An Introduction:
A Bathroom:
It had been quite a long day for the girl who was standing in the middle of a dirty bathroom, staring at her reflection in what passed for a mirror at the gas station in the middle of no where, quite a long day indeed. Looking into the scratched up piece of polished metal, the young girl saw how much of a mess she was.
Her long black hair was filled with tangles, the midnight blue streaks were nearly indiscernible from the rest of the matted mess. The black ribbons she used to keep her hair in a long pony tail was frayed and covered with blood and dirt. The girl's makeup was a streaked and smudged mess as well. The black mascara that she had expertly applied around her eyes now gave her the appearance of having two blackened and bruised eyes, though it didn't help that her right cheek was truly swollen and bruised. Even the girl's perky cat hears didn't seem as perky as they could be and normally were.
Even her clothing had not been spared. Her black dress with its long sleeves, each one ending with a loop of elastic that kept her palm and top of her hands covered by a triangular piece of cloth, was filled with rips and holes. Even her stocking hadn't been spared as they were also filled with snags and rips.
Placing her pack on the grimy bathroom counter, she looked at its pristine fur enviously and button eyes that stared back at her without the slightest hint of emotion before loudly ripping a few brown and rough sheets of what passed for paper towels at the gas station and wadding them up before stuffing them in the sink's drain.
[color=B87333]"Would you like something to drink while you clean up Miss Sorrowfeld?"[/color] Asked the pragmatically named Teddy as he stood up on the counter and turned on the water for Constance, adding a few drops of scented oils to the water in order to make it safe for the young woman before looking up into the young Vampire's normally deeply crimson eyes, though they seemed quite a few shades lighter due to the amount of tears the girl had shed over the past day.
"Thank you, Teddy. I - I'd really like that." Constance said, her voice tinged with sadness and hunger, as she accepted what appeared to be a juice box from the animated stuffed animal. Being a vampire, it shouldn't have been a surprise that the juice box was not filled with juice but was in fact filled with body temperature blood, a chemical heater warming the blood box as soon as the bendy straw was ripped off the packaging.
[color=B87333]"If you'll pardon my observation, Miss Sorrowfeld, you are appear to be living up to your familial name. Is everything okay?"[/color] Teddy asked as he turned off the water, allowing the short Vampire to wash her face. As she did so, he reached into his stomach to produce a new set of clothing and Constance's makeup kit.
"No. Everything is not okay." The girl said coldly as she tossed her old clothing onto the counter, covering Teddy's wandering eyes as she proceeded to put on the new set of clothing.
Nothing was okay, not even close to being okay. Constance's family had been destroyed. Her mother, her father, her siblings: All of them had been destroyed by another family, a larger and more powerful one than her's. If it wasn't for the unlikely but well timed intervention of her "companion," who was standing outside the bathroom at that very moment, she probably would have been destroyed with her family, not that she was appreciative, mind you, permanent death would have been better than this.
By the time Teddy had finished pulling the clothing off of him, he found that Constance had finished cleaning and dressing herself and had moved on to applying her makeup, trying to make herself look as presentable as possible. Knowing that the young vampire would be a while, Teddy passed the time by stuffing Miss Sorrowfeld's old clothes into his mouth, consuming them for later use.
*BANG BANG BANG*
Constance's "companion" seemed to be getting impatient as he banged on the door to the filthy bathroom.
"[small]Come on. We're burning daylight.[/small]" Came his voice from the other side of the door.
[color=B87333]"Miss Sorrowfeld. Surely you're not planning on continuing to travel with that human are you?"[/color] Teddy asked as he watched the young vampire apply the finishing touches, a heavy layer of eye shadow and adjusted her cat ears and cat tail.
"No. No I'm not." She said as she picked Teddy off of the counter and strapped him to her back, using a bit of the blood that she had just consumed to speed up her movements and throwing the door open, intent on making a run for it.
[hr]
Outside the Bathroom:
It had been quite a long day for Zeke as he wiped off his brow with a grungy handkerchief and continued working on the car that the strange couple had brought in with a busted radiator. Judging from the gore on the grill, they had hit one of the many animals that occasionally crossed the single road that passed through town, only to be splattered by the occasional motorist.
"Hit something big did ya?" The Gas Station attentant asked the driver of the car, who was standing off to the side next to the bathroom door as if guarding it.
"Yes." The man said simply after a moment before returning to his Bathroom Door vigil.
"(Big City Folk, pah!)" Zeke thought to himself as he grabbed the power wash and started spraying down the grill of the car, looking at the stranger as he did.
Zeke hated to be judgmental, as it wasn't his way but Zeke had to admit but the man that stood in front of the bathroom put the strange in stranger. From the way the strange man dressed, it looked like he was trying to blend in and be unnoticeable which made him quite noticeable. Even in the unseasonable warmth of this time of year, the strange man wore a long leather coat which was buttoned up, though Zeke had seen what the man was wearing underneath when a breeze had pulled open the coat slightly to reveal what looked like some sort of bullet proof armor or tactical vest, the type a bounty hunter would wear.
"You got a name Mister?" Zeke asked as he finished washing down the bits of animal flesh from the grill of the car.
"Yes. Som." The man said, causing Zeke to shake his head at the coldness of the stranger.
"(Som? As in Som one get this man a sense of humor.)" Zeke thought to himself before chortling to himself, not noticing the fact that the bits of flesh that he was washing off of the car's grill had started moving underneath the car's chassis.
Continuing his work, the gas station attendant looked at the man named Som and saw that as tanned as the man was, probably from long hours under the sun, he couldn't hide his reddish stubble which grew from his face and the top of his head. Nor could the man hide his blue eyes, the type that women, like Zeke's sister, would have found attractive if it didn't look like the man was permanently scowling.
The only sort of actual thing that stood out about the man was the necklace that he wore, a sort of violently neon green crystal --- no --- a crystal with a violently neon green liquid inside of it.
*BANG BANG BANG* The sound of Som beating on the bathroom door broke ole Zeke from his thoughts as he watched the man, who he decided must be a bounty hunter from the way he dressed, look at his watch once again.
"Come on. We're burning daylight." The Strange man said to the girl that he had arrived with.
The response that came afterwards wasn't quite what Zeke was expecting, then again, if you were expecting the green liquid inside the crystal to start bubbling and causing the crystal container to hum, you might just need your head checked. Between the vibration and the hum of the crystal, it was a surprise that the Stranger was able to do what he did.
*BAM!*
The bathroom door was nearly ripped off its hinges by the speed at which it was opened and by some unseen force, or rather unseen by ole Zeke that was, as someone or something tried to make its way through the door and past Som the Bounty Hunter. The permanent poker face on the Bathroom guard betrayed nothing as his foot shot out a couple inches off the ground to his side causing something to start bouncing and skipping across the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust until it came to a stop a couple dozen yards away.
After the dust settled, the gas station attendant was quite surprised that what had shot out the door of the bathroom was the girl that came with the strange man.
[hr]
The Showdown:
"Don't do that again." Som said as he approached the young vampire princess that had attempted its escape, the "thing" that looked like a cat girl was in the process of picking herself off the ground and brushing off her dress and giving him a look of absolute anger.
"Asshole. You didn't have to do that." Constance retorted as she thought about ripping her "companion's" head off of his shoulders and keeping him alive long enough to watch Teddy consume his body.
"Yes. Yes I did." Som replied, as moved to pick the girl shaped "thing" off the ground, not out of politeness but so that he could ensure that she stayed in his custody. While every ounce of him wanted to end the blight that stood in front of him, he reminded himself that she was the bait that would bring the greater evils of the world to him.
"I could have killed you instead." Som continued, his hand resting on the pommel of the knife he wore at his side.
"Sorry to interject folks, but where I'm from, that's not how we treat our women." Came a voice from behind Som, the gas station attendant who had been so talkative. If one were to look up instructions on how to keep a low profile, what was happening would be an example of how NOT to keep a low profile. Turning towards Ole Man Zeke, Som pondered knocking the man into unconsciousness but thought the better of it, that being the most likely way of getting the attention of the Authorities and their sponsors.
"Tell me when you find a woman." The Hunter responded causing the girl to visibly flinch.
Sensing the Hunter's intentions, Constance moved forward, her eyes locking on Zeke, his eyes unable to look away from her's.
"Zeke, could you do me a favor and forget that you ever saw us?" The Young Vampire said sweetly, causing Zeke to smile and nod.
"Also, you should tell this giant douche bag to say he's sorry."
"Mister, you better start thinking up an apology for them words, lest you" - *SHLICK!* Zeke's words were cut off as a clawed hand exploded out of the Gas Station Attendant's chest, the man's eyes looking at the hand in surprise as it clutched his still beating heart.
The two unlikely companions, one a vampire and the other a hunter of vampires and their ilk, looked at the monstrous mass of black and rotting flesh that stood behind the now dead human. Its eyes were dark, so dark that they seemed to absorb light.
"Mal." Som Waterford said as he drew his blade, the knife's grip elongating in his hands, transforming itself into a spear.
"Som. Thought you'd like to know that you've done the Coven a great service by making sure that your little Vampire friend was kept alive but I'll be taking her now." The writhing mass of flesh said, its voice was the sound of nails on a chalkboard.
"Of course, this means that I'll have to be sending you on your way now." The corpse like creature said as hurled Zeke's body towards the two in one swift motion.
The hunter was already on the move, however, as he sprinted towards the creature known as Mal and took the low road, sliding underneath the dead body, before lashing out with his spear, Argentum.
*CLANG!* Spear met sword as Mal deflected the blow, cackling as he saw the gas station attendant's body strike the young vampire girl, knocking her back and away from the fray: He would take care of the Hunter first so that he could take his sweet time with the little one.
The hunter and the monster crossed blades once again, the writhing mass of flesh known as Mal reveling in the fight, clearly toying with Som as he deflected and dodged each of the Hunter's strikes.
Deciding to make the melee a bit more interesting, Mal's body began to absorb the light around him, his voice intoned a series of serpentine words as he unleashed a spell that would cause the Hunter's body to wither and waste.
If he wasn't already dead, Mal's overconfidence might have been the end of him as he watched the Hunter grimace for a moment before the crystal around his neck began humming once again, counteracting the monster's spell.
*CHICK CHACK!*
"crap." The monster said as he looked towards the source of the sound and saw the Young Vampire holding a black and silver shotgun.
"No! Wait!" Som cried as he sensed that Constance was also channeling her blood magic into her weapon but it was quite too late.
BOOOOOM!! The Shotgun thundered, unleashing a swarm of death towards the monster.
It might have been the end of it, the monster getting blown into tiny pieces but these things have a habit of going sideways, especially when magics start mixing. The two spells, Mal's and Constance's mingled together for a moment before causing a blinding explosion, sending the trio flying away from the conflagration's nucleus.
"Damn it Vampire!!!" Som screamed as pushed himself up off the ground, ready to take on Mal once again, only Mal was no longer there, or rather Som and Constance were no longer where Mal was.
"Where? Where are we?" The young Vampirette asked as she looked around.
"Where are we indeed?" Som echoed as he looked at the strange environment around him.
