paris ♔ tried to save myself but myself keeps slipping away

[necessaryevil]

♬ Facade (reprise) - Jekyll & Hyde

WHO || Faith Lehane, Max Rast, Lissa Dragomir, Helen Magnus
WHAT || The Knights investigate a string of vampire attacks in France
WHERE ||Paris, France
WHEN || April 11th, 2015 [backdated].
HOW || Actionspam. Single thread.

One vampire attack is cause for worry enough, but when bodies are found with telltale puncture wounds and heavy loss of blood become a recurring nightmare across any city, alarm bells are raised.  Such is the case recently in Paris, where Wynn suspects that either a careless clan has moved in, or some lone vamps are stirring up trouble.  With the locations of the bodies marked out in the eight block radius where the deaths have been occurring, the team arrives in the late evening, staring at the rows of apartment blocks, small businesses, and pubs that comprise this section of town.

Comments

[msattentionspan]

[Faith isn't going anywhere. Though, she is kinda wondering why there wasn't a pamphlet explaining the abilities of her teammates... maybe next time in the briefing there should be a Q&A session so she can attempt to find these things out.]

Sorry, but before I give him space - I'm gonna want to know what exactly he needs space to do. [Because, she's part of this team and if her team is going to be in jeopardy - she's gonna be the first line of defense.]

[lastdragomir]

He can read violence on people. [ a beat, as she briefly surveys the blood stains. ] Or what's left of them. He'll be able to tell us exactly what happened.

[necessaryevil]

I don't just read it. [ there's a weariness in the words, but also a thin gratitude to lis'sa for trying to make it sound better than it is ] I'll be able to relive the crime.

I'll be able to see what the killer saw, feel what they felt.

[msattentionspan]

Alright.

[She's glad to know what the deal is, though. She'll even take a few steps back to give him that space.]

[lastdragomir]

[ SHE TRIED SO HARD. her arms cross anxiously as she waits for him to do his thing, worrying her lip between her teeth. she's clearly not relaxed in the slightest, tightly coiled and ready to

not listen to max at all. :) ]

[msattentionspan]

[Faith can pick up on the anxiousness that this girl is putting out there (sense motive 16) and she tries to move closer to her. Just in case she needs to restrain her and/or protect her. She has no clue what's going to happen here, but she can see the connection between these two is definitely something to keep an eye on.]

[necessaryevil]

[ ♬ capricorn (acoustic) - 30 seconds to mars

max takes in a deep breath, his shoulders lifting and squaring again, before he exhales, closing his eyes. his dark brows draw together, his eyelids and fingers twitching, and then his head jerks very slightly to the side, as if he's been stung by something, and he lets out a low hiss between his teeth, clamping down on it by biting his tongue, the taste of blood in his mouth.

when he speaks, his voice is no longer strained, but pitched a little lower with dark amusement, and something else, an almost seductive quality that's completely at odds with everything else about how he usually carries himself. it simply doesn't sound like him. ] It's so easy.

There have been rules so long that they've made it easy for us. Lulled our prey into this false sense of safety. They're primed for slaughter, eager to let us lead them to that final moment of mortality.

[ he reaches out one hand to touch the brick wall beside him, trail it across the bloody stain ] She's blonde, this one. Full of life, full of possibility. Young. Fresh.

[ his lashes droop, and he sounds nothing less than aroused as he lifts his fingers to his lips, runs his tongue across the dried blood there. his mouth curves into the smallest smile as he murmurs: ] I want to tear her apart.

We're going to do precisely that.

[lastdragomir]

[ faith doesn't need to worry much about keeping lissa close because when max starts talking, she takes a startled step back, into faith. it's terribly disconcerting to listen to max speaking like this, especially when it turns to talking about a blonde, young and fresh.

her hand lifts to cover her mouth, stifling a horrified squeak. ]

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen casts a concerned look to Lissa and moves to put herself between the girl and Max. Just in case. But she doesn't really know how long they need to let this go on for him to get the information he needs. Are they meant to engage him like this? Or just hang back and watch? No one gave her a manual for his weird crime scene powers.]

[necessaryevil]

She thinks I want her, doesn't suspect for a moment what that means. I want the essence of her, not some momentarily thrill nestled between her legs. [ scorn rides high in his voice, and his head turns to the side so that they can see the twisted smile in profile, dark eyes glittering. ] The others wait in the shadows. On the roof. Window sills.

She tries to kiss me and I won't let her, hold her in place, feel the terror rise up in her throat. [ he laughs, and it's a coarse, cruel sound ] She offers me her wallet. Knows the moment things have turned.

Too late. [ he practically hums the words, tilting his head ] I rip out her throat first so that she can't scream. Her blood so hot in my throat I can barely keep myself in check, but I have to, those are our rules...

[lastdragomir]

What rules? [ it's a whisper, muffled behind her hand as she gets a little bit of a handle on herself, at least enough to listen without feeling like she's going to be sick. ] Why were the rest of them watching? One vampire should be more than enough to kill one girl?

[ a list of things lissa has no answers too. where the blood came from, though, that she's pretty sure has been successfully answered. ] Oh Max.

[necessaryevil]

[ there's no response to her use of his name. he seems fully caught up in this other persona now, his every movement feral and fluid as he reaches out to grip an invisible body, wrenches it violently to the side ] I toss her to Jo next, and she bites into her arm, while she tries to scream. Blood gurgles out her throat as she tries to work the muscles that aren't there anymore, and I can't help thinking what a terrible waste, if she loses too much that way.

Brice gets too impatient when the blood starts to flow, moves to grab her from Jo.

[ his lips twitch up again, a disturbing glow of approval in his eyes ] Rips her fucking arm off.

[daredtobelieve]

[Shes still not sure just how this works but if Lissa is asking questions, she can at least try. They at least have two names so far. That's something.]

And once she was gone? Once the girl was bled dry? What then?

[necessaryevil]

[ he chuckles, cricks his neck ] This time it's a cab driver. Jo cleans herself up for it, lures him to the curb, dominates him into backing up to the mouth of the alley.

We load the body into the trunk and he's ordered to dump it in the river. We're still waiting for one of them to get caught, for the blood to be found on their cabs, their clothes. We watch the news religiously, but so far---

So far, they've all worked hard to hide their dirty little secrets. Maybe they convince themselves they did it.

[lastdragomir]

[ lissa doesn't understand -- well, she understands the violence, shuddering at the way max gleefully recounts it -- but she doesn't understand the point to it. she tries to step around helen and toward max now that he seems to be at the tail end of the experience, expression awash with confusion. ] Who?

[necessaryevil]

The shills we make dump the bodies. The ones we set up.

We take turns taking control of them. It's always hard not to feed on them when the blood's still warm in our throats.

[lastdragomir]

[ creep creep creeping forward. ]

Why stop yourselves then? Why not give in, what's stopping you?

[necessaryevil]

Because we have a system. You don't get it. All these covens and their rules, taking all the thrill from the hunt.

We're done with it.

The hunt is on.

[lastdragomir]

Isn't that dangerous?

[ lissa. -_- don't have emotions for murderous vampires just because your bf if channeling one of them right now. ]

[necessaryevil]

What's the point of existing without that danger?

[daredtobelieve]

You've broken away from the structure of your kind. [Which at least explains why it's something that's coming to light all of a sudden. The vampires have likely been here for quite some time, but kept themselves in the shadows, unseen by the public. But not this group, it seems. They've grown tired of it.]

Won't they come after you? These covens?

[necessaryevil]

That's why we're setting up these saps. And even if it doesn't work and they figure us out--

Let 'em try.

[daredtobelieve]

[Helen shakes her head and glances to Lissa and Faith, not sure if they should stop this. She's not certain just how much more information they can get out of Max, or how safe it is to let him continue. Since Lissa seems to know more about this whole process than her, she'll hope that the girl can give some insight on that.]

How long can he sustain this?

[msattentionspan]

[Faith watches all of it unfold before her, but she doesn't question it. Hell, she doesn't even know where to start. It feels like the dreams Slayers have, the prophetic ones, but she's never had it that vivid before. She pushes that thought aside and waits for Lissa to answer Helen.

So far, she knows they've got a few leads. Names of two of the would-be vampires, a coven to look for, and a cab company that's been dumping bodies. They could track the blond victim, but really that's probably the way the cops went and came up empty.]

[lastdragomir]

I'm not... I'm not sure. I've never let it last this long. [ and with that at the forefront of her mind, she steps determinedly toward max, carefully reaching out to brush her fingertips across the back of his hand. ]

Max? It's Lissa. Come back to me, Max.

[ (diplomacy??? nat 20, 36 total) if that doesn't work she has another option at her disposal, but she'll try to talk him down first. ]