The City Of Lunar

[sabis]

'The old ranger could not recall knowing the fortune teller's voice. Or her face, for what of it his deep, ocean colored eyes saw from within the limitless shadows his hood provided him. But he had met her kind many a time in his millenia and a half. And rarely had they been wrong. However, instead of tensing, or preparing for battle, he prepared instead for drink, as he sipped lightly at his Scotch. While not the best he had had, being natively originally of the Norwegian penninsula during the ancient times when such drinks were brewed by people who had a passion for drink, it was certainly far better then the mass produced swill most people pawned off as scotch whiskey. However, he did use the mirror behind the bar to keep a close eye on the young lady and her companion at the table, his left hand resting easily, comfortably on the hilt of his blade, a casual action of ease. The deep blue orbs set in his skull, unseen to anyone else here, never waver from those two.'

[vampiress020]

Feeling Sabis eyes on them Grivous was only to happy to leave sighing she finished the glass of ginger ale and smiled at Joe not wanting him to worry to much about her questions its not like she didn’t already know what they were.

“Well then I guess we should start on our way to your place.” She said flashing him a smile as she set a crumpled bill on the table, glad that she could at least pay for her drink and half the garlic soup even though she didn’t have any. Stopping at the door Griv turned and waited for Joe to gather himself and join her.

“Come on Joe the sooner you get those drinks the sooner I might get to here one of you interesting wrist stories.” She called to him laughter showing across her face. She knew she was making him curious and the notion made her want to smile even more but she didn't want anyone seeing her fangs.

[dakkon]

Joseph tossed down the rest of the money and tip before walking out to follow her. A light smile on his face as he passed through the crowded room. He thought he saw someone giving him a dark look in the bar mirror but it was too late to check as he stepped out into the streets.

The night had grown colder and his breath was coming out in white puffs of steam as they walked through the dimly lit town. His waist was only inches away from Griv's as a harsh wind blew past his exposed side. His teeth chattered loudly as a particularly stiff breeze raced over him. "Weather like this, I can see why you'd want to visit here Griv," he finally managed to speak through clenched teeth.

Finally they came to his place, a plain green door in a reasonably well kept up column of row houses. The door opened on its own, Joseph didn't really believe in locking up anything that could be replaced. The scent of pine needles wafted out the front door as soon he opened it, a mostly unburned candle sitting perched by the door on a table stand. "Sorry about the smell, still haven't gotten around to throwing all that stuff out yet." Inside was a living room, still a little cold but warmer than outside. A couch and a few chars were idly placed around. In the back of the room, opposite the fireplace, a modest bar stood with a shelf of mostly full liquor bottles behind it. "How about I mix you something a little better than ginger ale while you relax, maybe share an embarrassing story from your past? You know, so we won't just have my wrist story to drink to."

[vampiress020]

Pulling off her coat Griv held it out to him not really feeling the cold air that hit her already cold skin. Grinning as he chattered out a sentence. She turned to him she smiled showing all her white teeth.

“I hardly ever feel the cold, you might want to wear something a little warmer next time you go out though.” She stated as she threw her coat over his shoulders and let a laugh escape her as she saw the door open on its own.

“Do you ever lock up?” She asked as she followed him in and smiled as the smell of pine reached her and enveloped her as she walked farther into the house. It smell much better then the bar they had been in and she was grateful for that fact.

“No worries at least it smells better than the bar did.” She stated as she sank into one of the random chair and let out a satisfied sigh.
Turning to him she smiled a slightly sad smile as she turned her attention to the bottle of liquor that sat on the shelf behind him.

“Maybe but you have to tell me your story first.” Griv said as she folded her hands in her lap and began too look around the room. “You really don’t know haw to organize do you?” She stated randomly as she noticed the small amount of clutter that littered the room.

[sabis]

'The wiley old ranger follows them. While most would think being so easily detected by the supernatural would make it rather difficult to track someone, to stalk them, follow them, it has only served to sharpen the hunter in him. He stalked a city full of vampires for years, slaying thousands, without being spotted by a single one without his intent to be seen. His keen eyes and sharp mind allow him to stay at a distance and still follow their movements, until he finally sets himself up in a tree not but twenty yards outside of his sensory "range" from them, but still of a perfect viewing angle of the man's home.'

'He sits there, hidden perfectly amongst the branches despite the sparse leaves, and ponders to himself, wondering why he would track them. He isn't here to hunt or kill anyone, he's a wanderer, passing through town to see if the Scotch was worth staying in the area. But the old gypsy's words echo in him, force him to think and act. Do they need protection, or do they need to die by his hand? Hence here he is, studying them, deciding are they prey or are they not?'

[dakkon]

He initially refused but, with her explanation, thankfully accepted the coat. She was different, there was no denying it. But it was that difference that rekindled his curiosity out in the night cold. He managed to utter an appreciative "Thanks, you really are something else Griv."

When they arrived he shrugged his shoulders beneath her coat. "I'd lock the place up if there was anything I couldn't afford to lose. But frankly," His eyes sparkled as he winked at her and they went inside. "I've never really thought the furniture looked that great in this room anyway"

He nodded as she asked him to tell his story first. He walked behind the bar as he kept up light conversation and made their drinks. Several cheerful grimaces came over his face as his cold hands worked amateurishly to mix what he had in mind. "I'm afraid my story might have been quite oversold to you. So before I tell what there is to tell, here is some meager compensation for you Miss Griv." He left the bar behind and handed her a thick glass of filled with a bubbling pinkish liquid. Its aroma was sweet, traces of peach and cinnamon wafting up from its fizzy golden surface. He had a similar cup for himself which he sipped at as he sat down in the coach beside her chair.

"My wrist story, is that I was raised by vampires." He continued on, not wanting to make any awkward pauses. "Hard to deny your family and friends when they get thirsty, you know. Thus the scars. That's all in the past though now. And I gotta say, it's nice not to be a juice box anymore" He forced himself to laugh off his story, as if it were an everyday sort of tale. He took a deep swig of his drink. It never got easier for him to talk about his family.

"Now I believe, you promised me a story about yourself. And I pray that either it is better than mine, or you make a great drink to compensate."

[vampiress020]

Taking the drink Griv took a light sip from it as she listened to his story. Frowning over the rim of her glass, she watched him try to laugh off the story but she knew the moment she caught a glimpse of his eyes that the story was harder to tell then he was making it seem.

“I say you where crazy to even let them near you in the first place.” She muttered as she took another sip of her drink.

Looking at him as he asked for her story Griv set her cup down on the ground. She might as well tell him now what he was welcoming into his home before he found out on his own.

“Well my story takes place along time ago in my past. AS I had told you me and my family used to come here but back then there where only a few houses a very cramped hospital and a small inn at the far end.” Stopping for a moment she pulled the memory to the front of her mind and then continued.

“I was glad to get a way from all the glitz and glamour of London which was full of balls and parties back then. I believe New York had just been founded so it must have been around 1664 or somewhere in there. WE arrived here and shortly after where attacked by an unknown creature at that time. I can remember after the attack was a blur of nurses at the small hospital and the doctor yelling something about monster.” Sighing Griv turned to look at him a faint frown creasing her brow as she waited for him to do something or say something.

[dakkon]

As she told her story a faint trace of disbelief and disgust formed at the edges of his lips.

"If something like that happened then why come back here? Whatever attacked you must have long since died anyway. Only you vampires seem willing to live beyond a lifetime." He grimaced and averted his eyes from her. The words tasted bitter and he regretted them as soon as they were spoken. She didn't seem like a vampire apologist from her earlier comment about his family. Smiling a lopsided grin he tried to change the direction of the conversation.

"You know what I always thought must suck," He continued, hoping she would humor him. "It must be hard to live for so long. Human or vampire, one day is the only difference between a broken life and a whole one. Forty years from now I'll be laid in the dirt and won't have to remember being called 'juicebox' as a kid. But you'll have to remember how bad that pub we came from smelled for a few centuries." He smiled a toothy grin, looking up to her expectantly, hoping she'd forgive him for earlier.

"I've never been to Europe but I seem to recall some friends of mine from Romania always enjoyed sour cherry soup. Why don't you crash here tonight and I'll make a batch in the morning?"

[vampiress020]

Watching him as he spoke she grimaced at his words and turned her head she really didn’t want to live if that’s what he thought, it was the thought of death that kept her from taking death by the hand and leaving.

Turning to look at him she smiled a sad smile. “The memories of the attack is just a small memory of this town I loved it here it was so peaceful no one trying to take what wasn’t theirs everyone helping each other. Besides this is one of the few places that the humans haven’t been able to hunt for vampires in with that disgusting chemical V.” She stated not wanting to get into the reason for her still being around.

Smiling at his remark about the pub she laughed, the pub had indeed smell horrid.
“But there are good smells and memories like the faint smell of pine I got as we enter your house or the unique tastes of this drink you made me.”

Looking at him she smiled and nodded sleep sounded good right about now and the promise of soup tomorrow made her smile. She was glad she had told him what she was a least he didn’t shun her like most humans did.

[dakkon]

He smiled his own sad smile as she mentioned humanities weapon against vampires."Yes, Chemical V. Nasty business that." A wave of fatigue seemed to come over him as he stood there talking. His eyes scrunched as he moved over to a chair near the radiator.

"You can have the second room on the right, just up the stairs. Bed should already made. Sorry that the view ain't much. It looks out right on the tree outside. Blasted thing, I shoulda cut it down years ago."

He cupped his brow with one hand as he tried to calm his breath. For whatever reason his head was beginning to feel like it was splitting in two. Probably shouldn't have eaten that garlic soup from earlier. No knowing what kind of junk was mixed in with that filthly bars food.

[vampiress020]

“Thanks again for letting me stay I appreciate you hospitality and your under standing.”

She whispered as she pulled the hair pieces form her hair and began to undo her braids. Looking over at him as he reached up to touch his head Griv walked over to him the unbraiding of her hair forgotten. Reaching over she lightly brushed the back of her hand against the exposed area of his forehead.

“Are you feeling okay Joe?” She asked quietly as she removed her cold hand from his forehead. And looked down at him her moss green eyes searching his as the worry found its way to the surface and began to show on her pale face.
The worry added a sharp edge to her green eyes making them look hard and distant rather than their normal warm and friendly.

“Where is your room I’ll help you to bed you don’t look so good.” She stated as she knelt down in front of him waiting for him to answer her questions.

[dakkon]

Joe laughed softly as he let his hands dip back down to his side. He did his best to give her the appearance that the pain had passed. His pinched brow and sweet soaked forehand betrayed him as a stutter broke into his hushed voice. "Worrying doesn't become you Griv. This is just a little cold I imagine, happens a lot up here."

"Your hand is cold... it feels nice." he spoke without meaning to, his eyes closing from the temporary feeling of relief. When he glanced over he noticed her green eyes looked distant. Wondering if he had offended her he jokingly gestured to the stairway up.

"Thanks but I don't let just any woman take me up to bed." He winked at her as he turned slowly and began to shuffle towards the stairs. His hand went around behind her shoulders to try and guide her along with him. "There is one thing you could do for me though. I've been wanting to ask you since I laid eyes on you back out there. Don't suppose you might imagine what that question could be?" A coughing fit passed over him as he gave her a curious look out of the corner of his eyes.

[vampiress020]

Griv grinned at him trying her best not to look worried about it but well she never had been good at hiding how she felt. Sighing lightly she closed her eyes for a moment to try and calm herself.

“Yea getting sick must be a daily part of life up here in the cold weather not to mention the snow.” She said smiling at him as he tried to pretend that he wasn’t in pain. Deciding against telling him that she could tell he still hurting.

Griv sighed as he told her hand was cold proving just how much of a fever he had. Looking at him she smiled trying to convince him that it was nothing he had said.

“Well you should be glad I’m not just any woman.” Griv stated with a bright smile of her own as she let him lead her along making sure she could catch him if he happened to fall.

Listening to him Griv lightly raised a brow as she looked at him her eyes trying to read him as she tried to figure out what question he might want to ask her.

“I haven’t the slightest clue what question it is that you might have to ask me but if you have the strength you may ask me whatever you want.” She said smiling lightly as she patently waited for him t ask whatever it was he wanted to ask her.

[dakkon]

"Careful you ain't so kind Griv. A cold place like this don't look warmly on that."His vision was getting a little muddled now. At one point going up the steps he had to stop and grip the banister. He noticed her tense behind him, ready to catch him. He tried to show his appreciation for her concern with a smile and word of thanks but only managed a weak kind of grin. His steps were heavy on the squeeking wooden floorboards of the second floor. This top floor was little more than a narrow hallway with two rooms facing each other, a closet and a bathroom on the end.

He paused at the threshold of his bedroom. Inside Griv could see that it was a small rectangular space barely big enough for the bed. A window high up on the wall cast a pale blue light over the linen sheets. The guest room across from his was in contrast much larger and more ornately decorated. Plaid colored sheets were , and oak drawers with a large mirror inset above it. The mattress looked downright comfy. Joe looked back at her one last time before he walked into his room , "I wondered about whether..." Joe paused to let the tension build as he appeared to be searching for his next words"...if you liked hockey? There's a pick up game tomorrow out on the lake. I'd enjoy seeing you there."