Chapter 5, Kindred ken
I check the watch again, cursing slightly under my breath at how it's moving so slowly. I remember that sometime, long ago, whole years could pass without me even noticing it... So how come an hour seems like such an eternity now?
Things have been progressing good lately. I've gotten the hang of working in the store, so now Vivian and I are working seperate shifts. He works Mondays and Wednesdays, and I work Tuesdays and Thursdays. We both split Fridays, either both are at the store the whole day, or he takes the morning shift and I switch with him after lunch. Either way is fine with me. Working with Vivian is far more amusing than working on my own. However, if I work the evening shift on Fridays I can feed on my way back to his appartment, and that way, I won't have to come up with an excuse later so that I can go to feed.
Today is Thursday. I've been in Finland for exactly two weeks now, so I'm starting to learn the language. It's a difficult language for me to learn though, so I still can't make myself understood in finish, but I do however understand bits and pieces of spoken finish. At least when it's spoken very, very slowly. Which like, it never is, except for when it's Vivian who's trying to teach me some word or phrase.
I yawn, but cover it with my hand, seeing two customers just entered. It's two girls, one with brown, long braids, and one with black, blue and red dreads. The one with the braids goes over to the gothic section and starts to check out CD's. The one with the dreads, however, follows her friend but is checking out me instead of the CD's. I smile slightly, raising a brow, telling her that I know that she's watching me, and she blushes and looks away.
After a while, both girls approach the counter.
-"I'm looking for a CD, maybe you can help me?" The girl with the braids asks.
-"Yeah, maybe." I reply. The dreadhead smiles.
-"Do you have 'Violet', by 'The Birthday Massacre'?"
-"I honestly have no idea." I say. "But I can find out." Both girls smile and I can tell that they're exchanging glances as I type in 'Violet' in the computer behind the counter.
-"I take it that you're Randy, right?" The girl with the dreads says. I throw her a swift glance.
-"That would be me, yes."
-"Oh, Vivian told us about you."
-"Are you friends of his?" I ask.
-"Not really friends." The one with the braids says. "But we're regulars here, so we see him a lot, and we talk every now and then."
-"I see." I look back at the computer that has finally finished its search for the requested album. "Yeah, we should have a copy of Violet somewhere around." I say and make my way out from behind the counter, over to one of the CD stands and start to flip through them. Both girls follow me. "So what did he say about me?" I ask with a joking tone.
-"That you were hot." The dreadhead says, smiling, and her friend looks away, possibly blushing at her friends straightforwardness.
-"Well that's nothing new." I point out and look at her for a second before going back to search for the CD. She laughs a bit.
-"He also said that you're very cocky. I can see why."
-"Why he said it, or why I am?" I question, smirking as I pull out the right CD.
-"Both." She replies as we go back to the counter. They pay for the CD, thank me and leave.
-"We'll see you around." The braided one says.
-"Yeah. Soon." Ms.Dreadhead fills in before closing the door behind them. I raise a brow, smirking at myself. It's not easy being wanted by everyone.
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I push the alarm code in and quickly turn the lights out, shutting the door behind me and locking it properly before heading off towards the appartment. It's already starting to get dark, even though it's not very late yet. I don't mind the darkness though. When darkness is all you know for several years, you grow fond of it. You become one with it. My years of slumber provided plenty of time for it to leak into my heart and soul and grow roots there.
Since it's not raining today, I decide to walk to the appartment instead of taking the bus, giving me lots of time to choose a suitable victim. By now, I've stopped being so picky with my victims and only chosing attractive girls, since I figured that by doing so, I'd run out of pretty girls sooner or later.
Today, I decide to go with a slightly elderly man who's walking a bit ahead of me, on the sidewalk on the other side of the street. He looks to be in his fifties, and he's probably heading back home from work. I hurry up to him, telling him that I'm looking for a certain adress, but I'm lost, and ask him for directions.
-"Oh, that street is this way. I'll be heading past there anyway, so I can show you." He kindly offers, feeling sorry for the poor, lost foreigner in front of him. I smile what to him seems to be a thankful smile, but it's rather a smile mocking his stupidity. I walk next to him for a while, until there is no people around us. I then hurry to grab him, cover his mouth with my hand and pull him with me into a dark ally, where I proceed to sink my teeth into his neck.
I let him sink to the ground once I'm done with him and stay in the ally for a while to calm my senses. As I stand there, I'm certain that I see someone further into the ally in the corner of my eye, but when I turn my head to take a closer look, there's no one in sight. Puzzled, and with growing suspicions, I slowly walk into the ally to investigate. I'm not sure if I'm being paranoid, and if my mind is only playing tricks with me, but I hear what sounds as footsteps walking past me. I whirl my head around, and at this I'm sure that I can hear someone run out from the ally, but I can't see anyone. What was that? I didn't imagine all that, did I? No, I'm sure that I heard someone... Or something. Well, I can't do much about it now. I need to be more careful in the future though.
I slowly walk out from the ally, making sure that no one sees me, and then I keep heading towards the appartment. My mind is still in slight chaos, and I can't quite shake off the feeling that I'm being watched.
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We were sittng under a tree, I was leaning my back against it, and she was sitting between my legs, her back against my chest. I was twirling a silver chain, with a crimson pendant attached to it, between my fingers.
-"Can I ask you something?" Her voice was soft, sounding a bit tired.
-"Sure."
-"What's up with that pendant of yours?" She asked. "You're always playing with it."
-"It was my mothers." I replied. "She wore it all the time. I took it from her when she died, so it's very important to me. It holds something so important, some of my most precious memories... It's called a bloodstone."
-"Bloodstone? Is it called that because of its colour?" She asked, following the pendants movements with her eyes.
-"Oh, there's more to it than that."
The person who invented eveningshifts is a genius. It gives me a chance to sleep in. One might think that I'd prefer not sleeping much now that I'm finally awake after several years of slumber, but that's not the case. Is it just me, or am I awfully tired for having to have slept for such a long time? Shouldn't I be... I don't know... wellrested? Apparantly not.
I don't really need to sleep, since I'm a vampire, but there's so much going on in my head right now, so many new things to take in. Sometimes it just gets a bit too much, and I need to give my brain a chance to relax. What better way is there to rest your brain than sleeping?
I sit up, yawn and rub my eyes. The dream I just had slowly comes back to me. Bloodstone? It was precious to me... What happened to it?
The alarm clock reads 12.14, which means that I might as well get up now. I decide to take a shower, to help me wake up fully. After the shower I get dressed in a black wifebeater, black jeans and a Nine Inch Nails hoodie. Nine Inch Nails was the first modern band I heard. They were on Randys mp3-player, and I immidiately started to take a liking to them. The record store has a lot of their CD's, so I've been listening to them a lot while woking lately.
While waiting for my hair to dry, I borrow some of Vivians makeup. I line my eyes in black, and apply some dark grey and black eyeshadow, creating a somewhat smokey effect around my eyes. I've gotten quite good when it comes to fixing makeup, seems I just have a natural talent for it. Vivian says that he's jealous of my skills. I guess I'm just used to apply makeup. Did I wear makeup when I last was alive? I can't seem to remember.
I realize that I should probably try to check up a bit on history, in order for me to find out what year it was when I last was alive. I have enough memories of towns, buildings and happenings from when I last lived, which hopefully is enough. The only problem is that I can imagine that people in Finland didn't know much about Egypt back then. Hopefully they do now, though. Oh well. It doesn't matter that much anyway.
Once done with the makeup I use some hairgel to fix my hair, spiking it in the back, leaving my bangs as they are. After that I grab my keys and jacket, pull my shoes on and leave the appartment.
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I'm half asleep, leaning on the counter, just waiting for time to pass. There's two hours left until the store closes, and I'm already tired. Today has been a busy day, with lots of customers, so my head feels as if it's spinning from hearing so many questions about so many different bands and albums.
There's just three customers in the store at the moment, and they seem to be doing quite well on their own, so I don't leave my comfortable leaning stance behind the counter. They'll have to come to me if they want something.
I insert a new CD in the stereo, this time it ended up being "Crimson" by "Sentenced". As the second song starts playing a girl comes up to me.
-"I know this song!" She says, she sounds very excited. "It's called 'Home in Despair', right?" I check the cover and nod my head, wondering why she's all worked up. "What band is this? I've heard the song a bunch of times at different clubs, and I really like it, but I've never known what band it is."
-"It's 'Sentenced'."
-"Oh. Is the CD you're playing now for sale, or is it your own?" She asks.
-"It's for sale. You want it?"
-"Yeah!" Her whole face shines up as she smiles from ear to ear, and I smile back at her. I take the CD out of the stereo, put it back in the cover and hand it to her. She pays for the CD and thanks me gingerly, the huge smile never leaving her face. I smile as she walks out of the store. Seeing her face shine up when I told her that she could buy the CD made an impact on me. Helping her, making her happy, it felt... nice. It makes me feel... I don't know... What is this feeling?
¤¤¤
Since it's Friday and everything, I decide to spoil myself a bit, picking a beautiful woman with deep red, almost purple hair as my victim. Her eyes are grey, sparkling like diamonds as she smiles at me, giving me flirty glances. I've picked her up at a club, and I'm making my way outside with her now, saying that I'd like to be alone with her. I can tell that she's proud of herself, feeling sexy and a bit lucky, since she got picked up by me so early in the evening. You're not as lucky as you think, dear.
-"I know the perfect place to go." She says, smiling, pulling me away down the street. We soon come to a small park. It's dark, and no one is around. Perfect. She leads me over to a bench and sits down on it, pulling me along with her. I smirk and lean in to kiss her. She has a piercing in her tongue, and she's a good kisser. I decide to have some fun with her before getting to the point of things.
We kiss for a few minutes, I let my tongue play with her piercing, and run my hands through her wavy, purple hair. I break the kiss, moving my lips to her neck and kiss her, nibbling playfully. She giggles a bit as I run my tongue over her skin. I let my fangs grace her skin, not puncturing it though, just barely scratching it softly.
-"We've been looking for you." I immidiately stop what I'm doing, cursing whoever's interrupting me as I turn my head around. There's two people standing in front of me. A woman and a man. The woman has long, dark hair that goes in a blue tone. She's wearing a black shirt, short black skirt, overknee socks and black stiletto shoes. The man has very short blond hair, he's dressed in blue, faded jeans and a leather jacket.
-"Who's she?" My victim asks and looks from the woman to me. I don't reply, I'm too focused on the two people in front of me. They're not normal.
-"You should thank me, not glare at me. I just did you a favour, interrupting the two of you." The woman says to my victim, smirking. "Now get out of here." I narrow my eyes. She knows. My victim looks confused, but seems very intimidated by the blue-haired woman, so she does as she says and leaves in a hurry. I stand up straight and glare at the woman, angry because she let my victim get away.
-"What do you want?" I ask, my voice cold as ice, demanding an answer.
-"My my... You're not very friendly, are you?" She replies.
-"Who are you?"
-"I could ask you the same." She says, smirking a bit. "I'm Mistress. This is Sammy." She says, pointing at her friend who hasn't spoken yet.
-"What do you want?" I ask again. She smirks.
-"I've had my eyes on you for a while. Ever since you arrived here, actually. I've watched you on the streets, in the allys with your preys..." It's the girl I "saw" and heard when killing that old man... "Do you know what I like?" She asks, changing the subject, as she takes a few steps closer. "I like pretty boys. Especially pretty boys in pain... You're very pretty... Would you scream for me?"
-"The only thing you'll be hearing if you come any closer is the sound of your head falling to the ground." I hiss. I don't like this Mistress. She smiles a sadistic grin again.
-"Fiesty, are we? I should teach you a lesson."
-"Isn't two on one a bit unfair?"
-"Fine. Sammy." She calls. Sammy walks up to her. "Our friend here needs to be taught a lesson. Just don't kill him. I want to see him suffer..." Sammy doesn't seem to have any objections, but simply does as she says.
He clenches his fists, crackling his knuckles and glares at me. Suddenly, he charges at me, hurling himself at me with great speed. His right fist bolts out, aiming for my head, however, I'm quicker than him, and seemingly stronger as well. I catch his fist, stopping it right before it makes contact with my jaw. I force it to the side, and at the same time launch my other arm at his, twisting it the other way until it makes a satisfying, crackling sound, telling me that the bone in his arm is broken.
He grunts in pain, but doesn't seem to bothered by having his arm broken. Instead, he tries to hit me with his other fist. I have no problem with dodging his blow, it's as if I can see what he's doing, before he even does it. I crouch to the ground and then bolt up again. My fist crashes into his stomach as I give him an uppercut, surprising him. I use the split second of shock to my advantage, punching him in his face, making him fly back a bit, creating some distance between us.
When he charges at me again I jump into the air, kicking him from the side, and spinning around 90 degrees. His head bolts to the side by the force of my kick. I land on the ground with my back towards him, and see how he charges at me again in the corner of my eye. I crouch to the ground and spin around again, this time with my leg stretched out, trippling him and making him fall to the ground. While he's on the ground, I jump backwards to create more space between us, and get up again.
Sammy gets up quickly, glaring at me, before launching at me once again. This time I catch his left arm and twist it back, forcing him to come to a halt. A second is all I need to dig my fangs into the side of his throat and rip it open. He makes a gurgling sound as the blood flows out of the wound. I release my hold of his arm, and he falls down to his knees, grabbing on to his own throat with the one arm he can use.
I circle around him, slowly, as I try to think of a nice way to finish him off. However, Sammy acts again before I do, getting up from the ground and hurling himself at me. Instincts take over and I take a step back, feeling my nails harden and grow longer. I reach my hand out as Sammy comes towards me, and push it into his chest, fingers first, feeling my nails dig themselves through his clothes and skin, entering his chest. I push my hand further into his chest, reaching his heart, grabbing a hold of it and squeezing it tightly.
I look up at Sammy, my hand still in his chest. He stares into my eyes, his own full of shock, anger, pain and perhaps even sadness. I pull my hand out and watch as he falls to the ground, landing in a lifeless heap.
I slowly lift my head, looking over at Mistress who stands a few meters away. Her face is cold, showing no sign of emotions upon witnessing her friend die. The only thing I can make out of her face is a hint of surprise, her eyes examining me closely.
-"What a bore." I say, drying my hand off at Sammys jacket. Mistress stays silent. "Are you going to throw your life away as easily as well, or will you prove to be a worthy oponent?" I continue as I take a step towards her. She reacts by taking a step back, then another one, and yet another. Before I know it, she turns around and starts to run away, hiding in the shadows. This time I'm prepared for her disappearance, so I sharpen my eyes and sprint after her, catching up to her within seconds. I grab her arm just as I had grabbed Sammys, twist it to her back and force her down on her knees, onto the ground.
-"Who are you?" She whispers, as she turns her head to stare up at my face.
-"I can honestly say that I can't tell you that. But that doesn't matter, because you will die now anyway."
-"Wait! Wait." She pleads.
-"What?"
-"If you kill me, there will be others coming for you."
-"How very intimidating." I scoff. "And if I don't kill you?"
-"I'll make sure that no one will bother you again." I remain silent, considering it. "Isn't that what you want?"
-"What makes you think that you know what I want?"
-"Well, since this is a Camarilla ruled city, and you haven't introduced yourself to the prince, I'm assuming that you're not part of the Camarilla. Am I right?" Camarilla? Memories seem to start to come back to me. Memories of the Camarilla, the Sabbat and of clans. "But since you haven't even tried to contact any vampire at all, I assume that you want to be left alone, correct?"
-"If you know all this, then why did you approach me at all?" I ask, thinking that she must be rather stupid.
-"Because I was curious! And I underestimated you."
-"Yes, you sure did." I agree.
-"Look, we can talk more if you just let go of my arm. You're hurting me."
-"How do I know that I can trust you?"
-"Oh come on! After what I just saw you do to Sammy? There's no way I can escape from you, you're too quick for me." She's right. She's way too slow, and I can see through her disguise of shadows.
I let go of her arm slowly, and she stands up, facing me. She seems a lot calmer now, her face is almost neutral, and the sadistic look her eyes had before is completely gone. It's as if her personality completely changed, almost as if she's a totally different person from before.
-"Why have you been watching me?" I question. "Did someone send you?"
-"My packleader did. She wanted me to find out if you were with us or with them." She replies, obviously referring to the Sabbat and the Camarilla.
-"Well I'm with neither. I have no intrest in either the Sabbat or the Camarilla. I have better things to do than to be someones slave." Mistress smiles slightly at this, nodding her head.
-"I have a question. Why is it that you can't tell me who you are?" She wonders, looking at me curiously.
-"Because I don't know." I reply and start to walk away from the park we are in. She follows me closely.
-"You don't know?"
-"I don't remember."
-"Oh. That must be... weird. Not to mention annoying."
-"So are you." I say and cast her a glance from the side. Her face darkens a bit.
-"You too." She throws back at me. "My mission was to find out who you are, which clan you belong to, and why you're here. If you can't remember, that makes it more difficult for me. I was hoping that I could torture you and make you tell me." She pouts.
-"I don't know who I am, I don't know anything about my belonging to any clan, and I'm here in search of someone." I answer simply.
-"Oh? Who? Maybe I can help."
-"I doubt it. I'm not sure who I'm looking for either. It's a vampire that I knew when I last lived."
-"What do you mean 'last lived'?" She questions. Fuck. Why did I say that to her?
-"Yes. When I last lived. I was staked, and I've been asleep ever since. I just recently got woken up. That's why I don't remember anything."
-"Oh my." She exclaims as her eyes widen. "Where are you from?"
-"Egypt."
-"Egypt? That's far. Did you come all the way here to look for that someone?"
-"Yes."
-"And you don't even remember who?" I shake my head. "Then why are you looking for that person?"
-"Because I love her. That's all I know." Mistress looks slightly taken aback at this.
-"You love her?"
-"Why is that so surprising?"
-"Because you seem so cold. As if you don't have emotions at all."
-"Do I, now?" I question, unintrested. What I want to know is where my victim went. I still need to feed. I steer my steps towards the club again, and enter it with Mistress following me closely. I can't spot my victim anywhere though.
-"What are we doing?" Mistress asks after a while.
-"I'm trying to feed. You're not making it much easier for me though." I reply. Mistress smirks at this.
-"Oh, really?" I watch her walk up to the nearest guy, grabbing his arm to make him focus his attention on her. "Do you want to have sex with me?" She asks him. He looks a bit suprised, but after looking down her cleaveage he gets up and allows her to lead him out through the club. As they walk past me, she motions for me to follow.
Mistress leads the guy away from the club, around the first corner and into the nearest ally, once inside the ally, she grabs his arm in the same way that I had done with her earlier and pushes him up against a wall, silenceing him with a hand over his mouth.
-"He's all yours." She smirks. I dont reply, but I walk up to him, yank him away from the wall and push my fangs into his neck. He tries to scream, but Mistress still has her hand over his mouth, so all that comes out is muffled cries. He soon stops struggling, and hangs limp in my arms. I let go of him and watch him fall to the ground, wiping the blood from my mouth. I look over at Mistress, and she's smiling at me.
-"What?"
-"See, I can be useful." She smirks. "Anyway, that's me making up to you for scaring off your other victim."
-"How very thoughtful." My voice is dripping with sarcasm. I start to make my way out from the ally, and steer my steps towards the appartment. Mistress is still following me, and she is starting to get on my nerves now.
-"The guy you're living with." Mistress says. I throw her a glance.
-"What about him?"
-"He's pretty." She smirks, the sadistic glow returning to her eyes.
-"I'll rip your arms off if you even touch him." I reply as I throw her a glare, my voice cold and firm again.
-"Oh? I didn't know that he was important to you..." She teases.
-"He's my best option when it comes to survival in this city."
-"What about me?" She asks. "I'm a Cainite even." Cainite? Yes, that's an other word for vampire, isn't it? I had forgotten about that term. Cainite. Fellow vampires can also be called Kindred, right?
-"I said 'survival'. Being with you is pretty much suicide." I scoff, shoving my thoughts away.
-"Is not!"
-"Not? See what happened to your friend." I say sarcastically. She glares at me a bit, but remains silent, admitting defeat.
-"You know, I could help you." She says after a while.
-"With what?"
-"Oh, this and that. If it is as you say, that you have no memories, then I can help you. I mean, the Cainite society can be difficult to understand sometimes, and I can help you with that. I know a lot of people, as well. Maybe someone might know something about the person you're looking for?" I glance at her. It's a long shot, but perhaps it might help. What harm is there in asking, anyway?
-"And what do I have to do for you in return?" I ask, knowing that a favour never comes along for free.
-"Oh, well seeing you killed Sammy, who just happened to be my partner when it comes to 'business', I could use your help every once in a while, I suppose. You see, Sammy was the muscles, and I'm the brain."
-"Exactly what would it be that you would need my help with?"
-"Killing. What else?" She snickers. "And from what I've seen, you're good at it. So what do you say?"
-"Fine." I agree. This might be exactly what I need, someone like me. Someone I can talk to, someone to answer my questions.
-"Then it's a deal." Mistress smirks. I give her a short description of how I remember Serenity, but I mention that my memories are a bit old, so there's a great chance that she's changed a bit.
-"Vampires don't change." Mistress smirks. "Anyway, I'll ask around. Spread the word. See what comes up. I'll see you around though." She winks at me and blows me a kiss before turning around and walking off in the other direction. I stand still for a while and look after her, shaking my head slowly, a slightly amused smile playing on my lips.
After a while, I turn around and continue making my way up the street. Today has been an exhausting day. Exhausting, but intresting. A lot has happened. At least now I know for sure that there are vampires. Camarilla, Sabbat, clans... Not much seems to have changed. And about Mistress... Hmm... She might prove useful, although she is a bit annoying. Oh well, if things get out of hand, I can just kill her.
See, I promised this one would be more intresting. Something finally happened, yay!
I had to delete two sections of this chapter, because it was like 9 pages in Word, and seemed way too long to post here. I don't think it messed up the story too much, though.