Borgoff's stepped onto the tank, his heavy boots clanking loudly. He froze
when he saw Kyle holding Grove and shaking.
"Everythig all right?" He asked, quietly. Nolt stepped on behind him, dragging a bloody corpse, a vampire that used to be Healius Mestrok.
"Yeah. I don't know .." Kyle replied, and gently lay the snoozing Grove back down on the cot. He saw the body of the vampire, and smiled ruefully.
"Looks like you got him." Kyle said and stood, stretching.
"Yeah, but the craziest thing happened," Nolt said, and tossed the body aside into a random corner. He threw a few blankets over it, and sat down into a chair, glancing at it as if it would jump up and run away.
"No kiddin. This spirit thing came and shot the crap out of 'im and his lackeys. We'd probably both be dead right now if it weren't for that weird thing." Borgoff said and went to sit in the driver's seat.
"The scarier part is, that it looked a lot like Grove," Nolt laughed. "But it couldn't have been, I mean, he's still here."
Kyle froze.
"Wait .. did Borgoff happen to shoot it?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
Kyle looked slowly over to Grove, suddenly getting the impression that his young brother wasn't really sick.
"Hey look guys.. I don't think Grove is sick."
"He looks pretty sick to me." Nolt scoffed.
"No no, I mean, he is but. Look, I read about this weird archaic power a long time ago. It takes your physical energy while increasing your spiritual abilities, so you can do stuff like. spiritual projection. I don't know what exactly it is, but. I mean, he woke up gasping for air and stuff, and I thought he was dying but .."
Kyle licked his lips. They were parched from his nervousness. Was his little brother really something like that? No one replied. Once again, the both acted as if they knew that's the way it was, as if it had always been that way before. Finally, Borgoff spoke as if nothing was out of the oridinary.
"So you really think that Grove has archaic power, huh?"
Kyle nodded vigourisly, and went to sit up in front near Borgoff. "Yeah, but I don't think he can control it."
"Hmm. looks like our next stop after collecting the bounty is an archaic mage, or something. Anyone knows where to find one of those?"
******
Borgoff looked skeptically down at the little bottle with white, opaqe liquid in it. The mage had put a syringe, and a box of blue bottles in front of him.
"So, if I make him drink this."
"Then he will be able to control his spiritual projections." Interuppted the mage. He leaned over, not without grunting a little, and fetched up a blue bottle and the syringe. "But only if you inject this into him. When his heart stops, he will become something with unimaginable power, but he can only do it for a few minutes, otherwise his body will die, and his spirit will be at constant unrest."
The hunters looked to one another skeptically.
"Look, we'll give it a shot, but if you're ripping us off, we won't hesitate to burn your happy store to the ground."
"Fine." Said the main, as a matter-of-factly. "No worries here. My products are garunteed." He wandered away, and began sorthing throught a pile of scepters with runes ungraved into their surfaces. Kyle sighed, and placed the money on the counter, and promptly left. Borgoff and Nolt fetched up the materials, loaded them onto the tank, and headed off to buy some medical supplies.
"Don't forget oxygen!" Kyle called after them. Borogoff waved, and walked off into the city with Nolt.
******
I awoke when Kyle stepped onto the tank and kicked tripped over something, swearing loudly.
"Must you swear so much?" I asked weakly, turning on my back painfully.
"Sorry." Said Kyle dumbly.
I propped myself up on one elbow, and mustered a somewhat uninterested and rueful smile. "So what happened while I was under?"
Kyle stopped, and looked him wide eyed. "Oh, you don't remember?"
"No, Kyle. I was asleep. Don't you remember?" Kyle rolled his eyes.
"Remember when you woke up, and said that Borgoff shot you or something?"
"Yeah, I think."
"Well, I guess you have archaic powers or something." Kyle shrugged, as if it weren't important. He sat on one of the boxes of blue bottles, and cracked his knuckles and neck.
"What. are you talking about?"
"Oh well, I guess you can project your spirit, but you can't control it or something. Oh, that reminds me." He said, and sifted through one of the boxes. "Here we go." He pulled out a bottle of white liquid that somewhat looked like milk, and tossed it to me.
"You gotta drink this. It's supposed to help with your power."
I blinked down, thinking that I had gone totally insane, and decided to drink the liquid. It wouldn't do any harm if I were insane, right? I twisted the cap off, and downed the small vial with one swig.
"Sweet." I said, and tossed the vial aside.
"It's madde from the milk of yucca plants, or something.. I don't think it's yucca plants, but that's close enough." Kyle shrugged, and picked up the bottle, and tossed it out the open door. I sat up, in a bit pain, but decided that I was much better.
"How long was I asleep, Kyle?" I asked, curiosity suddenly striking me.
"Oh, a couple of weeks."
"So. when's the last time I bathed?" I asked, suddenly feeling very dirty.
"I-I don't know!" Kyle laughed, and went to help me up. "Why don't we go find a bath house, huh?"
******
After walking for awhile, I decided that I wasn't going to do this again. I was still far too weak, and I got way too exhausted with just breathing. But after getting into a hot bath, I felt tons better. Maybe bathing was the cure to this "power". I slowly crawled out of the single person room and into a changing room. (I got a single person room because I was embarassed of my appearance. Of course, who woulnd't be, when they were so skinny that they looked like something dead that had floated up from a quarry?) I pulled on a terry-cloth robe, and brushed gently through my hair. I hadn't looked in the mirror until now. I walked over, and looked in, not recognizing myself for a minute, and thinking that I was looking at someone else through a window. When the stranger imitated my moves, I gasped, and stumbled backwards. My hair was gray, not the brilliant red like Kyle's that it used to be. I had huge bags under my eyes. and I looked twenty years older than I did, and I was only twenty-seven.
I fell back weakly onto a stool, and tried not to cry, my chest heaving. That couldn't have been me. I used to look like Kyle with a rounder face and groomed hair! I brought my hands to my face, and pulled my legs tight into my chest, just letting myself cry. I hadn't let myself cry since I had awoken, but now I just couldn't help it. I heard the door open, and a young voice of a woman call out. It was a throaty, crouped voice, and yet it was gentle all the same. I stayed silent, trying not to sob, and waited for her to come around the corner.
"I was told to check on you." The voice said again. The figure of a voluptious, yet lanky woman appeared around the corner. She wore the uniform of all the people that worked here, and it seemed oddly out of place on her. I looked up, and wiped the tears from my eyes. Her hair was shoulder length then, and tied into two braids on the side of her head. She smiled smugly, and placed a hand on her hip.
"So, you're brothers are vampire hunters, are they?"
I nodded slowly, not sure what to say.
She raised an eyebrow, and came to sit next to me.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, gently, wiping an unoticed tear from my bony cheek.
"I." I stammered, still not sure what to say.
She smiled, and pat me gently on the back.
"We're partners now, you know that?"
My eyes widened in shock.
"W-what?" I asked in surprise, not sure what to make of what she had said.
"I said we're partners. I talked it over with one of your brothers. The big hairy one that was really frightening and headstrong. It took a lot of convincing."
I couldn't think of what to say. I stammered, and finally came up with something to say.
"Wh-Why do you want to be a hunter so bad?"
Her eyes narrowed, and she smiled, but it came out rueful.
"I have my reasons."
I suddenly got serious, and tried to sound as manly as possible.
"It's no occupation for a young woman, you know. I don't think even men should do it."
She raised an eyebrow at me accusingly, and punched me softly in the arm.
"Don't think I can do it, do you?"
"No no no, I never said that." I said, and figeted with my robe belt.
"Whatever." She shrugged, and then extended a hand to me.
"I'm Leila." She said.
I reluctantly took her hand, and smiled, shaking as strongly as I could, but it still turned out to be a dead fish handshake. Blushing somewhat, I introduced myself.
"My name is Grove Markus." I said, and stood weakly. "You can tell Kyle I'm okay. I just need to go back to the tank and get some sleep."
She nodded and left. "Well, I gotta go tell my boss I quit and get out of this ridiculous uniform. She strode out proudly, and the door shut softly behind her.
_+_Leila? Working in a bathouse? Wow, I didn't even expect that. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it. More coming! _+_
"Everythig all right?" He asked, quietly. Nolt stepped on behind him, dragging a bloody corpse, a vampire that used to be Healius Mestrok.
"Yeah. I don't know .." Kyle replied, and gently lay the snoozing Grove back down on the cot. He saw the body of the vampire, and smiled ruefully.
"Looks like you got him." Kyle said and stood, stretching.
"Yeah, but the craziest thing happened," Nolt said, and tossed the body aside into a random corner. He threw a few blankets over it, and sat down into a chair, glancing at it as if it would jump up and run away.
"No kiddin. This spirit thing came and shot the crap out of 'im and his lackeys. We'd probably both be dead right now if it weren't for that weird thing." Borgoff said and went to sit in the driver's seat.
"The scarier part is, that it looked a lot like Grove," Nolt laughed. "But it couldn't have been, I mean, he's still here."
Kyle froze.
"Wait .. did Borgoff happen to shoot it?"
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
Kyle looked slowly over to Grove, suddenly getting the impression that his young brother wasn't really sick.
"Hey look guys.. I don't think Grove is sick."
"He looks pretty sick to me." Nolt scoffed.
"No no, I mean, he is but. Look, I read about this weird archaic power a long time ago. It takes your physical energy while increasing your spiritual abilities, so you can do stuff like. spiritual projection. I don't know what exactly it is, but. I mean, he woke up gasping for air and stuff, and I thought he was dying but .."
Kyle licked his lips. They were parched from his nervousness. Was his little brother really something like that? No one replied. Once again, the both acted as if they knew that's the way it was, as if it had always been that way before. Finally, Borgoff spoke as if nothing was out of the oridinary.
"So you really think that Grove has archaic power, huh?"
Kyle nodded vigourisly, and went to sit up in front near Borgoff. "Yeah, but I don't think he can control it."
"Hmm. looks like our next stop after collecting the bounty is an archaic mage, or something. Anyone knows where to find one of those?"
******
Borgoff looked skeptically down at the little bottle with white, opaqe liquid in it. The mage had put a syringe, and a box of blue bottles in front of him.
"So, if I make him drink this."
"Then he will be able to control his spiritual projections." Interuppted the mage. He leaned over, not without grunting a little, and fetched up a blue bottle and the syringe. "But only if you inject this into him. When his heart stops, he will become something with unimaginable power, but he can only do it for a few minutes, otherwise his body will die, and his spirit will be at constant unrest."
The hunters looked to one another skeptically.
"Look, we'll give it a shot, but if you're ripping us off, we won't hesitate to burn your happy store to the ground."
"Fine." Said the main, as a matter-of-factly. "No worries here. My products are garunteed." He wandered away, and began sorthing throught a pile of scepters with runes ungraved into their surfaces. Kyle sighed, and placed the money on the counter, and promptly left. Borgoff and Nolt fetched up the materials, loaded them onto the tank, and headed off to buy some medical supplies.
"Don't forget oxygen!" Kyle called after them. Borogoff waved, and walked off into the city with Nolt.
******
I awoke when Kyle stepped onto the tank and kicked tripped over something, swearing loudly.
"Must you swear so much?" I asked weakly, turning on my back painfully.
"Sorry." Said Kyle dumbly.
I propped myself up on one elbow, and mustered a somewhat uninterested and rueful smile. "So what happened while I was under?"
Kyle stopped, and looked him wide eyed. "Oh, you don't remember?"
"No, Kyle. I was asleep. Don't you remember?" Kyle rolled his eyes.
"Remember when you woke up, and said that Borgoff shot you or something?"
"Yeah, I think."
"Well, I guess you have archaic powers or something." Kyle shrugged, as if it weren't important. He sat on one of the boxes of blue bottles, and cracked his knuckles and neck.
"What. are you talking about?"
"Oh well, I guess you can project your spirit, but you can't control it or something. Oh, that reminds me." He said, and sifted through one of the boxes. "Here we go." He pulled out a bottle of white liquid that somewhat looked like milk, and tossed it to me.
"You gotta drink this. It's supposed to help with your power."
I blinked down, thinking that I had gone totally insane, and decided to drink the liquid. It wouldn't do any harm if I were insane, right? I twisted the cap off, and downed the small vial with one swig.
"Sweet." I said, and tossed the vial aside.
"It's madde from the milk of yucca plants, or something.. I don't think it's yucca plants, but that's close enough." Kyle shrugged, and picked up the bottle, and tossed it out the open door. I sat up, in a bit pain, but decided that I was much better.
"How long was I asleep, Kyle?" I asked, curiosity suddenly striking me.
"Oh, a couple of weeks."
"So. when's the last time I bathed?" I asked, suddenly feeling very dirty.
"I-I don't know!" Kyle laughed, and went to help me up. "Why don't we go find a bath house, huh?"
******
After walking for awhile, I decided that I wasn't going to do this again. I was still far too weak, and I got way too exhausted with just breathing. But after getting into a hot bath, I felt tons better. Maybe bathing was the cure to this "power". I slowly crawled out of the single person room and into a changing room. (I got a single person room because I was embarassed of my appearance. Of course, who woulnd't be, when they were so skinny that they looked like something dead that had floated up from a quarry?) I pulled on a terry-cloth robe, and brushed gently through my hair. I hadn't looked in the mirror until now. I walked over, and looked in, not recognizing myself for a minute, and thinking that I was looking at someone else through a window. When the stranger imitated my moves, I gasped, and stumbled backwards. My hair was gray, not the brilliant red like Kyle's that it used to be. I had huge bags under my eyes. and I looked twenty years older than I did, and I was only twenty-seven.
I fell back weakly onto a stool, and tried not to cry, my chest heaving. That couldn't have been me. I used to look like Kyle with a rounder face and groomed hair! I brought my hands to my face, and pulled my legs tight into my chest, just letting myself cry. I hadn't let myself cry since I had awoken, but now I just couldn't help it. I heard the door open, and a young voice of a woman call out. It was a throaty, crouped voice, and yet it was gentle all the same. I stayed silent, trying not to sob, and waited for her to come around the corner.
"I was told to check on you." The voice said again. The figure of a voluptious, yet lanky woman appeared around the corner. She wore the uniform of all the people that worked here, and it seemed oddly out of place on her. I looked up, and wiped the tears from my eyes. Her hair was shoulder length then, and tied into two braids on the side of her head. She smiled smugly, and placed a hand on her hip.
"So, you're brothers are vampire hunters, are they?"
I nodded slowly, not sure what to say.
She raised an eyebrow, and came to sit next to me.
"What's wrong with you?" She asked, gently, wiping an unoticed tear from my bony cheek.
"I." I stammered, still not sure what to say.
She smiled, and pat me gently on the back.
"We're partners now, you know that?"
My eyes widened in shock.
"W-what?" I asked in surprise, not sure what to make of what she had said.
"I said we're partners. I talked it over with one of your brothers. The big hairy one that was really frightening and headstrong. It took a lot of convincing."
I couldn't think of what to say. I stammered, and finally came up with something to say.
"Wh-Why do you want to be a hunter so bad?"
Her eyes narrowed, and she smiled, but it came out rueful.
"I have my reasons."
I suddenly got serious, and tried to sound as manly as possible.
"It's no occupation for a young woman, you know. I don't think even men should do it."
She raised an eyebrow at me accusingly, and punched me softly in the arm.
"Don't think I can do it, do you?"
"No no no, I never said that." I said, and figeted with my robe belt.
"Whatever." She shrugged, and then extended a hand to me.
"I'm Leila." She said.
I reluctantly took her hand, and smiled, shaking as strongly as I could, but it still turned out to be a dead fish handshake. Blushing somewhat, I introduced myself.
"My name is Grove Markus." I said, and stood weakly. "You can tell Kyle I'm okay. I just need to go back to the tank and get some sleep."
She nodded and left. "Well, I gotta go tell my boss I quit and get out of this ridiculous uniform. She strode out proudly, and the door shut softly behind her.
_+_Leila? Working in a bathouse? Wow, I didn't even expect that. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed it. More coming! _+_