Runaway

[brian]

Brian ran through the forest like there was a fire right behind him, he wanted to get as far away from his old home as possible, even though it was already a state away. His eyes had dark rings under them indicating he hasn't had much sleep lately. He stopped, out of breath. He'd been running for hours. I've covered alot of ground, I should be safe here, at least for a little while... He thought silently as he sat down quietly underneath a tree. He was wearing camo pants and a white t-shirt. Noth the best thing to stay hidden with. He had enough time before he left to break into his house to get his backpack, sure, but he only had enough time to pack about a week's worth of clothes. Weeeell, I'm boned.
He thought quietly to himself as he rested his sore legs. This never would have happened if I hadn't of gone into the creek to hide in the little cave. I would still be home with my friends playing video games, watching tv with my family. Can't turn back now, they probably already know I did it, or at least think I did it. Brian rested his head in his hands and closed his eyes, he wasn't that tired, the lack of sleep actually increased his sences. He'd read about that somewhere, how lack of food and sleep can heighten someone's sences to higher levels. But he did want them to be any better. So, so, sooooo boned. He sat there resting, listening to nature, getting a good rest so he could start again in about an hour. By then, he'd be gone from here too.

[brian]

Brian woke up, he must have fallen asleep, not for very long though, the sun was just beggining to set. Better get a move on then.. Brian stood up, his legs weren't agreeing with him, they wanted a few more minutes of rest before they would budge and some of the blood circulation was cut off. After a few minutes his legs were feeling better and he was on his way. He cut around looking for a nice park, he'd been to Louisiana many times to visit his Grandma, even at her funeral. What was the name of that park......uuuhhhh......City Park...der, Brian.
Brian tried to remember the route to the park that his Mom and Dad used to take but to no avail. I can't remember a single thing, too dang scared. Or it might be the last time I came here was 3 years ago..... Brian sighed and sat down again, he'd have better luck here in the forest. There was likely to be plenty of wild animals he could hunt. Even though he considered himself a monster now, he didn't want to die, especially of starvation....he'd rather die in his sleep if it was his choice but he knew that wasn't likely to happen...Someone, sooner or later is gonna find out I'm here, find out what I am and try and kill me. Which is why I need to go!
Well, do I have more of a chance of being found out there, where there are more people...or here, where I'm the only person I know of for maybe a few miles. He sighed again and made his decision. I'll stay here for just tonight, that's it, after tonight, I'm leaving to try my luck in the city...... Brian leaned up against a tree and rested his head, he still had a bad headache from lack of sleep. Like Dad always said, best to stay put in the forest, better than getting yourself lost trying to find your way out without any sence of direction. Brian closed his eyes, not going to sleep, just trying to put a giant dent in his headache so that he could think straight.

[morgan]

"Hello"

The voice was cut the forest quiet like a knife. Smooth, bright and alluring, it came from directly behind him and very, very close. Morgan lent over the boy, resting an icy cold hand on his shoulder and taking a quiet breath next to his ear. She could feel the blood running under her hand, hot with the boys exertion. The temptation to kill him nagged at her. She hadn't fed yet tonight, but she wasn't yet so desperate as to kill this child.

"Well aren't you cute! And you really do smell like dog. How exciting."

Her voice had the slightest edge of blood-lust to it, though it was otherwise warm and civil. Silent and graceful she walked around him to look at his face. He was young, so young. She could see that... and he was distraught. All these things she'd scented on his trail as she followed into the woods. It had been too tempting for her, this chance to meet one of the other race. Curiosity was her worst problem these days. She almost never finished a night doing what she'd set out to. Her ink-dark eyes were on the boy's face, appraising. Morgan stood tall and pale in the dusk, her honey-blonde hair gleaming in a bright halo around her face. She smiled slightly at him, baring the tips of two long fangs where her canine teeth should be.

"Had a bad day?"

[brian]

Brian stared up at the lady blankly. I really must be going crazy. She said hello, he didn't to respond but closed his eyes again to try and make it go away as if it was a dream. He really didn't feel like talking, even if it was real or a dream. His head felt better but he did not feel like talking that much. She layed her hand on him and he shuddered, it felt like ice. What the hell is wrong with this lady, didn't know of personal space? Or understand when someone is resting?
She said he looked cute and he thought to himself Can I ever get peace? Then she said he smelled like a dog and that it was exciting. Ok seriously, now I think this lady's nuts....does she have a screw loose or something? Then she smiled and revealed her fangs. I swear, now I know I'm dreaming! He completely ignored the fangs like she wasn't even smiling.
"Well let's see, this day has been relatively ok besides the fact that before now I was running for 2 days all the way from the CENTER of Mississippi all the way here, just for a little rest so I can at least try to get my thoughts straight and decide upon a plan of what I will do next, when a nut-job comes up and says I smell like a dog and calls it exciting and then asks me if I had a bad day....what do you think?"

[morgan]

"Listen kid,"

She removed the hand, seeing the shudder. Really she didn't want to freak him out, but she kept forgetting how cold she was now. Her ink black eyes appraised him in complete consternation.

"you need to chill out a bit. You do smell like dog, it's a scientific fact. You're a bloody werewolf. Why the hell did you just run here from Mississippi? Ever hear of public transport?"

She folded her arms, watching him with a complete lack of sympathy. Hard-luck stories had basically no impact on her. She got a hit of human memories from every person she killed, and she'd realised a long time ago that everyone was a hard luck story. Some people were just more vocal about it.

"Oh, right. I'm Morgan. And you're the first werewolf I've ever met, hence the exciting part. Sorry if I creeped you out a bit."

[brian]

Brian raised an eyebrow at her at the word werewolf, he had guessed what he was awhile back in the woods alongside I-55, and opened his eyes and stared at the woman. He laughed at the word public transport. "I don't think that's any of your business." He leaned away from the tree and stared up at her with his hazel eyes. "Ugh, god....I'm Brian, sorry if I'm a bit touchy right now, I got a headache that could drop a camel if it had it. And if I'm the first werewolf you've met, I still don't see the exciting part of it, that means there aren't that many of things like me. I have a question...were you following me or did you just happen upon this spot? I find both highly unlikely unless those fangs of yours aren't just fine dentistry work?" Brian knew alot about folklore and myths and 'creatures of the night', if she was what he thought she was he was going to be surprised, not that he would show it that much.

[morgan]

"Well, apart from you leaving a trail that a blind guinea-pig could follow I am, indeed a vampire. Thanks for noticing. I take it you haven't been at this whole fairy-creature thing for long then."

She sighed slightly. In a way it was disappointing, she'd been hoping to talk to a creature of some experience. This poor kid probably knew less about what he was than she did. A slender white hand moved to her face and brushed away a strand of golden hair. This had it's advantages though, obviously he wasn't much of a threat to her. And, -she thought in surprise- he might actually need help. This was a new one to her. I could be like a superhero. A prickle of blood lust went up her spine, killing that line of thought. She shivered, smoothing out sleek blue dress she wore with cold fingers. She really would have to feed soon, putting it off to chase down this puppy was not the best plan. She brightened suddenly, seeming to remember something. A large satchel bag was over her shoulder, containing among other things a sketchbook and about a hundred different drawing implements. In one swift move she opened it, grabbed something small and white and tossed it to him. An Advil bottle.

"Not bad, eh? Vampire to the rescue."

Morgan couldn't remember the last time she'd had a headache. Possibly vampires never had them. But then, she couldn't remember the last time she'd cleaned out the bag either.

[brian]

"Well, first of all I wasn't expecting anything to follow me. Second, A blind guinea pig?! You gotta be kidding me, the guinea pig would be killed by some kind of hawk or bird as soon as it started following me...plus it wouldn't be able to see the trail to follow it or me. And whatever gave you the idea that I was new at this?" Brian laughed lightly. He caught the bottle and read the label, Advil. "Vampires can get headaches?" Brian shrugged his shoulders, popped open the cap, dropped two pills into his hand, then put them in his mouth and swallowed them. He closed the top and held out his hand to give the bottle of Advil back. "Thanks."

[morgan]

"Vampires can get headaches?" She shrugged lightly.
"Who knows. Seems werewolves can.
He offered her the bottle, she shook her head, looking away into the night. Somewhere close she could hear the soft sounds of deer, grazing quietly in the dark. Morgan wasn't one for hunting animals, but there was no-one around here except her and the kid- Brian. She itched, he looked human. The scent of his blood was in the air... her eyes when they turned on him again gleamed coldly. But no, she couldn't kill Brian. She knew his name, she'd given him Advil.

"Are you hungry? I'm starving."

Her head tipped to listen to the deer. She breathed their scent... not human, no, but at the moment quite attractive.

"Come on."

She strode purposefully off into the wood, her footfalls somehow silent on the carpet of leaves and broken twigs.

[brian]

Brian laughed lightly again. "Obviously." Brian put the advil in his backpack of the few clothes he had brought with him and sighed. He rubbed his hand through his hair and closed his eyes for a moment. He could go for a snack. "I'm just a tad bit hungry, now that you mention it." Brian picked up his backpack and slung it across his right shoulder stopped when he saw her walk straight across the ground without a sound. "Now that is cool, exactly how long have you been a vampire?" He followed her still kind of waiting for an answer pantiently, trying not to make a sound by stepping around the twigs. He'd been hunting just a few times, enough to pick up on a few details to help not make a sound.

[morgan]

Morgan glanced over her shoulder approvingly as Brian followed her. He wasn't dead silent, but he made far less noise than any human she'd heard.
"Oh, not so long..."
She motioned him to silence- the deer were somewhere over the next rise. They couldn't see them yet, but because they were downwind the scent was strong. Morgan crept ahead more slowly. She wasn't so fast yet that she could easily chase one down, she would have to do this with some kind of tact. The thought made her groan internally, this was by far harder than catching a human in crowded New York. She was already bored. Moving so slowly was taxing her patience. Ahead there were dark shapes between the trees, a small herd. Slipping towards them, she followed the cover of the bush.
Remembering that Brian was following her, she turned and gestured for him to hang back. They were close enough that if the tired boy stepped on something the whole herd would bolt. A doe strolled in their direction and she froze, tense. Another step. Morgan crouched, hidden, then with ferocious speed she leapt at the deer. It fell, with her hands around its throat. The rest of the herd startled and bounded away in the scrub, leaving Morgan with both fangs in the animal's throat. She drank silently, blissfully, while the doe first kicked, then went quiet.

[brian]

Brian continued to follow Morgan, content with the lack of noise he was making following her. He was about to ask another question when she motioned for silence. Hunting would be alot easier with a rifle....of course they didn't have one, he was just thinking about it. After following her a bit more she motioned for him to stay back, which he did. He saw her leap at the doe, drain it and walked up to her after the rest of the herd had ran away. "I do not get how the vampyr biology works. If you need the blood of the living to survive and suck it out of their necks, when you suck it out of them, it dies, so technically your drinking dead blood.....I don't get it." Brian made a dorky grin, he loved to find out how things worked too, although this time he couldn't, and wouldn't just get a screwdriver and just hack away at whatever it was he wanted to tinker with.

[morgan]

"Point of fact, blood takes a while to die outside the body. That and I think we're magical or something."

Morgan replied conversationally, releasing the does bloodied corpse. It slumped on the forest floor, ugly and broken. She looked at it with a kind of sadness. It's eyes were huge and dark and still had the gloss of life, but all the beauty had gone out of it. Its silky pelt was damp and mottled with dirt it had kicked up trying to escape.
Morgan seemed calmer now, a pale wraith in the forest night with her blonde hair and porcelain skin. With the back of her hand she wiped blood from the corner of her mouth. She was filled with the warm bliss of satisfying her blood-lust, and when she looked to Brian again she was far more human seeming. The cold edge had gone out of her voice. She made a vague gesture at the corpse, smiling slightly.

"You can have the meat if you want."

[brian]

"I'd rather not, eat the meat of a doe that a vampire just sucked the blood out of...no offence...I'd rather wait a bit until I'm really hungry, then I'll just go into town. The aspirin is really helping with the headache, I can finally hear my own thoughts again." Brian looked at the doe wide eyed, he liked his meat the old fashioned way....cooked. Not that he couldn't cook it, just that a fire might arouse suspicion, plus he didn't have a knife to cut the meat off with. Yeah. I'll wait.... He made an uneasy face.

[morgan]

She shook her head, amused and sad at the same time. He really was new at this if the idea of raw meat was so disgusting to him. Part of him was wolf, whether he liked it or not. She'd been through the same thing when she'd been turned, though he was far younger than she was. Though he could see daylight still. That thought made her hackles rise slightly, but she calmed herself. She looked at her tired companion with some kind of compassion.

"If you go into town when you're really hungry you'll kill someone by accident..."

The hypocrisy of that statement wasn't lost on her, she cringed a little bit internally. She herself killed a mortal at least once every two days. But, she could see that he was struggling with this. He didn't want to be a monster.

"Haven't you hunted before? I can smell some blood on you. Old blood."