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How did they find me?

Shadows shifted in an already dark alleyway; the dull gleam of metal flashed once in the gloom. A sickening smell permeated the murky air�

So soon, too�God damn it.

Something dark seeped down the gutter, into the marginally better light of the street. In the alley, a dark figure stood up slowly.

I'll have to move on again�but where to?

Another flash of metal, this time brighter, as if the silvery surface had been dirty before. Slowly, the person began to pick their way around unseen obstacles to the narrow street�s mouth, where she paused, hidden in the shadows and fog.

Where will I be safe from greed?

Swiftly, she scanned everything in her immediate sight�with her eyes, and with her inhuman, sixth sense. Silently, she turned and began to stalk silently down the night-time street, coat hugged close as if to prevent it from fluttering dramatically.

Nine-hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money�

As she disappeared into the mist, a slight breeze slid silently in from nowhere; although it did nothing to dispel the fog, it did spread the stench seeping from the alley. The hot stink of death; of human insides and fresh blood�

The vampiress had made a kill, and yet left it to bleed on the cold cobblestones.

'So I grab tha li'l bugger by tha neck 'n throw 'im in a trashcan. I come back ah week la'er 'n the li'l bastard's still there!!'

There was the sound of laughter in coming up the street. There were four figures, each except for two all different heights. One man, a strange-looking Spaniard with light brown shaggy hair, thin and lanky, and walking the way you'd expect from an ape, was chugging liquid from an unlabled bottle. There were two young men, perhaps 17 or 18, maybe even younger it was hard to tell, walked in the front. They were exactly the same height, same weight, and each and every feature from their hair - a gray-ish silver color - to their clothing - a white shirt with one long sleeve and one short one with a vest that looked like it had once been a sweater but had been cut in half in the front and the arms had be torn off, with a pair of baggy blue jeans, goggles strapped over their eyes which magnified them incredibly, to the size of dinner-plates, and steal-toed boots. The only difference between the two was that the fellow on the right had bright blue eyes and the fellow on the left had bright green eyes. Standing behind them was a giant of a man, with broad, bulky shoulders with four arms and blue hair, wild and uneven. The one who'd been telling the story was the four-armed man. Each member of the group looked a bit tipsy, though the blue-haired man was probably the most sober of the four.

'I wanta do somethin' like that sometime.' commented the green-eyed man. The twin rolled his blue eyes.

'Then you are going to have to wait quite a while, my dear brother.' he said, somewhat sarcastically. The other frowned in his brother's general direction.

'You'll have to do the same then, Lert.' was the reply. Lert, the blue-eyed man apparently, rolled his eyes again.

Slowly they were approaching the area where the vampiress was walking on the other side of the street.

The vampiress was very tempted to swear, but that would only serve to attract the four's attention. At least the blood wasn't too obvious, only showing it's bright color against her pale skin...

The best she could do was stick to the shadows and hope the fog hid her from the strangers. Her chances of going unseen were getting slimmer, however, as the breeze had finally begun its work. The mist was thinning, even as the metallic scent of blood was born in faint traces on the wind...

The four men chuckled together as they continued on. The four-armed man stopped, peering over at the other side of the street curiously, narrowing his eyes as he tried to make out a figure in the darkness. His companions paused and looked over to him. Kert wave his hand for the large man to follow after them.

'C'mon Moe, let's get goin'. The capt'n'll skin us alive if we come back at 5:70 again...' The blue haired man, never looking away from across the street, slowly moved towards the other three. Once he was close enough to them, he leaned in and whispered, 'I think someone's over there..' to his three friends. Each of them, except for the Spaniard who was probably the drunkest of them all, glanced over barely moving their heads.Lert frowned slightly and murmured something into Moe's ear. The two began walking away from the drunk Spanish man and the other twin. Kert squinted slightly, adjusting his goggles slightly. Even if the goggles enabled him to see in the dark it was still somewhat difficult to really see the figure across the street. His eyes widened and he quickly ran after his brother and Moe. which left the Spaniard by himself standing there with a dazed look on his face.

The vampiress paused in the darkness; her eyes fixed on the lone sillouette, the friend left behind...

It was very tempting. There'd been nearly a dozen of the bounty-hunters, and even though they hadn't been much good at fighting, sheer numbers had managed to take a toll on her. She'd lost a lot of blood...

Black eyes flicked to the other three, continuing down the road. For a second, she'd thought they'd spotted her...and maybe they had, it was hard to tell. But either way, they did not seem to be interested in lurking shadows. But they'd surely be back for their friend...

I don't have to take him... she told herself as she flitted surreptitiously across the street, slinking up behind the Spaniard, hugging the buildings and the darkness they offered.

I...don't have to take much, either...it wouldn't take very long...

Vampires have always been associated with temptation and sin, and perhaps for good reason. The vampiress certainly couldn't resist, not when her body was demanding food...

Two arms suddenly clamped around the Spaniard, dragging him into the darkness of a doorway; one hand was clapped over his mouth, the other around his waist pinning his arms to his sides. Not even bothering to say anything (her voice might attract the trio's attention), the vampiress inclined her head to one side and buried her fangs in his neck.

All in all, it had to have been a rather terrifying experience. She did, unfortunately, smell rather heavily of blood, only part of which was her own...

The Spaniard's eyes were wide, a terrified and surprised look on his face. He squirmed slightly in the vampire's grip, squinting his eyes in pain.

-----

'Hey!! Wait up!!' Kert called to his brother and Moe, who were currently walking away from him. They stopped just as he came up next to them.

'You won't.. believe who that was.. across the street...' he said, sounding out of breath. Lert raised a brow. Moe just stared.

'Oh Kert? And who would it happen to be, hm?' Lert asked. His brother was digging through the pockets of his pants, finally pulling out his hand holding a piece of folded up paper. He carefully unfolded it and held it up for Moe and Lert to see. Both looked the paper over carefully and their eyes widened. Kert grinned triumphantly at the looks on their faces and his brother snatched the paper away from him.

'Where did you get this?' he asked curiously. Kert shook his head, meaning, 'Don't ask,' in a sort of language only brothers could understand. Moe grabbed the paper up this time, grinning happily.

'The Cap'n will be so proud if'n we was ter bring this babe in..' he commented. 'What do you think Spid?'

No answer.

Moe blinked and looked around, scratching his head with one of his four arms. 'Where'd tha' li'l monster go now, eh? We can' 'ae 'im runnin' 'round drunk like 'e is.'

Bloodlust nearly swamped her, and the half-starved vampiress found it impossible to break away from her feeding to reassure her victim that she wasn't, against all evidence, actually going to kill him, or make the bite less painful, or at least tell him to stop squirming. In fact, she could hear the trio's conversation...but it fell on deaf ears. Or, at least ones that were currently unconnected to her brain. In the back of her mind, a small part recieved the words, and immediately set up a fuss, but could't budge her vampiric nature...

She'd probably regret this later.

Spid winced, his breathing beginning to get rigid. Even if he was drunk, it still didn't help to mask what was really going on..

----

Kert's eyes widened.

'Oh shit, i left him behind!!' His brother looking at him incrediously. 'You idiot, how the hell can you leave him behind?!?!' Kert went to reply but was cut off as Moe grabbed each of them with one arm and ran off in the direction Spid and the vampiress were....

Kvalia could feel Spid's breathing get difficult; if she didn't stop soon, there'd be the chance that he might die...Plus, his friends had noticed he was gone. It was definitely time to split.

In one motion, she'd pulled her fangs from Spid's neck and given him a gentle push forwards; not enough that he'd crash to the ground with any real force, just so that he'd perhaps stumble into the light, and distract his friends. Then she whipped around and sprinted up the street, skidding into the first alley she came across and leaping for the fire escape. Pulling herself up she began to take the stairs two at a time...and all of this had been accomplished with an eerie silence. Her boots didn't seem to make any sound as she bounded up the metal structure...

They soon came upon their friend, staggering limply beneath a streetlight, chin arched up. Right at his neck, from two small holes, light blue liquid was smeared down his neck.

The three others quickly rushed to their Spaniard friend just as he fell into Moe's arms. The two brothers glared around angrily for any sign of the vampiress. But there wasn't a single trace of her. As Moe tried to help Spid regain consciousness, Kert and Lert both darted off, saying in one voice over their shoulders, 'We'll be right back!' Moe would've stopped them from going but he was too worried about Spid and besides. those boys could take care of themselves right?

Reaching the top of the building, she leapt lightly onto the roof, keeping as low as possible without crawling around on her hands and knees. Finally pausing in her flight, she discovered a surprising thing...

...none of the humanoids appeared to be chasing her.

Could they really have not seen me? Or just don't care?

Tracking their movements with her vampiric sixth sense, she felt the two brothers dash away from their friends, and wondered...but it was really no concern of her own. Shrugging off the oddity, she slunk across the rooftop away from her victims, glad at least to be rid of the nagging urge of bloodlust. Even if the alien had tasted a little funny...

Kert murmured something swiftly to Lert, who in turn nodded and headed around into an alley. His plan was to head up onto one of the buildings; he'd be able to see the town from above. With those goggles he had a clear blueprint of the town and he'd know right where to look and with the ability to zoom in and see through certain materials, he'd be able to see where the vampiress had gone with ease. Kert, however, had continued running down the street, disapearing around the corner to wait for confirmation from his brother...

Kvalia wasn't too worried about the two brothers; she still wasn't entirely sure if they were looking for her or not, but either way was confident she could outrun them.

The first indication she had that something was wrong was when she put her foot down on the tile slope of a roof, and it was about two inches lower than she'd expected...

Stumbling, she lost her balance and made the first noise of her flight; out of control, she slid and rolled down the side of the roof, scraping hands and clothes against the rough shingles. Tumbling right over the edge into empty air, she managed to catch the gutter of the building as she slid by; she hung there for several seconds, eyes wide and slightly shocked. She hadn't done that in several decades...

Still, she couldn't linger; hanging off the edge of a roof right after a noisy fall was rather conspicous. Pulling herself back up, she set off again, worrying over what had caused her skewed judgement...

Lert, hearing clearly obvious sounds of sliding and scraping, began heading up the fire escape latter, skipping a few steps as he went so that he'd get to the top quicker. Once at the edge of the roof he swung himself up, steel-toed boots hitting the metalic shingles with a bit more noise than he had hoped. But as he quickly slipped behind a nearby, large square chiminey, he made absolutely no sound what so ever. Hopefully he hadn't been seen; he now figured the vampiress had gone to the roofs.

------

'Oi, Spid, buddeh, yeh ok?' Moe was working on waking the Spaniard up. He knew his friend was alive, which was good, but if he wasn't awake to heal himself of the slowly bleeding wound in his neck then there would certainl be consequences. The four-armed man looked down at Spid, giving him gentle shakes and encouraging words that he could wake up or that he would be fine... But Spid still hadn't awakened.

------

Lert had most certainly not been seen; on the other hand, the vampiress wasn't exactly looking for him. Leaping over a small gap in the roofs, what was an alley down below, she landed on a flat roof and scuttled behind a stack of lawn chairs; the occupants of the building had apparently set up their roof as a patio.

Under cover now, she paused, refocusing on her sixth sense to tell her where the pursuit was. She'd just tuned in, so to speak, when the world tilted sideways...

What the hell?...

Something was definitely wrong. Kvalia fell onto one elbow, the dizziness leaving as suddenly as it had come. It took a second or two for her shocked brain to realize what must have happened...

...damn.

Right. That was the absolute last time she took from an unknown alien. In the meantime, she had a serious problem to work out...

Standing up from her hiding place, she slunk over to the side of the building she was on, looking for a fire escape. It just wasn't a good idea to be cavorting around on the rooftops while your conciousness was threatening to leave, whether you were a vampire or no...

'..Kert, I know where she is...' murmured the blue-eyed twin. There was a pause of static in his ear.

'Where is she then, Lert?' replied his brother's voice. Lert glanced around the chiminey, spotting a faint figure in the dark. 'I can see her.. she's by the edge of the building next to mine.' he replied in a low tone. There was another moment of silence.

'Alright. And you're on the roof, i presume?' Lert sighed and mumbled something in reply. There was a click and the little two-way radio attatched to his goggles was off. He looked around the chiminey's corner again just to see if the vampiress was, in fact, still there.

------

Spid was drooling now, his eyes still tightly closed, mouth open slightly and blue blood running down his neck. Moe's brows furrowed, a frown on his face, and he took one hand and lightly slapped the Spaniard on the cheeks in an attempt to bring him back to consciousness. But he didn't have much luck. So he ripped one of the sleeves of his shirt and covered the wound to at least try to cease the bleeding. By now quite a bit of blood had been lost. In moments the cloth was dripping with navy-color blood.

------

The second wave of disorientation caught her just as she was leaping lightly over the edge of the building onto the wrought-iron staircase, and she didn't so much as land as collapse. Blinking, desperately trying to stop the world in its dizzying turns and spins with sheer willpower, she clung to the metal of the fire escape, trying to convince herself that that was, indeed, down. Two seconds later the odd affliction had receded, though she could still feel it there, lurking. With no time to spare she leapt to her feet and took the stairs two at a time; she was blocked from the quick way down the flights (jumping over the railings) by the way the stairs turned back under themselves.

She still had to watch her step, though; reality was getting a dreamy, slightly unreal cast to it, as if her mind was drifting farther and farther away...

The third wave caught her on the last flight before the one-story drop to the ground below. Staggering sideways even as momentum propelled her towards the steps, she nearly fell over the railing before she crumpled, and tumbled down the last flight with a curious grace, black hair and coat whirling. Fetching up against the railing on the final platform, the world whirled one more time, and collapsed in on itself.

--------

Moe paused, trying to think of a way to bring Spid back into conciousness. Well, whenever i try to wake him up, I just bribe him with food... And so he tried it.

'Ey Spidy, I've got yeh some good news!' he said, trying to sound as enthusiastic as possible. Spid stirred. Moe took a deep breath and continued.

'We jus' got ah big crate o' 'am!! No more fried eggs 'n bacon!!' The spaniard stirred once again, this time letting out a small grumble. The four armed man grinned happily and gave Spid a pat on the head.

'C'mon, le's go get some before the rest o' 'em ea' it all...' There was a pause. Spid slowly opened his eyes just a little, peering up at Moe's grinning face.

'Ey.' said Moe. '...urggle...' said Spid.

-------

Lert watched as the vampiress disapeared down the fire escape. What he heard next shocked him. A low tumbling sound, like something falling down a flight of metal stairs, which was exactly what it was. He clicked on the radio on his goggles.

'Kert, she's near the fire escape on the other side of the next building, right near the street.' He heard a small krrsh sound and then his brother's voice.

'Alright.' Then a click. Lert also turned his radio off(to reserve power) then headed towards the next building, sometimes ducking behind things just to be safe.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Slowly, Kvalia became aware of her surroundings again. She could feel...floor beneath her; some sort of hard wood, maybe? And cold chains pressed into her skin, kept her upright; kept her back uncomfortably straight against some sort of pole behind her. Her hands were handcuffed, or something, behind her, and as more and more of her awareness returned, she could tell that wherever she was, it wasn't pitch dark -there was some sort of faint, cold light, like starlight.

Throughout the minutes it had taken to get this far back along the path to conciousness, Kvalia hadn't moved; her head was still bowed forwards, body limp. If there was anyone in the room with her, she didn't want them to know she was back -for the moment, she was content to play dead and merely analyze every piece of information her senses brought to her.

Satisfied that she was alone, Kvalia let her eyes slowly open, her head carefully raise. With the most expressionless of expressions, she examined the room she was in in minute detail, the faint light more than enough for her vampire eyes. She appeared to be in a storeroom of some sort -boxes and strangely shaped bundles were stacked around the dark room's edges- but there was something...off about the whole place. Something didn't quite add up, and the vampiress's browns furrowed ever so slightly even as she sent her sixth sense out, to determine just how alone she was.

The walls were slightly curved. And hadn't she seen something very like this glowing dust before? A phrase came to mind, and a memory of a voice over a spaceship intercom.

Star dust? But...surely...I am still on Oceanus...

For the first time since she'd woken up, worry and fear began to gather at the edge of her thoughts.

There was the sound of faint voices, very faint at first but beginning to get clearer and closer....

'-and next time keep a better eye on him. We lose him, we lose the best look out we'll ever get.' 'It was an accident.' 'I thought he had him.' 'And I thought /he/ had him....'

There was the sound of a door opening, light spilling into the dark room. The door closed, it became dark once again, and there was the sound of footsteps echoing.

Kvalia, of course, had no problem with the darkness; her eyes adjusted and readjusted immediately to the changes in lighting. For a split second she contemplated playing unconcious again, but...it would get her nowhere. So she fixed the person approaching with her dark, nearly expressionless gaze, her face showing nothing.

Truth be told, she didn't actually look all that dangerous at the moment. Her legs were folded, her feet tucked up nearly underneath her on one side; her long coat was tangled around her legs and slightly scrunched up between her back and the pole. She looked like...a pretty, gothic woman chained to a pole. The only thing that hinted of her true nature were her guarded eyes, and the calm expressionlessness with which she faced her captor.

In the near darkness, a black form came into veiw and disapeared as the little orbs of star dust flew by. One or two rather large orbs flew by their face, giving off an eerie look. They approached slowly, a somewhat tall, thin form.

'So,' came a voice, more of a drawl really. Definately male. 'Do you know what happened?' He looked on at her from cold, gray eyes, waiting for a response if any at all.

That was a pretty ambiguous question; Kvalia's first reaction was to ask 'To who? To what?' However, she'd always favored playing the fool...and in her current situation, it seemed best to pretend to be as clueless as possible.

Like that was going to be real hard.

Eyes still wary and guarded, she avoided adding any sort of sarcastic comment on the end of her one-word answer.

"No..."

'No?' he asked, a surprised twinge to his voice. He took a step to the left, continuing that way, staying just at the edge of the darker shadows. He slowly paced around Kvalia, stopping in his tracks when he was next to her, never turning to look in her direction.

'Are you sure? Certainly you must have some conscious realisation of what took place and what you did.'

Ah-ha...that alien. Kvalia was silent again, considering her options. If she said no and played contrite, was this guy less likely to be, ah, unpleasant? Then again, what did she have to gain from saying yes? In a split second her decision was made, and her pretty face cracked a bit into fearful uncertainty.

"Yes, I'm sure," she paused, mouth half-open as she searched for words, then continued, "Things...went red, and I don't...remember..." She glanced sideways, up at the stranger, and her look was almost clearer than words. It said: Did I kill someone? Her attitude added, Again?

Really, she could have gotten an academy award.

There was a pause then he continued to walk until he was behind her.

'Nothing? Not the kill, not the man in a drunken stupor, not the running across the roof tops, that strange dizzying feeling, falling down the stairs...' he continued his steady pace around her.

Kvalia began to turn her head to follow the man's movements, but gave it up a moment later. Letting a tiny bit of horror seep into her face as was appropriate for a regretful vampire hearing the details of her latest unplanned kill, her mind was separately analyzing the words she heard. It was almost as if her face and mind had lost connection.

"No..." Still uncertain.

'Strange dizzying feeling'? How could he-- ...wait, I was wavering pretty badly. They probably figured I was dizzy. And-- ...'the kill'? But surely he's still alive! He should have been...unless this guy's just telling me that, trying to get...something? A reaction? But what kind of reaction, and why?

'I see...' he murmured, stopping in front of her and leaning up against an ajacent(spl) pole from her. 'Well, it'll come back eventually, I'm sure.' He leaned away from it and moved towards the stairs.

'Keep your chin up though. You'll be going to the proper authorities soon.' He let out a laugh and went up the stairs, opening the door, giving off a brief outline of his body, then went out, the door closing.

Kvalia was silent as he went, not entirely sure how to respond. She didn't let her face fall back into it's normal blank mask, however, until the door was shut firmly behind him.

Well...what now? Did I fool him, or is he just playing along? Is my going to the police a good thing or bad? Gahh, why do I keep second-guessing myself...

Either way, the vampiress decided that she had absolutely nothing to gain from staying put. The police would know how to deal with vampires, so she had about as much chance of escaping from them as she did from wherever she was right now.

Speaking of escaping, she'd better start. With a sigh, Kvalia shifted her weight, slowly managing to get her legs underneath her, so she could stand. Testing the chains, she decided they weren't going to give; it felt like they might have been a silver alloy, since she otherwise should have been able to break them.

Oh, well...let's try the pole.

The vampiress was not in luck. Leaning back against the pole she was chained to, she considered her options.

I'm not sure picking the lock on this damn thing will work; I don't have the mobility needed. I guess...that leaves sawing through it...Damn. It always takes so long. Oh well, lets see how well these guys searched me...

Pretty well, actually. Her coat was significantly lighter, and the daggers were missing from her boots, arms, and back. Her second set of picklocks had been removed from her hair. They'd even found the slender necklace she wore beneath her shirt, that had several small, useful items dangling in place of a pendant. With these new facts in mind, she considered her options again.

They were considerably narrowed. She had a switchblade, a file, and a very basic lockpick left, but they weren't hidden anywhere she could reach with her hands tied (or, in this case, chained) behind her back. So...that left talking to her captors. But she didn't see what she could say that would possibly convince them to change things, or how to get what she wanted while keeping her current personality intact. Mind wandering for a moment, she wondered if they even intended to feed her...

Well, what the heck. Why not start there.

"...hello?" she called out into the empty room, mask assumed once more, wondering if the sound could even be heard beyond the metal walls.

From the depths of the storage rom came scuffling. Something was, obviously, back there. But what?

----------

The mystery man who'd interveiwed Kvalia, upon leaving the storage room, headed away from the room and on down the deck. He had short, messily-cut black hair, his skin pale but not in a sickly way. His eyes were a dull gray color. He wore a long-sleeved black shirt with some old, torn jeans and black boots, gloves on his hands, and a jacket tied around his waist. He stopped at a door and knocked several times. The door opened a crack then all the way. A woman was standing there, leaning against the doorframe, arms folded. Her hair was short, a dark magenta color, teal eyes half closed, a frown on her face at the sight of him. She was wearing a light shirt, blue in color, with a red vest and some jean capris.

'He's fine, Mez,' she said, even before he opened his mouth to speak. 'He's a bit woozy, but fine nontheless.' Mez raised a brow, hands in his pockets.

'Didn't come to ask about Spid, Dardra. I wanted to know if you knew where Opal was.'

---------

Going statue-still in true surprise, a moment later Kvalia'd leaned around the pole to peer behind her.

"Who's there?" she said into the darkness, more curious than anything else. After a moment, she stood up again to step around the pole until she was facing the person she could feel hiding just out of sight. Then, she sunk back down into her crouch.

There was silence a moment then a bit more shuffling and a loud crash.

'oow..'

------

Dardra raised a brow.

'Opal? You actually want to know where she /is/? Usually you're trying to escape her,' she smirked. 'She's off in your room, rumaging through your things.' Mez's eyes widened slightly and he quickly ran off around the corner. The woman snickered to herself and shook her head, heading back into the room.

--------

Raising a brow, Kvalia's mouth turned up the slightest bit in amusement.

"It's not very polite to go sneaking around in the shadows...and by now it'd be pretty obvious I wasn't alone even if I wasn't a vampire. Why don't you tell me your name?" Ignoring all the hypocrisy in the sentance (vampires are prone to sneaking around in shadows, too, and she didn't give her name, either), Kvalia waited hopefully. As well as wanting to learn more about where she was and who her captors were, she was also being threatened by severe boredom. There's only so long one can sit chained to a pole in a storeroom and worry.

'Like anyone's stupid enough to do /that/,' came a voice, that of a young boy. The scuffled and such continued, the jangling of a chain echoing about the storageroom.

-----

'Hmmm... Can't believe he'd wear these,' the woman murmured to herself. She was sifting through a dresser, looking about the various attire in it's contents, as if searching for something. Curly locks of blonde hair fell into her face, bright blue eyes scanning the clothing curiously. The door opened in the room and she looked up, grinning happily. Mez walked over, stopping in front of her.

'WHAT do you think you're doing?' he asked, a brow raised. She was still grinning, almost as if she didn't think it was bad of her to be rumaging through his things.

'I was just looooking, Mezzy darling,' she cooed, holding up a pair of boxers. He snatched them away from her, going over to the dresser and stuffing them into a drawer. Once he'd finished closing all the drawers, he looked back up at her. She was just standing there, happy as can be, hands behind her back innocently.

'Opal,' he began, a frown on his face. 'Go get your damn brother out of the storage room.' Her grin vanished and was replaced with slight surprise. She then ran out of the room and towards the storage room, the same place where Kvalia was.

--------

Kvalia switched eyebrows.

"Why is that stupid?" she asked, her puzzlement not faked --not that a whole lot of it was present on her face.

There was a snort.

'Because. Don'tchya know you ain't supposed to tell strangers your name? You sound like a particularly creepy one,' was the reply.

Although Kvalia was tempted to reply with a slightly mocking 'And do you always do what your mother tells you to?' she realized it was not the best way to make friends. Instead, a dry smile twisting up one corner of her mouth, she tried, "How about if I tell you my name first?"

There was a pause.

'I still don't think I'd trust you,' he said. 'Besides, didn't you say you were a vampire? You're never supposed to give your name to a /vampire/...'

Kvalia sighed; boy, this kid was stubborn...

"Did anyone every explain to you why?" I've never heard that rule...

There was another pause.

'Because.. With your name they can hypnotize you,' he stated.

Suddenly the door to the storage room opened, light spilling down into it. Opal went to the first step, closing the door behind her and going down a few more steps. She paused, peering down over the railing at what she could see down there.

Kvalia was about to snort in amusement at Opal's brother's statement, when the door opened behind her. Twisting her head around the pole so she could see, her amusement was still obvious in her voice as she said, "Hello?"

I wish I could hypnotize people...that'd be useful.

Opal spotted the figure of the vampire. She had been warned about her, but... The girl went down the stairs, slowly moving towards Kvalia, staying at a safe distance of course. She stopped once somewhat in front of her, looking the vampiress over curiously.

'You're very pretty,' she commented with a smile, glancing around the storage room. 'Jey? Are you in here?' She frowned a little when she received no response, then looked to Kvalia.

'Have you seen a little boy? About so high?' she held her hand up to show Kvalia how tall. 'Brown hair, different colored eyes..?' She looked around again.

Kvalia resisted raising a brow at the newcomer's unusual comment (unusual for the circumstances, anyways), her eyes slightly wary.

"...thanks?" she hazarded in reply, not quite sure if the girl was just simple or was angling for something. In reply to the question, Kvalia said, "Well, I haven't actually seen anyone...but there's a boy over there." And she nodded to where she could feel Jey hiding.

'Thanks,' she said to Kvalia, slowly going towards the spot indicated. There was a stirr where the boy was hiding, and then she leaped. There was a moment of wrestling among the supplies then Opal came out, pulling a flailing young boy behind her by the shirt. He looked just as she'd described; messy, brown hair with two different colored eyes - one blue and one brown -, wearing a red T-shirt and jeans. The two did look a bit similar, obviously siblings.

'Opal!! Lemme go!!' Jey yelled, continuing to struggle.

"No problem..." Kvalia replied, rather puzzled. She couldn't help but think, as she watched Opal drag the unfortunate sibling away, that she could have just picked the kid up with one hand and carried him out with no trouble at all...

Remembering what Jey had said, she couldn't resist adding mischeviously as the boy was dragged to the door, "See you later, Jey..."

Jey folded his arms, sticking his tongue out at Kvalia as he was dragged away and up the stairs. The door opened and closed.

------

'Jey what is wrong with you?' Opal said, sounding a bit flustered about the fact that her younger brother was on the ship with them.

'So this is your little brother, eh?' Mez said as he came to walk along next to her. 'Kinda short for 14.' He was grinning a bit, almost enjoying the fact that Opal was distressed. She glanced at him and sighed sadly.

'Yes... And stupid for stowing away,' she said sourly. Was.. that a hint of a scowl he detected in her voice? 'Jey, I can't believe you did that!! You could've been crushed by boxes or something.' Jey rolled his eyes, arms folded as she dragged him along.

------

And she was alone again. After a short moment of ringing silence, she sighed.

"Anyone else hiding out there?" she ventured hopefully as boredom closed around her as close as the darkness; she knew there wasn't anyone, however. The room felt so empty...

Oh well. Surely someone'd come for her eventually...

An hour passed and it was just as dark as ever in the room. Suddenly the door opened a crack then all the way, someone slipping in then closing the door. There was a small creak everytime they stepped down to the next stair.

'Hello...?' came a woman's voice slowly.

"...I'm not sure why you sound so hesitant; there is nothing I can do to you..." Kvalia pointed out, her voice sliding softly out of the shadows. There was the faintest sound of movement as she turned her head, her hair sliding across her shoulders. She pinned Dardra with one curious, night-black eye.

Dardra grinned sheepishly.

'Yes, i suppose you've got a point...' she said. In her arms was a small pitcher and a cup. She slowly moved towards Kvalia. She paused a moment in front of her, then she set the pitcher and cup down on the ground. The star dust floated about, illuminating the thick liquid in the pitcher.

'Listen, Miss..' she paused again. 'Erm, what's your name?'

"Kvalia..." Kvalia said, eyes flicking curiously to the pitcher, then back up at her visitor, though there was a blankness behind her curiosity, as if walls had been put up in her eyes. "And who are you?" And with even more pronounced curiosity: "Why are you here?"

The vampiress shifted a little, making the chains around her clink gently.

'Kvalia..' she murmured, just for her own reference.

'I'm Dardra. I'm here to free you,' she nodded and raised a finger. Suddenly a long, metal nail came from her finger, at least half a foot long, clearly metal and obviously very sharp.

For the first time, the mysterious vampiress lost her cool.

"What?" she replied intelligently, practically gaping at Dardra. Somehow, the abject surprise on her face made her look rather more...human, almost, than some sort of distant, mythological creature.

'Didn't you hear me? I'm going to /free/ you,' she repeated, nodding. She slowly went behind Kvalia, kneeling on the ground.

'You must promise me though that you won't harm anyone though, alright? I'm only helping you because I despise the thought of selling out a fellow woman,' she explained, placing the finger at the chains and beginning to slice and pick away at it.

"..........yeah, sure," Kvalia said confusedly, after a long pause. How could she promise not to hurt anyone, if they might try to stop her escaping?

But I promise not to kill or permanently harm anyone... she said to herself.

"Er...I'm still a little confused as to why you're doing this," she continued, twisting around the pole, trying to see what Dardra was doing. "Where am I? Are you with the guys who captured me? Who are the people I feel all around, me, anyways?"

She didn't comment on the reason, only continued to saw through the chains.

'You're on a space ship, Kvalia. I -am- with the guys who captured you, and all the people are the crew. You're among space pirates.' The woman gave a sigh, continuing to slice.

"Um..." Kvalia suddenly thought she saw why Dardra was freeing her. "Have we...left earth yet?"

For the first time in a long while, the vampiress felt what could only be called a feeling of doom settle like lead in her stomach.

Dardra paused a moment then nodded a little.

'Yep. Left it a while ago,' she replied.'Unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be able to get us back there to drop you off...' She paused a moment, eyes widening as she realized something. Opal's little brother... maybe if they were to head back to drop him off, she could sneak Kvalia off as well... Suddenly there was a loosening in the chains and Dardra felt her nail sawing into the pole now. She quickly pulled it away and began to clear the chains from around Kvalia's wrists.

'There. Now please, do remember our deal,' she said, crawling over to sit a bit of a way away in front of the vampiress. The nail disapeared back into her finger and she picked up the pitcher and cup and poured some of the contents into the cup then held it to Kvalia.

'It's jimp blood, I couldn't find anything better in there...'

(( -sweatdrop- a jimp is kinda like a pig only a bit furrier and with bigger teeth. they're known to have really good tasting meat. -nods- ))

The slightest of pauses, and then Kvalia reached out and took the cup, though she did not sip from it. Just held it up to her face, inhaling delicately, then lowered the cup. With a faint, wry smile, she replied, "It will do fine. Anything is better than me going berserk on you..."

In the meantime, something was niggling at the back of her mind. Something that didn't seem quite right...oh.

"My, ah, first visitor was a rather tall guy, dark hair and pale skin. He was your captain?"

Dardra sighed a little, nodding. 'Yeeah, he, unfortunately, was the captain...' she replied. 'Surprised you thought so, usually people think the captain is someone totally different. Sorry if he freaked you out at all,' she paused a moment, something swaying a little behind her.

"I haven't been freaked out by anything for about fifty years..." Kvalia murmured quietly, half to herself. Then, louder, and looking straight at Dardra with that tiny, one-sided smile, "Well, who else would have come to question the captured beast? Besides, he..." There was a pause, as Kvalia re-examined Mez's shadowed form in her memory, trying to find the words for what she'd sensed. "...was not one to follow well." An almost-sharp look at Darda as Kvalia brought her attention back to the woman in front of her. "You are not a follower either, are you? Or if you are, you filter commands through a fine mesh of common sense, joint misunderstandings, and the occasional opportune deafness, don't you? But back to your captain...he said that I would be going to the 'proper authorities'. But...you are pirates, no? Was he lying? What's the real reason I'm still alive and here and not dead for attacking one of your 'mates'?" Pausing, Kvalia noticed movement behind Dardra, leaned sideways a bit in an effort to see what it was, and added on to her list of questions, "And what is that?"

'Well that's good. Usually people get a bit awkward with mind readers,' she said with a nod. She blinked and laughed. 'I just hate him, that's my reasoning.' Dardra paused a moment, thinking about it. 'Well, he mentioned it... I couldn't really tell you if he was lying or not, it's kinda hard to tell with him sometimes. I don't see any other reason why he'd have you still,' she stopped a moment. 'That? What?' She looked behind her and laughed a little again, picking it up and holding it into the light. It was a tail, one that was almost lion-like.

'My tail, sorry.'

At Dardra's first sentance, Kvalia went quietly, inobtrustively, but absolutely still. She could have been a statue, or a mannequin. Blinking and coming back to life, so to speak, at Dardra presenting her tail, she managed a distracted, almost-smile for the unusual appendage and went right to her main concern.

" 'Mind-reader'?" she said carefully

Dardra nodded, letting go of her tail.

'Yeah, he's a mind reader. Damn annoying to tell you the truth,' she replied, sighing.

"Annoying..." Kvalia said, half to herself, as if the word she had in mind wasn't quite the same. She paused, then went on in a carefully neutral voice. "How does this...mind-reading work, anyways? Is it involuntary, or only when he wants to find something out?" Another pause.

"Would he be likely to use it on me?"

'He can do it aany time he likes, whether it's just to mess with you or to know what you're thinking,' she said, sounding a bit sour just at the thought. By the way she spoke of him, she didn't seem to like him all that much.

'Most likely he did. D'you remember what he said? Anything that most likely no one else would have seen, known, or felt?'

Kvalia frowned a bit as she thought back.

"No..." she finally replied, and opened her mouth to say 'But I don't know if he read through my act or not.' and hesitated; did she want this potential ally knowing that she'd already lied? On the other hand...she didn't seem particularly concerned about the rightness or wrongness of setting her free. So maybe she wouldn't care? The vampiress decided to take a chance.

"...but I was acting when he questioned me; he probably saw through that, right?" So how does that change things?

Dardra paused a moment, then shrugged.

'Maybe, maybe not...' Then she shook her head. 'It doesn't really matter, he's not very important. He-' She was interupted suddenly by a loud crash from outside. The ship gave a violent lurch, which sent a few crates sliding across the floor. Dardra slid as well, digging her nails into the floor to keep herself from being smacked against the boxes. The ship steadied for a moment then there was another loud sound but it was more like that sound made when you unfold a sheet and shake it out. There were a few more of those sounds then some yelling up on deck.

'Dammit, what the hell did that crazy bastard driver smash us into now?!' she scowled, pulling her nails slowly from the floor as not to break them. They went to normal and she looked to Kvalia, frowning a little.

'I'll come back later. If it sounds like someone's coming down just make it look like you're tied up or something, alright?' She didn't have time to say anything else as there was another loud boom. Dardra ran up the stairs, flung the door open, and ran out.

"Er, yeah, sure..." Kvalia reassured Dardra's retreating back. Glancing around for a moment, she then picked up the pitcher and glass of blood that she'd saved from being knocked over and tucked them away in a corner, where they were less likely to be knocked over. Then she picked up the severed chains and arranged them and herself so that she still looked bound. Leaning back against the pole, legs stretched comfortably out in front of her and crossed at the ankle, she closed her eyes and concentrated on tracking the crewmembers' racing auras; perhaps it might give her a clue as to what was going on...

It wasn't necessary as the yelling from above was more than clear; An attack.

Up deck, the ship gave a jerk, sending a few of the crew sliding down the deck. Mez was barking orders, though it wasn't really needed as the crew basically knew what to do. A few of them got out some guns and were shooting at a fellow space ship; a long, black(even darker than their ship) beast with large green sails. They were somewhat far apart, just enough for their wings to have space enough to keep them aloft. The crew of the black and green ship continued to fire large lasers as the side of the other ship and though it was protected by the shield, it still felt the great force and was moved violently sideways.

But they were bringing out their own weapons; bazooka-like guns. Moe, Gurd, and two other crew members took aim and fired, bright red balls of fire flying for the deck of the other ship. They, too, had a shield it seemed.

'YOU BASTARD!! WE'LL KILL YOU THIS TIME!!' Mez was shouting angrily at the other ship, waving a fist. Gurd looked over at him, sighing, and telling something to a pair of twins. The two boys nodded and quickly went over to the captain.

'Heeeey!! Captain!! Calm down!!' Lert said, patting Mez. The captain growled, hands clenching the rail tightly. 'Really, man!! You need to cool it,' Kert put in, frowning a little. Mez grumbled something and released his grip from the railing. He then folded his arms and stalked away from the two boys.

'HAHA!!! I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU HIT ME FIRST YOU OLD DOG!!' came a shout from the other ship. Mez stopped in his tracks, eye twitching. Suddenly he zoomed back to the railing, shaking a fist high in the air and swearing profusely at the other captain of the ship, who replied with as many curses as he could manage. Lert and Kert sighed then went off, leaving Mez and the other captain to bicker and shout.

Although Kvalia was slightly perturbed at being on a ship in the middle of space that was currently being shot at, she didn't see as how there was currently much she could do; undoubtedly, the crew was taking care of everything. They didn't want to die any more than she did. So, instead, she turned most of her mind to other things, leaving just a small sliver of her attention to what was going on around her.

So...what are the circumstances now?

Kvalia desperately needed to organize her thoughts, organize what she knew, what she suspected, and what she still needed to find out...to hatch an escape plan.

Let's see...I've been captured by a bunch of pirates, whose captain is a mind-reader, but one of which seems intent on helping me, provided I don't hurt anyone. Apparently, I'm being dragged to the police...if, of course, we get out of this fight alive. Hmm. Next.

The captain probably knows I was acting. Therefore, he was just playing along. What does that mean?

Again, Kvalia replayed their conversation in her memory, trying to remember every little thing they'd both said, what she'd been thinking...and after several minutes of scrutiny, came across a tiny flaw in the way she'd pictured things.

Wait, he said 'the kill', and I assumed that meant that that alien was dead...but then Dardra came down here, friendly; asking me not to harm anyone. If her priority was for me to not harm anyone, then if I'd killed that alien, she probably wouldn't be feeling so, ah, generous...

...is the alien alive, then? What did he mean by 'the kill'? Could it have been...those hunters?

Kvalia mulled over this for a few seconds.

But why would he care about them? Arrgh, too many questions...Right, let's move on.

By the end of her cerebrations, though, all she had was more questions. Why should he have cared whether she knew what she'd done or not? It was, really, an odd question to ask of a vampiress who'd attacked one of your crewmembers. And, although 'proper authorities' generally referred to governmental police of one sort or another, there was an ambiguity to that phrase that let one wonder, just a tiny bit...

About the only fact she had was that it was pretty much inevitable that he knew, more or less, who the real her was. But did it matter, if Dardra was going to help her escape? Either way, it looked like she had some time to kill before anything could happen...

Moment passed where there was only shouting and loud bangs, the ship occasionally giving a shake or two along with them.

Suddenly though there was a cease in the bangs and then a loud sound of yells. Imeadiately afterwards, the ship rocked and the yelling became louder, the sound of combat from above filling the air. There was a sudden cracking noise as the door to the room burst open and a being was flung onto the stairs, tumbling the rest of the way down and resting only after he had smacked into a pile of crates. A figure stood in the doorway, a dark siloete(spl) slowly coming down the stairs. The one who had fallen the way down was getting to his feet, stumbling a little as he kicked a crate away. He could be clearly seen; eyes a cold gray, skin pallid, hair a black mess, a scowl on his face... He wore a black shirt, which has one or two rips, and baggy pants, also adorning a few tears. He was bleeding from a small gash on his cheek, glaring up at the approaching man, who was now just a few steps away from the bottom. He stopped though, a wide grin on his face, he too very clearly visible. ((you remember what Axe looks like, right..? xx;; i don't want to explain him again...))

They were seemingly oblivious to Kvalia, though it was hard to tell when Mez and Axe had given a quick glance at her then back at each other. The higher of the two raised a long, silver blade, pointing it at the other, who never moved an inch. But just when it seemed neither would make a move nor a sound, Mez had two guns up shooting at the other while Axe ducked and dodged a few times before lunging and swiping his long sword at him. The first swing was dodged, but the second came from above and Mez raised his right arm up to block. The blade hit it with a small thunk, sinking in only an inch or so. It was imeadiately pulled out and thrust at his stomach. They were now both off the stairs, dodging and making attacks on each other.

What with the sounds and the sudden influx of people to the ship, Kvalia could only assume that they were under attack. Doing nothing for the moment, she'd just decided that she was on her captor's side when that strange, dark-haired guy fell down the steps into her prison. Her face completely blank, as if people weren't killing and being killed a few feet above her head, she stared at the two as they continued to fight.

Okay, so she wasn't exactly on her captor's side; just Dardra's.

Watching the two with as much interest as one might accord to a game of ping-pong, she waited...and as soon as they were both off the stairs, she gave up the illusion of still being bound, and was just a dark blur through the room and up the steps. She reappeared in normal human sight at the top of the stairs, standing in the doorway and surveying the chaos before her.

All he had managed to see was a blur, then she was gone.

'Shit,' Mez murmured beneath his breath, quickly looking back at Axe just in time to block another swing. As the blade was pushed hard down on him, he pushed his arm and the sword away as best he could. The blade was sinking deeper and he winced a little when it was almost halfway through. He raised a leg and kicked the other pirate off of him, promptly firing his gun and hitting the other in the shoulder.

-------

People were scattered about the deck, though none that were dead it seemed. They were all fighting quite skillfully though. A four armed man was taking on three men, a pole with a blade at the end in each of his hands. Two boys were back to back, arms interlocked and, with spikes at their heels and toes, kicked swiftly and furiously at the pirates around them. Dardra was fighting a man just by the railing of the ship, the claws on her fingers exdended and flashing quickly at the enemy. There was a gang-plank leading from one ship to the other, the enemy ship having great green sails and still quite a few men running this way and that about the deck. A very large, black man had spotted Kvalia, his red pupils narrowing. He obviously wasn't a normal being as he recieved an enormous blast from up in the crows nest and never flinched. In a flash though he was darting from the smoke created from the bomb and leapt up, fists high over his head as he came at her, ready to smash his fists down upon her.

Apparently completely ignoring her would-be attacker, Kvalia moved just in the nick of time, stepping fowards --actually, running forwards. Darting at her unnatural speed throughout the fighting, she came to a stop again a few feet behind Dardra's opponent, calmly putting a few daggers she'd snatched on her way in her coat.

"Need help?" she inquired politely; she knew that sometimes people could be touchy about being helped...

Dardra glanced at Kvalia and just as she did, her nails stabbed into the enemy pirate. He fell into a heap on the ground, curled in a ball.

'Nope. Hey, did you see the captain down there?' Her eyes moved to the broken doorway that lead down into the storage area.

Turning to put her back to the railing (it just wasn't a good idea to have her back turned to all the fighting for long), Kvalia replied, "Yes...I believe the elf pushed him down the stairs, and then the two started fighting." She still sounded, and looked, as if she was commenting on, say, the weather. 'Twenty percent chance of screamshowers, I hear, and ninety-five percent chance of death...'

Turning her eyes, still politely expressionless, back to Dardra, she asked, "Is there anyone you particularly want me to try to make sure doesn't die?"

Dardra shook her head.

'No one will die, they can all hold their own.' She paused then looked over at Kvalia.

'I have a plan to get you out of here,' she said. 'It'll be a bit risky, but..' and she stopped as the two pirate captains came out from the storage.

Kvalia's bland expression sharpened a bit at Dardra's words, and when she abruptly stopped talking Kvalia followed her gaze. Narrowing her eyes in faint annoyance at the two males, she also shot Dardra a questioning look; half the ship and several fighting pirates separated them from the two captains. Surely they wouldn't overhear? (Of course, Mez could read minds, but it was so damnably hard to control one's thoughts it probably didn't make much difference, in Kvalia's thinking, whether Dardra told her now and then or not.)

...well, whatever. Dardra knows this group better than I do...

With that thought, her face relaxed back into it's blank expressionlessness, and she leaned back against the railing, stolen daggers held loosely at her sides, to wait for either the fighting to stop or involve her.

After a moment, seeing that the two pirate captains hadn't even noticed them it seemed, Dardra looked to Kvalia.

'Ok... I'll give you a life boat, i've already set the navigation of one to the nearest planet. This is the perfect time while everyone's bu-' She slowed and trailed off as she heard a loud crack... Quickly she looked round behind her and saw that someone had been thrown into the main mast and damaged it.

'Oh /fuck/,' she murmured, staring over at it. Her gaze moved briefly to Kvalia.

'We'll do this in a minute, I'll be rigt back,' and she hurried off to help with the fighting.

"Oo-kay..." Kvalia replied vaguely, watching Dardra hurry off with eyes that were the tiniest bit surprised.

...so. What do I do now? the vampiress wondered to herself, as she watched the various beings do their best to kill each other.