savetheearth | you can't deny

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you can't deny

Who: Melissa and OPEN
When: October 23
Where: Mostly in the area of Harry's apartment; sticking mostly to back alleys
What: Melissa knew she didn't like fire... time to figure out how much.

Melissa probably wouldn’t be considered the most rational, logic ruled person under normal circumstances. But this is a whole new level of irrational. It’s not even her usual type, ruled by emotion (or vice, depending). What’s happening now is far more primitive, and far more dangerous.

She knew something had changed when she saw that light- probably something bad. The expectation now is that everything is going to be bad, and so far she hasn’t really been proven wrong. She just maybe wasn’t expecting something this bad, the struggle between her humanity and something else, with that something else currently winning.

The Beast is all that’s in control now, and that leaves ‘Melissa’ acting like little more than an animal. It’s a small mercy, that she can’t bite or drain blood, but she’s still strong, and unnaturally fast. She won’t take kindly to people who get in her way... but likely all she wants to do is escape.

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Shit. Shit, shit, shit.

Harry still didn't know what the hell that was all about, still didn't. All he knew was that he'd slipped, just a momentary loss of control over this new power he found himself dealing with and Melissa had... well, Melissa had lost it.

It had to be a Numbers thing, whatever it was, it wasn't normal and it wasn't her. Which meant he couldn't let her just run off. The city was dangerous enough for people like them these days when they were actually in a proper state of mind, but like that....

So, he was off in hot pursuit, carting along that staff that had popped up after his teleporter trip. What he planned to do with it, he didn't know, but he did know that it was supposed to make this damned magic stuff easier to control.

"Melissa!" He shouted after her again, catching sight of her retreating form. Had to keep her in sight. He couldn't risk losing track of her.

Unfortunately, Harry’s call won’t do much of anything. The Beast doesn’t have a name... or at least, not one it would recognize. It’s running purely on instinct, and right now that instinct is telling it to get away from fire, from light, from anything that might hurt it. Which, both fortunately and unfortunately, includes other people. This is fortunate because it means that not only is she unlikely to come across people and try to hurt them, she’s less likely to be spotted in general. Her cheetah speed helps with that.

It’s unfortunate because not only is she not coming when Harry calls her name, she’s going to be actively avoiding running into him. But Harry might catch what’s almost a blur with the vague coloring of his sister darting through alleys.

The whole reason she was in the area to begin with was to visit Robyn, though obviously that fire related mishap, that was derailed.

Then all hell broke loose. Or rather, she saw a panicked Melissa rushing from the direction of the apartment as she arrived in the general neighbourhood, looking like all the demons of Hell itself was chasing her. "What the hell...?"

Yeah, maybe she should chase her down too. Unfortunately, she may have her strength and flight back, she doesn't seem to have her own unnatural speed. She has no choice but to take flight in order to chase after Melissa, let alone keep up. "Wait!"

Edited (submitted prematurely) 2014-10-27 18:30 (UTC)

Melissa's speed is due to certain police related modifications, as opposed to getting back her vampiric powers. Not that the Beast cares, not that it won't use anything it can to aid in its goal. And that goal is putting as much distance between it and the fire as vampirely possible.

People taking pursuit is not helping at all. Melissa doesn't respond to her name, and the second she notices someone is following the harder she's going to run.

Edited 2014-10-27 20:07 (UTC)

While she doesn't have a 'beast' that takes over, she still has some decidedly inhuman instincts. Predatory ones that give this vampire the urge to case after a fleeing target. ...She kind of wants to catch Melissa to begin with, anyway.

She's fast, though. Much faster than Emi would be on foot. In flight, maybe she can catch up, she's not going her fastest just yet.

Unfortunately, Melissa doesn’t know that Emi (probably) doesn’t mean her harm. Right now, anything that could be a potential threat is and therefore it is very important to get away.

She’s doing her best to dodge between buildings, trying to ditch her pursuer as best she can. But the Beast is reckless, doesn’t know the area, and winds up heading down a dead end.

Emi flitted down out of the night sky, landing at one end of the alley, essentially trapping the other vampire. Probably not the greatest idea, given Melissa's state of mind right now...

No, it’s really not, but it’s too late. The second Emi lands, Melissa views her as something in her way. She charges forward at that same ridiculous speed, aiming to push her way past with as much force as possible.

She might had been able to slow her down, if it wasn't for the sudden Echo that distracts her at the worst possible time.

Emilia is suddenly presented to the vision of Dani- No, Dani's past self charging at her at tremendous speed. Emi's past self shouted something sternly, and Dani's preincarnation stopped. Unfortunately, in the here and now, Emilia gets bowled over by the charging Melissa...

Edited 2014-10-31 15:11 (UTC)

Good. Melissa doesn’t care about what condition the woman is left in, so long as she’s out of her way. And she is, so the vampire doesn’t look back as she gets the hell away.

In about half a minute, she'll be perfectly fine due to regenerating after getting knocked aside like some ragdoll. More than enough time for Melissa to give her the slip and leave Emi wondering just what that was all about to start with.

He had hurried to the teleporter when he received the distress call about Melissa, who had apparently gone berserk for some reason. Eugen honestly had no idea what to expect, his one and only concern was to get there as soon as possible. But when he reached, no one was around and he almost panicked if it wasn't for the fact that there were trails everywhere. Groaning, he picked one that seemed to lead furthest away and with some luck, he found her hiding behind an empty alley.

Eugen was among those who knew she turned into a vampire but he had no idea why she would be losing her mind so suddenly. Still, he had no intention of scaring her or make matters worse for either of them. Even though he hadn't lost a single fight after regaining Tieria's combat skill so far (he was surprised he managed to took down military officers), he wasn't sure if taking on a vampire was possible. Frowning, he took a careful step forward, one hand reaching out for her.

"Melissa? It's me, Jenny. Can you hear me?"

Unfortunately for Eugen, Melissa doesn’t have enough of her mind at the moment to recognize his presence. To her, he’s another threat, another thing in the way when all she wants to do is escape. Even if he doesn’t touch her, that out stretched hand is enough to set her off.

Fortunately for Eugen, she’s not a full vampire yet. She’s fast because of her cheetah genes from the mods, but she doesn’t have the strength and, more importantly, can bite but can’t drain. It doesn’t stop her from using whatever she has at her disposal to try and get him out of her way. He might not be trying to scare her, but he startles her enough to prompt an attack and she lunges to try and get him out of her path.

Well, so much for not startling her. While she might be fast, so is Eugen because of Tieria's combat ability (or genetic, he doesn't know for sure). Even though her modification gave her extra speed, Eugen could rely on Tieria's heightens reflex and strength to somehow stop her. Plus he has the narrow alley way to help contains her. Pulling back the outstretched hand, he widens his footholds and lower his center to brave for her attack, reaching out to catch her and hurl her back into the alley.

Eugen at least succeeds in containing her to the alley, much to the vampire's dismay. She can't push pst him nearly as easily as she would like, so it's time to try other methods. Unfortunately, she has no claws, no easily thought of weapon... so her first instinct is to bite. She aims for Eugen's neck, her new fangs perfect for this kind of job.

It's only pure reflex that he manages to dodge the bite but she does end up scrapping a good portion of his neck and shoulder instead. He groans, partly in pain and annoyance as he drives a knee into her abdomen hard. All thoughts of holding back vanishes when he realizes Melissa holds no recognition or regard for him.

Pulling the scraped shirt up to soak up some of the blood from his shoulder, he flexes his hand to make sure he can still use it. Thankfully, his shoulder isn't hurting enough to compromise the use of his arm.

However, the situation gives him one huge problem. What the hell is he supposes to do with her now?

If anything should be clear to Eugen at this point, it would be how she's basically been reduced to pure animal instinct. Melissa might not be the most tactical fighter, but she knew Eugen. She might have used that knowledge against him in a fight.

Now, though? Every move she makes is wild and desperate. His hit to her stomach drives her back for a moment, but soon enough she's back and just trying to get past with literal tooth and nail... and she doesn't look like she's slowing down soon.

"Shit!" Caught by surprise by her wild furies of attack, he stumbles and crosses his hands to protect himself from her claws. Several swipes leave bloody gash on his side and forearms but they're not enough to stop him from trading blow once he reclaims his bearing. His shirt however, isn't as lucky as sharp claws tear through the fabric without mercy. By the time he manages to aim a kick on one of her knees, his shirt is nothing but shreds on the ground.

Without wasting time, Eugen follows up with a punch to her solar plexus, hoping to stun her long enough so he could knock her out before the fight escalate any further. It's time like this that he's glad for Tieria's knowledge because otherwise, he's pretty sure he'll be vampire food by now.

The punch works- Melissa doesn't notice it coming and therefore is knocked back, dazed for the moment. If Eugen aims to knock her out, he's going to need to do it quickly, before she gets up to keep on at it.

If this is Eugen before he echoed back Tieria's physical ability, he's long gone but hey, Lady Luck is apparently smiling at him right now. Even though he's unwilling to harm her, he's sure it's unwise to let her roams around in her current state. She could be out there attacking normal people and none of them need anymore negative publicity. Melissa certainly doesn't need that guilt later on. Quickly, he moves in to aim two successive chop to the back of her neck.

That does it. Melissa’s going to be hurting a bit when she wakes back up, but for not she collapses into a heap. If he doesn’t catch her, she’ll just fall to the ground. Though, whether or not that really stopped her will have to be revealed when she wakes up. Though, her expression is less violent now...

He catches her before she falls to the ground, glad that he managed to knock her out. Catching his breath a little, he gently rests her on the ground first so he could check on her and himself. At the very least, she seems alright. He's glad she has no serious injury, so all that's left is his own bleeding wounds. While they are not serious per se, he's bleeding from his shoulders and sides so, he'll rather not carry her and bleed himself all the back to her apartment. Not to mention how terrible it will looks like to anyone who sees them on the way.

So, he does the smart thing and calls her boyfriend instead. Karl can have the honor.

What a terrible, awful no good week. Surely it couldn't get any worse after a horrific murder right? Karl's hopes of that were dashed today after learning of what happened to his girlfriend. His stomach dropped to the floor when the details became clear. First Danny, now Melissa.

As soon as he could, Karl rushed over to her side and has been hoovering like a worried mama duck. Hot cocoa? Made. Food? Brought over. Vodka? Being poured as we speak. The worry is written all over his exhausted face as he hands Melissa a shot glass, "Here." It's funny. He doesn't need to sleep but all his body wants is to hit the bed and never get up. First thing first though: stay by her side for as long as necessary.

Melissa hasn't said more than ten words since Karl showed up. She said hi, thanked him for various things, but otherwise she's been incredibly less chatty than normal.

She remembers everything. Every goddamn thing she did, it did, and worse she remembers what happened to that other-her when she frenzied for the first time. That feeling of hunger had overwhelmed her, and caused her to kill her police chief.

And damned if Karl wasn't almost that exact same thing.

"Thanks," she says, one more word to her very tiny pile as she takes the class. ...She's not even sure she wants it. Damn, this is bad.

Normally, Sheila isn't one to worry much. Especially about someone like Melissa - she can take care of herself better than almost anyone else she knows. But between the mafia business heating up and the fact that she hasn't heard from Melissa in a few days, she was getting a little antsy.

It only takes a couple offhand, concerned comments from mutual friends for her to really be alarmed.

So Sheila stops by Melissa's house one evening, with a bottle of wine she'd bought before she lost her job. Something happened, and she's going to get to the bottom of what.

Melissa is way not in the mood for company.

It's been a shitty week for everyone, and she's tried to help out where she could, but there hits a point where she just can't. And she can't ignore what happened to her, what she did, what she became. It's terrifying truth that she can't deny, no matter how much she would like to.

She'd been trying to get her bearings before really having anyone who wasn't there, but when she opens the door half expecting one of the many men from her life (options being boyfriend, one of her BFFs, or her overprotective brother), she's instead faced with one of the only women.

"Oh... hey, Sheila." Shit. Melissa thinks she knows what this is about.

"Hey, Melissa. Hope you don't mind me dropping by. I, uh, decided I needed some help with this bottle of wine?" She holds up the offering, shaking it temptingly. She doesn't know what, exactly, happened. Just that it was echo-related and shook Melissa up. "Haven't heard from you in a while, you know. Thought I'd check in."

Yeah, that’s not a terribly convincing cover. But alcohol is nice, and some company so she doesn’t spend her time struggling with what the hell she’s going to do with her lie is appealing, so she’ll open the door and try to act like there’s nothing wrong. Maybe they they won’t talk about it. “Sure. Come on in.”

Sheila relaxes a little and steps inside. Well. At least Melissa looks okay. Physically. "I think I remember where you keep your glasses, if you want me to start pouring."

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you can't deny

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/is late

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[after all the frenzy stuff]

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Aftermath, a couple days later

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