced himself getting out and about would do him some good. Besides, he needed to buy more yarn for knitting projects. Mr. Whiskers and Yogurt needed more money draining cat food. And though he was thrilled to be cohabiting with Vex, he still kept his condo and checked in on it once in a blue moon. These were the perfect errands to run to take his mind off...life in general. Don't get him wrong; life had been good to him. He deeply loved Vex to the point of obsession. The conflict did bring his family closer together. The bonding felt real and potentially lasting. The blue eyed vampire got to interact with his partner's childer more than ever. And not only that: he got to witness their interactions.

Actually, he witnessed a lot of the interactions family members had with their childer. The pet names. The occasional scolding. The inside jokes. The special comradery that could only exist between a sire and their childe. His eyes witnessed it all and stirred up emotions he'd thought he'd buried a long time ago. Zach didn't like to talk about the past very often. Some were aware more than others, but for the most part, he kept it under lock and key in the brain cabinet labeled: painful memories.

Yes, that was why he was out this evening. Painful memories had such effects. Doing incredibly monotonous errands strangely aided in curing his dark thoughts. In one hand, he gripped multiple bags of yarn, all different colors and textures for his projects. Tucked under his left arm, he carried the bag of cat food. Whistling, he weighed the pros and cons of teleporting back to their living quarters. Sure, it would be quicker than taking the city transit, but the purpose of this trip had been to spend a little time by himself. So, to the station his feet carried him. The sound of whistling filled the air from his lips. Like most stations in Ravenblack, the area was engrossed in activity of various kinds. Some were innocent; people using the public transport to go to and from their jobs. Others seem to be nefarious. He knew plenty about the latter.

Zach stood at the station, patiently waiting for the next bus to come. His eyes drooped down to gaze at his watch then cast a glance to the horizon. Dawn was rapidly approaching. He'd lost track of time while he'd hung out in the condo, straightening up despite the lack of need for upkeep.

He continued to whistle until his ears picked up on a faint sound.

Help

His whistling died down as his head tipped to the side, attempting to catch the sound once more. Instead, all he was met with was the sound of coughing. The smell of fresh blood coated the air; this made him curious. No, you really need to get home, he thought. It was probably a homeless man anyway. But curiosity picked, and picked, and picked until he couldn't help but to rip the scab off and check it out. Sniffing, he followed the trail and found it didn't lead him too far from his starting point. And there she was. Crumbled up like a rag doll, she didn't look real at first glance. Yet, once Zach listened closely, he could hear the labored breathing, solidifying proof of life. Boy, she was bloody mess. Anyone could have mistaken her for an extra on a horror set. Lightly dropping the cat food and bags of yarn, the vampire crouched in front of the body and reached out to brush his fingers along her hair.

"Hey," his hand dropped to grip her shoulder and lightly shook it. "Hey, you okay?"

[Eleanor]

The darkness was peaceful. There was no pain here, no fear. It cradled her like a warm blanket on a crisp morning and she embraced it by closing her eyes and letting it do with her what it would. And there were voices, she wasn’t alone. Soft voices called to her. Though she was only on the verge of hearing what they said she could almost swear they beckoning her to them. She couldn’t see them, but it didn’t matter. Although she wasn’t moving the darkness was carrying her closer to those voices. Just a gentle drift like floating on a calm river. And it soothed her. It felt like it was carrying her home. Any minute and she would see the faces the voices belonged too. The further the darkness carried her, the less she though about what happened that night. It didn’t matter anymore. Here none of that matter. But then she heard another soft voice. It sounded a million miles away but she hear it more clearly than the voices beyond the dark. “Hey”. It was a male voice, but gentle and she felt something touch her hair. She smiled at that, in the dark. But then everything hurt.

Her face twisted with pain as her eyes jolted open. The calm and peace of the dark was dispersed like smoke on the wind and a part of her wanted to reach out and grab it back but her eyes looked up to the man who had pulled her from the abyss. “Hey, you okay?”. He repeated. And while she could understand him well enough, he spoke with a weird accent that wasn’t familiar to her and she didn’t know why. But he didn’t sound like the voices that had been calling to her. “Na.”, she finally said though her voice was weak. “Thare wis a fire”. She was staring past him now. Her mind was back in the place she woke up in. And it just now hit her how terrified she had been. In the moment she had been so focused on survival that she had blocked out most of the emotion that she felt. Or didn’t feel in the moment. Her mind had dissociated itself in order to keep her from breaking down. To save her. If she had felt then what she was just starting to feel now, well, she would have never had made it out of that house. But she trembled with the memory. “An blood.” There had been so much blood. And none of it where it belonged. It was on the walls and floors, painting them with long dripping splatters. It flooded the dirt road creating the most macabre mud. Her stomach quaked as she remembered the sensation of her feet sinking slightly into the stained earth. “An bodies. The faces. A couldnae help thaim”. And then the regret and loss came crashing down on her. Maybe if she had looked longer she could have found someone still alive. ‘And then you would have died with them’. The same voice that assured her that she had not been the cause of the carnage earlier spoke to her again. And she trusted this voice. It wasn’t even a thought. She trusted the voice as much a fish trusts the water and the stars trust the sky. It wasn’t her voice, but it also wasn’t her voice.

Her eyes focused on his again, and the emerald orbs looked to be pleading for an answer when she asked, “Whit coud have claws thon big?”. She didn’t have any proof that the weapons were claws but some deep part of her knew. She looked at her own hands and half expected there to be lethal talons instead of the broken nails she found. Another wave of lightheadedness and a bit of nausea washed over her again and it brought back to the actual present. The darkness was calling to her again. She was so exhausted all she would have to do is close her eye and let it wrap around her. But she didn’t survive Goddess knows how many hours and managed to walk Spirits knows how many miles in this condition to succumb to her injuries because she couldn’t manage to ask for the one thing she needed from the one person who noticed her. “Ah need help”, she managed to say. “A think thare is a lamp i mah head”. She then gestured to her side. “An ah think mah arm is goosed”, she continued while trying to catch her breath. “Dae ye ken whaur ah cuid fin' a healer?”. Or a more comfortable spot to die. Either one. Don’t want to be a bother.

[Zach]

Seeing the light smile form sent a sigh of relief from him. Oh, good. She's alive, he thought. He glanced around their surroundings before his attention returned to bloody mess of a woman before him. It wasn't the strangest thing he'd seen in the city by far. But it wasn't something he'd expected to happen about this evening either. Still, Zach couldn't dare to just leave her there in her current state. Staying crouched before her, he wasn't exactly surprised when her eyes finally jolted awake. He scooted back a tad bit, removing his hand from her shoulder before folding his arms to rest them on his knees. Obviously, she wasn't okay. Perhaps that had been a trivial question to ask her right out the gate. But it was better than asking her: "Hey, are you dead?" It was also better than just, you know, leaving her there.

Zach squinted as a series of jumbled words fell from her lips. Fire. Blood. Faces. Bodies. And from her words, he assumed all were dead. Once again, he found himself sighing. "Jesus..." he whispered, tugging on his ear a bit. What could have big claws like that? Well, many things, he wanted to say to her. Creatures. He'd seen his fair share of claws from fellow vampires. But the only other thing that came to mind were werewolves. Luckily for him, he hadn't encountered a feral one; though, he knew they were active in certain parts of the city. Yet, he wasn't going to tell her that. One, it wasn't the time. His eyes met hers. Yeah, it wasn't the time for that for sure. Second, he didn't know just how much she knew about the things that go bump in the night. One slip and she could be looking at him like he was crazy. One of those conspiracy theorists; plenty of those roaming the city as well.

He turned his head and peeked over his shoulder to make sure his things were still there. That, and to peep if there were anyone nearby them. Mumbling to himself, he rummaged around his person. He couldn't carry her and his things. Plus, the sun was starting to poke through the darken skies. The morning rush would only pick up. Someone would only come closer if they felt like something was off with this interaction. The emerald eyed girl was sure she had a lump on her head. He didn't dare to check if her arm was indeed broken, which meant Zach more likely caused more pain by shaking her. Hindsight was 20/20 in these situations. Standing up, he grabbed for the discarded bag of yarn and cat food then dragged the items closer to them.

"This isn't going to be a pleasant feeling..." he forewarned before he dipped down to hook his arm around the girl's waist, tossing her over his shoulder. He positioned his legs around his bags, locking them in before gripped the scroll of teleportation. Well, her night started off tragic and it wasn't only going to get weirder from here on out. Reading it while concentrating on his condo, Zach closed his eyes as the world began to melt away.