Well, look at this! A new story! I know I'm really late on updating Ties, and I'm sorry about that. I haven't really been feeling the motivation to write, and I'm working on finding a new job so that's something else I'm stressing about instead of thinking about writing. But somehow, through the bull, I came up with the idea for this story. I've got no idea how long it's going to be but it'll probably at least be a good 15 chapters? We'll see. Anyway, the setting for the story is based on the New World of Darkness tabletop storytelling system by White Wolf and incorporates elements and lore from a bunch of the rule and supplement books, but fear not! You don't have to know anything about any of that to follow this story. Hopefully everyone enjoys, and I always appreciate reviews so I know how I'm doing and ways my writing can be improved. Enjoy!
It hadn't even been fifteen minutes and already Marceline was regretting coming back to the city she had called home for the first time in sixty years. She was barely within the city limits, still a full fifteen miles from where vampire territory started, and she'd stumbled right into a trio of young vampires out looking to do some hunting. That simply couldn't be allowed to happen. There weren't too many rules that the vampires of the city were expected to follow, but the main one was that under no circumstances were they to jeopardize the secrecy of their society by preying on humans. Such things lead to events like the Inquisition, which was a carefully executed campaign to not only weed out witches and others unfaithful to the Church, but also to locate and eliminate any non-human creatures encountered along the way. That was what led to the institution of the highest of all covenants in Kindred society.
The Masquerade, as it was called, was how the Kindred – vampires to the layperson – had survived as humanity evolved, experienced revolution after revolution, bolstering their technology and as a result their control of the world around them. On every street corner and in the hands of every man, woman, and child were cameras. With the advent of the internet and cellphones the world had experienced drastic changes and none were spared the effects. The Kindred as well as other supernatural entities had to adapt as well, taking extra steps to assure that they didn't wind up as a headline on national news. The key to the success of the vampires was their secrecy, their ability to live under the noses of the very people they thrived upon, and the Masquerade was their saving grace in that sense. With every vampire tending to follow with tradition if only for fear of losing their lives to some upstart hunter or pissed off elder, things went well for the most part. But there were always those who refused to use their heads and think before acting, younger undead who wanted the thrill of the hunt, the feeling of the wind against their cold, pale flesh, the sensation of the last of their prey's jerking just before they gave in to exsanguination.
Really Marceline had been doing the new vampires a favor. They couldn't have been turned for more than a few years, still new to everything that eternal unlife had to offer and figuring out what method to best combat the Beast within them. The Beast was the burden that every vampire had to carry, and there were times when it became to heavy to shoulder and the poor individual would lose themselves in a tempest of raw rage and blood lust. There was nothing that could be done to prevent such losses of control, no way of taming the creature that dwelt within each and every vampire. All that could be done was management, placating those more animalistic urges and refusing to give in to killer instinct. Not all would find some level of success and would dip into the monstrous insanity that losing the last of the humanity would bring, but these kids, because they all looked to be in their late teens at most, still had all of the potential in the world. Marceline wasn't going to let them throw it away for a night of bloody fun. So she had confronted them, all fangs and claws and growls as she did her best to look as intimidating as possible. It wasn't hard for her, being half demon. It gave her a bit more of an edge when it came to intimidation, and the fledgling vampires were sprinting as fast as they could in the direction of their domain without so much as a snarl of protest.
Marceline followed, it was her destination anyway and it made no sense to make any detours given that she had picked up a tail. Whoever it was thought that the vampire hadn't noticed, too. She had noticed, though. From the moment she'd dropped into the street from the rooftops in front of the trio of other vampires she'd felt the eyes on her from the shadows, and now this same individual was following her as she made her way home. Chances were it was some upstart hunter hoping to make a name for themselves by bagging a trio of vampires, and then in came Marcy looking rarer than ever as a woman who was probably the world's only living demon-vampire hybrid. Others had tried to claim her life and take that honor for themselves, but none had succeeded. All that remained of them were the broken and shattered bodies of frail human beings who hadn't stood a chance. This hunter would be no different. If it was a fight they wanted Marceline would be more than happy to bring it to them. She turned down an alley lit by nothing more than a single streetlamp that stood near the entrance. She came to a stop, having not moved quite fast enough to try and set up an ambush before she heard the sound of boots against pavement as the hunter turned into the alley behind her.
"You've overstepped your bounds, vampire."
Marceline froze, turning only her head so she could look over her shoulder. Her supernatural eyesight allowed her exceptional vision even in pitch black conditions, but she didn't need it to know exactly who was standing in the flickering orange glow of the streetlamp no more than twenty yards away from her. For a moment the vampire was caught in a dizzying haze of pure shock. It was like staring at a ghost from her past, and were she capable of it the color would have drained from her face. The hunter's coat rustled as she opened it and swept the tails aside, retrieving a menacing crossbow etched in glowing designs from her back and holding it so tight that the leather of her gloves creaked against the weapon's grip. The vicious steel of the bolt aimed at Marceline's chest glinted, slightly off-colored even in the dim light. It had probably been coated in some kind of poison, or at least something harmful to a vampire. Leave it to Bonnibel to go above and beyond to make sure that she had her bases covered in case she missed the kill shot.
"Chill, Bonnie. I was just herding up some strays and making sure they found their way home. Made sure nothing happened and nobody saw anything." Marceline grumbled in response, relaxing her posture now that her tail had revealed herself after following her since she'd encountered the group of errant young vampires and started guiding them home. She rolled her shoulders to relieve a little of the remaining tension as she turned to face the other woman properly. A smirk played across her lips as she took notice that the hunter still had her crossbow at the ready. It seemed that time hadn't done their tumultuous relationship any favors. "Is that really necessary? When have I ever so much as hinted at wanting to fight with you?"
"Things change. People change." Bonnibel responded grimly, her sapphire eyes and her tone carrying a harshness to them that made the vampire uneasy.
Marceline had been away from the city for quite some time, bumming around the country and living on the road attending concerts and music festivals to her heart's content. Her reasons for leaving were a mystery to the general public and she preferred to keep it that way. Rumors abounded about why she had taken her extended absence, what she had been doing, and finally what had brought her back. No amount of hounding had convinced the woman to give in and explain herself to anyone. The one person she owed any answers at all to was standing right in front of her poised to murder her in cold blood, and that in itself didn't make sense. Marceline been gone for around sixty years, and when she had known the ambitious and skilled hunter the woman was already in her twenties, meaning that she should have been looking at a woman in her eighties. Instead, there stood Bonnibel looking not a single day older than when she'd last seen her.
"I suppose the same can't really be said about you, can it? You look good, Bonnie. Damn good for eighty seven."
"Vampires aren't the only ones with tricks to keeping themselves around longer than nature intended." Bonnibel replied tersely. Very well, that was a topic that was off limits. Perhaps they could address it at some point in the future. For now Marceline would settle for getting through this conversation without the awkwardness killing her before Bonnie got the chance.
"Alright. Well, look, you can put the crossbow away, alright? I'm pretty sure the fledglings are already well within our territory, cowering in fear over what's going to happen to them when the Prince finds out they decided to hunting in the city." Marceline said with what she hoped was a friendly and reassuring smile. To her disdain the hunter simply shook her head, revealing that her strawberry blonde hair was tied back in a tight bun. It wasn't a good sign.
"I wouldn't count on it going as smooth as that." Bonnibel sighed in concession, finally lowering her weapon and slinging the strap over her shoulder so she could secure it to her back. While she had taken a less aggressive stance she still refused to clear any of the distance between them. Marceline wasn't quite sure what to make of that, but at the very least she wasn't in danger of being shot through the heart with a bolt of silver anymore. "A lot's changed since you've been gone. Seems like things are falling apart as far as vampire hierarchy within the city's concerned. I'm surprised you hadn't noticed that area of the city's pretty much been reduced to slums surrounding a glistening white palace at this point."
"I just got back, was passing through the city and stumbled across that group right before they could snatch up a couple of teenagers in the park." Marceline explained with a shrug before quickly shaking her head, getting herself back on track. "That's not important anymore. What are you talking about with the vampires?"
"I can't really tell you since I don't know myself. All I catch are whispers, bits of gossip, every now and again some actual information surfaces but it's usually nothing of any actual significance." Bonnibel explained, rolling her shoulders and adjusting her coat with a rustle.
"Tell me what you do know?" Marceline asked, hoping. She was met with disappointment as the blonde shook her head. In the back of her mind she asked what she'd honestly been expecting. Why, after everything that happened, would Bonnibel do her any favors? Why did she deserve it?
"I'm sorry, Marceline. I've got work to do. If you want any answers your best bet is to go home, you'll learn way more than I know in a fraction of the time anyway." the hunter said flatly. She turned and began to walk towards an alley, making it as far as the edge of the streetlamp's glow before Marceline called out to her.
"Wait! Bonnie..." she breathed. The blonde peered at her over one shoulder for a long moment and waited. As much as Marceline wanted to she couldn't seem to find the words to initiate the conversation about everything that had transpired between them, or at least arrange for them to spend some sort of time together in the hopes of the same thing happening.
"Goodnight, Marceline." Bonnibel finally sighed, stepping off into the darkness, her footfalls falling silent almost instantly no doubt thanks so some kind of supernatural aid. The feats that a skilled hunter could perform were terrifying, to say the least. The older they were, the longer they had lived, and the longer they'd lived the better they were at hunting not only the Kindred, but all non-humans. But there were plenty of specialists out there, tales of men and women who went above and beyond to secure their kills that were sometimes said to run in the thousands. If Bonnibel had survived all that time, her youth and vitality intact, and was still actively hunting then she was no doubt one of those living legends that the Harpies of the Court, the gossip masters of vampire government, exchanged hushed whispered about as they huddled together exchanging the juiciest news.
Thoughts like that could be dwelt upon later, she decided. For now Marceline needed to head home and see what condition the domain was in. If Bonnibel was right then she had some serious catching up to do, and if there was one person who could get her up to speed it was an old friend of hers, granted the woman was even still in the city. If things were as bad as the hunter had made them seem then there was every possibility that the vampire woman could have followed Marceline's lead and sought out greener pastures. There was no harm in trying, she told herself as she pulled her cellphone from her pocket and dialed her friend's number. Worst case scenario she could get in touch with some of her other contacts, but none of them had proven themselves nearly as good at gathering information. She would just have to see how the phone call went.