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Post by Evelyn van Buren on Aug 29, 2012 23:53:14 GMT -5
Two blinks from headlights cut through the darkness. The gentle beeps that followed echoed unchecked across the parking lot.
This side of the port was deserted. Except for the few cars scattered about at a fair distance in the large lot and grease stains in various parking spots, there was no indication that people ever came here. Behind her, the convention centre cast a foreboding silhouette against the new moon, overshadowing everything in its path.
Evelyn's meeting had run a little late. Her Lycan associates had grabbed cabs home or been picked up by their chauffeurs. Evelyn, however, had opted to bring her own ride, on the assumption she'd be out of here by ten.
It was now going on to one a.m. and she was loitering in the middle of a deserted parking lot in an equally deserted section of Eastlington Port, dressed in full business attire: dark blue dress shirt, black blazer, a slim black knee-length skirt, and black heels. Across the road, she could see the metal railing that divided land from river. Beyond that, she could barely make out Memorial Island.
Her acute hearing caught nothing. Her nose smelled no one. Everything about the place was deadened by a blanket of inactivity, broken only by the clacking of her four-inch pencil heels on tarmac.
As she walked, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, flipping through her list of appointments for the next day with little regard to her sinister surroundings. She had two heightened senses on that. Evelyn had never feared darkness. The only thing she associated with the night was Vampires, and she felt comfortable in her ability to handle any that might mistake her for easy pickings.
Even if she was wearing a skirt.
She remembered wearing a hoop skirt once, and picking a fight with a Vampire on the street. That had been a good fifty or so years ago now. She hoped she'd matured in that time, but that old recklessness occasionally reared its head.
Like now. Evelyn's head snapped up when she heard the rustle. Something had moved in the alleyway next to the parking lot. In the shade cast by the curving highway that passed by overhead, it was difficult to make out anything in the little pockets of darkness beyond the alley's mouth.
Evelyn froze in her steps and watched the spot with narrowed eyes for a moment. There. She had heard the same sound again. Was it a footstep? Her forehead puckered. She couldn't hear well enough in human form. Yet changing now might leave her open and vulnerable. She inhaled slowly, trying to test the air instead, but all she received was a noseful of salty, dirty residue off the water nearby. It drowned off nearly everything else.
Evelyn choked and let out her breath before she made herself sick. She lifted her phone again, flicking on its flashlight and aiming it ahead of her as she began to walk again. Its beam fell short of touching the alley, so after a moment of frustrated stubbornness, she switched it off and tucked it safely into her clutch.
Why am I afraid? she asked herself crossly, reaching up to sweep a lock of hair over her shoulder. I'm the monster here. You can't scare the monster. Her steps quickened despite her reassurance.
Her gleaming silver Cabriolet was equidistant to her from the alley. With her speed, she reassured herself, she'd get there before...what?
She didn't know. But given the way things were going in New York lately, it could be anything from a band of rogue Vampires to some deranged, half-starving cat. Unbidden, her mind flew to the recent incidents of missing businessmen. Both men involved with the supernatural world. One a CEO of EAI - she would never admit aloud how much that disarmed her - the other serving as CEO of Life Line.
The Life Line CEO had turned up dead, his body mauled.
Did Vampires feel the way she did now? Now about ten yards away, she clicked the unlock button on her car remote once more, simply to ensure she could just leap in. Did they ever feel afraid? Even just a little bit?
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Post by Zealot Duskhowl on Sept 7, 2012 6:48:36 GMT -5
 Nothing would make these trips to the city easy for her. It didn't matter whether there were a hundred people or just one, her stomach clenched in anxiety and fear, her muscles tense. She hated feeling this way, especially when around people who could smell her fear.
She'd spent the last seven years of her life, the first of her time as a werewolf, living as a wolf in the wild. She'd adopted a pack of normal wolves and lived out her days with them, hunting, sleeping, caring for young. So much time in the quiet forests had honed her senses to the point she could hear a mouse fifty yards away or feel a herd of deer through vibrations in the ground. But with these heightened senses came disastrous consequences; in the city she was nearly helpless. The light hurt her eyes, giving her a terrible headache for the first few hours. The typical noise of the city sent her into throes of pain. So many different smells overloaded her nose, often causing her to retch. She had to find a dark quiet spot to get used to the city before she could truly venture out into the streets.
Zealot had thought she'd found the perfect place. That was, until the electronic sound of a car disarming echoed painfully down the alley.
The noise had taken her by surprise, and the girl involuntarily reached up to cover her ears, rustling a garbage bag as she did so. The clacking of heels on pavement came next, a steady pulse that made her head throb in time with their beat. The girl curled up as small as she could, knees pressed against her chest, arms over her head, trying desperately to block out the noise. Even through her hands her ears picked up the sound of someone choking briefly. Every hair on her neck stood up. She stared down the alley, eyes trying to focus on the figure in the lot. Suddenly a blinding light shone in her direction. This time she couldn't block it, and stumbled to her feet, hands over her eyes.
The girl shook her head violently, her vision bright blinking patches of various colors. She reached out with a hand, searching for the brick wall to steady herself. She found only empty air. With a jolt she realized that she had stumbled to the middle of the alley and, blind, had no way to know what was around her. Panic began to set in. She searched wildly for anything, something, to give her some direction. Zealot took a quick step too many and smashed into a wall. She fell on top of a metal trashcan that sang at the top of its lungs as she rolled onto the ground. With a shaky exhalation the werewolf decided it would be best to simply stay where she was. If she got up she'd simply be a better target. Besides, she could always try to blend in as part of the trash.
NOTES. i apologize for this post's crappiness... it's my first with her in nearly a year. i'm trying to learn her all over again x.x
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