Ninth Bite | Listen to them, the children of the night. What music they make!

[scarlet_devil]

Who: Emilia, Dani, two Blood Key imposters and OPEN
When: From October 31 through November 4
Where: The rich district, the area around Robyn's apartment and maybe the streets near Espresso Yourself. All areas both Remi and Dani have been seen in.
What: There's been a few reports of two winged girls, one with some lights on her wings, attacking civilians in these areas.
Warnings: Violence, bad stuff.

It all started on Halloween night. A couple of reports, here and there, of some vampire-like attacks on non-Numbered people in certain areas of Locke, all in areas Emi and Dani are known to frequent. Naturally, this means both Emilia and Danièle will be blamed by the media, with the people of Locke soon following their lead.

At first, Emi herself thought it was a couple of girls with rather twisted senses of humour causing trouble, but then the reported attacks were happening in a few places, area Emi and sometimes Dani have been seen in. Naturally, that pisses Emi the hell off.

Especially since there's been a few deaths on the night of the First. It'll only be a matter of time before both she and Dani are attacked... They were getting ready to move to Vegas anyway, but until then, Emi will have to find whoever these girls are and stop them, and that means stakeouts.

She just hopes this doesn't freak out Dani too much...

Comments

[knights_king]

Arthur's eyes were on Emilia. His fingertips tightened on her just as her heart slowed down. He could feel it--the seconds ticking away. The scabbard did nothing when it wasn't called for. Emilia said something barely perceptible to him in that last breath, but it was beyond his perception. All he could hear was static, the last bit of life in him deciding that it was all over.

He forgot Dani. Emilia, in his arms, had lost most of her warmth. Arthur's eyes followed Emilia's hand. The weakening grasp, followed by its complete release. With that, his eyes were gold.

The invisible barrier came off of Excalibur, snapping and breaking as if it were made of glass. Avalon vanished, discarded. Boiling beneath the wind barrier, Excalibur bled black ichor, the blade staining black and red, seething with Arthur's grief and anger.

Still, he waited. If Dani couldn't kill them, then he would do it, himself.

[scarlet_devil]

The remaining attackers seemed to notice on some level that Dani was weakening, but perhaps due to her appearance, one of them hesitated a moment before trying to slash at the girl with a silver knife.

The other, the Romanian tries to get in close to Arthur and Emilia, but what he sees makes him freeze on the spot...

[prismaticdestruction]

It wasn't long before Dani backed up, her clones surrounding her in a protective circle and all four of them hissed at the hunters. After a second, the clones vanish and the little vampire raises one hand, taking a grip of something she can only see. She didn't even see the one coming at her with the knife.

She screamed as the blade scored a hit across her chest and she lost her grip on the man's 'eye'. As she stumbles back, her free hand going to the wound and the other grabbing once more desperately and crushing another attacker's 'eye', the man exploding almost instantly. That snaps Dani out of her rage, eyes widening and fear in her eyes..right before they roll back into her head and she collapses. Whatever she just did..it was too much for her.

[knights_king]

Arthur didn't move even for a moment. Dani's injury woke him up from his anger and though he didn't so much as twitch, it was evident he didn't need to. At that point, he was fully conscious. At the very least, he could hear Dani's breathing. He could still save her. He made the mistake of thinking her magic could finish the guys off, but--

The sword pulsed once as Arthur stabbed it into the cement. He didn't even need to swing it as his will crushed its restrictions. Excalibur's heat curled through the air, piling towards the remaining vampire hunters, the heat reaching de-atomization. Despite never having done anything at all like that with Excalibur before, he seemed to be controlling it entirely out of instinct. The tendrils of destructive light and heat that whipped out of the blade sought Arthur's enemies with immense prejudice.

"I won't let you hurt her again," His voice rolled out with malice. "You--and your friends--I'm gonna make sure there isn't anything left to bury, alright? Garbage like you doesn't need a casket."

[scarlet_devil]

Seeing one of their number explode like that, and now this powerful magic Arthur was using made the still living attackers begin to back off, then try to escape him... Neither of them of them got very far before before those tendrils of heat sought them out, struck them and in an instant, vaporised them with the heat. They didn't even have time to scream...

With them gone, all that was left to do was pick up the pieces. Might as well start by pulling out that stake, right?

[knights_king]

As silence took the street, Arthur let Excalibur vanish, instead drawing out Avalon again, so he could see what he could do with it for Dani. If he could figure out how to use it properly, then--

There was the slightest inkling in him. He turned to look back to Emilia, the realization finally dawning on him. He really had screwed up, hadn't he? He stopped to settle back down beside her, placing his hand on the stake that had been proof of that fact. It didn't come out easily, the feeling of resistance making him nauseous and even angrier than he had become--yet, he had to take it out. It didn't belong there.

He lingered awhile longer before Dani returned to his mind. Setting himself next to her, Arthur lifted Avalon into his hands and tried to focus on it, somehow. It felt wrong, the concept of 'giving up', but Arthur had nothing else in him left. If he could at least help Dani...

[scarlet_devil]

What happened next, soon after removing the stake, may come as a surprise. While he was busy with Dani, Emilia's wound regenerates as an Echo washes over her... Slowly, dazedly, the vampire sat up, completely unaware about the fact she was not breathing. Or that she now lacks a pulse and her skin was so pale...

Her first though, was of Dani. Dani, who was laying motionless on the ground... "D-Dani... Arthur?"

[knights_king]

"Emi?" He didn't hear her heartbeat, but he heard her voice. Morosely, he looked back at Emilia, expecting to see her still on the ground. He turned, his hands still on Avalon as he rejected the thought of her being alive. Logically, that should have been it. He didn't feel her warmth or heartbeat in the air, so she must have been dead.

When he saw her upright, that fact simply changed. There was no reason for her not to be alive, then. Avalon was filled with warmth and for a moment, the scabbard pushed into Dani as if there were no issue of it being 'solid'. It became non-corporeal, as if it were trying to merge into her.

The result of one, immediately positive thought.

Arthur found his cheeks burning red hot from a rush of tears as he let Avalon fall, merging into Dani. He rushed to Emilia on his hands and feet, as if getting up would simply take too much time. Arthur was on her in a moment's notice, hugging her without a second thought.

[scarlet_devil]

For a moment, the vampire was in a daze, not really getting what was going on at first. The next thing she knew, she felt Arthur suddenly hugging her after rushing to her, making Emilia gasp.

"Ah... Arthur? Was I... dead?" The now undead vampire carefully hugged him back, regarding the black armour with some surprise. There's one other concern, though. Dani.

"Where's Dani? Is she okay?"

[knights_king]

He was surprised, but not so much that he was incapable of holding onto his grasp of reality. Emilia had still been far more important than anything, but Dani was still--

Arthur stopped himself, looking to Dani as Avalon remained half-way in the air and in her. It should have been enough to let the spell hold onto her, but he didn't know that much.

He just knew that it looked bad.

"Emi--I don't know. I only used that thing once or twice--"

[scarlet_devil]

Concern for her cousin made her force herself back onto her feet, but she is quite unsteady at this point as if she had just awoken from a restless sleep.

"What's going on...? Why is it inside her?" She's going to lunge towards Dani and try to grab Avalon if she's not stopped from doing so.

[knights_king]

"No--leave it," Arthur reached forward to set his hand on Emi's, so Avalon wouldn't disappear into her entirely or be removed. Where it was--he figured it could work from there.

All the same, his eyes were on Emi the whole time, not entirely sure what to make of things.

"I mean--it isn't really solid, Emi."

[scarlet_devil]

Looking at it up close basically confirms Arthur's words. And... he seems to know how it heals people well enough.

"...That'll explain why it looks like it's phased in her." Carefully, she decides to pick up her cousin...

[knights_king]

Pale, gold eyes set on Dani as Emilia lifted her up. It seemed natural for Emilia to do so, so he didn't object immediately. Perhaps it was because she returned to activity so quickly that he didn't think about it until that moment, but--

"Wait, Emi--are you alright to carry her?"

[scarlet_devil]

And then she finally really noticed... His eyes, their color, had changed along with the rest of him.

"I feel strong enough..."

[knights_king]

He believed her, but it must have been an issue of pain to him. He could remember one bad injury he'd taken. A piece of rebar through his stomach. It had been hell, he thought--dragging his insides out somewhat before everything patched itself up. Being shot didn't feel as bad, maybe because it had been so quick. With the rebar, he felt absolutely everything shift--

"Emi--I'm going to make sure nobody follows you, alright?"

[scarlet_devil]

It was definatly painful, and unlike him, she did just die... But right now, getting her cousin somewhere safe was a priority here.

"Don't take long, love..."

[knights_king]

He didn't deserve that word. Arthur looked at Emilia, eyes still red from the tears he had drawn out. The feeling of pulling the knife from her was still a marker in his mind.

Lingering in the back, there was darkness. Trash. Human garbage--people who would kill the ones he loved for the smallest reasons imaginable.

"I won't," He wanted to say, I never would, but he understood the futility and the lie behind it. His desire to be heroic had been what ruined everything, after all.

[scarlet_devil]

She remains silent for now, focusing on carrying Dani and not the fact she was almost taken away from her and Arthur both... All over fear of her, of her own kind.

"Good. I don't want to spend another second here..."

[knights_king]

"I'll be right behind you," Arthur leaned in to give Emilia a kiss, feeling the cold in her and smiling none the less. He was even doubtful she could be really considered anything negative. Vampire, undead--he was convinced she was more of an angel than anything else.

His smile, then, was genuine.

[scarlet_devil]

There was a small, surprised sound, she hadn't really expected a kiss, but still, it got a smile out of the vampire none the less. Soon afterwards, though, she felt strong enough to take to the air with Dani in her arms, staying low to let Arthur follow her.