Welcome to Gaia! ::

Corinne noticed she got a visible and easy to read action out of Elyan in response to her question about what he was doing here. He was so distracted by that fact that he'd completely forgotten to ask her why she was here, which suited her just fine. She too did not care to reveal all that much to a stranger or anyone for that matter. Trust was something barely existent as far as Corinne was concerned, it was something for fools. Love was something she no longer sought out or longed for unless she was having a particularly vulnerable moment. She wasn't going to be played again and made a puppet for someone else's amusement. She was living her own life now and that suited her just fine, she would appreciate what she had and keep what she had. No one was going to take from her this time.

It was plain to see that this vampire wasn't comfortable discussing this topic and while she was convinced to question him further about what context he was searching for her under, she decided not to. She didn't like being badgered about her past for she never revealed more than the fact she was originally from France. Had she given this vampire her real name he would have been able to tell clear as day that her origin was French. However, this was her new life and she was leaving her old self behind over the sea. "I see. I hope you find her, then." She had felt the urge to offer help but she wasn't prepared to help a complete and total stranger, not to mention she had to maintain her facade.

The woman stood back and observed him as he cleaned himself off with a slightly amused grin that revealed a hint of her fangs. She had since crossed her arms and carefully tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear with her gloved fingers. "Feels better, doesn't it? You certainly didn't look very comfortable with all that blood tacked onto you, that's for sure. Now you can walk around without having to worry about being tracked down by policemen and hunters. I hear there is an organization of them within New York, no?"

Corinne was trying to come off as cold but it was pretty difficult to assume someone was cold when they offered to help you out by giving you their jacket and handkerchief so that you don't get into trouble. It was the mother in her. She decided to smile back and gave a curt nod. "Very well. Oh? What fool would shoot a vampire with a bullet that isn't made for executing vampires? Did you run into a frightened mortal? I suppose you certainly should consider yourself lucky, Mr. Maxwell. That bullet easily could have been the end of you. Take heed next time, there aren't many you can trust out there."

When Elyan felt the pulse reverbrate through his body, Corinne naturally picked up on it as well and smiled, arms still crossed. "You haven't fed since you've been shot, have you?" It was more a rhetorical question than anything. He couldn't hide that from her even if she didn't have psychic abilities. It was just that she was very in tune with others and she could feel Elyan's requirement for blood as much as she could feel the ground beneath her stiletto heels.

She began digging her heel into the sidewalk, rotating her heel so that it began making a faint impression against the cement. If this vampire was off to hunt he probably wouldn't much care for her to tag along with him. This individual struck her as a soloist though from what she gathered he'd probably be better off sticking with another individual that could make up for his weaknesses. So far it seemed the Brit hadn't been doing very well in this city at all. A shot to the head? He must've been pretty reckless to have received one of those. He was lucky, though, that the bullet had not been meant for a vampire since a UV bullet to the head almost certainly equalled instant annihilation. "Shall I be on my way, then?"

Clearly the handkerchief wasn't her primary concern of hers though she could tell it was a little more important to Elyan. He was staring at the blood on it for quite a while before his gaze flew up and he realized she was preparing to leave. She could feel the pulses continuously reverbrating throughout his body and yet for whatever reason he wasn't acting on them. Perhaps there was something preventing him from doing so or perhaps he was waiting for something else. Either way she'd been prepared to walk away until he called after her. She didn't have the heart to ignore people as much trouble as they possible could prove. Something told her this vampire could either prove a wonderful companion or a dangerous adversary.

The stilettos ceased clacking against the ground upon Elyan's request. Her pale frame turned around to face him and when his excuse for stopping her was because of her clothing and her rag she smiled at the man's endless attempt to be a gentleman. "It's not stealing if I gave them to you, Mr. Maxwell." She hadn't really intended on having her things returned to her when they were still in use. Perhaps she'd counted on running into him again and his chivilrous nature on guaranteeing that because he wouldn't be able to keep another person's garments.

She was preparing to leave again when he stopped her yet again and she turned to hear him out as he seemed to be begging her to do so. Corinne wasn't sure what he was planning to ask her but at any rate she wasn't the most confident it would necessarily be something she wanted to hear. Against her better judgement, though, her kindness prevailed and she agreed to hear him out. "What is it you're wanting to ask of me, Mr. Maxwell?" Her discomfort was hidden well behind her mask. Her anxiousness to leave was, as well, behind the calmness of her voice and the aloofness in her eyes.

To add to the effect of the aloofness she decided she would light another cigarette while she listened. She could listen quite intently while he explained or asked whatever it was he wanted to explain to her or ask of her. She took a nonchalant drag and stood in place as she waited to hear what it was the vampire wanted of her. Hopefully she wouldn't regret this and if she did she could fight against her very nature and be cruel about it. No wonder it was so hard to escape from her past ... it really hadn't changed her all that much ...

|| Not at all! Drama is marvelous! ||

Corinne knew all too well what holding out against your very nature was like and it certainly wasn't something anyone enjoyed doing or watching for that matter. She'd refused to drink blood for the first year or so of her life until she'd gotten so disturbed and desperate that her body had completely lost it and her rampage had begun. It'd been similar to falling asleep for she recalled nothing of the incident. She had, however, woken up to find herself covered in blood and the entire basement of someone's home destroyed, littered with seven dead bodies, all completely drained. That'd been the last time she'd ever cried and since that day she had yet to shed a single tear. All of them were gone, they'd been spent on her unborn child and her hatred of what she'd become. They had no place in her life now.

"Certainly. Elyan it is."

The vampiress patiently observed as Elyan swallowed overly hard and hid his face beneath his hair, signs of being nervous and fearing her judgement. ~Please don't tell me he's going to open up to me and spill out his entire life story onto my lap ... I really don't want to deal with this ...~

Corinne listened further to hear Elyan's story about his past and how he had been treated like a child even when he hadn't been one. What surprised her, though, was when he told her that he'd never fed off of a human she was prepared to call him on it when he informed her he'd fed off of his sire. Her expression came off as hardened and uncaring but beneath the mask her empathy was already working Elyan's story into her heart. "You cannot withdraw from the inevitable forever. All vampires eventually feed on humans. That is simply how things are. Your sire isn't always going to be there and I suppose you discovered this the hard way. It sounds, though, like she treated you as a child herself. She wasn't a very good sire if she never taught you how to take blood without killing." Her conviction was cold despite her knowing his feelings for his sire. If he didn't want to be a baby then he would have to hear it from someone.

"Of course you're pathetic! Your sire's pampered you to the point you don't even know what to do when you finally meet confrontation for killing! Like a chicken with it's head cut off, that's what you are, Elyan. You need to be taught." Yet no one had been there to teach her. Did that matter now, though? Could she just cast this pathetic vampire away to the streets where it seemed he most certainly would not survive on his own? He'd been here for perhaps a few days and already he had something shooting bullets through his forehead. A mess indeed!

When he asked her to be his mentor, however, her words ceased and her eyes betrayed her nonchalance and showed her surprise. "Me t-tea ... You want to learn from me? Hm ..." Oh no. She certainly had gotten herself into a mess now. She couldn't just leave this vampire to himself, he surely wouldn't survive if she did. He was right about being pathetic, that was for sure.

Corinne ignored his outburst at his inner self, his other self, the troublesome one. "Good," she commented as she watched the dumpster bend and ignite, the fire from it flashing within her gray eyes. "You have some hope. However, if you want to learn from me you're going to have to be willing to listen to and trust me. Both, trust especially, seems to be something you are not comfortable with so I'm not certain this would work out to your benefit. You'd have to be willing to listen and accept a few things that are likely against your morales. Do you think you'd be able to do that, Elyan?"

Upon stating all the obvious she took a huge drag of her cigarette and tapped it with her finger to purge it of ashes. Her gray eyes bore into Elyan's with wisdom and knowledge attained by suffering and hardship. It was clear that sire was a foreign word to her in the sense that she knew exactly what the word meant but had never known whom hers had been. There was contempt that flashed within her eyes, too but beyond emotions there was really nothing she allowed Elyan to read or see. She wasn't some open book he was allowed to read. Corinne kept to herself and now this pesky stranger had managed to make his way into her life and she hadn't been in New York for even five days yet ...

Corinne knew without any doubt that her words would sting Elyan but they were words of razor ice that needed to slice him so that he realized that it was the reason he was in this predicament. She would have absolutely no denial about the fact because it was his sire's fault for not teaching him otherwise. It was kind of disgusting as far as she was concerned. Who was that woman to take a mortal's life from them and then leave them helpless and defenceless when she was gone? Had such thoughts not occurred to the woman? If she loved this vampire then why had she taught him nothing and left him ignorant? The ignorants were the most vulnerable in this world for they didn't know what to expect.

"As for your darker nature. It will get to have its fun at first but it will be shorter and shorter lived every time as you learn how to confront it and silence it. Your sire was useless in that regard and now she's left you a complete and total mess. Before I continue blabbering on, though, I'm going to make one thing clear. I'm not here to be your friend. You asked if you could learn from me, very well but I am not responsible for you." These colder words tacked onto the end of her statement were to protect herself from any form of commitment though she already condemned herself there. She was going to teach this vampire how to shape up and the lord knew how long that was going to take.

"You're right," Corinne commented, "your power means nothing if you cannot control it and contain it. If you're outbursting and setting everything aflame it's only a matter of time before you set yourself ablaze or someone else you did not mean to. At the very least this shows you aren't going to be a complete and total push over but you're going to have to learn how to confront your nature. It's a nasty battle but once you can conquer it your cravings will lessen and you will be able to go longer without blood. However, in essence, you are going to go up against yourself and see which part of you is stronger. That is later, though. For now we'll have to start with the basics. We'll start by silencing this little coot beside me."

All along she'd been able to see the other nature but she chose not to regard it until now. She knew all too well what it was and it was going to be a battle once Elyan learned a few things. He was going to have to learn how to coexist with his nature, how to silence it and if he was able to, eventually become one with it. Some vampires, however, never accomplished such a feat and remained two separate selves. Corinne wasn't sure she was the person for this job but she'd signed herself up for it and now she was in for the long haul, provided he didn't die or something along the way.

With this thought in mind the psychic vampire sighed inwardly as she took yet another drag from her cigarette and exhaled the smoke. At least she'd been right about one thing: this certainly had proven to be an interesting evening. She'd gone out to find out a little about the city and instead had to babysit two beings that couldn't control their abilities. A smirk came to her face, though, when she thought of what Nitlal would think of his new friend. So long as Elyan was a friend of Corinne's, he would be a friend of Nitlal's. However, they weren't going to meet for a while, after all, Elyan would find out she'd lied if she let him meet Nitlal. Not that her lie was anything horribly drastic or secretive.

The vampire stared blankly at Travis, having dropped the bag he was bringing to the old woman. "T...travis? No! Your dead!" Cho couldn't believe what he was seeing, Travis had died, he knew he had died, hell, cho was there to see it. He was a vampire then, of course, but he was there. Cho just shook his head, not computing was was happening. Travis looked exactly like he had three years ago, down to the same clothes, sans sunglasses, of course, they were destroyed when he got shot in the face. "Are... you a vampire?" Travis suddenly laughed, grabbing his head. "Oh, ********, dude! Do I look like a bloody vampire?"

Cho laughed, it was the same Travis, all right. "Hell no, you don't. I mean, s**t, I saw you get shot, though, I thought you were a goner!" That made Travis stop, blinking. "You saw me die? And you didn't help?"

There was a low chuckle in the back of the demonic one's head, Diablo speaking again. "Oh, and thats not all he did. Want to know why your hideouts were empty? Cho sold your gang out for his bid at immortality. Want to see?" Travis just nodded slightly. In an instant, he knew all that had happened. Cho, he was now the enemy. "Cho, where are the rest of the guys?" Tavis's hand went down to grip his weapon, which he had left at the door of Ms. Maudette's apartment.

Cho was silent, his eyes going wide, nostril's flaring. Travis recognized this face, he had done it. "So, you sold our gang out for some fanged dead b***h!?!?" Travis whipped his club around lightning fast, slamming it into the vampire's chest. The undead one went flying, back into the opposite wall.

"Maudette, stay inside!" Travis called and slammed her door, it came off of the hinges. Travis had murder in his stare. He ran over and grabbed his former friend by the neck, slamming his into the wall several times, growling. "We were brothers, dammit! You don't sell out your brother!!!!" His fist slammed into his former friends face, again and again. Cho kicked him off, landing with a grin. "I never liked you ********, I was only in it to get some power, but you damn losers couldn't even get me up the crime ladder at all!" Travis literally roared with anger, charging his former brother, the kanabo shot out, crushing the vampire's knee. They were lucky that the apartment building was mostly empty, or people would have been staring, or running in terror. The two exchanged blows, the vampire obviously loosing, being sans one leg. Cho lunged for Travis's neck, obviously wanting to rip his throat out. Travis slammed his club down, ramming the vampire into the ground. He used his club as a stake, ramming it down through his heart, the club piercing through the floor underneath them. He was dusted instantly. Travis screamed, falling to his knees. His demonic aura exploded, like a raging flame in a dark night. "AAAHHHH!!!!" HE simply took his club up and walked out of the building and into the shadows. Maudette sat int her house, door off the hinges, staring at a pile of dust and a hole in the floor, wondering.

Elyan took the words for what they were, the truth. The work ahead of them would be anything but fun. After all, whoever said work was fun?

"So, you were aware of him this whole time, huh?" Elyan asked, his question already answered by her previous comment. Of course, his other self was much more than just vampiric nature. No, there was more to it than what he or anyone else knew. But, it easily manipulated him and his weaknesses in order to sway him. That was a problem which could be dealt with.

Elyan chuckled, even though his thirst-induced pain. "I already know this is an inconvenience for you, so I'll try not to be a bother. And if anything else, I am adept in physical combat." He knew that their relationship would be nothing more than a master and apprentice one. But, he wasn't asking for friendship and he believed she recognized this as well. If the relationship ever did change, then it was fate.

A young woman emerged onto the streets of New York from the nightclub, Las Noches. She had long, copper hair with blonde highlights, the bright colors juxtaposed against her subdued hazel eyes. The black leather trenchcoat she wore also played off of her pale skin nicely. She walked down the street for some time, going nowhere in particular. When she was sure she was a decent distance from the nightclub, she pulled out her GPS tracker. A little, flashing green blip marked her target, who was apparently in an apartment building about a mile from her current position. It was about one in the morning... she still had plenty of time before she had to flee the daylight. Amber walked in the direction of the apartment building.

Arriving at the building, she walked inside. She was rather surprised by how high class it was... most definitely not a drug deal. She pressed the white button with the up arrow on it, which promptly turned orange. After a few moments of waiting, the stainless steel doors opened, and she stepped into the elevator. The doors opened once again on the twenty-seventh floor, and she stepped out, following her tracking device to the man's door. She knocked twice, then waited for him to answer the door.

He opened it, and said in a questioning tone, "Hello?" then raised one eyebrow, recognizing the stripper from the nightclub he had been at that night. She placed one hand over his mouth, and with super-human strength pushed him through the doorway, closing it behind her, and rammed him into the opposite wall. She glared at him menacingly, and reached into her coat and down her bodice, withdrawing a knife with a silvered blade.

"Heed my words, wretch, this blade is deadly to man, vampire, and lycan alike, so if you know what's good for you, you'll answer my questions," she threatened, in stark contrast to the smooth sex appeal she had displayed at the nightclub.

The woman swore loudly, looking out the window and searching for any signs of the sniper. She quickly examined the bullet lodged in the man's skull, and breathed a sigh of relief after noticing that it was not a UV round. That meant that the sniper, who was probably about to fire at her next, might not have them. She tried to find the smell of gunpowder, but it was no good. The scent of the man's blood filled the room, distracting her nose. She was fighting desperately to avoid a bloodrage. Figuring she had no other options, she waited for the man to take a second shot, looking intently out the window for a muzzle flash.

She knew she was in bad shape; she'd had the job at Las Noches for some time, but if the man who had just killed the contact escaped, she'd be exposed, and her most valuable contributions to her superiors would be eliminated. She had to somehow find and kill him.

After a few adrenaline-filled moments, she decided to search the apartment. She didn't find much of use, until she got to his computer. Amber always had a knack for technology, and it had no heavy protection. She'd hacked it within moments. She found a few mundane files, and then a folder called "Poseidon." Furrowing her brow, she opened it, and browsed its contents. There were many files missing, but from what she could tell, there was a plot to destroy one of Britain's more powerful vampire covens. Grabbing a flash drive off the dead man's desk, she plugged it into the computer and saved the folder to it. Then, she removed the flash drive and went back to the front room. The smell of the man's blood became all the more appetizing. She dipped her finger in a puddle of it, and noted with delight that it was still warm. She pulled the corpse out of the view of the window, and drank from it greedily, sucking blood through his arteries to her waiting throat. She pulled away and wiped her mouth with her sleeve.

She walked back into the front room and out the door, but she would not emerge from the exit to the hotel. Instead, she went door to door, and knocked, saying "Housekeeping," until she found one that was unoccupied. She broke open the door with a loud crack, and then opened the window opposite. The room was on the other side of the hall from the contacts, and out of Jack's view. She climbed out the window and slowly made her way down the side of the building.

Her stunt raised more than a few eyebrows, so she took off down a nearby alleyway as soon as she hit the pavement.