RPG Archives Vampire Reign II - [RPG In-Game] Vampire Reign

"HAHAHAHAH!!! That really is good, you are a fool." Setsaki laughed. "You tell me a way to keep constructive when you're dead, huh? Heh, I doubt our friend Leon even knows what it's like to be dead."

 

Roneri walked along hastily. She was a bit annoyed that she actually needed to actually strain her senses to find Darius. Usually, all she needed to do was speak with him through her mind, and he would answer. But she had been trying all along but to no avail, she received no answer.
What was even more annoying was that it was taking this long.
She began to walk a bit faster and harder, not noticing at all. She stopped for a minute.
"Damn." Was all she could get out. She glanced behind her, noticing that Raziel was distracted, she looked forward again. "Everything alright?" She asked, not looking back at him any longer, but into the eternal dark. The place she would usually be looking.

 

Luceid shrugs his shoulders casually, allowing a broad smirk to come over his lips as he takes another drag from the cigarette, exhaling the smoke as he flicks the ashes to the ground. "S'kinda funny how y'think me a fool... yet here y'are, wasting your time with me... I mean... isn't it foolish to waste time with a fool? I would bloody think that if y'had time to waste with me... a fool, as you call me... you have time to do something else, ya? At least, that'd be MY opinion... I don't know, maybe being dead 'cause your bloody brain to degrade and decay t'the point in which y'can't even comprehend the most useful or simple functions, leavin' ya' to simply while away the hours conversing with the flowers."

He took another unneeded drag from the cigarette, exhaling the smoke slowly. "Hey, whadya know, I made a rhyme. Cute, no? So, anyways... are you very much bloody done making a bloody idiot out of yourself?"

 

"Rian! Michael! Come back! He told me that he didn't want anyone coming after him! Leon and I talk to each other telepathically!" Athena shouted after their retreating forms clutching the map in her hands.
<Leon, Rian and Michael are coming after you! I'm trying to get them to stop but I don't think I can. Do what you have to do, Leon, no matter how long it takes... just come back to me... Be Safe Leon!!>
Athena then took ahold of Reina's hand and began to follow the map.

Reina
Reina wanted to go with the others but reluctantly followed Athena as they tried to make their way around. She silently cursed Leon for leaving them, she knew Athena wasn't at full strength and she had a feeling her sister was weakening.

Athena
Athena finally reached the place and unexpectedly collapsed. Leon was gone, she knew deep in her heart that he had done so for the best but still he had left her. The humanity she was clinging to began to fade and she clung to it as she went out of conciousness.

Reina
Reina looked down worriedly over her sister, she was getting this strange feeling of evil coming out of her an she knew what she had to do. She ran out and found herself on the streets she had to find Leon and tell him what happened, she was sure that he would know what to do. She only hoped she got to him before it was to late and Athena turned the rest of the way.

 

1

Michael watched as Rian ran off.
<Hmm... Interesting... To follow or not...>
He then watched as the two other girls ran off.
<Or to follow them... Hmm... Decisions decisions...>
He decided to keep his eyes on the two girls, since they were weaker at the moment, and he felt Rian could probably handle herself if need be. So he watched them, following silently in the shadows. He saw the older girl <Athena's her name, isn't it...?> fall, and then her sister <Who must be Reina> run off, trying to get help.
<Well this is odd...> He walked over and knelt down next to her.
<Hmm... Her blood... I can smell it... Different... Changing...> He pulled out his sword, and made a small cut on the tip of her finger. He tasted her blood, just to make sure. <Indeed... Losing touch with your humanity, are we, Athena? Well, we can't have that, now can we? Wouldn't be good for my plans... But how to fix it...? Hmm... For this we need Mister Aldoux...>
He turned and ran off in the direction everyone else had gone.

 

It wasn't until she reached the ladder that she knew Leon had climbed through, that she noticed Michael wasn't following.

"Damn vampire...he better not do anything to those girls..." Rian muttered to herself.

She even considered going back, but the voices coming from the opening called to her curiousity. These people, Leon and Darius...they had a connection, and it seemed too important not to figure out what that was, expecially now that she became involved with the half-vampire.

"But lets use the more subtle approach... "

Instead of climbing the ladder, she retraced her steps a bit, turned a different passage way and got back to the surface a block from where Leon and his company were.

The Rain had finallly stopped, leaving behind only the damp ground as evidence of it ever happening. Rian climbed a fire-escape of the closest building and reached the roof. There, she used her vampiric powers to move quickly to the building closest to Leon. She stopped some ways away to push back her powers and become nearly human again to conceal herself before proceeding. Rian got to the edge of the rooftop and stayed in the shadows as she looked down below. Luckily, her superior hearing and vision didn't require that much power and she listened and watched intently to the events below.

"There's three of them...one's Leon but who the hell are the other guys? Definitely vampires the lot of them, but what's so important about them that Leon would leave so suddenly and dramatically like that..."

 

1

Leon resisted the urge to take Setsaki and shake him. <Who is he to say these things?! He has no idea...he has no idea what I've been through...If anything, I am more dead than any.>

A small voice in the back of his mind spoke to him. <Exactly, Aldoux...he has no idea, how do you expect him to know? He cannot know your pain.>

"I'm not your friend," said Leon quietly. His cool grey-red eyes turned reflective. "You should understand, Setsaki, that I am more dead than you could ever imagine...After first having me turned by my very own love, Darius decided it wasn't enough...and tried to drain me in a different sense. I will not tell you my past! I, twice destined to be king...Instead, let me simply say...I may be a half-vampire, but I am half-vampire and half...something neither human nor vampire...something different...something of a shell..."

Leon turned to Luceid. "I came quickly to meet you, because...you smell of my love...the one who turned me after first being turned...You see, you are either her descendant, or your maker is. Though her smell is strong upon you, I rather think it is the second that is the truth."

Athena's voice reached Leon's mind, and he could sense her weakness, though she kept just how weak she was from him by sheer force of will. <Leon, Rian and Michael are coming after you! I'm trying to get them to stop but I don't think I can. Do what you have to do, Leon, no matter how long it takes... just come back to me... Be Safe Leon!!>

"I will be safe," he muttered. <Let them come...There is nothing I can do to stop them. In fact...is one of them already here?>

Leon didn't turn, but he still smelled Rian. All of a sudden, he was alone...Though all were around him, he was alone in his mind...the connection to Athena that he had gotten used to, that was almost like a surrogate heartbeat to him...was gone.

<It's like in the tunnels before...she's unconscious...I do not smell Michael, and Reina must be with her...She told me to take my time...I can't leave just yet...I have to hope for the best. Surely she cannot be in life-threatening danger?>

Another voice, not Athena's, returned to his mind. <But what if something else about her is in danger...something less ephemeral...What if her soul is in danger?>

Leon attempted to banish such thoughts from his mind, but they were still close. He applied his hand to his forehead. He turned back to Luceid. "You...can't tell me anything about...anything?"

 

Setsaki took off his sunglasses and wiped them, looking Luceid right in the eye with his black and red eyes.

"And you should understand that I am not your friend either, Leon is dead also, but not physically, he is emotionally dead, and vampires aren't yet dead, they are on the brink of it. I sold my life and soul for eternal life, but I'm no longer alive, I wish I could die, but I cant. And why do I waste my time with a fool such as you?"

Setsaki looked towards the cathedral, "Because you were there, because you have something to do with me, but I am not yet sure, and I doubt you are either. Even so, you were in the chorus of people singing The Ballad of Angels. You know something that you don't know, get it?"

 

2

"...I may be a half-vampire, but I am half-vampire and half...something neither human nor vampire...something different...something of a shell..."

These words, Rian understood perfectly. She had always tried to ignore it....to push her vampire self to the back and act as though she was pure human. But she knew it was only a facade...she will never be human, ever.

Rian shook her head violently, "It does not matter now! Listen to what to what else he says!!...He was turned by a former love and Darius drained him, it seemed. And what does he mean by being destined to be king?"

Setsaki started speaking then, and Rian had no idea what he was talking about.

"Ballad of angels? What the hell? Well, at least its good to know that vampires feel pain of being dead...they deserve it..." Rian thought darkly.

 

"Psh." Luceid waved nonchalantly, a wave of dismissal and distaste towards Setsaki as he turned his attention back towards Leon, obviously the more intelligent one Luceid thought. He shifted his weight, shuffling from foot to foot as he moved into a comfortable standing position, leaning on his guitar as the bottom rested upon the ground. He eyed Leon, chewing on his tongue idly, eyebrows lowering to narrow his darkened red eyes slightly. Without a word, he lifted his hand to his hair, running it through the spiked strands slowly, causing them to be pushed back a hair (no pun intended).

"Well, kiddies, I got this to say and this to say only. First..." he said, turning to Setsaki. "I ain't no bloody angel and I ain't no praying man. Just the same, I ain't no devil and I ain't exactly a heretic. So I don't know what the bloody Hell you're babbling about, so take your inane, moronic babble elsewhere, capice?"

"And as for you..." he added in, turning back to Leon. He eyed Leon, looking him over as his head tilted from side to side, rolling the cigarette about between his lips. His eyes continued to trek over the man, up and down, a sly grin upon his lips. After a moment, he let it fall from his lips to the ground before stepping on it with the steel-toed boot, rubbing it out with the bottom of the boot. "In all honesty, ain't got a blood thing to say in fronta' this psycho," he said, jerking a thumb towards Setsaki. "Lose the nutcase and we'll talk."

 

2

Leon sensed the other's eyes on him. When he told Leon to 'lose the nutcase', Leon nodded his consent. <I'll come for Athena. I promise myself. I think she needs my help...but first, this.>

Leon walked closer to Luceid. "Did you have a place in mind? I - I don't want this to go on for too long...I have a companion for whom I fear...I fear that she is sick. I'm responsible for her death, so you see..."

<And it's not just that. I know that. Athena also inspires such familiarity in me...It is as if she were reborn. This one may have the answers...but if he does not...that's still fine.>

Leon spoke one last time before awaiting Luceid's answer. He spoke loud enough for all to hear...even those pretending they were not there, in a sewer not far. "I want to be left alone with this boy. The sooner I can glean some answers, the sooner I can get on with other things...like dear Athena."

<I hope they take my meaning...clear off, you fellows! Væk bortrejst!>

 

"HA! You are the one who is a fool, I can see myself that you aren't exactly what I would call a holy man."

Setsaki looked towards Leon and held up two fingers, "But, you were there, for a time, even if you were asleep and only your soul was there, which I'm sure it was, a Chorus of Souls as it were, and I remember you."

"And another thing," Setsaki glared at him with his red eye, "You try maintaining your sanity as a walking dead human being who hath no past. You try and then talk to me about myself."

Setsaki turned to Leon, he slipped inside a shadow then appeared behind him, he held Leon's wrist and slit a small emblem in Japanese that read 'Death' on his wrist.

"The shadow and scent grow, but, it might not be yours."

As of that, Setsaki turned to the opening of the alley-way and walked out, as he reached the street, he turned around and looked at Luceid, "Heh, just see what happens." Setsaki threw a small bag of garlic and a silver stake to him.

Then he turned and walked out, walking again towards the cathedral.

 

Reina made her way around the city soon she heard a lot of people talking and she saw Leon was talking to someone and it looked important. She held her breath then ducked into the shadows to wait for him to finish his business. Reina remembered the connection she felt between Athena and Leon and knew that he would only leave her if it was something important.
She heard Leon say he wanted to talk with the boy alone and retreated further back into the shadows. At that point she was willing to do almost anything to speed the conversation along. She decided then that she would wait for a few more moments then she would go to him rather he was done or not.


*Athena*
Athena was battling inside herself. She wanted so strongly to remain herself but at the same time her darker side was gaining control... not knowing if the thought would reach Leon or not she desperately thought, <Protect Reina... for me... I am... I must do something myself.>

 

Luceid merely rolled his eyes at the insane man, letting out a half-hearted and rather bitterly annoyed sigh. Slipping casually to the side, turning and pivoting slightly, he let the stake and the garlic hit the ground carelessly, ignoring them as his attention was drawn back to Leon, eyes wandering to the symbol upon his wrist, then back to Leon's face. With a curious tilt of his head and arch of his brow, his tongue ran over the surface of his teeth slightly.

"Well then... if you're still interested..." he left the sentence as he turned and waved Leon along to follow him. The walk was short-lived as just across the street, cut through another alley and across yet another street was an abandoned apartment building. To the top is where the trek led, the wide area of the loft, industrial-style staples pinning pitch black sheets over the windows, papers with drawings and writings littering the floors near the futon that served as a bed. The place was an all-around mess, the only thing of order seeming to be the running scene of murals along the walls and ceiling that showed a rather gory battle between different types of warriors, ranging from knights to shogun.

"Make yourself at home," he offered.

 

1

<Protect Reina... for me... I am...>

Leon raised his head. There was more to the thought, but he didn't catch it. At least Athena was awake...but her thoughts were less...human.

"Well then... if you're still interested..."

Luceid's words interrupted his thoughts. But, he still had to protect Reina. Before letting Luceid lead him back to wherever they were going, he scanned the area with both eyes and nose. He found Reina. He approached her.

"Reina, your sister asked me to protect you, I don't have time to explain now, but I need you to follow me," whispered Leon, hunkered over. He took her by the hand, and began to walk in the direction that Luceid was taking them.

At the loft, he looked around in wonder. Bloody, gory battles. Hundreds of them. Warriors as far as the eyes could see. Every type of warrior known to Leon stood here depicted on the mural, living, fighting, dying, dueling...

"Make yourself at home," said Luceid.

"Tell me everything," replied Leon.

 

Luceid set his guitar and backpack upon the futon and began to rummage through things on the floor, until he found the toppled over yet closed half-full (or half-empty) bottle of tequila. He tossed it onto the futon, to be sure to be able to find it later as he continued to scrounge around, digging through clothes and papers and trash.

"Well, really it... It all depends on what exactly you want to know, y'know?" he said matter-of-factly with a casual shrug of his shoulders. He finally found what he was looking for; another shirt, although obviously previously worn, it wasn't stained with mud, dirt or any of the likes like the one he was wearing. Removing the lighter and two bent cigarettes from the pocket, placing them with the bottle, he unbuttoned the shirt the rest of the way, balling it up and tossing it aside, then slid his arms into the sleeves of the 'new' shirt.

"Y'can start by telling me 'bout your love, ya'?"

 

1

Michael reached the building that Leon had just been at. He could tell because of the scent. But he had also heard Leon's warning, too.
<Don't wanna go breaking anyone's trust now do I? Of course not...>
As he looked around, he spotted Rian hiding in the shadows. He walked up to her.
"So, did I miss the party?" he asked her, in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Or can I still get some party favors?"
<Wow, you just sounded like a jackass! Good job!>
"Umm... What I meant was... So, what happened? I miss anything important?"
<Heh, the mighty Michael, trying to pick up the ladies... How pathetic...>

 

Raziel stopped for a second and then responded to Roneri,"It's nothing, let's get going."

They began to run toward the place that was there before the blast.

 

When the alleyway became empty as Leon followed one of his companions, taking along Reina, and the other had left, Rian dropped from her rooftop and landed in the middle of the alley, thinking....

"Hmm...this is turning too personal for me to butt in....but why was Reina here when I told her to stay at my lair...maybe I should go back to Athena..."

It was then that Michael approached her, breaking her thoughts.

"So, did I miss the party?" he asked her, in a slightly sarcastic tone. "Or can I still get some party favors?"

Rian stared at him with narrowed eyes.

"Umm... What I meant was... So, what happened? I miss anything important?" He continued.

"Maybe if you had followed me before I would know and I wouldn't have to tell you." Rian said, slightly angrily, but she was beginning to tolerate this guy.

She sighed, then said more calmly, "Leon found some friends, but most of the things they said, I didn't understand. But...it seems Leon is a more important figure than he makes himself to be...and one of them talked about a Ballad of Angels..whatever the hell that meant."

Rian then noticed the cathedral in the distance, "I wonder..."

She sighed again, her gaze still on the distance, "It doesn't matter, it has nothing to do with us and Leon doesn't want us interfering."

Rian then turned sharply to Michael and even took a step towards him, "What took you so long to get here? What happened to Athena?"

 

1

"Y'can start by telling me 'bout your love, ya'?"

Leon released Reina's hand. "My...love..."

Thoughts flitted through Leon's mind at light speed. <Athena...Merrill...Athena...Merrill...Merrill...death...Athena...guilt...Merrill...STOP! Be quiet, leave me rest...>

Leon held his head. "I don't know where to start, I don't know what to tell, and what to leave unsaid. I'll start by saying that I don't know all the sides of this story...I can't tell you exactly what happened...I wasn't...all there...for some of it."

Leon sighed unnecessarily. "I was once the Prince of Denmark..."