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Post by Evelyn van Buren on Jan 15, 2013 1:56:22 GMT -5
The slim, streamlined curve of her body spilled easily between twisted, intertwined trees at the edge of the little park. The soft pads on her paws made no rustle as she jumped over a park bench, narrowly avoiding ramming her chest into the top of the metal seat. Dark brown fur, plain except for a trademark bright patch of gold across her front, bristled in the wind she created with her spry weaving through denser shadows away from streetlamps. Soon, they would go out. The first rays of dawn had yet to touch the horizon.
And she'd be expected to go to work.
Behind the last patch of oaks, just meters from the iron fence surrounding the park, Evelyn slowed to a trot. The hairs all over her body began to retract, as did her claws, which shortened to about a third their original length and grew rounded. Peaches-and-cream skin began showing, starting from her hind legs and working its way like a wave of vanishing fur up to her face. And then running was suddenly awkward as her legs readjusted and bones dislocated to rejoin again without the bowlegged shape.
Stark naked, Evelyn reached down, pushing aside a scraggly bush, slim fingers carefully avoiding the thorns embedded in it, till she revealed a little, natural cubby created in the hollow between two thick tree roots, extending below the bent over tree itself.
She crouched on her haunches and reached inside, barely shivering despite the pre-dawn chill. Her body was always slightly warmer than a human's after all.
Evelyn extracted a knotted up Target shopping bag and proceeded to pull out a pair of black slacks, an emerald green button-down collared shirt, underthings, and a python-skin blazer that was intentionally a size too big. She never liked the feeling of having her arms constricted by business casual.
She proceeded to get dressed, and then reached in for a pair of black pumps and a handbag that matched the python print on her jacket. Fixing on simple stud earrings and a pearl necklace that lay on the exposed skin above her chest, between the open flaps of her not-fully-done-up shirt, she ran a hand through her long, wavy brown hair once and decided she was ready to start the faker side of her life.
Evelyn emerged from the bushes after a careful ear-and-nose check revealed the area was deserted. Then again, what idiot in their right minds would be out at this hour?
Only a Vampire or another Lycan.
Evelyn adjusted the strap of her purse and started walking briskly, heading for the little gate that let her out onto the main street. She dug into her bag as she walked, pulled out a little tube of transparent lip gloss and applied it.
EAI wasn't too far away from here. This was a frequent route for her when she had to check in at her "job" there. She'd originally been the head of EAI's Media Relations Department, but now her unofficial job duties had morphed that title into vagueness. Though a lot of Lycans joked around about their roles in EAI, Evelyn took hers very seriously. Hers was the official responsibility to cover up any nasty press or odd incidents that were linked to EAI. She also had to keep producing positive PR to keep the NYPD happy. The company might serve as a cover, but the Lycans' relationship with it was co-existent. They needed it to survive in a world run by humans.
It was at the corner of 31st and 5th Avenue that she scented him. A Vampire had just been here.
Her nostrils flared in a very canine way. Even before she was within a hundred yards of the statue, she could smell the Vampire. Evelyn peered warily around, but her senses told her he - she could tell it was a young he - wasn't near. She walked on following the smell till she spotted reached a crossroads. She could either follow the scent - it lingered, freshly, down the pavement toward a brightly-lit building she could probably have seen from miles away. Or she could just pretend she'd smelled nothing and go home.
Evelyn knew what she was going to do already. Automatically, her back stiffened and she soothed her instinct to follow the leech. Vampires roaming around such a densely populated area meant he'd been feeding. He'd still be here, but stronger in his natural form. What if he had scented her too?
She had no way of knowing until her nose were to announce his return. She hesitated, and then shook her head, moving away from the Vampire's stench to the light of a bright lamp post across the road.
Evelyn Van Buren, de facto CEO of Electronic Arc Industries, frequent swimmer and tennis player at an exclusive health club downtown, and owner of a gleaming Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet, did not provoke fights in broad daylight, no matter how tempted she was. She turned resolutely and walked on in her usual unhurried gait toward her destination, blinking somewhat distractedly whenever she passed a brightly lit streetlamp.
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