Cities By Shadow

[lady_elfleda]

There was a shadow flowing across glass... A dark, perfectly smooth surface, flush with trapped faces of agony pressed tightly against it. Whether sculpted that way or rendered so in paralytic contortion, was not for mortal mind to know. The presence willing its way across the room, from one end to the other; hunting, searching for something, as the floor beneath it darkened yet further. Glimpses from another realm filtering through the murk.

There... It wanted to go there...

A place of the living, no longer fully claimed by the dark. Merely looked back upon with envious desires. She understood that. Elfleda. Bride to that which laid... Beyond. And it was she whose emergence was made without fanfare, like a silky-smooth handkerchief falling in silence.

Nor, here, was her chosen attire that which others might be more accustomed to viewing of her depiction. No black dress here, nor pale complexion seen. Instead, there stood a teenage girl. Pretty, yes. Diabolical, likely not. Her choice of clothing something more conventional. The tone of her skin, relatively healthy. Eyes no longer inky pools of black, but perfectly normal.

White... That part was a deliberate mockery. A challenge, almost. A veiled insult to the forces she stood against.

But it was not geography which brought her here. It was the girl. Elfleda's usual unseen cloud of spiritual filth now held tightly against her for reasons of stealth. Reined in, so that erstwhile shivers up spines would not alert others to the arrival of one such as she.

"Hello," she said in greeting. Here, spoken like anyone else. Not the half-telepathic tease she gave to most others. Just a voice. Yet, one still spoken in that same clear-cut, educated English accent. "I'm sorry, have we... Met? You seem somewhat familiar..."

Comments

[lady_elfleda]

Whether a natural event or, judging by Elfleda's reaction, a more deliberately protective intervention on Valerie's behalf, the red line had been crossed. If the Slayer was not taking heed now, her new associate was willing to take full advantage of the opportunity this represented.

Collecting herself, Beth forced a smile to the fore and played right along.

"Yes, let's..."

And like a knife cutting through air, the brunette seemed to swish into the other girl's side, turning in the same graceful movement. Bringing Valerie's hand into her own; intent on keeping some kind of physical contact, as if they were the oldest friends in the world, thriving on one another's company. Beth deliberately placing herself at ease with the Slayer's choice of direction.

"I think people place entirely too much faith in predictability," the English girl enthused, caressing blonde's hand like a new-born kitten. "It's much more fun to confound expectations, don't you find? Everyone thinking you should fill a role... It's almost as if they want to lose you in it."

[valerie_vause]

Reasons beyond Valerie’s comprehension had her smile when Beth stepped up to walk with her. Side by side, the confident way she took the blonde’s hand made the act seem natural. Regardless of the fact that Valerie could literally count on one, the amount of people she’d ever walked with like that, fingers entwined together.

“I think people put too much faith in faith.” The words were out before she could stop them and the girl chuckled, looked sideways at Beth, and let the rest of the brunette’s words sink in. Oh, they struck a chord within her, not emotional exactly. Something else, something more which twisted inside her veins that she tried to ignore as best she could.

There was a name for what she was, a word that had no life breathed into it, not once. Not ever.

Valerie couldn't bring herself to say it. The blonde could follow through on her calling, go out on duty each night, and accepted it as naturally as any girl could. Conflicted emotions restricted her ability to admit it verbally, as if in doing so was some kind of defeat. In Valerie's mind what she was and who she was were entirely separate things. She wasn't anything other than that, yet if she stated so, she feared who she was would disappear. Replaced instead by what she was. Individual identity gone. A shadow self that reflected nothing but death and darkness.

“It doesn’t matter what other people think, if you get lost in a certain role it’s because somewhere down the line you wanted too.”

Valerie brushed her free hand through her hair as they walked through the park, shadows stretching and twisting with the trees. The blonde turned to look at Beth for a second before she sighed thoughtfully.

“Nobody can take away who you are unless you let them. People tend to forget that.” She turned her gaze skyward and breathed. “Power comes from within.”

She didn’t just mean those of supernatural origins but all people in general. Willpower, inner strength, call it what you will, there were those who had it and those who lacked sufficient amounts.

[lady_elfleda]

"Not always... Sometimes, you have to find it."

But there was a curiously still form of smile from Beth's face as they walked. In fact, curiously still everything; her walking gait and pose seeming calculated for more of a silky-smooth glide than natural tremors or the up-and-down of an uneven surface should have allowed for. Feet touched the ground, walked along, yet, the girl's torso and curve of spine remained oddly constant.

"And, really, who's to stop you from simply taking what the world freely offers? It shouldn't be about where your power comes from... It's about what you do with it."

The world around Valerie, for just a split second, came to a sudden, almost complete halt. A moment where time was going so slow, it was as if she were walking through treacle. Nothing perceptible, save for a smooth pulsing wave of distortion. Like heat, yet... Not. No difference in temperature. Just a pulse.

And then, without ceremony, the world sped back up.

"Tell me, are we far from that awfully long road, the... 'Strip', yes, that's what they call it, isn't it?"

[valerie_vause]

“Found power can be dangerous in the wrong hands.”

Valerie spoke calmly as they walked together. The answer had been automatic, perhaps ingrained to memory from various experiences, but she didn’t elaborate further. Instead she listened, as if she’d done so before, every day as if they were old friends. Which they were not. The blonde felt comfortable with Beth, unnaturally so, but she couldn’t quite understand why or worry about it.

“No.” The word startled Valerie as it rolled off her tongue, sharp though thick as she moved as if in water, then the next second not, and she blinked a few times to break out of the haze. “It should depend on what those intentions were. Just because someone could build a nuke doesn’t mean they should set it off.”

Valerie chewed the inside of her lip, the conversation was cutting very close to things that were too coincidental. Suspicion began to thread through the comfort Beth created and the blonde turned to look at her distractedly.

“What?” She glanced around and tried to focus on the surroundings. “About twenty minutes away, sooner if we walk faster.”

[lady_elfleda]

Like sonar, a wave of energy had cascaded over the Slayer, searching, sensing... Feeling for strengths and weaknesses, alike, within the girl's aura. Such a thing was not only a shield, after all. It could be interfaced with, allowing for the detection of emotional states, physical health and more. Connections... Even a strong or growing bond with another living being, human or not, would leave its own imprint, as surely as footprints upon a sandy beach.

Fear, though, could be loud. A major reason for why the paranoid and sensitive often attracted haunting activities; disembodied entities being drawn to them, as surely as a lost ship to lighthouse. For an empathic being like Elfleda, auras were veritable goldmines of valuable information about a creature.

This one held concerns over... Yes.

"Sounds like something you've worries about," continued Beth. "Power is best held close... Lest it be taken from you, hmm? Or used against those who might think they've the right to do so."

A slight tingling was likely beginning to scratch at Valerie's mind now. Not of the same level the undead would signal, but Elfleda's limited use of inhuman abilities were were starting to trip natural alarm bells.

"Wouldn't that be something?" Smiled 'Beth'. "Never having to fear authority?"

[valerie_vause]

Green eyes slid towards Beth without Valerie moving her head when the topic of what she had worries over began. Happy haze gone. Reality began to filter back in along with those suspicions as the blonde offered a smile and casually slipped her hand free from the girl’s. Fingers wiggled before she brought both hands up to rub her face, partially smothering the breathy laughter as she gazed up at the cloudless dark sky above. Message received, even if it was belatedly.

Whoever Beth was she was incredibly clever. Valerie could respect that even if she wanted to kick herself for being quite so foolish. No, not foolish, there had been some sort of thrall at play during their interaction. It explained the twisting, slithering sensation inside, born from the stirrings of what made her one of the chosen nine. The demon essence responded to the brunette on some level, it pulled the blonde but she wouldn’t let it control her. She might not know exactly what was going on but she understood enough to keep herself in check.

“Is that why you’re here with me?” She said lightly, sidestepping the mindgame minefield. “To take power? No, you have that…” Valerie turned to glance at the woman, no fear or anger just curiosity as she connected dots out loud. “The tone of the questions suggest you want me to use mine, now why is that?”

Valerie arched her eyebrows as she regarded the girl, that might not actually be a girl, and shrugged lightly. If the brunette had wanted to attack her she would have done so by now, unless this was a cat and mouse situation where she enjoyed toying with prey first. Motives would be easier if she knew who she was dealing with. Definitely not a vampire, and not any kind of demon she’d come across yet, of which there had been many.

“Who, and what, are you really? You know what I am, I don’t know how, but I do know the why is intentional.” Feet crunched fallen leaves as Valerie paused to look at the girl, eyes narrowing as she tilted her head, lips pressed together a second before she stated slowly, “You sought me out specifically. That line about meeting interesting…”

Valerie straightened up, primal animal instinct, ready to protect those she knew.

“What exactly do you want from me?”

Whatever it was it was highly unlikely she’d get it.

[lady_elfleda]

"Questions, questions..."

Tutting at the encountered display of curiosity, Elfleda's admonishment had her smile subtly shift into something more conceited. Turning squarely to face her; body language echoing a much more in control personality. The accent hadn't changed, but the more she spoke, the more the voice of this 'Beth' was to start leaking, half-in, half-out of phase between the realms of the vocal and something more telepathic.

"And here she is... The protector, the warrior, the one who would stand against the dark... The blessed - the half-breed - who turns against her brethren because she was ordered, not because she was set free."

Part-condescending, part-stinging with an interpretation of facts, the stranger walked in a more deliberate path off to one side, passing the Slayer by. Gaze keeping trained upon Valerie as she passed. A sudden cracking sound announcing the growing formation of a blackened portal forming out of the bark; splitting the wood and fracturing directly into tree's trunk. The material, later, under full daylight, would be seen as scorched, twisted and gnarled, as if the victim of a somehow temporary chronic sickliness. Elfleda's form slipping into the acrid smoke, only to appear summoned from the other side. The pathway to somewhere with real presence, signalling powerfully into the nearby Slayer's mind, sealing up behind the figure now dressed in a far more wickedly regal fashion than before. Now longer the girl of before. Now a pale creature in ebony bridal dress. Everything, from the colour of eyes and nails, to the style of hair, radically altered.

And, while by no means any longer a picture of radiant health, without any further need to retain disguise, the unfurling of Elfleda's true presence made her feel that much more compelling.

"What do I want, Valerie? Why, I wish to help, you silly girl..."