Dark nights, darker intentions

[paganchick]

Valery had received this job in a rather strange way, one she wasn't partial too. Still she had received a payment that was double what she would have asked, so she didn't turn it down, instead she made the trek to the Draconi Forest, which was a rather long one.

She knew her target, this Corvus of some sorts, or at least that is what she was told, and on her long journey to Draconi Forest she had a while to think about how this would affect her hit. She decided that it wouldn't be an overly good or bad thing. Yes, he would be stronger, faster, have an easier time spotting her but this would be good for her. This would be a challenge, something to help keep her sharp. Something she needed. Plus, she would know his weaknesses because they would be her own.

For a week Valery had been lurking around, getting comfortable with the property, with Corvus and his habits. He seemed to be a very typical vampire to at least. She did like his property and planned on living there for a while after she had killed him. She had been planning and plotting and finally found the right time, or at least what she felt was the right time and place for her attack.

Under his bed, Valery laid completely still. He had been gone for most of the day and knew he would return shortly. She couldn't stop a brief chuckle from escaping her lungs as she felt her plot coming together. She should have taken the lack of nerves as a warning, nothing never went as planned when it felt like it would, she knew this but it didn't register. She calmed herself, taking an unneeded breath and closing her eyes. Valery let her senses run wild, let her mind wander, sheepishly search for his. She could hear the howling wind outside, she knew it had to be growing cold, and she could tell it was growing dark as long shadows were casted across the room by the setting sun.

Valery stopped her breathing completely as she heard the man enter, now all she had to do was wait, to listen, to be patient and way for her prey to fall blindly into her lap.

[Lion]

It was another day on his estate, and as usual, he was busy organizing contracts.  Plans to move business north were nearly underway but there was the slight problem of having to pay import and export taxes on just about every aspect of the deal.  At this point the cost seemed almost to outweigh the  prospective profit from the ordeal that at long last Corvus tired of worrying over it.  But he was amazed really just how well one might do for themselves without title, without royal blood.  And as he looked over his estate in the waning days of that week, he knew that power grew from the will for one to use what assets they had at their current disposal and what could be accomplished by such means.

But there more grew on his mind then when he lingered in the gardens, his eyes survey the trees of the Draconi forest next to it.  He grinned a little, seeing a face staring back at him as it hid in shadow, but kept his body language nonchalant.  It wasn't often he had mysterious visitors drop in on him in such a manner but he thought nothing more of it.  Corvus went about his normal routine then as the daylight bled into night.  He thought he saw the face again and again after that, creeping closer and closer.  And knew it was only a matter of time before the visitor at last came calling.

He was patient, and bid his time as he knew he could and left early in the day to take a walk in the woods.  He didn't come back until the night's youth waned into middle-age.   He retired for the night as he came into his bedchamber.  That's funny...the door seemed slightly out of place, the knob moved a half an inch from it's normal position.  But how could he have known?  Corvus hardened his expression and opened the door slowly.  The room was still, the air smelled faintly of sweet sweat...a woman's sweat.

He stepped in quietly, as if nothing more was wrong, deftly removing his night coat and draping it on the hanger by the door.  He was careful as he stepped through the room, removing his boots and placing them inside his wardrobe.  But as he neared his bed, standing across his large vanity mirror, he saw something glinting from underneath the bed.  But he just stood there, staring at his reflection, waiting as he carefully unbuttoned his shirt.  And slowly he could feel the heat of his fire tingeing on his fingertips...just in case.

[paganchick]

Valery didn't breath, didn't move. She could tell she was caught as her mind skirted around his. She could almost feel his eyes, her mind scattered around as she thought about what to do next. Valery cursed in her mind as she felt his thoughts move to magic.

Her jaw clenched first, then slowly the rest of her muscles followed suit. She was going to have to fight. The man seemed to be more sensitive than she had originally thought, his senses keener than she had hoped. He was one like her and her master, their sense sensitive to the most acute changes. She knew she would have to make the move so not to get injured by the mans magic, whatever it was.

Then with her heightened strength and speed she rolled out from underneath the bed, almost silent, unfortunately she hit her head on one of the bed post pretty hard.  Valery crouched low, her body out of view from the man and his magic though she was positive that he knew where she was. She took two throwing knives in one hand and her dagger in the other, taking a deep breath and preparing herself for what was about to happen.

[Lion]

Corvus quickly moved to distance himself to the other side of the room when the subject rolled itself from underneath his bed, his eyes honed in on a woman with weapons in hand.  But his reflexes were languid with wine and food and soon Corvus thrusted the flames from his hand, scorching at her.  Yet it was not all he he had in store for her as he shoved her presence from his mind, feeling her trying to invade into his thoughts, to predict his next move.

Corvus shoved his magic toward the bed, telekinetically lifting it from the floor - which took a considerable amount of effort - and launched it at her, intending to crush her with the maple  wood of it's frame.  "Who the hell are you to invade my house?!" he bellowed, as the bed splintered into a thousand peices, flying all across the room.

[paganchick]

Valery laughed darkly as she rolled away from his flames, then, seeing the bed rise from the floor, rolled away from the bed once it was lounged towards her. She straightened up as she looked him over, "Nice to meet you too, sexy!" She spoke, slinging her throwing knives with skill. She hoped he would be slow enough that they would hit their marks.

She didn't aim to kill him, no, she aimed for tendons to disable him. So his only defense would be his magic. That was how she liked to kill people who didn't die the way she wanted them too, slowly, painfully.

Valery clenched her jaws as she watched him, cursing in her mind, she could feel him pushing her mind away which only made her push harder, forcing herself into his mind almost violently. She hoped that he stayed this slow, she felt it would make her job easier, and add a hint of fun as she continued to move around the room with practiced grace, a smile on her face the entire time.

[Lion]

Much to the contrary.  Corvus saw the blades and moved just in time to have them shear only the fabric of his shirt.  Damn!  This was his favorite shirt too!  Oh, the bitch would pay for that.  Would pay dearly!  Corvus grit his teeth at her and felt his claws growing from his hands as she danced around the room.  He bent down and plucked a knife from the wall, flipping it in his hands from blade to hilt and back again.

"You think you can read me?" he said with a coy grin.  "But the very thoughts you so desperately push for are just what I want you to think."  He threw the knife at her with deft precision, turning the blade this way and that in case she dodged it shortly before lunging at her, slashing his claws at her, wary of her blade, his eyes crazed and wild.

[paganchick]

Valery dodged her own blade thrown at her with skill, it was clear she had been doing this for a while, though when he lunged at her, that she was not prepared for that. She felt her fangs lengthen, preparing to fight in an animalistic form if she must though she didn't prefer it. Valery felt Corvus hit her body full force, then felt her body under his weight as both hit the floor. She went for her first instinct, biting him, her fangs sinking through his clothes on his shoulder.

Valery felt his claws against her skin and her body healing soon after he cut her. She reached to her side, pulling out two small knives, using them as claws that she lacked. She heard a growl escape her chest as she bit, kneed, cut, and hit wildly. Her sapphire eyes filling with rage.

[Lion]

Corvus could feel her rage in every movement, with every strike as she slashed and cut the cloth of his shirt to ribbons slashing across his body, making him bleed like sheep.  But he found himself laughing despite his wounds and her rage only fed into him, sending him into a frenzy as he dug his claws into the soft flesh of her face, gouging into her cheek.

At the smell of blood in the air, Corvus's fangs bared and he grit them as he fought to control her wrists and pin her to the ground, using all of his strength.  He bent down and let his tongue lap against the red that seeped from where his claws dug in and tasted it for a moment.

"A vampire sent to kill another vampire, how quaint," Corvus said capturing his hand around her throat and letting his nails dig into her flesh there, heat and fire permeating through his own hand, though that required letting go of one of her arms.  "Who sent you!?  Give it up now and I might let you die easy, rather than peeling the meat slowly and painfully from your bones."

[paganchick]

Valery didn't even flinch as he dug his nails into her face, just let out a deep growl, her teeth snapping at him violently. Even when he had her pinned, her hands above her head she didn't stop fighting. If looks could kill Corvus would have died ten times in a row, unfortunately for Valery, looks couldn't kill, at least hers couldn't.

Even as she fought beneath him she knew she was caught, but one wrong move from Corvus, and like a cornered animal, Valery would lash out in a deadly way. As he leaned down to taste Valery's blood she snapped her bared teeth at him like a wild animal before spitting at him.

"I don't know who sent me," She growled, "It was done anonymously, I just got money, never knew their name or saw their face. If I knew who they were I would kill them after I kill you!" Valery screamed, going through another wave of struggling again him wildly, growls escaping her chest as she fought and tugged and wiggled under him.

[Lion]

Corvus laughed at her protest.  "Oh-ho-ho-ho, is that so?" he bared his own teeth at her in a wicked grin.  "My you are ambitious aren't you?  First me then your employer.  Well, that's all well and good but I'm afraid you'll have to find another chance for all of this bloodshed!"  He roared at her his own rage boiling as he slashed at her throat and soon adjusted his weight so that he could stand in one quick motion.

As he stood up, he launched her clear across the room and yanked the tattered pieces of his shirt and tore them from his person, throwing them to the ground.  His wounds healed quite rapidly, blood dripping down his adbomen, the wounds sealing carefully is if they never happened.   His hands charged with violet flames and he tossed them out at her, fireballs that billowed out like flaming clouds.

"You want to play? Let's play!"

[paganchick]

Valery hit the floor hard, letting out a slight grunt as the wind,  was knocked out of her. She jumped to her feet though, her body already healing before his eyes. She started to transfer her weight from one foot to the other, almost as if in a boxing match, her eyes focused on the flames.

"This doesn't exactly seem fair you know," She spoke a dark grin spreading across her face, almost as if she was liking this.

Valery could taste blood in her mouth, she didn't know if it was his or her own, she didn't really care though, it awakened her blood lust.

"I am sure my employer would be an easier target than you, if he or she wasn't they wouldn't have hired me," Valery spoke after dodging flames a few more times.

[Lion]

"So you would think," Corvus grinned at her.  "But just because they sent someone clearly as strong as you, doesn't necessarily imply they are weak themselves.  It might mean they are simply too smart to dirty their hands themselves.  And in that case, I could think of a few people who might be clever enough to hire an assassin to take out certain 'competition'."

Corvus lunged at her once again, slashing his claws at her, fully intent of cleaving her in half as they shred through leather and flesh.  He was relentless in his assault, stepping left then right, adjusting his weight and stepping in then out and dancing around her.  Even if she got a few lucky hits in, his body would heal as quickly as hers did.  That just prolonged the fun.

[paganchick]

Knives still in hand Valery slashed just as much as Corvus, her agile frame moving with his in a deadly dance that it seemed neither would win. Stepping back though, she felt her foot slip and her body fly to the floor. She tried to reach back to catch herself but she was too late as she felt her head hit hard against something hard. She gasped. She felt the shock waves of the blow in her skull, she knew at that point Corvus had won as her head hit the floor.

Valery wasn't knocked out, but she couldn't fight as her head spun and her eardrums rang. She blinked a few times but still watch she saw was distorted and blurry. She tried to roll away but it would do no good, if he wanted to kill her he had his chance. She could feel her body healing, but head injuries always healed slower. If she was a human she knew she would have died then, but no, she would have the beautiful opportunity to get slowly tortured to death by the man she was suppose to kill.

[Lion]

Corvus knew she would get sloppy, she'd make the smallest mistake that would ultimately be her downfall.  When at long last she slammed her head down on the ground, it only took that brief second for him to kick away her knives out of reach and he grabbed her face then, digging his claws into the soft flesh just underneath her jaw and pulling her along the ground, dragging her through the door.

"Beautiful and overzealous, typical combination," he growled as he dragged her form down the stairs, holding her face in a vice grip fully capable of crushing her skull in his hand if he so desired.  He stood by a candelabra that glowed quietly in the darkness of the stairway.  He pulled on it and beside it was a bookcase that slid off to the left, opening a secret chamber.  He continued to drag her down the steps as the bookcase slid behind him, down to the dungeon below.

He slammed her hard against the floor and leaned over her to strike her hard across the temple, repeatedly until she was clearly unconscious.  Only then would she be chained and suspended by her feet on a rack above a pit of spikes, ready to impale her should she be released.

[paganchick]

Valery clawed at the floor as she was dragged, her body all but limp, all the time she cursed the man who drug her, swearing she would kill him one day, she didn't care what it took, one day she was going to return the favor.

The last thing Valery remembered was getting hit in the head, she woke up suspended. Her head pounded, she blinked a few times to get her eyes to focus, still they all but refused. She coughed as  her eyes began to adjust to the lighting around her, looking down to see the spikes. She took a deep breath, spitting the blood out of her mouth. She could feel her body starting to heal and the hunger starting to creep in, a primal hunger that could drive someone mad if not sated.

Valery started to look around again, her eyes searching for Corvus, would he still be down there, to torture her, to kill her? Valery didn't know, her mind was still too clouded to reach out and try to find his mind with her own. The hunger was starting to take over her mind. The more she healed the more she wanted to feed.

[Lion]

"That itch you can't scratch, eh?" Corvus spoke to her, feeling her trying to invade his mind once more.  He slowly came down the stairs, emerging from shadow.  It had been a day or two since their last scuffle and he thought she needed some time to cool off.

"Yeah, it can be quite a bitch, but now that you've had some time to think about what you've done, maybe we can do something about that...itch," he smirked at her and leaned against the wall just a few feet by her, but still out of arm's length away.  "What d'ya say?"

[paganchick]

Valery twitched, her usual deep sapphire blue eyes starting to turn a slight purple. "You know if you don't let me down or at least feed me blood you'd mind as well let me fall to my death, without blood soon I will go feral, then I will be wild and more dangerous than I am now," Valery spoke, her voice calm but right on the edge it seemed.

"I am looking for self preservation just like you, so if you let me down I won't attack," Valery added after a moment, feeling the hunger nagging, screaming at her, demanding blood.

[Lion]

"You do have a silver tongue," Corvus said, some degree of admiration evident in his eyes.  "But how could you possibly know what it is that I seek?  My mind is not so easily unguarded.  But tear into me and you're dropped."

Corvus stood forth and folded the sleeve of his shirt and knelt before her offering her his forearm for her to drink from.  "Go on then, sate your thirst."

[paganchick]

"So you are saying you do not seek self preservation? I think if that were the case you would have let me kill you," Valery spoke rolling her eyes as she popped her neck, a habit she had picked up some time ago, something she did when the hunger got bad.

"You are a vampire, your blood will do me no good, it is already dead, it would be like a human eating the ash of their loved one and expecting nourishment," Valery spoke, turning her head away from his arm. Her body, all of her instincts told her to bite, to attack it, but she knew it would just be going through the actings, it wouldn't help her at all.

[Lion]

"Don't be so presumptuous, assassin," Corvus growled at her.  "You don't know nearly as much as you think you do.  You of all creatures should know nothing is usually as it at first seems.  Now silence and drink."  He reached down a hand and yanked her head up by her hair cradling her in one arm while shoving his other forearm toward her face.

"You could not fathom the finer points of my condition, darling.  You feel that?  That's a pulse.  This body is a living breathing vessel.  Blood fresh and vibrant coursing from a working heart.  I'm not like you in many ways, and in many ways, I am.  But that is a tale for another time, now feed."