Shelter

The desolate streets of Underwood were waterlogged as Soveliss strode through them, keeping his head down and his head covered by his hood. He was cold, tired and hungry, it had been 3 days since his last meal, only it was not simple bread that would quench his hunger, and certainly not water that would dent his thirst. Soveliss had gone for longer periods without food or water, 3 months longer, infact while he had been coming to terms with what he was he had been living off of Foxes and other small mammals. Through the rain Soveliss' red eyes glowed, he tried his hardest to hide them from anyone who may see himf rom their simple windows, Soveliss was growing more desperate, he wanted to get off of the streets - he wanted to get into privacy, he hated being out in the open in a strange place.

He quickly glanced up to see where it was he was going and he caught a sign, he had trouble reading it due to the effect of the wind and rain in his eyes, but as the lightning flashed and lit up the streets that smelled dank, he could see a sign not too far away. "The Peaceful Promenade". Soveliss felt an annoyance stir up inside of him, how can anyone call this weather peaceful. Soveliss' stepped up his pace across the cobbled streets, designed for horses and carts, his boots glistening while holding off the rain from his feet.

He approached the small tavern door, seeing the light coming out from behind the closed door. He slammed into it, desperate to get out of this rain. As he did he flew straight past the door and two drunks apoogised to him for opening it. Their friend was paraletic and they needed to get him home... and no Soveliss did not want to help them carry him out, and yes it was bad weather, and yes he was from out of town. Soveliss groaned to himself as the left and surprisingly noone out of the other 7 people in the tavern even threw him a glance. Maybe Soveliss was simply becoming more self indulgent these days, but he could have sowrn he usually walked into a tavern and silenced people.

He glanced around and saw the bar directly infront of him with a jolly fat man standing behind it cleaning mugs. There were two people sitting at either end of the bar, one woman serving food to an old man in a huge chair, above which was a moose' head. Directly opposite were two younger men talking about something that one of them didn't care to hear any longer. On the right of the room there was a blazing fire. The heat was already beginning to dry Soveliss' face and he moved away from the big door leaving the howling wind outside.

As Soveliss approached the bar, the jolly fat man looked at him twice and then finally said what you having? in a bored of life tone - one which you would not expect from a man who looked so contented. Soveliss simply said "Water.... please" The fat man nodded and soon produced a dirt glass full to the brim with clean-ish water. Soveliss let out a slight sigh of disgust and looked around.

He sighed and finally drank from the dirty glass, the water feeling cold in his mouth. As he focused his attention to the back of the Tavern, the door leading to the streets and the weather flew open again.

“Rain … why the hell does it always have to be raining!” She yelled upwards to the sky, gritting her fangs in anger as once again her attire was ill suited for the weather, as it was her hair white hair was matted to her head, her ruby red eyes dulled when she looked back down to earth, it seemed like it had been chasing her for weeks now. “Maybe you should by a cloak with a hood then” questioned the younger lad stood near her, she narrowed his eyes at him, half tempted to retaliate with harsh words, but all that came out of her mouth was a sigh. “Yeah … I guess I could do that” she almost whispered, she ignored the lad until he started pulling on one of the scarf trails behind her; she turned and looked strangely finding the action not irritating. “Maybe you could wrap these around your head” Internally Dusk almost felt sick with the idea, her long scarf although it was warm and kept her neck dry, it was also dyed that colour from old wounds, and the smell of blood was strong, besides her head was already soaking wet, but anymore and she feared she would get a nasty virus or flu … if her race could even catch that … she was going to have to ask her father about that.

“Is there a place I could go to pass of the weather?” Dusk turned back to the kid but found that he had gone already, cute kid, you don’t see too many people these days … She checked her gold pieces … still there … yup you really didn’t see any kind people these days, the thought left her with a grin. Dusk picked one of the streets and started walking down it, she saw one bar and inn … but heavily decided against it when she saw someone almost thrown out of the door and a fight roared inside. ‘maybe I could get paid as a bouncer?’ she actually thought but then saw someone get … wounded, where is pride and joy was, Dusk felt sympathy before saying out loud “Or not” all she wanted was a quiet place to wait of the weather, infact what time was it, she had lost all track of it long after it had gone dark.

Her searching was paid off, the Peaceful Promenade, it stood right ahead of her, or rather the sign did, Promenade eh? Didn’t that mean some kind of peaceful walk or something, she pondered for a moment, well whatever and this one didn’t have unruly drunks kicking each other out of the door. She opened the door and stepped in, only eight or so people inside, perfect. No eyes turned to her, they really must be too laid back to really have cared and considering her apparent lack of weapons, she really seemed no one of interest, good, and at least she won’t be disturbed, well all except one guy at the bar who had looked back.

She approached the bar and waved the barkeeper over, he did so lazily and in the same tone he spoke “What will you have?” Dusk was a little surprised, maybe this place was far too laid back for her after all, she glanced back at the people in the room, and drinking herself stupid wasn’t on her list to do things at the moment. “You got me … something weak I guess” she mumbled without actually looking at the barkeep, she was tempted to ask a question, but then decided against it as all she really needed was a moment of peace. The barkeeper gave her a drink and she looked at the translucent drink wondering what it was, she took a timid sip before once again being surprised, but then a smile crossed her face. She did ask for something weak, and water really was weak, but wasn’t she wet enough already?

“I guess its free then” she said before getting up carrying her drink to the table closest to the fire as she could get, She lazily sat down hunched over as though protecting her drink, but that was actually the last thing on her mind, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small object which she started to closely examine within her fingerless gloves.

Watching the entry of a young woman Soveliss turned back to the bar, again seeing the not-so-jollly jolly fat man kicking into action.

"You got me … something weak I guess" the woman said to the bar keep - Soveliss couldn't help but give a little chuckle when he saw that she had been handed a dirty glass of water, like himself. He let out a sigh and followed her with his eyes to the table that she sat at. He turned back round and finished his water, placing the glass back down on the untidy bar.

The fire was roaring now.

Soveliss turned again with his back against the bar, his body facing towards the door, but his eyes looked somewhere else. As he opened a silver case and took out one thinly rolled cigarette his eyes never left the woman sitting next to the fire - there was someting going over there, Soveliss didn't know why but he felt some... attraction, not to the woman, or at least he didn't think so - but definately to whatever it was she was doing.

He lit the ciagerette with siome matches that he had somehow been able to keep dry from the rain in his money pouch, and took a long drag. Slowly he let the smoke waft from his mouth. He took down his hood and again focused on the woman, she ahd something in her hand - what it was he couldn't be sure, but she had something.

Hm... She looks far too interested in that thing for it to be just a mere trinket Soveliss thought to himself. Soveliss took his cigarette and walked slowly, but precisely to the table next to that of the womans, also infront of the fire. He took off the cloak which had been covering him. In doing so, he revealed his huge muscular arms, his grey skin, the scars running along side his arms, and as the hood left his head and his face - the curvature of his face and his jaw showed him for what he was. His hair long, down to his shoulders, black with white streaks curved around his face and down his back.

Soveliss lay his cloak on the table, then his sword that had been attached to his back ontop of it, and leant for ward onto the wooden, wobbly table. He sa t now no more than two feet away from the young woman, this mysterious, sarcastic young woman. He drew on his cigarette and blew the smoke in her dirction.

Her nostrils flared at the unwelcome odder, and she softly groaned to herself, she wasn’t a big fan of smoking, in fact she had avoided it all together, but she wasn’t really one to complain about it, unless they blew it in her direction, lets just say that it was this mans own sheer luck that she didn’t smack his head down onto the table several times. She groaned when she decided to do nothing, and instead brushed her wet hair backwards out of her face, maybe if he was given a clear view he would see she was getting annoyed. ‘ of all the places … Ehh whatever … I got too much on my mind at the moment to care about some idiot ’ then her eyes fell back to her trinket, The gold decorated ring with a ruby carved into the shape of a dragon, she could have said it was a family heirloom or something, its meaning was lost to her, but who would have thought that this little ring would be a symbol of leader ship for the ancient Red Dragon Clan, that little bit of information was known by three people.

But once again his nostrils flared, it was that guy again blowing it over in her direction, there was something odd about him, she thought as she cast a deadly gaze in his direction, he sat there lounging in his seat, pretending not to care about her presence, she would have believed that if not for the several other empty chairs around them where he could have easily sat and still be in the warmth of the fire. “Do you mind? … That’s kind of irritating” and there was the threat, it was up to him to take it she guessed. She then left him be, he was on strike one, by the third and she would drive his head through the table, and there would be no holding back, the mental image it produced managed to bring a grin to her face.

Where was she before she was so rudely interrupted … oh yeah, she looked carefully of the small ruby, and then pulled the chain attached to the bangle on her wrist onto the table, on the end of this silver chain was a small item, it was in the shape of a dragon, or rather it was the same shape as the one carved from the ruby, she had that done a while ago and once again she marvelled at the accuracy of the person who made it for her. Well that was fun for about second, she thought pocketing and leaving the chain to fall wherever it pleased, these kinds of days were really boring, and she took a swig of her water drinking one quarter of it whole.

‘ maybe I should have opted to get drunk … hah who am I kidding, I don’t think I would have enough to get drunk ’ she placed an elbow on the table on leaned her chin on it, looking off at who knows what, this was what Dusk was like when she was very bored, she seemed almost irritable, oh no wait, she was irritable and that nasty odder from the smoker behind her was not helping, She let out a sigh, What could she possibly do, start a bar brawl. As fun as that sounded Dusk was not irrational, although putting that mans face through a table seemed fun, he still had two strikes left. “You know …” she said turning her eyes back to the man “… if your trying to get my attention, then your not doing a very good job by annoying me” wait hand on, she turned around for a better look, oh crap, why had she not noticed that before, the way his cheeks were the jaw, the red eyes, the presence he carried, it all spelled V.A.M.P.I.R.E, Dusk turned away, secretly gritting her teeth, a bloodsucker had taken an interest in her presence … ‘ok … so maybe tonight won’t be boring …I swear if he tries anything he is going to get an instant third strike!” Dusk felt glad of the scarf around her neck, anything to cause a problem should anything like that occur, but as it was she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, as long as he left her alone she would leave his face alone.

Soveliss sat, stared and wondered. What is that girl thinking... she's sitting there playing with her trinket, and has the audacityto "warn" me.... He sat there pondering what he could to make this whole scneario move along. The rainw as coming down heavier now, and the wind was whistling all around the so called "promenade".

Soveliss took another drag on his now almost finished cigarette, he looked down at it and then abck at her. Again, she was looking at him through the corner of her eyes. But this time, with something else in her mind he could tell, something wasn't all together inviting. If she's thinking about challenging me, it will not be a case of whether I win or lose he thought It would be a case of wether or not I simply disposed of her body... or drained her dry of her life fluid first.

Soveliss sat back in his chair and took out one gold piece from his cloth bag, hanging on the side of his belt. He placed it on the table and motioned over to the not-so-jolly jolly fat man. "Something hard" He called. He glanced over at the woman, noticed her glass, the samedirty water that he himself had previously had. "Make that two" He added. With that Soveliss sat back and watched the fat bar keeper jump to attention and begin pouring a greenish looking liquid into two glasses. The bar keeper ran frombehind the bar and placed the two glasses on the tale, nearly tripping over himself when he saw the Gold piece. Obviously it hadn't been one of those rich, busy days.

"Keep the change" Soveliss said, pushing the old coin towards him - then as he moved, Soveliss Wait, I need a room.

"Bar keep!" Soveliss said, raising his deep, clear voice. He reached into his bag and produced 3 gold coins, placing the on the table he said: "I need a room, something basic - just a bed will be fine. I expect to be awoken early in the morning, before the light gets too bright - as you may have noticed I'm not a fan of the sunlight." Soveliss chuckled softly and ran his tongue over hsi elongated canines. The bar keeper simply stood there, blank, scared, excited. "GO!" Soveliss ordered and as he did the fat man toddled away to behind his oh-so-lovely bar, not forgetting to take the coins off of the table.

Again, Soveliss took a drag on his lit cigarette, feeling the burning on his lips he realised that this was the last drag he was going to get on this particular one. He looked down at the drinks - then at the woman. He flicked his cigarette to the floor by the fire and cleared his throat.

"You would do wise woman to not talk to me in that manner. Although, if it is a conflict you are after, then I am quite partial to a female meal every now and then."

Soveliss, being only a Half Vampire knew that he did not have to feed for at least another three nights or so. He had recently drained a few beggars and they had filled him quite sufficiently. But, if it was a question of agression he hoped that the female did no know this, as half Vamps never seemed quite as powerful as the "pure bloods" as they called themselves, even though they were still much stronger than most races.

With those words Soveliss raised himself of the floor to his full height an enormous 6 foot and 3 inches tall, with broad shoulders. He sat down on the chair opposite the woman, but not before picking up his sword and cloak and laying on the table. He also grabbed the two drinks and placed one infront of the woman.

"but if it is a question of you simply looking for trouble then, I'm sure we can have this drink and talk about it. Although I must assure, I don't really have any will to fight, but a meal currently would be quite satisfying." Soveliss warned in a lowered, menacing tone.

Soveliss was being honest, he had no reason nor will to fight at this moment. he simply was now wondering why this woman was so obsessed over this trinket and why she was so sure of herself. He had searched long for a companion before, and he felt that it was quite possible this woman could use his skills. As he could use her direction.

With that he leaned back, staring straight into the womans eyes and lit another cigarette.

((ooc: oohhhhh hostility ... lol))

His first warning came almost out of the blue as he seemed too busy with the barkeeper than in continuing to hassle her, she tried her best to not chuckle at his lame attempt, to think that she would ever become this guys meal, humph the mere thought of it was an insult, perhaps he was underestimating because she currently lacked a weapon that could be seen. “Yeah, yeah” she said afterwards, although she really didn’t want to acknowledge the man anymore, he was pushing his luck at the moment, maybe because he thought her a human and had not noticed her tail, violently swinging back and fourth. Silvets are very different from your average species of humanoids, Better immune system, for the most part, a pain when you want to get drunk however, and natural strength and agility, although it was a wild guess, she thought that she would be able to surprise this Vampire by matching his strength at least, all of this however was pure guess work.

Then he picked himself off his seat ‘ good riddance ’ she thought waiting for the sound of the door to the wet and cold outside world to open, to announce that he had left, imagine her expression when she saw that instead of leaving, he moved seats to sit in front of her, her hand nursed her head, there must have been a headache forming, her free hand, although it was currently relaxing on the table, well it was being clenched into a tight ball. Now he placed a drink before her and added another threat to it, and Kaiserin found the situation more humours as he once again failed to intimidate her with words, she thought them funny instead as he referred to her as another meal, yet also saying he had no will to fight, but as funny as it was, Kaiserin was feeling the opposite.

“Keep on yapping you yuppie … I just came in here to keep dry … and right now I am bored … irritated actually, so starting a fight is not beyond me at the moment” she sighed it was only a half hearted warning, but she knew that she too was pushing her luck by egging him on like that, but still this was a first, within a second of knowing each other, if even that, something hostile had immediately been put between them, well whatever, Kaiserin knew she could live ignoring this man, but he on the other hand, seemed to be … entranced … what else could he be by constantly looking over, by stating he wasn’t willing to fight meant that she was not on his meal list … yet, it was indeed quite humorous.

He then leaned back lighting another cigarette, wow, he was a real addict, still not her fault if he gets lung cancer and dies … oh wait … silly her, he is a vampire … isn’t he already undead? “Don’t get too comfortable around me … I am a Silvet, and incase you don’t know what one is, were not pushovers!” Still if he wanted to play musical chairs then she could easily play that game, but first. She raised her tail upwards so that the vampire would see it and began waving it side to side, a sly grin crossed her face as she did so “When I snap my fingers … your going to believe that I was nothing more than your imagination” she joked then clicked her fingers, then she immediately stood up and moved all the way to the other side of the bar, picking the drink up as she did. To give an offering like this as he makes a threat … ha what an idiot, she turned back with contempt, then necked the entire drink before putting it on the bar and sitting down on one of the stools, her tail constantly swinging, mirroring her mood.

“Oh yeah … don’t think about moving here … if you do your on strike two!” she said over her shoulder back at the vampire, she then noticed something, she had sat down in the same place she had after she entered the bar, a strange observation but a useless one.

((OOC: Hostility is fun!))

As Soveliss sat back the image of the Silvet's tail stayed in his mind. Im sure i've encoutnered this race before, not as easy as humans... infact, nowhere near. Wait, I've seen Vampires killed by this race. Hm... This might be fun.

Soveliss repeated her words in his head "Oh yeah … don’t think about moving here … if you do your on strike two!" ... Haha. This will be fun.

He sat back, took another drag on his cigarette, looked over at his sword - his sword had not seen action in quite a while, though onyl because he hadn't had to use it. The last few victims and contestants against him had been solved with his hands... and teeth. He blew the smoke out of his nostrils, as they flared he stared into the fire. He was becoming aggrivated by this... Silvet. He really had no wish to fight, but if that creature thought that she could even land a strike on him before he had his neck in his hands, she was sorely mistaken, or so he thought.

His training as a Vampiric elite in the olden days made sure that he was of top form in order to lead not only in the Vampiric armies, back when there was enough of them, and they were not scarce in numbers, and divided up into clans; but also in order to lead the Elite fighting groups of Shar-Kir - the Vampire lords private force. Soveliss, back in his day before he had found out his nature and killed the lord, was the prize fighter among them. The only one of the many experiments that had proven a worthwhile effort, for he ahd all of the Vampire strengths, and practically no weaknesses - he could move in day time, and let me tell you that scared many people - but was severly weakened. At the same time, when fighting he could take on many pure bloods. But then, in his past he had seen many pure bloods fallen by the ancient Silvets.

Soveliss decided it was time to step this up a notch. He grabbed hold of his sword and without saying a word aloud, thought of himself as nothingness - and as he did, he became simply a mist.

When he reformed into his physical being he had appeared on the lefthand side of the Silvet - unseen. He was still holding his swrd and silently he sheathed it on the holster on his back. He looked over at his cloak - it would be safe there... he liked that cloak. He had taken it from a rich tax collector, before he had thrown his lifeless body into a river. Soveliss had snapped that mans neck simply by gripping his right hand - two days earlier he had seen him an three guards take food from a single peasant mother with three children, because she couldn't pay her taxes. He had no remorse. It wasn't a kill for food, which was why he primarily killed, but he felt this man deserved nothing less than death.

He leant forward and whispered into the Silvet's ear. "You'd do wise not to irritate me, I do not intend to fight, as you know - but if you push me, I promise that you will be dead before you can land a single strike." He leant back and awaited a reaction.

Both hoping and not that he was met by force.

Dusk had done well keeping her anger in check; she had forgotten all about the hostility of the vampire and was considering ordering a new drink, but it was only as she glanced in the direction of the vampire, mainly to see if he was following, he disappeared, into a strange mist, of cause it would have been hard for anyone to see where he was moving to, but Dusk didn’t have your average person’s eye sight, to her, he was glowing, brightly under the influence of whatever had turned him invisible. Dusk wasn’t really surprised when he reappeared on her left to give yet another warning, damn him, does he have to have the last word or something?

“What the hell is wrong with you” Dusk said nearly at the top of her voice, so filled with agitation, she shot up from her seat holding her left hand as though she wielded a sword, and without any warning or some kind of magic words, the light blue threads of light started to pour into existence weaving at an impossible speed quickly reaching outwards to five feet, Dusk made sure to step back enough so that when she swing her sword she did not strike the vampire, the sword was only there to serve as a real warning, and to show her strength as she pointed the tip right into his face keeping the five feet difference between them. Holding it in one hand was not easy, the weight of the sword was have cause any other person to strain themselves yet, Dusk had no such problem, being a silvet, which were more like monkeys, they needed strength to handle there own bodyweight, and her sword was not as heavy as her.

“You just reached STRIKE two pal … now if you don’t fucking leave me alone I am gonna shave my sword right up your ASS!” and knowing Dusk, she probably would have to, she gritted her teeth, her eyes refused to back down from this bloodsucker, like she had noted before, there was instant hostility, if in the future they became allies, it would only be because of some sick and twisted fate, no, this was not the case, the next time, if he survived this night, the next time they ever met, Dusk would go out of her way to bash his skull on a rock. “As soon as you reach strike three … I swear I will bash your head through that table” it had been her initial promise, to her mental self. She took a deep breath before lowering her sword and letting the tip rest on the ground, although she had greatly calmed herself down, mainly because of the scene she had just made, but her eyes, if looks could kill she would have blasted Soveliss into oblivion, and she was sure her fist would be able to do better.

“Just leave me alone … you do understand the meaning of that word … L.E.A.V.E … that’s … do not approach, M.E, that’s me ok … alone … that means I do not want to talk to you, I do not want to fight you, and I most certainly don’t want to see your face near me ever again … do I make myself clear, because if I do then sit there, get a drink, and Shut the FUCK up you damn pompous prick!” well Dusk certainly felt better, that was for sure, but still there was no guessing the vampires reaction, infact as soon as she had finished she had heard a cheer from one of the people who had pretty much observed what happened, this brought that sly smirk back to Dusk, one of confidence, and an attitude that just read ‘you know … you just got owned’.

“Now … see this sword … this sword is now acting as a restraining order … break it and your either going to face plant central, or a one way ticket back to whatever the hell spawned you … got it” she gave a much friendlier warning, confident that the vampire would back down, and just incase he did not she raised her sword again so that the tip pointed at him “Now excuse me please … I would like to purchase a refreshing drink” she said in a strangely cheerful mood, but actually, it was just mocking the vampire.

Soveliss did not expect this reaction, and the minute the tip of this...strange, bluey yet not sword had raised his hand had instinctively raised to the hilt of his own. He calmed himself down. His adrenaline was beginning to pump and he began to feel himself being taken over by his primal side.

Soveliss took a step back and drew his sword, not as long as the Silvets. "Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Soveliss Leviathus. Now, i can be your ebst friend or your worst nightmare. This whole incident began when i took an interest in your own interest of that... ring you carry. you know the one. The one with the same deisgn as your necklace. I simply wondered why you were so intrigued to protect it from... whatever."

Sovelis raised his sword so that it's blade was resting against the blade of this... Silvets sword. The sword was heavy, it was a two handed srword, roughly 3 and a half foot in length with a huge demon face carved into the cross joint of the hilt. The eyes were made of Garnet. This sword had been raised many timesin combat, and usually with two hands, but Soveliss was determined to show he was just as strong as this creature. he found himself starting to hiss, just as he usually did before preying on a victim - his primals were taking charge.

"I suggest you lower your weapon, I can sense there is something within you not altogether... natural, you are not at ease, and it would be a terrible shame to kill someone who had not had a full life."

Soveliss began to bare his teeth, determined to keep a control of his instincts before he became overwhelmed. The minute that happened he kenw that he would not be able to hold back killing this creature. his eyes flashed black and then red again as he struggled to stop his instincts.

"Now, you will lower your weapon, or I will break you"

He glanced over at the people behind the Silvet.

"Any of you who also wish to get involved in this would do wise not to"

As he said that one two men left and another got up and began to walk towards him, the man was large - about 6ft 1 and very muscly. Soveliss stared at him, then let outa roar towards him that made the man go white with fear. He had done that to get rid of the other people, and both to show the Silvet that he was not an ordinary Vampire. Only the elite mercanires let out battle roars - although, he was sure afterwards that she did not know this.

The burly man left and the wind slamed the door behind him, he looked over the bar, the not-so-jolly jolly fat man was knowehere to be seen. He was smart.

He turned his attention back to the Silvet, and adopted a battle stance. "Do not make me do this" He offered in a lower tone. Again, his eyes flashed black - but this time they stayed black for at least three seconds while he stared at the Silvet.

Great just great, just when she thought he would have backed down, his primal instincts slowly started to take over, it was strange, they both now had something in common, both were not willing to back down, and right now, he had just entered strike three after warning off that random man, this wasn’t about who would back off first, he was becoming a real threat, one of his own idiotic interests. Dusk once again returned to being a cold and calm calculating warrior, although this situation was unique, she briefly thought to herself, wondering how her father would handle this situation. He would probably laugh and offer the guy a drink … ok bade role model, how would Canen handle this situation … ok she didn’t know him well enough to guess what they would have done, but then again she was doing what she would do.

‘ ok … I seriously wish I was a Nocturnian about now, lets see if he would dare drink some toxic blood ’ unfortunately she was not a Nocturnian, nor would she ever like the mental image of herself as one either, it was just to ‘Dark’ for her taste, but then again wishful thinking was currently not helping her right now. “Back off … I will not stand down to you!” she said, but this was not a hostile action nor a threat, it was actually advice, one that reached his ears with a calm voice, this was probably her true self at the moment, and as he stepped back into a defensive stance, she too mimicked a similar stance, if just to show that she was playing it defensive too.

She watched his eyes turn black for three whole seconds, and in the words on the wise ones ‘that can’t be good’ her mind also used those exact words, but this situation was getting her nowhere, they both still seemed unwilling to back off from each other, so Dusk was just going to have to approach this from a whole new angle. “My Name is Dusk, I am one of the last of the Silvets, My mother died in childbirth but I was raised by my father, he was a legendary person, and best friend to Canen Darkflight. So if you were to somehow kill me here, neither my father nor he would probably forgive you, and I would also go out on a limb and guess that they would hunt you down, and they are not people to mess with” she had introduced herself, despite the tension she found it easier to talk to this guy now, typical, oh so very typical.

‘ ok Kaiserin … if you pull this one off I am treating you to all the beer you can drink ’ said her mind, she then stood out of her fighting stance and raised her sword so that the tip was pointing towards the ceiling, it barely just fit. Still this strange stance was familiar to her, she had grown to start using it before a battle, or at the end, it was her way of giving an honourable salute … yeah she just made that up, but the stance seemed so cool so why not. “Now … “she said in a very calm voice “… I don’t really want you as a friend … and I really don’t mind fighting … but what I really can’t be doing with, is handling a vampire running around on his instincts, and something tells me that having you as an enemy is going to be annoying … so … we shut up … we get a drink … and we ignore each other until the weather clears … ok?”

Even her diplomatic reasoning sounded like it had a mocking tone to it, and although she remained in that same stance, she knew that if anything were to happen, it was an easy stance to react from, right now she was on guard, even when she didn’t mean too, this was all going to get flushed down the toilet, it was all going to go wrong, it was like a pit in her stomach, she could still taste the drink she just had, but she was getting distracted, and she only hoped that her calm mind, was enough to convince this vampire that going into his primal form, would be a very bad idea.

Soveliss growled deeply, saring non-stop at Kaiser's face. She was being truthful. He kenw now, he had seen her face before, or rather someone who looked identical. It started to flood back, even while she was still talking...

The day was black and Soveiss was leading a Vampire raiding party, the target destination was a smal village in the Northerrn forest... of somewhere his memory could not recollect where - this was over 900 years ago - He could up against an honourable force but had won over hseer numbers... there were only about 200 people in this village / town, yet there were 300 raiders. And he himself had picked up a trinket like hers before being hit by a huge force. A Silvet. honourable warriors defending these people, the Silvet that hit him then proceeded to call out and many others appeared, they had begun beating the Vampires. Soveliss was ready to call for a retreat, but somehow the Vamps managed to ebat off the defenders and kill them bar about 6 who fled. He had found the Silvet that had struk him and fed on him... the Silvet was male, and resembled this girls face greatly.

Now, for some reason Soveliss was fueled with anger. "You mock me?!" Soveliss roared. his teeth bared and his eyes black, his left fist had clenched so much that his nails were beginning to cut hs own flesh, he felt blood drip down knuckles.

He stared hard at Kaiser. And slammed his fist down onto the bar, smashing through the weak wood, he walked up to the blade that Kaiser was wielding and grabbed onto it, pulling it down to level with his waist, the strength of Kaiser was incredible, but his Primal instincts had now completely taken over, and for a short while at least he was not a reasonable person. Nor anyone to be taken lightly.

While pulling on Kaisers sword his black eyes stared into kaisers - "Back down or you will suffer the fate of the last Silvet who crossed my path" Soveliss' threat was a growl, a voice that was not his own but the purely Vampiric part of him. The blade was cutting into Soveliss' hand, but he could feel little pain.

Soveliss lowered his own sword and continued to hold onto Kaisers blade, and loomed over her, staring into her eyes.

‘ok … this guy is a total moron ’ so much for a diplomatic solution to this, he was going to have to either be knocked out, or put down if it would resume like this, but this man said something, something that she did not expect him to say, that she would not want to be like the last silvet to cross his path. Very interesting, for the only other true silvet in current existence was her father, but he had not been defeated by a vampire, no, there were still letters being wrote to each other. And the majority of the Silvet race was wiped out in one stroke after accidentally trying to summon there own god, lets just say there god was pissed off, and her father was one of the only survivors, but that was more than 300 or so years ago. Did this guy meet ancient silvets? If that’s the case then he was older than he looked but, ‘ if he can’t control his own instincts then he is a lot less mature than me ’

Also him walked up to her and gripping her blade to point the tip to his own chest, at first Kaiserin was confused, all she had to do was step forwards and her sword would be cutting through his heart in a second, and with the length of her sword, she could do that without even worrying about his sword, not only that but his hand was bleeding by gripping it so tightly. ‘ little does he know … I will kill him ’ he once again roared for her to stand down, and her calm face once again grew a smirk to it, she should not have smirked it seemed to simply annoy him more, but this time she had a reason to grin “back down? How can I back down when your almost begging for me to kill you” she replied, it was true, look at the situation, here they both stood, ready to fight each other, the vampire held the silvets blade, cutting his own hand while he almost shoved the tip of her blade to rest against his chest, all she had to do was poke his chest.

But was he waiting for that? As soon as she did that he would become that strange mist again, that would be a problem. Oh no wait, no it would not. her ability to see things like that would allow her to keep the sword within him. so when he reformed he would do so while impaled on her sword. She stepped forwards poking her sword forwards a little so that the tip did indeed poke his chest a little, now for anyone to look at her eyes they would be seeing her dragons eye ability, they seemed to almost glow, but that was because of the fire, they seemed vicious more wild, but behind her eyes was the mind of a calm warrior, she could kill this vampire without thinking twice, although the method would be a little troublesome, actually killing him and then have the cold heart to order a drink afterwards, that she could do.

“… Strike three … “she simply said, she knew it had all spiralled out of control, her tail stopped swinging and just stood on end, she was still, and very still, her presence then created a mystery, would she, or would not. She then moved without lightning stepping forwards giving her arms enough space to thrust forwards, and still she was out of range for there other mans sword to reach, his 3 foot long sword was nothing in comparison. As soon as she had enough thrusting room for her arms, she followed it through, thrusting her sword forwards, this certainly was not the way she had hoped to resolve this, but then again, it pretty much seemed the only way, she somewhat hoped it would be a quick end, but then again she was also ready for any kind of trick that might be played.

Soveliss saw the sword coming at him with lightning speed, he had not time to step backwards, or to the side... He saw the glint in Kaiserins eyes... wait, before she could see me... he thought. Soveliss knew now that however far back he stepped the sword would to still strike him, dead center in the chest, luckily he would still live - but it would hurt like hell. The only way for him to die would either be starvation or decapitation. He didn't fancy any of them, nor did he fancy being impaled by this gargantuan sword.

Soveliss saw that the Silevet was angry, but was extremely good at keeping her cool, the sign of a god fighter - feeling the pain from the sword which he had just grabbed definately made him more angry. Everything the Silvet then said made him even angrier. Soveliss couldn't stand being mocked - he hadn't wished to fight, but if it came to this, he really didn't care now.

Feeling that nothingness again Soveliss turned into a grey mist, and rather than doing what he figured Kaiserin thought ht would do (go back), he went froward, and forward more and eventually straight through her. While in his misting form he turned 180 degrees and was now facing Kaiserins back, he lifted his sword with his right hand and rested the tip on the back of her neck... His black eyes starign down. He wondered what might happen now, he reasoned that eiher the Silvet would turn on face him, or stop and try to strike at him blindly.

If she turned, he would have to get her sword out of action. That thing was too big to be messing aorund with, and he kenw it - a strike from that could easily take off his head, or an arm or any other body part. Soveliss was no idiot.

With his right hand holding out his sword and resting the tip on the Silvets neck, his left hand began reaching to one of his three daggers on his belt; small strong throwing daggers - these would be just the think to put that sword out of action - Soveliss was almost positive that these would be much much faster than her giant sword... Sacrificing strength for speed, interesting.

"Strike three..." Soveliss mocked, with a glint in his black eyes and a grin curling round his face. His adrenaline pumped as he wondered what would come next, ready for whatever was thrown at him.

‘Aww crap’ he had mystified himself, she was half expecting that, and for him to pull back, not to go right through her and emerge with the tip of his sword threatening her neck, she had not banked on that situation at all. She had paused still for a moment, thinking things through; she didn’t even spin around to attack again. Instead she relaxed her stance, letting her sword drop so that the tip rested on the ground while she held the hilt with her right hand letting her left go slack. She turned her head around, enough so that she could see him on the corner of her eye, despite her long straight silver hair falling in the way. They still contained that strange determined look, but her body had never looked so relaxed.

Her mockingly mimicked her warning about the strike three, and she grinned, “… really cute” she said while turning her attention to the sword at her neck, without any sudden moves she moved her left hand to touch the sword, poking the tip with her thumb seemingly to test the sharpness of the blade, she however did not injure herself while prodding it. “If all you wanted to do was dance … you should have asked me to come with you to the citadel” she said in a soft voice, early calm for someone in her situation. She looked back again and saw the glint of a small dagger, but her eyes then shifted to his now black eyes with still she held a grin. “I am always up for a challenge … but you probably can’t wait can you”

Her tail then started to sway, but the distance between them wasn’t enough as the tip seemed to brush against his legs as it constantly swayed back of fourth alternating its angle. “But I bet that wasn’t you first thought when you saw me now was it” how was she able to say this stuff in that voice without laughing out, the art was flawless. “That’s why you’re doing all this isn’t it, trying to get my attention … you like my attention don’t you”

‘ this had better be worth it ’ she inwardly thought, but her expression did not betray her, she still just looked back with that grin sweet talking the vampire with a soft voice, and still her tail swayed “Heh, it’s not often I do this, show my sweet side like this” then her tail stopped as she looked forwards once again toying with the tip of the sword “I wonder what your thinking, should I make her my meal, should I just kill her, or is it something else, is that what your thinking?”

She closed her eyes now without paying the vampire much thought, seemingly to go into her own little world, “But … I will be straight with you, Did you know that a human’s strangest muscle is there tongue, well that’s not true for a silvet, do you want to know what our strongest muscle is?” she asked still grinning, either the vampire saw it or not, or he was prepared for it or not, she doubted nothing could brace himself for this.

Her tail suddenly lashed out as strong as a whip, upwards in between his legs at full force, and just as quick it came back and lashed out again. Whatever his condition was she didn’t care, all she did care about was shoving the tip of his sword away from her neck giving her time to gain some distance to turn around pulling her sword back up to a defensive stance, safely away from the vampire again.

“The strongest part of our body is our tail, think about it, were a little like monkeys, and we love to hang around, especially with our tails, just think how much strength is there to keep us like that” she said again still in a soft voice, she didn’t know if the vampire had even listened to her words. “So there is a free lesson on what to never do against a silvet, never get behind them” she grinned before listening to the world outside, it seemed like the storm that was overhead had stopped, wow how long had all this action took. “Well, thank you for entertaining me, she said to the vampire, then dropped her stance altogether. “But if I ever see you again” … “I will kill you” she said with a cheery smile before looking for the barkeeper, he was nowhere to be found, then she turned to the people who were still on edge “Thank you, you have been a great audience” she mocked to everyone while secretly thinking ‘ Like hell I am ever coming here again, peaceful promenade eh, yeah right ’

Soveliss had begun to relax with Kaisers soft words, they had been working and he was beginning to think the battle won and was simply going to walk away without harming her. Then; when she mentioned about the tongue he knew he had made a mistake, he quickly glanced down and saw the tail had stopped swaying. Oh no... Before Soveliss even had time to react that very same tail slammed up in between Soveliss legs, he could not react he wasn't that fast. He simply stood there as the Silvet slammed her tail into his tender loins twice.

His shock was mimicked by the expression on his face. He dropped this sword and looked down as he the Silvet let her stance go. the pain was immense, his rage was burning inside ofim, he would not be beaten and battle or outsmarted, especially not by a damn monkey, and certainly not by a female of the species. His whole word had come to a stop, out of all the moves this was not one that he was expecting, he was certainly not expecting to be hit in the testacles by a female Silvets tail. her ploy had worked, he had lowered hisguard enough with her sweet talking, that in turn was actully beginning to slightly arouse him. That made the shock of the attack even worse.

Soveliss took a step backwards, reginaing his posture his determination was immense. He lifted his dagger and whilespinning it around his fingers, he then threw it straigt at the door.

"That was a cheap shot... kaiserin, but I guarantee it will not help you. And I can also guarantee that you will not be leaving thisplace until we are finished here"

The dagger was pointing out of the handle of the dor, its Dragon head hilt still vibrating slowy. Soveliss tookanother step back, regaining his posture. Again, he raised hs sword, but this time ith both hands - this was not a foe to be underestimated and at the moment, he was losing. He growled slowly, and his eyes black slidback to their original red - his primal side had let him down, his hunger was no longer elading this fight, and would only come into play now when he was in dire trouble and needed to rely on instinct alone instead of wit and skill - that is what would at least give him a chance in this fight, there was no way he couldpossibly in without going all out.

His red eyes stared at the back of Kaiser, now roughly 6 feet away from her, out of range of that monkey like tail and definately away from her enormous sword - this would give Soveliss some sort of advantage. He began hissing softly.
"You know, your words had me there... and i was considering sheathing my sword and simply asking you to the citadel, but I'm guessing now that we cannot be friends... what a shame. By the way, that really hurt..."
Soveliss spat a bit of blood on the floor, that he had pushed into his mouth from his stomach.

Then he licked his teeth, tasting his own blood. "Tasty..." He grinned and this time truly felt prepard, he now knew the Silvets srength and she did not know his, he held the advantage, even if she did not know it.

Soveliss readied himself, still feeling the pain in his loins.

Kaiserin looked over to the dagger now acting as a lock for the door, she openly sighed, this was not how she wanted to be spending her evening, making threats, and whacking a vampire in the groin was not on her to do list, but she had already done these things, as she sighed she let her sword drop, more annoyed now, the weather seemed to have died down and she was about to leave, the vampire with his shattered pride a little intact. He said that he would not allow her to leave until they were finished, but to her she was finished, she had little reason to stay, except to make a fool out of this vampire a little more, but then again that was getting old now.

‘ … I think I need to go to the bathroom ’ what should have been her pre-battle warnings was nothing more than self observations about her current condition, she sighed at the thought, why wouldn’t this guy just let her go, she had already bested him in the threats, and out witted him with her slyness, even almost floored him with a firm blow to the crotch, and he still wanted more. ‘… how is he still standing?’ she sighed again, this truly was becoming the same old boring routine, they were just passing threats, well ok, it was Kaiserin who technically got physical first.

Then the vampire said something else that caught her attention, calling it a cheap shot, and how much it hurt, he even coughed up blood, wow, she was going to have to remember that move ‘should I call that one the Nut Cracker?’ she pondered for a moment, that seemed the only name to suite it, but then again, her actions had been more like a whip … ok he must really be strong to be standing.

“Hurt? Of cause it hurt you just got a wakeup call!” she said out loud while noticing his eyes turning back to red, good at least he was going back to a more rational mind now, and still she had her stance down, but not completely off guard. “Well, good to see your thinking straight again I guess, now if you don’t mind I think I am done here.” She said standing up straight and walking over to the door, and started to fiddle around with the dagger, it was stuck, tight, it had been a skilful throw, but her strength pulled the dagger out and she simply tossed it to the side, but there was another problem, the door handle was busted. “Of all the rotten luck…” she said then looked back over her shoulder “you do realise, of cause, that the only date you would ever get with me is one in the citadel, so what makes you think I will stay here to entertain you” but she sighed, knowing that the way out was broken, and she didn’t really want to go and find a back door.
“Our business here … is done … now … err could you please open the door” she said sort of embarrassed for asking that.

Soveliss looked on as Kaiserin walked off towards the handle, he had known that his dagger would easily crumble the small lock on the door. He could see kaiser was bored, and he wasn't at his full strength, his attention started to wonder... "Where is the barman..." He said to himself.

Soveliss sheathed his sword. Calmly walked over to the door and passed the woman, not even looking at her. He thought about misting through it and not opening it for her, it would've been qute easy for him to do so, and quite humorous aswell he though - but he had spent money on a room here. soveliss knew how to get this girl back into fighting, for you see there was no way Soveliss was going to allow her to go around with the thought she dfeated him. It wasn't his style.

Soveliss looked at the lock, crushed under the force of the dagger - he bent down, and picked up the dagger. As he did, he saw Kaiserin looking at him from above. He stood up.

In order to open the door he had decided the best way would simply be to... throw something through it. Or someone. He thought about simply grabbing the Silvet, he knew that his strength would overpower hers, he had felt her blows with the strongest art of her body, she hadn't felt anything of his. He looked at her again and decided against it.

He took two steps back. So Kaiserin was between himself and the door again out of range of her sword, he thought this good. "I saw your shock when i mentioned the Silvets I had previously encountered - I'm 1250, probly equivalent to about 30 human years. I have seen the Silvets of old, and fought them, and killed them.... many of them, infact, I've fed off them just as much as I have humans "

Soveliss was lying of course but he doubted she knew that, and if she was as proud as she looked she would have to strike at him. Soveliss had pruposefully put his sword away, he intended to use his hands for anything next to come. he had trained in many forms of martial arts, most of them ancient - but the one he was most proficient in was called Shukraid, a close quarter art based ont he concept of weapons defense, he could kill someone with three blows to the chest.

He stared at the Silvet and grinned. "Infact, I remembr one who looked just like you... he tasted good."

Kaiserin rolled her eyes, was he still trying to get her to fight him, especially by saying he killed many silvets in his past, that and commenting on how one who he claimed resembled her was quite tasty. Kaiserin was Silvet, and was somewhat proud of that heritage but she also knew something else, Ancient silvets had what was coming to them, to summon there own god for there own purposes, her father had told her this story many times.

There wicked empress, who had revived an ancient technique that was banned many years ago, they were at war with the humans, who knows who the fought before that. To stop the human threat to there home they all served her blindly, all except a handful, her grandmother and her father to be exact, cutting a long story short, her father ended up with the spirit markings, he could always recall how painful that was, and that he was able to foresee the coming of Eos. So his mother sent him away to the mainland while she went to fight against the empress, of cause before anything could happen Eos Came and burned everything away in a white flame. ‘ they had what was coming to them, Evil like that should not be mourned for ’

Kaiserin looked at the vampire who had so graciously put his sword away and had tried to tamper with the door to get it open, he was stood close again, but Kaiserin wasn’t feeling very hostile, shattering his pride had been enough to make up for his jerk’s attitude from before. “The Silvets of old eh? My I bet they were fun to fight and feed off, but then again I am very different to other silvets as well, I am one of the three left, and a little human.”

“As for being surprised, it’s because I am one of the last, Eos has spared us three for a reason, and my father, who has fought in many wars” she learned this through her unofficial uncle, Canen. “And he has survived each one, and he has trained me … “she then seemed to think for a moment, and ginned at the thought, suddenly his story seemed very fake. “But … want to know what gets me … you said you fought many silvets, if that was the case you should have expected the tail … or is it because I am a girl, and you never fought a girl before?” she waved a good bye and looked at the door, she had originally decided against bashing it down, but it was already damaged thanks to this even-more-hot-headed-than-her vampire. She was about to make a move but instead didn’t do anything except look back over her shoulder at the vampire.

“1250 years old eh? Despite your age I think you need to grow up, you should be a lot more wiser … or do you not have any experience in trying to woo a girl?” she chuckled before looking back at the door and kicking forwards, it smashed right of the lock but not off its hinges … hang on … the door was unlocked already, that’s why people could go in and out “I am such a moron” she said before leaving, it’s the street, it was dark, and the floor was wet, the clouds overhead was still present. “I am not coming here again” she said to herself before taking off down the street.

Soveliss sat down on the nearest bench... he watched the Silvet leave and mutter something to herself Good riddance he thought. He sighed and realised she was right... why did he not realise about the tale - he remenicced again, remembering the battle with those... monkeys,the one that had nearly killed him, he had no tale... wait, yes he did - wrapped around his waist, like a belt. That was why!

He slammed his wrist down on the table. He was agitated, he lost t a female.. a female monkey. Ha! wooing... he had no mens to do so, he sat and thought, he couldn't even remember how all this had started. The wind was still whistling and the door was flapping on its hinges, but the rain had stopped. He walked over to where he was originally sitting and picked up is cloak. Sighed again and lit a cigarette. He inhaled deeply, as if the smoke had an effect on him, it didn't - he simply felt it soothing to inhale the smoke.

With that he turned and looked at the bar, now in two huge pieces after he ahd punched through it. He walked up to it, still no sign of the fat man - maybe he took off when the touble started. He glanced up at the door, donned his hood and cloak an could now see the fire raging, against the wind that was now running through the inn. The barkeeper could keep his money, he had more.

He pulled up his hood and walked into the cold night through the door, thinking about what had just happened. he looked around. I know what will cheer me up he thought [i]Food.../[i]. He walked towards the sounds of life and activity. Trying to forget what had just happened - although the pain in his crotch made that quite impossible.

He took his first steps out into that street again, where the moon was covered by clouds and people were shouting everywhere - apart from that the night was cold, windy - yet peaceful, at least to Soveliss anyway.

He set off, looking for food and shelter.

JUDGMENT TIME!

Not a bad quest, especially for some newer members here. Some great passion shown for writing, which is critical. Some decent creativity in character as well, and both of you showed with your intros that you are quite capable of writing well. Unfortunately, the general quality of your writing tailed a bit during the quest, as it was clear that you didn't edit your posts as well as possible. Let me stress that this isn't a rookie mistake, it is a writer mistake, and is very, very common.

Introduction - 5 Well written, and got my hopes up a bit.
Setting - 3 Setting was largely discarded after the initial post. There was a passing reference to tight quarters, and some occasional addenda, but for the most part this tailed.
Character - 4 Accounted for but not always believable. Both characters seem impossibly clear-cut at this point, and lack the gray area that makes a character human. Try to veer from pure-good or pure-evil if possible, or at least give some moral conflict. What drives your character? What is the motivation?
Dialogue - 4 Again, some very solid effort here, but the editing kills the flow of dialogue. Several times I read through and had to try to figure out exactly how each line was being delivered, and a few times I was a bit disappointed by what seemed like relatively simple dialogue. Both Kaiser and Soveliss had some great lines, but you need to be more consistent.
Writing Style - 3 Editing, editing, editing. Kaiser, please watch for run on sentences, miscellaneous grammatical mistakes, and proper quote tarsing. Soveliss had similar problems, although they weren't as glaring. It looks bad, but this is very easily correctable.
Strategy - 3 Simple bar fight, a few creative combat moves, but for the most part a straightforward brawl and tauntfest. Not a terrible thing, but it didn't look like you two poured yourselves into it.
Rising Action - 3 Kind of had to see where this was going. Not necessarily bad, but wasn't very dramatic either.
Climax - 3 Again, it was ok, but it didn't exactly scream out to me.
Conclusion - 5 Actually, not bad at all. I thought you two wrapped up relatively well, and had some coherence and thought here. A nice endcap.
Wild Card - 4 Welcome to Althanas! 4 reflects the low magnitude of the quest, with a solid initial effort.

Total Score - 38 A solid early effort from two promising writers. The score can easily be improved with a bit more attention to detail and perhaps more planning. Welcome to Althanas, and looking forward to hearing more from you.

Kaiser receives 460 EXP and 45 gold
Soveliss receives 460 EXP and 45 gold

Thanks man!

This whole thing was done very quickly, and moreover without any planning, most of it on my part especially was simply "Ad Lib". I guarantee my other stuff will be better, this was sort of a beginning to see how things go if you catch my drift.

You'll see more of me. I assure you.

Rewards Added!