Vengeful Intent (Ciroton)

OOC: For those reading this and wondering how the whole fight started, here’s where it began.

BIC: “Please,” Cain scoffed, using the Wirevein technique to take out a few necrals before they flung themselves at him. One of said creatures managed to carve a deep cut in his shoulder, and was soon torn in half. The remaining shadows were taken out by Adonai’s Armblade ability.

After killing the last necral he saw, to his massive enjoyment, that Aleena was preparing another charge. He slid his left foot back and kneeled down on his right knee. If he timed it right, he’d be able to propel himself straight into the half-breed and drive her into the outside of the vacant bar.

“Your blood should taste good,” he said, holding his blade-bearing arm perpendicular to his chin. “I’m sure of it. I can smell it perfectly. It’s the kind of smell that humans would make into a candle, or maybe some kind of sweetener for their coffee.”

“Anyway,” he continued. He cut himself off when he noticed the storm cloud that had suddenly formed above the combatants. The sky had been clear for the most part just a few minutes ago. He should have seen the cloud before it managed to blot out the sky above them, so why didn’t he?

The cloud, which Aleena had noticed by now, suddenly turned a sickly crimson color and dropped down from the sky. Both inhuman beings were quickly enveloped in the red mist, of which neither could see through.

“What did you do?!” Cain heard his opponent shout. He could hear her swinging her blade about in the mist, but couldn’t see her no matter how hard he strained his eye. The vampire listened to the swish-swoosh of a sword cutting through the air for a moment or two before a different sound, welcome by now, cut through the air.

Her weapon had stricken something large, though by no means strong enough to resist being crippled under the blow. The screeching noise of metal on metal forced an irritated, “Damn” from Cain. At least the mist was starting to clear away…

OOC: Sorry for the opener. I didn’t want to take too much control of your character, so I’ll let you handle Cain’s proposition and her reaction. ^_^

OoC: Let's get this thing started. ^_^ This post could have been better, but at least it gets it done.

BiC:
A loud screeching sound penetrated the mist as soon as her sword struck the object. It was a familiar sound, and many like it soon followed suit. Whatever this mist was, the half demon knew that it was not the work of a vampire. Some other force was at play here, toying with the both of them. Mere seconds after the multitude of similar screeches filled the air, the unmistakable sound of crushing metal and breaking glass filled her ears.

The half-breed stopped swinging her sword as she saw the blood-red mist slowly dissipating into the atmosphere. Looking in front of her, dozens of small, circular lights could be seen beyond the veil created by the mist. The sound of Idling engines entered her long ears, sending a shiver down her spine. What the hell? Aleena thought, We’re in the middle of a street? How could this be?

Sure enough, when the mist disappeared, the half-demon found both herself and her assailant, in the middle of a road in the downtown area of a large city. “Where the hell are we?” thought the demon aloud. All around the two fighters rose tall skyscrapers, not as tall as the ones in Minoria, but still quite tall in their own right. Yellow taxicabs flooded the crowded street, which lay bathed in the glow of the dozens of electronic billboards and streetlights.

In the middle of the four-way intersection, the chaos the red mist left in its wake began to spread as the traffic built up around the totaled cars and trucks. The half-demon looked to the vampire, who looked slightly shocked, and could have sworn he heard him say, “Times Square!?” She saw his nostrils flare, and heard him sniff the air. “Their here,” voiced the vampire who, minutes before, was killing her summoned Necrals.

Without warning, the vampire grabbed Aleena by the arm. The alarmed half-demon went to attack him, but he raised his hand, signaling for her to stop. “Let’s get out of here first,” he said gesturing the gathering crowd. Aleena nodded at his suggestion grudgingly, after all, it would not be wise to engage such a foe so close to that large of a crowd.

The two non-humans made a dash for a nearby ally, bumping and bashing into many anonymous humans along the way. All of which looked on in curiosity as the man lead the silver-haired, sword-wielding woman past them. A small ally near the scene proved to be a good sanctuary for the two when they found it. Dark and damp with lots of rats: common characteristics for big-city alleys at night.

As soon as they were safe in the ally, the Half-demon began to attack again. However, the vampire once again raised his hand and said, “Wait.”

“Why should I?” Aleena retorted.

“I have a proposition for you,” answered the well-dressed vampire.

Intrigued, the half-demon raised one of her eyebrows and asked, “What’s with this all of a sudden? One minute you’re trying to kill me and drink my blood, then the next, you’re asking me for a favor? Why the hell should I listen to you?”

“The circumstances have changed. You see, now I need your help.”

“I still don’t see why I should help you, or even care,” replied Aleena.

“Will you at least hear my proposal?” asked the vampire.

“Why not,” she shrugged. “I’m always for a good laugh.”

“Well you see,” started the vampire. “In a skyscraper nearby lives a member of what is known as the vampire council. You see, the man who lives in there, among many others, tried to kill me.”

“Sucks to be you then. Believe me, I know about troublesome councilors,” Interrupted the half demon. “Anyway, continue.”

“Right. Well, they succeeded, at least for a little while, and now I want revenge on them. However, they are all heavily guarded, and I can’t do it alone. So that is why I need your help,” continued the vampire.

“Okay,” Aleena spoke. “Now for this important question: Why should I care?”

“Well,” said the vampire. “If you help me, I will pay you, and on top of that, grant you three wishes that are within my power.”

“Oh,” added the half-demon. “So you’re a genie now? Make up you freaking mind already!”

The vampire looked at her as though he wanted to rip he throat open, but instead he said, “Well? Do you accept?”

“I guess I’ve got little choice,” reasoned the half-demon. “Besides, I have no idea where, or even when I am. So yes, I accept your offer. However, if I get hurt, you have to pay for it, understand?”

The vampire outstretched his hand, and Aleena did the same. Shaking their hands in the deserted ally, the two made a vow to help each other, they would need it in order to survive and fight each other another day.

OoC Edit: Oh yeah, if I messed up his personality, you know what to do, right?

“Judging by the direction his scent is coming from,” Cain said, peeking just outside the alleyway, “I think he’s on top of the AXA Center. He bought the building a few weeks before the council killed me, and had a penthouse added on top for him to live in.”

“Okay,” Aleena replied, “seems pretty simple to me. We probably only have to take out the first floor, then take the elevator straight up to the second-highest floor. Then we just walk the rest of the way to the penthouse.”

“It’s not that easy. He had the elevators rigged so that you have to take a different one every,” Cain paused for a moment to remember exactly how Vorne had it set. “18 floors, I think. There’s 54 floors in all, so we’ll have to get on and off the elevator three times throughout the whole trip. That’s pretty much seven floors that we absolutely have to fight through: The first floor, and two floors between each elevator.”

“Oookay.” Aleena said, “When are we going?”

“We should go right about now.” Cain replied, “That way we can hopefully get there before the police show up for that massive accident you caused.”

~

“Sir,” Capulet’s vampiric apprentice, Amshel, said. His master was gazing out of the window of his penthouse suite at a massive traffic accident several corners down. His bushy gray brows were furrowed, giving him the look of an old man who is vexed, yet angry and the same time.

“What is it Amshel,” he said, his gravelly voice causing his apprentice to cringe. Capulet was a Class J vampire, and quite possibly the oldest living member of the vampire council. Anybody who knew anything about him knew one simple, yet predominant, fact: If he’s angry, you better run. His own apprentice wasn’t even safe from his wrath.

“Sheila, one of the secretaries, claims that she saw a man fitting Cain Adonai’s description appearing out of that red mist when she was out for ’lunch’. I know that she’s a lying b-tch, but I think she might-”

“I know,” Capulet interrupted, turning to face his Class C apprentice. “I can smell that bastard’s blood. Actually, I smell a hint of Vlad’s blood, to be more specific. I always found an excuse to be absent when I knew Gurlon and Adonai were going to be at the meetings.”

It was true. Capulet never did trust Gurlon or Adonai. Class A vampires usually turned out to be too pompous or ‘honorable’ to do anything worthwhile, and Class S vampires always wound up causing trouble. Draculae had shamed the vampire race, and it was obvious that Cain would have wound up doing the same.

“Tell the majority of the staff to take the night off,” Capulet continued, “and get security prepped. Adonai probably knows about the way I rigged the elevators, so have them focus on every eighteenth floor or so.”

“Yes sir.”

~

“Just a little bit more,” Cain thought. The skyscraper where Capulet resided was only a block or two away by now. The two of them were able to get this far without anybody noticing them, and he wanted to keep it that way.

The police surveying the accident and subsequent traffic jam would have undoubtedly been told of the crazy woman with a sword who’d caused the accident. If the police, who were just now showing up, saw them it’d mean very little threat-wise, but it would also demolish the whole concept of a surprise attack on Capulet’s skyscraper.

“Just a little bit-”

“She’s got a weapon!”

“****!”

A woman across the street had, unfortunately, noticed Aleena’s blade. She ran down the road to where the police were just starting to arrive, ranting and screaming something about the ‘lady with the sword’ returning to the scene and attempting to kill the witnesses.

Cain didn’t hear much else. As soon as the woman took off for the congregation of police, he and his temporary partner took off, intent on making it to the skyscraper before the police had a chance to get a good look at them and start something.

“I always hated Manhattan,” Cain thought.

The screams of the crowd broke the usual ambient noise of the city, throwing even more innocent bystanders into a frenzy. Now that everyone knew of the white-haired woman with the Japanese-styled sword, navigating through the packed sidewalks became even more perilous. As she and her temporary partner raced past many ducked out of their way while other, more heroic, people tried to stop them. With the police gaining ground on them, obviously not like the fat and slow ones Aleena knew, any sudden stop or slip up would mean the loss of surprise on their target, whoever it was.

Suddenly, the vampire who led her grabbed the half-demon’s arm and pulled her into a building. “What are you doing?” Aleena asked.

“What does it look like? I’m trying to lose them,” replied the vampire.

“Let’s lead them to the top of the building. Then, we can jump off and lose them that way,” voiced the half-breed. He did not utter a single word to her, instead giving her a simple nod of his head. With their plan set, the two non-humans led the police officers to the staircase in the rear of the building, unwilling to risk the elevator.

Up the steel and concrete stairs the two climbed, not looking back for a single instant. The stairs were completely empty, except for a few health-conscious humans who wanted the exercise. Fresh wax on the stairs proved them difficult to maneuver for both parties, causing them to slip and slide on near every landing. “How tall is this damned building?” Aleena thought aloud. Finally, after climbing twenty floors, they made it to the top of the building.

As the two approached the edge of the roof, the police shouted to them, “Stop! Don’t jump!” to them as though they were about to commit suicide. However, their attempts to stop them failed o reach their ears. Just a couple of feet from the edge of the building, they stopped their marathon run, looked to each other, and jumped off the building to the horror of the pursuing officers.

To any normal person, and some demons, jumping off a thirty-floor building would mean death. However, using her powers over Gravity, Aleena landed on the pavement in the ally like a feather. The vampire, on the other hand, jumped from the wall of one building to the other. Regardless of the method, once both of them were on the ground, they quickly took off down the ally before the police on the roof could call for back up.

Fortunately for them, when the ally opened to the street, the entrance to the building the vampire was seeking lay ahead. In the time since they arrived in this strange city, the traffic had built up so much that most of the city was in gridlock. At least, that is what the anchorman on the news said as she and the vampire passed an electronic store.

Weaving through the stopped cars, attention again turned to Aleena and her sword. Bystanders ran off upon seeing the woman who had apparently caused this massive traffic snarl, probably to report her sighting to the police. Finally getting out of the traffic jam, the two entered the towering building only to find themselves entering a living hell.

When they entered the entrance hall of the tower, it seemed like there was not a soul within. Previous experiences told Aleena to expect some sort of an ambush, so she drew her sword in response. The vampire, too, looked on-edge as they moved further from the door. That silence would end all too soon.

“Some rent-a-cop security guards are going to come out in five, four, three-” Cain began to say, using his Armblade ability. His countdown was suddenly drowned out by a blaring alarm. The vampire’s countdown was just a little bit off.

“Here they come,” Aleena said, catching Adonai’s attention. The Class S vampire looked in the direction that was capturing the half-demon’s focus, almost laughing at what he saw. Filing in from the stairwell was a group of a dozen or so human security guards.

That was when he smelled it. The guards had some kind of garlic extract on their pressure points, and there wasn’t a single one without a cross. Of course, the holy symbol wasn’t the only thing they were carrying. Each one of them had a 9mm handgun, the typical weapon of all rent-a-cops.

“Fire!” one of the guards, likely the security chief, shouted. They unloaded on Cain first. Amshel had warned them about the vampire, after all. They weren’t sure about how dangerous Aleena was, and that was what led to their demise.

She charged at the nearest one and ran him through with her sword. One of the other guards, standing just a few feet away from the first, turned and fired a shot at the half-demon. She ducked under the bullet and swiped her blade up, cleaving his hand off at the wrist.

By now all of the other security guards were turning to Aleena, and didn’t notice Cain until he threw himself into the crowd. He killed a few of the guards by simply flailing his arm about. The remaining guards were killed by his temporary associate.

“That was a disappointment,” Cain said, wiping his blade off on one of the corpses. The vampire spoke too soon, however. The sounds of footfalls coming from the stairway alerted them to the fact that more security was coming.

“Get to the elevator!” Adonai shouted. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kill more security. Heck, he wanted to kill everything in the building. Sadly, the more time the two of them spent slaughtering the rent-a-cops, the more time Capulet and Amshel would have to set up higher security in the upper levels.

“Two steps ahead of you,” came Aleena’s reply. Cain turned and found that the half-demon was already waiting inside of an open elevator. He joined her inside just as the guards were rounding the corner.

~

“They there?” Amshel asked, letting go of the ‘Talk’ button. He could barely make out a muffled, “Yes” from the other end. Fifty-four floors between the two radios would do that, obviously.

“Alright,” he replied, giving Capulet a nod. “Mr. Smith, are you sure they entered the right one?”

Another muffled “Yes” brought a smile to his lips.

OoC: I decided to use the other elevator trap first, and leave the better idea concerning the elevators for later.

BiC:
Slowly, the elevator doors closed, blocking the perusing guards from their quarry. Aleena lazily poked the highest numbered button with the tip of her now bloodied sword. “Well,” the half demon said addressing the vampire. “If we are going to be working together we may as well know each other’s names. It’s better then saying, ‘Hey, you’, or ‘Vampire’, especially during a fight.”

“Fine,” sighed the vampire. “You can call me, Cain.”

“And you can call me, Aleena.”

Now that she learned the name of the vampire that tried to kill her, the half-breed looked down into the bloodied reflection of herself in the blade. Reaching into one of her pockets, she withdrew a small, bloodstained handkerchief, and wiped the blade clean. When she was satisfied, Aleena put the handkerchief back in her pocket, and looked up to the digital display.

The numbers slowly increased as the two allies moved up the building, a little closer to their target. However, around the tenth floor the sudden, shrieking sound of metal on metal made both the half-demon and the vampire cringe. As fast as it had come, the sound stopped along with the elevator itself. The two non-humans looked at each other, as though saying what they were both thinking.

“Trap?” Aleena asked Cain.

“Most likely. I think it would be best for us to get out of here,” answered the vampire.

“How do we do that? The last time I was in an elevator was when I was six,” said the young lunar demon.

“There should be an emergency hatch right above us,” replied Cain who was pointing at a tile in the middle of the ceiling. Walking over to it, he stood on his toes and removed the tile, revealing the hatch he had mentioned just seconds previously. “This should be easy,” he said as he placed his hand on the latch. He lazily pulled on the latch, but it did not open. Looking at it for a second, he tried again, this time with much more force. Yet, the latch refused to move.

Aleena, placing the pieces of the puzzle together, she decided to voice her concerns to the struggling vampire. “It looks like they planned an invasion by a vampire a long time ago,” she spoke. Ignoring her, Cain continued his futile attempt to force the latch open. Useless, thought the half-demon. If he asked me, I could open that in no time. For now though, I think I’ll watch him suffer.

Watching the vampire struggle with the latch, Aleena was unaware that water was beginning to enter the elevator car. “You know, I could help you open that,” said the half demon, trying to get through to him. Alas, Cain, whose focus lay entirely on getting the latch open, ignored everything around him. Suddenly feeling her feet getting wet, Aleena looked down. To her horror, she saw at least an inch of water on the floor, with more surging in every second.

“Oh, ****!” Exclaimed the half-breed. “Cain, the entire shaft is flooding!” As thought snapping out of a trance, he looked down and saw the now foot-deep water creep up the walls with amazing speed. His eyes widened as he observed the water climbing up even faster then it was a second ago, a testimony to the power of the pump that was forcing it in.

Absent-mindedly, the half-bred lunar demon sheathed her sword. “Move!” she shouted to the well-dressed vampire. He let go of the latch and landed in the now waist-deep, rapidly rising water. Mustering all of her strength, Aleena used her power over Gravity to force the entire hatch out of its hole in less then a second. Scrambling out of the flooding car, the two got back on their feet and began to climb the elevator’s cables.

With as much speed as they could muster, the two allies climbed for the eighteenth floor. The hole in the top of the car surged with the flow of water, taking it back into the shaft proper. No matter how fast the two climbed, the water was always gaining speed until, that is, it caught up with them. Ceasing their futile effort, the non-humans let go of the cables in favor of having the water lift them to the top.

“Aleena,” voiced Cain. “When we get to the last floor, do what you did with that damned hatch, okay?

“Right,” replied the half-demon, ingesting water while talking.

It took less time then they thought to reach the top of the shaft. “Now!” Cain shouted to Aleena. Obeying her allies will, she used Gravity to force the doors of the eighteenth floor to burst out of their track and on to the landing, sending a cascade of water, along with the vampire and half-demon, in their wake. Detecting the breach, a pair of many heavier, solid steel doors slammed shut to prevent the water from flooding the entire floor.

Cain dragged himself to a kneeling position and coughed up a mouthful of water, nearly losing his last meal with it. He could never stand the taste of water. Getting such a large amount in his mouth and throat had been akin to how people feel after accidentally swallowing a cup-full of unmade coffee.

The vampire rolled onto his back, the urge to vomit returning. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Aleena rising, pausing only to cough up some water. Cain forced himself to stand as well. He couldn’t let himself appear weak in front of the half-breed. He wouldn’t.

~

“They made it through the elevator sir,” the security chief said, directing Amshel’s attention to one of the room’s many television screens. The Class C vampire almost tore the chief’s head off. How could they have made it through? The escape hatch had been double-sealed, and had trace amounts of silver in it!

Unless, of course, the woman Cain was with wasn’t a vampire. She definitely wasn’t a human though. The way she moved, smelled, fought. She seemed somewhat human, but different. There was something odd about her.

Amshel sighed and scratched his chin, the stubble tickling his fingers. The woman was neither human nor vampire. He’d have to figure out exactly what she was. At the moment, she intrigued him more than Cain.

“Capulet would want to know this,” he muttered to himself, shooting the security chief a warning glare when he tried to listen in. “I’m not sure I want that old man knowing, though. He’s got Cain, after all. I think I’ve earned the right to the girl, so long as she makes it this far.”

Amshel secretly hoped that, despite the skyscraper’s overwhelming security, Cain and the girl would make it to the top. He desperately wanted to fight the girl and drink her blood. Heck, maybe there were things he could do before killing her. Capulet would be too preoccupied with Cain to care what his apprentice was doing, anyway.

~

Capulet leaned back in his desk chair, smoking a cigar. Judging by Adonai’s scent, he was already on floor eighteen-ish. The other scent didn’t matter to him. He could tell that Amshel wanted her. The old vampire couldn’t blame his apprentice either. He was just as reckless, lustful, and blood thirsty in his own youth.

“Ah,” he said, letting a puff of smoke drift out of his mouth, “the young. Strong, yet inexperienced. Powerful, yet lacking skill. They have cunning, but are too stupid to use it. The golden years have truly passed.”

The Class J vampire took another drag of his cigar, watching the crimson embers dancing towards his mouth. As always, he ground the cigar out before it was halfway smoked. Class J vampires were far more flammable than any other kind, after all.

What an embarrassing death that would be! A Class J vampire, quite possibly the only Class J left and one of the oldest living vampires, dying because he caught himself on fire with a cigar! The thought made Capulet burst into a fit of laughter.

~

“Do you want me to activate the traps, or wait for security personnel to reach them first?” the chief asked, the adrenaline in his blood clear to Amshel. The chief was afraid of angering the vampire, and for good reason. A normal, slightly overweight human wouldn’t last two seconds against a highly trained Class C vampire.

“Just use the traps for now,” was Amshel’s reply. This was going to be interesting…

OoC: Sorry for the shortness, but I have already written a battle post for today. I just want to get this on out of the way so I can do the other one ... later.

BiC:
“This is going to be a bother,” the lunar demon sighed. Who would have thought this place was so well prepared?” Although she did not notice until she was finished talking, the vampire had already began to walk away from the scene. This was a man on a mission, not letting anything or anyone slow him down. Aleena sprinted to catch up to the crusading vampire, still soaked from the water in the elevator.

“I take it,” voiced the half-breed. “That this guy must have done something pretty horrible to you for you to go to such lengths to kill him.”

“He’s one of them,” said Cain, breaking his silence.

“What did they do to you?” Aleena asked.

“I’d rather not say,” answered the vampire.

The young woman did not utter another word after that. Everyone was entitled to their secrets, after all. Besides, if he wanted to say anything he would not that she cared, he had tried to kill her just less then an hour ago. The florescent lights above them hummed as the two made their way to the stairs so they could get up to the next set of elevators. Other then that, complete silence accompanied them as they made their way a little closer to the penthouse.

Reaching the end of the long hall, the two came to the stairs that connected the eighteenth and nineteenth floors. After opening the door, the two began to climb the stairs, unaware of the taps waiting for them. As soon as they reached the top of the first flight of stairs, they suddenly twisted where they lay, creating a slide back down to the eighteenth floor.

Landing in a heap on the floor, the lunar demon cursed, “Ow, what the **** was that all about!?”

“I don’t know,” responded Cain. “But I doubt that stairway is of any use to us now. Let’s try to find another one.”

“Right,” answered Aleena simply. So, the two took went into a full run again, searching for another staircase that led to the upper floors. Unfortunately, in the few minutes the search lasted, they only found a total of four staircases, two leading up, and two leading down. One of the two going up was now impassable, leaving only the last one they found as their way to continue.

“I’m going to love this,” Amshel said, leaning over the security chief’s shoulder. “I hope it’s the one. Is it the one? I think it is, isn’t it?”

“Yes sir,” the chief replied, double-checking to make sure that the traps were set. “I’m assuming you want some security on the next floor, yes? How about a few lower-class vamps? I think there’s some Class G vampires on security payroll.”

“Meh-hellyaz!” Amshel replied. Even if the Class G vamps were unable to fight off Cain and the girl, there’d be less Class G mongrels in the world. He smiled and leaned in to get a better view.

~

Cain and Aleena were sure to use this staircase’s handrail. If they’d only been holding onto the handrail of the last staircase, they would have been able to pull themselves the rest of the way once the stairs flattened. (Both had forgotten that the last staircase hadn’t even had a handrail in the first place.)

Adonai made sure to keep at least three steps ahead of his partner at all times. He felt like ripping something in half, and he could smell Class G vampires somewhere on the next floor. A Class G vampire would be perfect for killing, after all.

Class G vampires helped to inspire the film, “Nosferatu”. This was why the majority of the vampire species hated the movie with a passion. Class G vampires were considered to be little more than vermin by the rest of the vampires.

To put it bluntly: Class G vampires were ugly, weak, and stupid. They were pale and bald, with elongated noses and ears. The occasional Class G vampire also had claws and/or yellow eyes, and all of them were weaker than every other class. Not only that, but they rarely grew smart enough to do simple things such as driving or even talking. (Though they did understand when others were speaking to them, oddly enough)

Class G vampires were the vampire equivalent of immigrant labor. They worked for far, far less than the average human/vampire, and could be found en masse easily. Not only that, they had a strong pack sense. Some vampire scientists theorized that Class G vampires can communicate via pheromones somehow, though none of the other classes could smell anything being emitted by the test subjects.

“So he’s got some of those,” Cain thought, resisting the urge to crush the railing under his hand. “That’s somewhat smart, and somewhat stupid. I can’t tell how many there are, but-”

A sudden surge of electricity shot through the railing, shocking both of them and burning their hands. Cain, amidst a string of vampiric cussing, wrenched his hand from the railing and let it heal. The electricity would have killed him, were he not a vampire.

“Hey,” he said, remembering Aleena and turning to face her, “Aleena, are you okay?”

Her reply was cut off by a mass of gurgled screeching. The Class G vampires were on their way, apparently. He used his Armblade ability and turned back to Aleena.

“I think the next floor might have some bandages that you could use. Now hurry up, and try not to be too disgusted by the things we’re about to run into.”

OoC: I'll tell you the same thing I told HH. We are getting to the most stressful time of the school year, so in a little while I won't have time to post. Therfore, you can take your time responding.

BiC:
Ignoring the sharp pain in the palm of her hand, the half-demon nodded in confirmation. Deciding against touching the handrail again, she simply manipulated Gravity so that all she had to do was simply jump to the next floor. Why didn’t I think of this before? Aleena scolded herself. She stood on the landing of the next floor, waiting patiently until Cain rejoined her.

“Funny,” said Cain when he reached the top. “How come you didn’t to that before?”

“I just thought that myself,” replied the half-demon. The vampire stared at her with annoyance, obviously steamed she did not do that at the last staircase. “Okay, I forgot. No need to get angry now,” added the lunar demon. Walking up to the door that separated the stairs from the horde of vampires on the other side, Aleena tapped the knob tentatively. Making sure it was safe; she then kicked down the door, just because she felt like it.

She soon regretted kicking it down. As soon as the door made contact with the floor, the sound of running feet came from all corners of the hall. Filing into the hall, blocking the exit stood some of the most ugly vampires the half-demon had even seen. Light deprived and bald, these vampires were nothing like the one she stood beside. Instead, they reminded her of the movie vampire, Dracula.

They all charged at once, as though they thought in unison. Aleena, not being able to use her sword due to the burn, summoned some Necrals to hold them off. Surprisingly, the Necrals were stronger then the vampires, but it did not help that Cain kept killing them by mistake, or so she hoped. Between the two of them, all of the vampire guards died in less than three minutes, their corpses stacked high on either side of the hall.

Continuing on their way, the two ran into little resistance, minus some more weak vampires, until they reached the next set of elevators. Looking around for traps, the half-demon noticed a first aid kit hanging from the wall. Ignoring the vampire, she rushed to it, intent on putting some gauze and burn cream on her hand. However, she did not notice that Cain was heading toward a nearby table, as though he found something he was looking for.

Opening the kit, she opened her burned and bleeding palm, and applied the cream to her hand. It felt soothing on contact, taking effect immediately after meeting the damaged skin. She sighted in relief, wrapping the gauze tightly around the hand, making sure it would stay on. Suddenly, a resounding blast echoed from behind her. Wheeling around, she saw the vampire lying on the ground and the area of carpet in front of him blackened. Slightly concerned, she walked up to make sure he was okay.

OOC: No problem. ^_^

BIC: “Son of a kavitchkava,” Cain snarled, English curses being too mild to display his anger. “You stupid aradoct! You freaking knew!”

He stood, the front of his shirt and jacket burned away, and glared at a security camera on the wall. What kind of sick individual would place exploding soda cans in a fridge? Whoever it was had anticipated that he would be getting thirsty by now, and would have tried to stave his thirst with something other than blood.

The explosion had worsened his thirst, and he could barely keep himself from wheeling around and attacking Aleena. Her blood smelled so good. It might be the best meal he ever had…

“No!” he thought, mentally smacking himself. “Just wait until the next floor. If there’s anybody or anything there that you can drink, then drink that. Heck, forget that Aleena’s there. Enjoy your next meal. You’ve earned it, Adonai.”

“Are you okay?” came his ally’s voice. He pulled off his tattered shirt and jacket, tossing them to the ground before turning to face her. At least the burns on his chest had healed. That wouldn’t have been a very pretty sight.

“I’m fine,” he replied, repeatedly clenching and unclenching his hands. “I’m just a little thirsty now, is all. There better be something, or somebody, for me to drink on the next floor.”

What was that? He could smell her blood through her skin and flesh before, but the smell was stronger now. Her hand was still bleeding. The smell was calling to Adonai, begging him to have a taste.

“Snap out of it!” he thought, again smacking himself mentally. He realized that he’d unconsciously opened his mouth and bared his fangs, and remedied this by cramming a closed fist into his mouth and biting down on it.

He turned back to the fridge from which he’d gotten the nasty surprise, and dashed towards it. With an angry howl he roundhouse kicked it out the nearest window, undoubtedly giving those below their own nasty surprise. An ear-shattering explosion followed.

Apparently, all of the drinks in the fridge had been similar to the one Cain tried to drink. He peeked out the window and found that several police cruisers had been incinerated in the explosion. Undoubtedly, some officers had died.

“Doesn’t matter,” Cain thought. His eyes were turning bloodshot by now, and he was panting through the fist in his mouth. “I just have to make it to the next elevator stop. Just have to make it…”

He made an effort to avoid looking at Aleena.

~

“The thirst is kicking in, I see,” Amshel stated, brushing a lock of blonde hair out of his eyes. The sight of Cain shirtless and bleeding from the fist in his mouth gave the Class C vampire sick pleasure. He himself had his fangs bared now, making the security chief more than uncomfortable.

“Come on,” he said, licking his fangs. “Drink her, Adonai. Drink her!”

The security chief edged away from the vampire and sat in a chair across the room from the main security view screens. He didn’t like Amshel’s company regardless of the situation, but this was far worse. The blonde vampire could turn on him and drink his blood any moment.

OoC: Sorry about the quality and length, but I have a few to reply to, and only a little while to reply to them. =(

BiC:
Pushing the call button for the elevator, the half-demon and her vampire ally sat in front of the metal doors. Out of the corner of her eye, Aleena could see Cain’s wander as though it dare not rest its gaze on her. The two stood in near silence, only the whirling of the elevator’s motors penetrating the devoid room. She did not break the silence, thinking about the day’s events instead.

A sharp ding shattered the placidity of the lobby, signaling the arrival of the elevator car. The half-demon braced herself; ready for anything the twisted architects of this fun house could put in an elevator. However, when the silver-plated doors opened, nothing lay in wait for them within the confines of the elevator car.

Stepping inside with her ally in tow, the lunar demon noticed something different about this car. Although it was practically identical to the previous one, this car lacked any vents on the floor. The sight both intrigued and worried her slightly, what else could they be planning? Pressing the highest numbered button on the panel, the car lurched upward, towards their goal.

Silence continued to dominate the air around them as the car sped toward the top of its shaft. The vampire’s eye still refused to look at Aleena, almost as though she was the noontime sun. Looking down at her injured hand, the gauze beginning to turn red from the blood, she continued to reflect upon the events that led her to this place.

Well, thought Aleena as she looked at her hand. I’ll have some interesting tales to tell my grandchildren … if I’m lucky to live that long. Impatiently tapping her foot on the mock-wooden floor, the half-demon look at the digital floor display. Seeing that they just passed the thirtieth floor, she drew her sword in anticipation, wondering what awaited them six floors above them.

“Hug the wall close to the door,” said Cain. “That way, nothing can see you when the doors open.”

“Right,” Aleena replied. Following his advice, she pressed her back against the wall where the door resided. Feeling the elevator begin to slow, she tightened her grip on her Katana. Cain shortly mimicked the half-demon, pressing himself on the opposite side of the still closed door. A sharp ping ringed through the air as the car stopped, shortly after opening its doors, bullets riddled the wall where Aleena was originally leaning on.

The gunfire continued for several seconds, a seemingly endless hail of bullets. Pieces of the elevator wall chipped and sparked with each bullet, showering the occupants in shrapnel. A stray bullet bounced off the wall and took out the elevator’s light, dimming the moving room, save for the sparks of the remaining bullets.

Cain and Aleena struck the instant the gunfire ceased. They whirled out of the elevator and attacked the small group of automatic-toting humans. The fight wouldn’t be too hard. The men, six in all, were all clumsily reloading their weapons.

The vampire went for the three on the left, the demon going after the three on the right. He was still trying to avoid looking at her. He had some humans to go after now, but his nose was telling him that his ally had wonderful blood.

“****!” was all Cain’s first victim had time to say. The Class S vampire viciously grabbed him by the lapel of his jacket and hurled him into the wall as hard as he could, killing the man and breaking off a decent sized chunk of the structure.

He spun around to his next target. His horrified expression only furthered the vampire’s bloodlust, and he wasted no time on this one. Adonai decapitated him via Armblade and turned to face his third opponent, his bloodshot eye almost completely red.

Click.

Cain didn’t pay any heed to the now-reloaded automatic in his feral state. The third man had managed to reload his weapon during the vampire’s ruthless killings, and had the crosshairs resting on his chest. His face was calm and collected, a sharp contrast to the vampire’s.

Adonai’s weapon retracted back into his bloodstream. His single eye trained onto his target’s own green eyes, darting between them and the automatic trained on his chest. He could hear Aleena dispatching of her own opponents, but resisted the urge to look over and see what was going on.

“Adios,” the man said, deepening his voice to try and sound more manly. (Adonai thought it just made him sound stupid) “I’ll see you in hell, Mr. Adonai.”

He depressed the trigger and rained silver bullets on ‘Mr. Adonai’. The poor man didn’t seem to notice the vampire’s disappearance at first, and continued firing on Cain’s old position for a few seconds before realizing his enemy’s absence.

Adonai reformed from his mist form behind the man and pinned his arms at his sides, making him drop his weapon. His scream died down to a muffled sob as Cain’s fangs pierced his carotid artery. The vampire felt a euphoric rush, the blood giving him new life.

~

“Ohhh,” Amshel said, panting and licking his fangs at the footage. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, that’s the way to do it! Go Cain! Go Cain!”

He leaned back in his seat and laughed. Adonai refusing to turn on the girl meant that he still had a chance to get her for himself. Thinking of how good she’d taste gave him a rush comparable to the one Cain was feeling.

“I’m so thirsty now,” he said, turning to look at the security chief. Capulet wouldn’t mind the loss of another man, would he? A voice in the back of Amshel’s mind told him to let the chief live for now. After all, he was the only one who knew the access codes to the prototypes. They might need those later.

“I’m going out,” he said, standing up. “I need a snack after all this excitement.”

Nothing could be done to avoid killing the gunmen, their resolve to kill her as firm as a steel gauntlet. Aleena’s blade sliced through the projectile weapons like a knife in butter. However, the loss of their arms would not deter their spirit as they charged at her with a cold-burning hatred in their eyes. With the weapons lying in pieces on the floor, finishing them off proved effortless.

With her fight over, she glanced at one of the bodies that lay on the floor. A portly man with messy hair stared at her with a blank, lifeless gaze. Slowly forming around him was a pool of crimson blood that originated from the large hole that her sword once occupied. She could not help put notice the wallet that stuck out of the man’s pocket.

Picking is out of his pocket, the Half-Demon decided to quickly look over its contents. If I get stuck here, I’ll need some of their money to help get by, she rationalized. Credit cards and cash adorned the leather wallet, not sure what the cards did, she pocketed them along with the cash. However, something inside made her stop.

Taped to the very back of the wallet was a photograph, creased and torn over time. In it was the dead man, a woman Aleena presumed to be his wife, and three small children. All of them looked happy in this photograph of them standing in front of a Rollercoaster. Soon, that picture would reflect a happier time for that family.

All too suddenly, she was struck with the realization that she had killed him: a provider, a husband, and a father. The half-demon fought back a tear telling herself to not show weakness in front of the vampire. Why had this man died? Was a vampire’s revenge really so important that he would destroy lives just to satisfy his burning rage? If he wasn’t key to her survival at the moment, she would have attacked him.

Turning away from the dead man, she focused her gaze on said vampire who was now gorging himself on another of the gunmen. The dying man gave her a pleading look, as though telling her to stop him. She looked away from his gaze as well, turning her back on both him and the vampire to her great distaste. “Tell me when you’re finished,” she said to Cain coldly.

Not more then a minute and a half passed since they jumped out of the elevator when Cain’s fangs retreated from the dead man’s flesh. “That was refreshing,” he said as he wiped the blood off of his mouth.

“Good,” said the Half-demon. “Can we get going now? The sooner we leave, the better.”

The vampire simply nodded at her request, looking at her for the first time since she hurt her hand. He broke off into a run with Aleena in tow; both of them racing to the next elevator shaft before the owners of this deathtrap could unleash another horror. However, unbeknownst to them, the police would soon be involved as well.

It didn’t take long for the duo to reach the steps, and within moments they were on the floor with the final elevator. Cain felt a rush of adrenaline. After this elevator they’d be at the top, and that meant one thing: Capulet. His enemy was going to die today.

The whirling sound of a helicopter marked the end of his hopes. Bullets hailed through the windows, forcing Cain and Aleena to dive to the ground. The vampire turned his attention to the elevator at the end of the hall. It was so close, but so far away.

As soon as his attention shifted to the elevator, so did the helicopter pilot’s. Another burst of gunfire bent and twisted the steel doors until they were a gnarled mass of metal. There was no way the elevator would run with the doors like that. They’d get caught and keep the elevator in place!

“We could just climb,” Adonai thought. If they managed to open the doors enough to slip inside, they could always climb up the elevator shaft. Getting to the elevator in the first place would be hard though. “Damn helicopter…”

He pulled his Smith & Wesson from his pocket and pulled back the hammer. As powerful a gun as it was, it probably wouldn’t do much damage to the flying menace. Still, it wasn’t like he was going to jump out the window and latch onto it.

~

Amshel gently wiped his mouth off with a formerly-white handkerchief. When he was sure he’d gotten it all, he stuffed the red piece of cloth into his pocket and headed for the security room. He could hear the helicopter outside, but paid it no heed. The vampire and his accomplice would find a way to take care of it.

“When they get here,” he thought, finding that he was thirsty again, “I’ll let Cain go on to Capulet. Not like he’ll beat him anyway. As for the girl… Well, I’ve been waiting for this since I first laid eyes on her. I’ll smack her around a bit, have some fun, and then have a nice little snack.”

He stepped into the security room, gun drawn, and fired three rounds into the chief’s chest. He didn’t want anybody interfering in his fun. Besides, he didn’t need that idiot to activate the last line of defense. That much he could handle on his own.

“Oh,” he said, no longer feeling the need to keep his thoughts in his head. “I cannot wait until you get here, my beauty. We’re going to have so much fun! Well, I know I will.”

OoC: Couldn't figure out a good way to dispatch the Helicopter.

BiC:
One thing could be said for the people operating the guns on the Helicopter: They had horrid aim. Hundreds of round whizzed through the air, some missing her only by a couple of inches, yet if they had any sort of hand-eye coordination she would be dead. Thankfully, the shrapnel from the machine gun was completely harmless, just tiny bits of drywall and other various items.

Meanwhile, the vampire continued in vain to shoot the flying menace down. His powerful handgun only made small dents in the thick, armour plating of the Apache. In her mind she could see the two operators of the chopper laughing at their feeble attempts to down the infamous attack Helicopter. That was when she remembered reading about them in a book. Suddenly, a wave of inspiration crashed over her brain, all she needed was the vampire’s gun.

“Cain!” Aleena shouted over the rattling bullets and whirling blades. “How many bullets do you have left in your gun!?”

“Four!” He shouted after he fired another round at the flying tank. “But it won’t do any good, that thing has tough armour!”

“Good!” She shouted back. “See that spinning plate where the rotors meet?”

“No. I didn’t notice, how could anyone notice something so small?” Cain said, his words drenched with sarcasm.

“Aim for that and shoot that chopper out of the sky!” With the eye of an experience gunman, not like the two humans in the Apache, the vampire emptied the last four rounds where Aleena suggested. Nothing happened.

“Well, that was a waist of ammo!” Shouted the vampire as another barrage of bullets degraded the sky lobby further. Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew some more bullets and loaded them into the revolver. A loud blast and burst of light filled the room as a missile made contact with the heavily damaged wall. There was no denying they now meant business.

*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*/\/\/\*

Meanwhile, on street-level the chief of police was having a major headache. In front of the complex where the half-demon and vampire now fought for their life, the police had set up a base of operations, intending to storm the building and arrest the two terrorists inside. However, that was proving difficult at the moment. You can bet at the word “Terrorist” the air force decided to destroy them as soon as possible, thus the attack chopper hovering around the 36th floor, firing into the tower.

“Someone, please tell them to call off the ****ing Apache already! We want them alive for interrogation!” However, his hands were tied. Unless their commanding officer told them otherwise, the crew of the Helicopter would continue the assault.

“Chief!” Shouted a distant officer, running at break-neck speed toward him. “The General said that you should not meddle in matters of national security, and that if you go ahead with the raid he would come here and give you a piece of his mind.”

“Since when have I cared about him? Start the raid, that’s an order!”

“But they’re not natural sir. One of them hopped off a building over 20 stories high and just walked it off. Please, for the sake of the men…”

“What part of “That’s an order”, do you not understand!?”

“Yes, sir.” With that, the officer ran forward to tell the others to start the controversial raid on the tower.

Cain put his last six bullets into his revolver. After doing so however, he decided to simply stop trying to take the helicopter down with it. If unloading countless shots until now hadn’t worked, three more wasn’t going to make much of a difference.

He set his gun on the ground and sighed. This was going to be very annoying…

“Stay right where you are,” he said, moving into a crouching position. He didn’t bother looking at Aleena as he spoke. “I’ve got an idea. This should work.”

Without another word, he suddenly rose and ran for the window. The helicopter pilots must’ve been just as surprised as the vampire’s accomplice, as they temporarily stopped firing. That momentary lapse in the bombardment would wind up being their demise.

Adonai crouched just as he reached the window and leapt with as much strength as he could muster. He propelled himself out of the hole and into the air, aiming for the guns. His jump came a bit short, but he managed to grab onto one of them and hang on.

The pilots, unable to see Cain clinging to their craft, assumed that he’d leapt to his death. They readied another missile and aimed. The poor men never got to launch the projectile. As one of them prepared to hit the button that would have surely resulted in the demon’s death, a hand ripped through the floor and grabbed his foot.

The hand quickly squeezed with inhuman strength and crushed his foot. Another hand punched through and grabbed the man’s other foot. Below the helicopter, the vampire shifted and placed his feet against the machine’s underside.

He pushed off, ripping the man from his seat despite his seatbelt and pulling his legs down through the holes the Class S’ hands had created. The jagged edges skinned his legs, but that wasn’t quite the worst part. The pilot would’ve gladly taken the leg skinning over what happened when his groin met the metal between the holes, and the pulling force persisted until his testicles felt as though they were imploding.

Cain ignored the man’s pitiful screams and shifted. The other pilot started to maneuver the helicopter away, obviously deciding to go and find his partner some medical attention. Adonai jumped off the helicopter and back through the window, landing on shaky legs.

“Got rid of it,” he said, breathing deeply. He fell back and took a moment to rest.

OOC: Another crappy, "I've got a lot of catching up to do" post. Sorry. ^_^;;

OoC: Poor Cain and Aleena. XD

BiC:
“That was a little mean,” Aleena said in regards to the pilot. “… But you can’t argue with the results.” As her partner rested, the half demon casually walked over to the elevator, ignoring all the shards of glass and bullet holes.

Examining the bullet-ridden door for a few minutes, she kicked it in the centre, focusing her gravitational powers on the ball of her foot. They crashed with a resounding thud as they hit the back of the elevator, but she ignored them and stepped over to the panel. S***, she thought as she examined the control panel. A large bullet had shot through, frying the electronics, thus making the elevator useless.

Stepping out of it, she decided to look at the other two elevators. Unfortunately, the one on the right side was broken, and the one on the left did not have a call button. Probably an express elevator for whoever-it-is to get down in a hurry, reasoned the half demon before kicking the doors, and denting them severely. “Looks like we’ll have to take the stairs,” Aleena sighed as she turned to Cain who remained on the floor.

Aleena could have sworn she heard a slight groan of both annoyance and anger escape from the vampire’s mouth, however, she quickly dismissed it when she saw him stand. “Well then,” he said as he stood to his full height. “Let’s get going.”

Nodding quietly, she followed the vampire as he ran, as though in hot pursuit of someone just out of his reach. I wonder what this guy did to him to get him so determined to kill? Aleena wondered as they found a nearby staircase that led up. However, Cain stopped in front of them, obviously looking for possible traps. It seemed he sensed none though, seeing as how he continued with great zeal.

Sadly, the vampires optimism was soon shattered as the section of stair leading up to the next floor caved in on itself. Turning around, he gave the half demon a weird look and said, “Well, jump us up there.”

A little disgruntled by his recent attitude, Aleena grabbed his hand nonetheless and jumped over to the next landing. Suddenly, as they were about to land a section of the wall opened, revealing a shotgun primed to shoot. Unable to stop mid-jump, the half demon was not able to avoid the shot. A sudden surge of pain in her side told her the bullets just grazed her, however, it was enough to break her concentration, thus fall to the stair section below.

Both she and the vampire were thrown like rag dolls as they rolled down the stairs and onto the landing below. Aleena was slammed into the wall, sending a new wave of pain throughout her body, followed closely by Cain as he slammed into her. “This … sucks,” she said as she tried to push the vampire off of her.

“That’s it!” Cain yelled. He stood up, fists clenched. He’d never felt so degraded in his life. Beaten, bloodied, wearing nothing more than his pants, (At some point during his counter-attack on the helicopter, he’d lost his very expensive Italian shoes).

Adonai looked up at the ceiling and snarled. Why take the stairs when the next floor was right above you? He hadn’t thought of it before, but that made perfect sense now. He bent his knees and knelt down, still glaring at the ceiling.

“What are you doing?” Aleena inquired. The Vampiric Assimilator didn’t pay her any mind. Instead, he focused, poured as much energy into his legs as he could, and sprang upwards with as much force as his tired body could muster.

~

“Cain, you stupid , stupid, stupid,” Amshel muttered, watching via security feed. When the Class S vampire burst through to the next floor, Capulet’s apprentice winced. “Stupid, stupid, ****ing genius.”

Adonai rolled onto the floor and held his head, screaming in pain, and the viewer laughed. Of course it was going to hurt. The ceiling was at least five inches thick, and he’d gone through head-first. He couldn’t argue with the results though.

Cain crawled across the floor and sat against the wall opposite the camera. Amshel got an idea then, and flicked a switch to activate the intercom.

~

His entire body ached, but he’d done it. He could hear Aleena climbing up through the hole and forced his burning eye to stay open. Cain’s hair, formerly gelled and neatly combed back, was now red and matted down all over.

“What did you do that for?” she asked, standing up. “That gun probably only shot once. We could’ve-”

“No,” Cain cut her off, his voice dry and raspy. “That shotgun was pump action. It probably had another mechanism to pump it and prime it for another shot, unlike the single shot variety you’re thinking of. Going through the floor was the best way to get here.”

A metallic click suddenly issued forth, followed by what sounded like a man blowing into a microphone. “Testing, testing, amn ne kay.” Adonai groaned. Judging by the dialect this guy used to count he was likely to be Capulet’s apprentice. Capulet was the only one that still used that specific dialect, and the voice was way too young and soft to be the old man.

“Who the **** are you?” the Class S asked. He wiped a stray drop of blood from his forehead before it could reach his eye. “I can tell by your voice that I’m not going to like you.”

The unknown man cackled, his voice coming out slightly distorted by the unseen speaker. It sounded as though he were speaking through a telephone. Cain sighed and forced himself to stand, leaning against the wall for support.

“Mister Cain Adonai,” the voice said, “I’m glad to meet. From what Master Capulet tells me, you are a feisty bastard. Glad to see that he’s right. Now be quiet so I can address the lovely young woman with you. What is your name, miss?”

“Her name’s Aleena,” Cain angrily snarled, ignoring said half-breed’s existence for the time being. “You still haven’t answered my question. Who are you?”

“My name is Amshel,” the voice replied before he could even close his mouth. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m trying to talk to the lady Aleena. How old are you miss? What race are you? Definitely not human. How good does your blood taste? Are you any good in bed?”

Adonai sighed, produced his gun, and fired a single shot into the source of the endless questions.

~

“That wasn’t nice,” Amshel exclaimed. “He shot my camera and speaker. Meanie.”

OoC: Now things are starting to get interesting. ^_^

BiC:
I hate people like that! Aleena thought angrily as the sound of the gunshot finally faded into the night. It seemed to her that in every single town she visited at least one guy would try to hit on her. However, this guy was just plain rude? “Are you any good in bed?” she repeated indignantly. “Cain, I don’t care what you do to this guy you’re trying to kill, but let me handle the prick so I can castrate him, and stuff his ****ing **** down his throat!”

She clenched her hands angrily and looked at the floor, willing it to burst into flame and help relieve her of her anger. A new wave of pain shot from her hand, but she didn’t care. Now she had a reason to get to the top of this tower, now she had a reason to kill.

“Whatever,” said her vampire comrade. “Let’s just hurry along.”

Saving her indignation for the vampire that spoke on the speaker, Aleena followed Cain’s lead without question. With great speed they ran down hall after hall, eventually coming to the elevator room. The half demon could not place her finger on it, but there was something strange about this particular room. Unlike any of the other entrances, save for the main lobby, this room was tiled.

“Wait,” said Aleena to her companion. “There must be some sort of trap here. Why else would there be tiles on the floor?”

“You could be right,” replied the vampire. “However, we must keep moving.” With that, he ran towards the door on the opposite side of the room, only to yell and disappear from view.

Sighing quietly, the half demon followed her comrade’s path. Upon arrival at his last known location, she found that several of the tiles had fallen through a hole to the floor below. Not surprisingly, Cain lay on top of said tiles. “Are you okay, Cain?” Aleena inquired.

“Peachy,” replied the vampire dryly after cursing in another language.

“I’d hate to say I told you so, but..”

“Just shut it and help me up. Please,” replied the vampire, throwing in the please probably because he knew she was already angry. Huffing a little at his new-found attitude, Aleena jumped down the hole and landed gracefully beside the vampire, extending her hand to help him up. Grabbing it, the vampire used her weight to help him back on his feet.

Promptly jumping back up to the next floor, this time without hitting his head on the ceiling, the vampire beckoned the half demon to follow suit. Which she did, landing with barely a tap beside him. With no delay, the vampire bounded off again towards the doors and vengeance. Giving chase, Aleena rolled her eyes, secretly impressed at his resolve.