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"Mercy. I knew a Mercy. She had her head ripped off by a daywalker.
I haven't looked back since then."
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Forests. Trees. It all seemed to blur together. Animals and wild life, the dark sky above, little puffs of clouds rolling by in feather-falling slowness. The wind sighed quietly through the trees around Daemian, the breath of the world caressing his skin. Funny, he always thought the planet itself would damn the forsaken.
Yet here he stood, gently caressed by the winds of the earth, the cool waters tickling his bare feet as he stood in the tress of water that drifted past him, feeding into the larger tributary. Moments like these made him remember why he was alive. He lived to keep these moments pristine, to keep the earth as it was. Humanitarian? No, not really. Humans were fools, often taken by petty squabbling and lies.
Did he hate his own kind? Far from it, for he still fought for their survival. No, he just wished they’d wizen up a little.
‘Tired of fighting alone?’ Whispered the phantom words from within the recesses of his mind. No pun intended, for Daemian knew it truly was spoken by a phantom. Sighing deeply, Daemian lowered his gaze from the sky, to the stones set against the small stream of water.
"Dres, how many times are you going to bug me? I know already, alright?" Dres, a man of braided silver mane and red eyes to match Daemian's, sat rather haughtily on his throne of a stone. His eyes were filled with a casual mirth, a smile gracing his lips. If he'd been corporeal, the moonlight would have been reflecting off his lip ring, but seeing as how he wasn't it mattered little.
‘Just sayin Ian. There's not a lot of time, and you do have to get to the sanctuary within the next two hours.’ Daemian scowled at the man, his long time companion, but sloshed his way out of the stream and onto the bank, drying his feet quickly before replacing his socks and combat boots.
"What’s Hawk got to say?" He asked casually as he finished tying his boots, then slipped into his belted overcoat. It reached all the way down his six feet three inches of body, stopping only a foot from the ground so as not to drag along it. Hawk himself approved of the look on Daemian, for at least the coat would fit on him as well, if he were alive. Hawk though, was mostly bald, save for the mohawk and beard he wore, both white. The coat probably would look really odd on him, but who knew. His eyes Matched Dres and Daemian's perfectly.
‘Not much. About four of the scum, spaced out through the cave. Taken, from the looks of it’. Dres made to yawn and stretch, a ridiculous notion considering he had no lungs nor could feel exhaustion, but did it out of habit, and an attempt to still seem human. ‘Merc's spotted a few cattle as well, gunners from the looks of it.’
"High tech?" Daemian questioned idly as he strapped on his Katana, then made sure it could be easily drawn. As for Mercy, or Merc as they called her, she was another ghost, like Dres. And like him, she had silver hair, though her eyes were a bright green in hue instead of red. She had a tattoo that scrolled down one side of her face, starting from her right eye, then stretching down under her shirt to reappear on her arm.
‘Course. You know how these newb Walkers are. They hear word a hunter is coming, and figure they grab as many cattle as they can, arm em with the one thing they think a hunter won't be expecting, and then sit back and let the fireworks go.’ Daemian checked the blade for nicks then, and satisfied with its conditions replaced the blade. He made sure that he had several Seal's within easy reach on his belt then turned back to Dres, who was now standing ahead of him, within the tree line.
You ready for this? Daemian glared at him for a moment, but instead of snapping at him, he indulged his curiosity. “As much as I can be. You okay Dres?” The ghost gave a slight shrug of his shoulder, a blurring of lines as the ghost moved. ‘Just… a feeling. I dunno. It feels like… like we’re missing something. Like there’s something looming in the distance, ready to…to… I don’t really know.’ Dear gods. Ghost jitters. Now that was something Daemian didn’t want to think on. “Relax Dres. We’ve got this. I’ve got it. I’ve had it for nearly seven years, alone.” Daemian started forward then, passing farther, deeper into the trees. “ I think I can handle a few foolish berserk walkers.”
Dres snorted as he followed, ‘Never said you couldn’t. Just…be careful.’
Daemian ignored that as best as possible. Not much shook the ghost; and Daemian knew that. But it wouldn’t help him at all to be straining his neck to look at his backside if the walker was pointing a gun at his skull from in front of him. Which had basically become Daemian’s general practice with these things. Forge ahead, and don’t look back.
So he did that, ghosting through the tree’s of this moonlit night, a bare whisper of sound on the wind. After what felt like twenty or so minutes, he found himself perched on one of the higher treetops, alongside Mercy and Dres, who were pointing out the small silhouettes of moving shadow in the brush below, signaling the goons the Walkers had ensnared as sentries, and later on, as meals. He had a roll of garrote wire in one hand, and was tying one off one end of a strip of wire to a knife, the other in a loose lasso large enough to fit one’s head through.
Set up in a jagged line in the brush leading up to the mouth of a cave, were three of them, one passing under Daemian while patrolling. Another one kneeled in the brush about twenty feet ahead of him, and finally a third one, stood at the mouth of the cave, which was set a little (about six feet) above ground level, allowing him to keep watch on the others. They each bore one model or another of a Automatic rifle, ranging from a Uzi, all the way up to an M4.
Wisdom said to take out the one at the top first, but Daemian had never been one to listen to conventional wisdom. Besides, he hated back tracking. So, as quietly and calmly as he could, he lowered the invisible wire down from his perch. It settled around the throat of the unsuspecting man, and before he could even realize what was happening enough to scream, the lasso became a noose as Daemian dropped off the other side of the branch, causing the thankfully sturdy wire to rip the man off his feet and suspend him from the branch-turned-pulley.
As he landed, Daemian drove the dagger he’d tied the wire to deep into the earth, and left it there as he flashed behind the tree. While it was true, the wire could not possibly hold the man for long, and the knife would loosen within moments, the damage was already done. The garrote had crushed the man’s larynx and trachea, thus rendering him mute and strangling. It would take only a few minutes for the loss of airflow to kill the man, so Daemian left him be, darting through the trees to his second and third targets, respectively.
The first of the two to notice him, the one at the ledge, let out a shout and took aim at Daemian. But he was faster then the man apparently, for he already had one of his many knifes drawn from its sheath and pulled back for a throw before the guardian even had finished his shout. By the time the gun had come up, the knife was soaring through the air straight at him.
Now, it’s true: throwing knifes ever rarely hit their targets. Especially when thrown by a moving person. It’s usually saved only for things like movies, with lots of wires and special effects. More often then not, the pummel of the thrown knife ended up hitting the target rather then a blade. But Daemian wasn’t aiming to kill the man with the throw. Not at all. He was well aware of the fact that the pummel of the knife had struck the man instead, doing relatively no damage. But what it had done, was made the man flinch to one side to try and dodge, even more so when the knife struck his shoulder. He’d completely left his comrade uncovered, who was still scrambling to reorient on Daemian’s shifting form.
By the time the man had finished turning, Daemian had already passed him, his Katana leaving it’s sheath in a silent flash of metal and a rain of bloody droplets fouled the air as the man gasped, then crumpled to the ground, holding what was left of his severed shoulder. It took all of two second’s for Daemian to dive forward, sliding through the last of the brush separating himself from the final guard. The man had finally recovered, and took aim at the brush just in time for Daemian to come into view. He got off a quick burp of automatic fire, and there was a short series of burning hammers ripping through Daemian’s side, but he ignored them as he came to his feet again, leaping at the man as slashing his sword at the mans face.
There was a moment of agonized screams, more blood fouling the air, then a sickening ‘thunk’ as metal bit into earth, and then all sound died out. Daemian wiped the blood from his sword on the corpse’s shirt, then replaced it in it’s sheathe and checked his side. The bullets had slipped through a niche in the Kevlar worked between the inner and outer layers of his coat, and had scored cleanly through his flesh, which bled rather profusely. Damn. The Walkers would smell him coming then, scenting on the blood. Ah well, he’d have to make this fast then. He dredged up what he could of the blood with a spare napkin, then covered and taped the wound closed with a small bit roll of duct tape he carried with him at all times.
No sense going into a fight if you’re going to bleed to death soon after. And he’d have to be careful from here in. With the wound as it was he’d end up favoring that side, especially if he tried to stretch too far. Thank god the Kevlar had slowed and altered the bullets path, preventing any major damage.
Daemian shifted slightly, then made his way deeper into the cavern. About the time the stench of rotten meat began to get strong, Daemian drew his hands together before him, producing a single, small shuriken. The cavern began to dip deeper into the earth, though the roof stayed straight and even, creating a high-ceiling pit, full of columns and farther down… corpses.
It didn’t take long from there for him to find them. In fact, they found him. Three Walkers, disfigured by blood/blood rage, fell on Daemian from the rafters of the cavern. He’d heard one creak against the stone’s above him, rolling forward before they even touched ground. When they did, Daemian had already begun to turn, his thumb moving in a practiced motion, clicking the small indent in the Shuriken, causing it to split into it’s true form of four hooks. He tossed two into his opposite hand mid-whirl, passing them before his mouth as he readied them, then flung them at the two Walkers who descended on his left and right sides. The blades found purchase as the Walkers came to their full height, catching them directly in their solar plexus. The third, and only one left untouched let out a feral roar, as he lunged at Daemian.
He’d expected that, and had been in mid draw before the Walker even lunged. He met the Walker mid leap with his sword fully draw, slashing through it’s chest which subsequently erupted in a blue green fire as walker flesh met blessed silver blade, which in turn caused the walker to start making a whole new kind of music: Screaming.
Daemian had barely finished the slash when he lunged himself, ramming Katana through the walkers chest, impaling it with a slight pop as blade punctured spine.
Daemian laughed then, his eyes alight with insane mirth. “Skewered, like a ******** pig.” Fear passed over the newly turned vampires face, then shock. Lots and lots of…
“-Shock.” Daemian said aloud as he whipped the blade from the Walkers chest with a whirl and a forward jerk, which dislodged the blade from the Walker. The Seal he’d worked into the pummel of the blade came alive with a brilliant blue light, then something akin to blue-white serpents erupted from it, and traveled down the wires he’d tied to the pummel of his blade, into the hooks dug into the other two vampires.
More screams rent the air as the walkers were burnt to ashes, causing a wicked, sadistic grin to cross Daemian’s face, showing his canines. Dres and Hawk simply rolled their eyes at him as he stood there, silhouetted in lightning as it flashed from walker to walker, and a brilliant blue-green flame that was the first of the walkers to die.
Merc appeared then, and got half a thought out that sounded like ‘Ian, watch ou-‘ but her words were cut short as the clash of clapping hands reached Daemian’s ears. It was exaggerated, like the kind you find in B-rate horror movies, or pompous jackasses who underestimate their enemies.
“I must complement you, that was a most stunning display of brutality I’ve seen in awhile, and that’s saying something.” Daemian turned then, noticing a set of stone steps that had randomly appeared out of thin air. What the hell? He paid little heed to the ridiculous fool that descended said stairs, other then the fact that he had pompous, overbearing, butt-licking dumbass written on his forehead. Okay, not really, but it really stood out to Daemian, what with the Victorian style outfit that seemed to have come from the dark ages.
Dark eyes accented long, dark curly hair, which hung down to the man’s shoulders. He had an air about him that Daemian wasn’t which would quantify it better: I’m better then you, bow down to me or I’m better then you, please kill me. He liked, and would oblige the second one much more, and readied himself to do so when the man held up his hand, as if asking for pause. “ Come now, we are both men. Can we not talk this out like civilized people?”
Daemian could only stare at the man. His sword dropped to his side, and he started to tremble. “ There now, was that really so hard?” The man almost cooed as he strode several more steps down the staircase.
Daemian threw his head back then, and roared with laughter. “Me? Talk civilized to a ******** Walker like you? Are you brain dead, or just ******** stupid?” Daemian kept laughing, much to the man's ire. “I suppose what, you want to talk about turning me? How I should join you in your 'dark afterlife'? Bunch of ******** bullshit.” Daemian snarled finally, the fire returning to his eyes ( though the tears of laughter mitigated this some what).
“You....” The man seethed, his fists clenching and un-clenching, as if he couldn't decide weather to strangle, or punch Daemian. Oh yeah, he loved having that effect on these damn monsters. “ You fool! How dare you insult me like that! You dare insult the son of Botheric, king of all vampires?!”
Now that was a new one, and caught Daemian's attention. Botheric, eh? This bared thinking on, but that would come later. He had a job to do. “ I dunno about any ButtTrick, but I'll gladly teach you a new one:making your face meet your a**.”
“Don't you dare speak about Botheric like that!! I'll kill you! Make you respect the power that is Botheric!!” The walker roared, then thrust his hand out at Daemian. In it's wake, the earth literally rippled, then shot forward, a spear of rock stretching from the stone staircase at Daemian's shocked face.
Huh. Explains the staircase. He thought, and in a swift movement shifted to his right. He wasn't fast enough, he knew he'd been caught off guard, and took the spear through his shoulder, but thanks to his quick movements it only cut him as he spun about its side, instead of impaling him. As he spun almost drunkenly, his left shoulder on fire, he reached into his coat and withdrew yet another knife, his last of the set. Coming out of the spin, he threw it, but thankfully this time it struck true, striking into the expectant Walker's shoulder, knocking him off balance. It only took a few seconds, but that was all the time Daemian needed to cross the distance between himself and the Walker, slashing upward along the man's chest. It rended his chest, blood taking to the air before exploding into blue-green flames.
As the slash reached it's peak, Daemian overextended himself, pulling the blade back over his head and drawing his body taunt. Then with one swift move, and a roar of triumph, Daemian drove the Sword home through the Walkers skull.
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An hour later, Daemian walked through the door's of Sanctuary, the small tavern set up nearly in the underground of New York. And yes, it was an honest to god tavern, not a pub or anything like that. Bartender, flaming hot grill, and sixteen tables spread out around the room, respectively. The walls were covered in images of old myths, visages and paintings of a time long forgotten. Or some held the belief they were. This was one of the few places that knew those creatures still walked the earth. Monsters still lurked out there, in the shadows.
And this was one of the gathering points of any knowledge on such creatures. Daemian walked to the bar, nodding to a few patrons that he knew, then took a seat at the bar and set his prize, the necklace of Fredric Lestool, Walker of Stone, as he'd gained the name, on the table. “ Will. We've got a problem.” Daemian said, addressing the barkeep.
“Oh? And what's that?” the man replied. He was well on his way to his thirties, but showed no signs of aging, a long mop of golden hair hanging from a ponytail at the back of his head, his blue eyes alight with simple mirth, and his perpetual smile gracing his face. He had a very boyish charm about him, that few in this day and age retained this long, a gentleness and innocence. It was the best damn facade Daemian had ever seen. William Mccrosbie, owner and proprietor of Sanctuary, was one of the best damn hunters Daemian had ever had the pleasure of knowing. He'd never actually seen the man fight, but he was kind of thankful for that. Word was the man was a demon one did not want to see on the battlefield.
Then again, Daemian was something of one himself.
“I just squared off against a walker. Who controlled earth William. He made a spear out of the ground to try and skewer me.” The man stopped dead in his tracks at Daemian's words, all mirth leaving him. He turned slowly to Daemian then, looking the man hard in the eyes. “Merciful night, you're telling the truth...”
“Yeah, and something else. He said something about a King of Walkers. Somebody by the name of Botheric.” William pulled two bottles from under his counter then, one for Daemian and one for himself, taking the cap off with a twist of his hand. Will was like that.
He took a pull from his bottle, then glared down at it, hard. “ I dunno much Daemian. First I've ever heard of it. But I'll look into it, do some digging. I have heard of something though.”
“Oh?” Daemian replied before taking a pull of his own bottle. “Mm. There's been an uprising of Walkers lately. Caligo, some town not to far from here. It's getting drenched in blood man.” William paused then, and took another pull from his beer. “Might be a lead. Might wanna check it out.”
Daemian nodded then, took another pull from his own beer, finishing it, then placed a twenty on the counter. “Thanks Will.” Cool Autumn air met Daemian as he stepped from the Tavern, rustling his long-coat as he started down the street. Caligo, was it? Time to do some digging then, maybe knock a couple Walkers on their asses. It was time for some answers, and Daemian wasn't above leaving a trail of blue-green blazes behind him to get them. One thing he knew for certain though:
This was going to be fun.
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