What They Appear

[holiday_pirner]

She had woken up late, still a little fuzzy headed from the night before. Her first task upon waking was to down a bottle of water, then flop in front of the television and try not to revisit previous events.

After a good amount of vegetating, Holly had made herself some dinner. The brunette was too lazy to change out of her pajamas, so she just pretended she had the confidence to make fuzzy bunnies fashionable. She lugged the full bag of garbage down three flights of stairs and out back.

"Shit, where do they keep the bins?"

This was her first time throwing out trash in her new apartment, and it was hard to orientate herself in the pitch darkness. She grabbed her lighter, flicking it to illuminate her way. It wasn't until after the black bag had been discarded when she heard the noise.

The scuffing of shoes against concrete as they neared her. Holly whirled around.

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[birthright_npc]

The shot to his balls hurt, and Max swore as he backhanded her with the hand not knotted into her top. He slapped her again, harder this time, and the sound of flesh on flesh echoed off the grimy walls of the alley. The second slap split her lip, and he could smell it when she started to bleed. The growl echoed louder than the sound of the blows.

"Be nice. It doesn't have to hurt."

He really didn't want to kill her first, because he hated feeding off corpses, even fresh ones. But if she tried kicking him in the sack again, he was going to use his fists next time. She wouldn't be so pretty when they found her if that happened.

"Don't squirm so fucking much," he said with a distorted chuckle. His unoccupied hand came up again, slapped her with the intent to stun.

[holiday_pirner]

She closed her eyes against the pain, her head tilting back. She tasted blood, and tears were stinging harshly. If she screamed, would someone hear her? Would someone care enough to leave their flat and come investigate?

Stakes. Sunlight. Holy water. Fire.

Holly still clutched the lighter in her hand.

"Fuck you," the brunette ground out, mostly in an attempt to disguise the sound of the metal as flame sprang to life. She held it against his torso.

[birthright_npc]

The burning sensation was a shock, and Max yelled with pain as the tail of his Grateful Dead t shirt started to smoke. His clutching hand relaxed, turned into a flat palm as he shoved her away from him so that she landed on her ass in a particularly dark pool of shadows. The vampire's expression was ugly with rage as he slapped at his shirt, putting out the spark before it could spread.

"I lied," he grated, and one meaty fist raised as he advanced on her. "It does have to hurt."

The man at the mouth of the alley hadn't been able to get a clear shot until the girl was safely out of the line of fire, and the crossbow in his hands emitted a soft ping as he fired. The bolt sailed into the murk beyond the white pool of light from the streetlamp, and there was a scream of outraged pain before the final burn. An odor like boiled gym socks wafted out towards the street. The human covered his mouth and nose. Foul stuff, that.

Should he check on her, make sure she was reasonably intact? He had orders to keep his distance, to just observe, but he'd never interrupted an assault on her before. Her associations were questionable, to say the least. He reached into his pocket for his cigarettes.

Ash was still swirling in the breeze as he approached. His black boots made imprints in the vampire's remains. "Get up, then," he said, having collapsed the crossbow and tucked it beneath his unseasonable coat. "Did he hurt you very badly?"

[holiday_pirner]

Holly crawled backward away from the vampire, but froze like a deer in headlights when he turned to...ash? dust? She wasn't quite sure what she had just seen.

She wiped at her mouth with her sleeve. "You're from the club." Her voice was slightly dazed.

"And the beach, right?"

The brunette stood slowly, brushing off her pants. "I thought slayers were only...girls."

[birthright_npc]

"Mmm."

He was lighting a cigarette as he made the noise, his features illuminated briefly in the orange light of the flame. The smell of burning tobacco joined the aroma of ash, softening it. The ember of the cigarette was like a tiny star in the gloom.

He withdrew a miniature flashlight from a pocket, held it up so he could examine her face. There would be bruises tomorrow, bruises and a badly swollen lower lip. At least he'd stopped the brute before he could begin to use his fists.

"And what would you be doing out here at this hour by your lonesome?"

[holiday_pirner]

Blinking against the light, she felt a flare of anger rising up like bile. It might have been severely misplaced -- this man had just saved her life -- but who else was there to rail against?

"I was chucking out the trash!" Holly blinked back tears now, and that made her even angrier. She crossed her arms tightly, shivering.

"Do you know how many times I've done this in London? Nothing bad ever happened to me there." The brunette tried to breathe.

[birthright_npc]

"I know. I watched you there too."

His voice was soft, the hint of an accent coloring his words. He took the cigarette out of his mouth, stepped closer to her. She was shaking so much that it was visible, and his free hand touched her shoulder in a gesture that might have been used to calm a terrified animal. He knew what shell shock looked like.

"Breathe through your nose," he advised her calmly. His fingers were still, but she would have been able to feel his warmth through the thin cloth of her pajamas. He'd talked comrades-in-arms out of this state before. He was fortunate she hadn't screamed. Even in this city, someone would have noticed.

"In through your nose, out through your mouth." It was a mantra, one with a mixtures of accents. "Let yourself count to ten."

[holiday_pirner]

"You watched me."

Her voice was flat. She closed her eyes, mentally and physically steadying herself. Ten seconds, and she was looking at him again.

"Who exactly are you?"

There begged the question why a stranger would be watching her, why he would be armed with a crossbow, and why he sounded stuck between an American and a British accent.

"Oh, god. You work for them, don't you?"

[birthright_npc]

"I don't work for the Council."

He said it without inflection. He had nothing against the Council, but their methods were not his methods. He took his hand away from her shoulder, put the cigarette back into his mouth. Bluish smoke escaped from his nostrils as he drew in smoke and then exhaled.

"I have a private party interested in your safety and well-being." Again, his voice was calm, nearly without tone. He had been a soldier for a long time, both professionally and privately. It tended to dull the emotions.

"I wasn't supposed to make contact, but I wanted to make sure he hadn't seriously injured you."

[holiday_pirner]

She shook her head, ponytail swishing over her neck. "Unbelievable. You've been 'watching' me for god knows how long, and I don't even get a name."

The secondhand smoke was sort of calming, at least. "Well, mine's Holly. You already know that, of course." The brunette touched her face.

"How bad is it? Am I deformed?"