Big Apple Bound

[Peregrine Daniels]

Peregrine hovered in that peaceful state between dream and consciousness. There no nightmares this night, no vampires, no ghosts, no werewolves, just lights and colours and the gentle humming of the private jets engines. Groggily Perry opened his eyes, it was a typical scene, the lights were dimmed, and the few staff members that worked on the Iluminix private jet were at the front of the plane busying themselves. They may have appeared to be ordinary flight attendants, but these women were some of the best trained warriors the enemy had.

Something caught Perry's eye to his left, he turned his head and caught a glimpse of what looked like a little boy, silvery blue, the child had a hue to him, it was a glow as well as a deep darkness. The Child was sitting next to Vanessa watching her intently. Perry pulled himself up in his chair; he shook his head and blinked the sleep away. But there was no child. Vanessa remained seated in the comfortable chair… alone. Perry turned his head questionably, it was just sleep. The ghost Vanessa had taken care of had moved on… hadn't he? Plus did ghosts need to travel by plane, couldn't they just appear and reappear, if at all. The ghost would be tied to the enemy's headquarters surely. Perry scolded himself, sleep… perhaps he was having nightmares after all.

Peregrine couldn't tell if Vanessa was awake of asleep, her face was turned towards the window, all he could see was the tendrils of thick black hair, he would let her sleep if in fact she was. Perry casts his eyes down to the photographs depicting Celtic artwork that lay on his lap, It was one of the oldest records the Iluminix had, from the 7th century it was all about a group of druids who were battling their own forms of vampires… they were different however, they weren't demons masquerading as humans, they were simply demons and humans where their prey. But the Celts were on top of the food chain, vampires were vermin the druids could control… Peregrine was starting to wonder how far things had come, were Vampires finally taking over from humans, no longer were they vermin… they were a force to be reckoned with, they were organised and were in control of entire countries. Peregrine sighed, reality had struck once again, he silently wondered to himself what life would have been like if he didn't know what went bump in the night, would be any happier… any safer… he cast the thought out of his mind and looked away from the photographs, his eyes were beginning to sting, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Mr. Daniels, we'll he landing at the JFK international in half an hour"

Perry smiled and thanked the woman, he casts his own eyes to his window and saw the brillaint lights that were New York below, New York was one of his favourites cities in the world after Melborne. It was also one of the most Vampire opoulated cities on the planet, it was everything a vamp would want. The city never slept, the buildings cast shadows during the day for vamps to move around during the day. And their was prey everywhere. Perry began to search his pockets for his phone, it had been turned off the whole 23 hour. Perrys phone had never been turned off for so long, he risked a quick peek and turned the phone on, the light flashed brightly casting an eery blue gaze over Perrys stubbled face. 34 missed calls… 18 voice messages… 12 text messages… Perry tilted his head back and sighed deeply, something was up… something bad. He looked at Vanessa again.

"Nessa… are you awake? Can you do me a favour and check your phone…"

[Vanessa Marlowe]

There were faces, hundreds of faces pressing in on her, but for some reason she wasn't frightened. Sad faces, and blank faces. She tried to speak to them, but all they kept saying, in unison, was the word "home." No matter what she asked, the sea of faces gave her no different response and continued to close in on her. But unlike her other prognosticating dreams, she wasn't fearful of the faces. They carried with them the distinct impression that they were trying to gain her help. But then the dream disolved into the bright lights and sounds of New York City. Vanessa loved the city for what it could offer--the shopping, the restaraunts, the theater (Vanessa thrived on the theater)--but much rather preferred the solace of the countryside. It's why she made the Country House their Headquarters. Still there was an office in the city for Illuminix, it was absolutely necessary, but the Country House was one of the oldest in the region, and had been an outpost for Illuminix since its inception. It was a grand manor and the grounds and House itself made her feel a little closer to London. Her body knew they were over New York, even before the Flight Attendant told Perry. There was a distinct rattling in the soul when you entered a city full of such malignant individuals and creatures.

She had opened her eyes, glancing out to the city beneath them when she saw the glare of pale blue light in the reflection of the window. She had to smile for a moment. For all they've been through, she and Perry were so much alike. Always working. Always. For a brief moment she wondered what it would be like for all of this to dissapear. To be able to live a normal life, she and Perry off on vacations, waking on sundays with a newspaper and coffee. No need for their direction, no vampires, no demons, no werewolves. Just them. And the normal, mortal world. What would it be like?

"Nessa… are you awake? Can you do me a favour and check your phone…"

It would be utterly boring. She shifted in her seat, turning to face him from across the aisle, still in that moment before full awakeness and responsibility presses in on the departing dreams and sleep. She grinned playfully and plunged her hands into her dark hair, already lifting it from her neck into a clip. Business was business. "My dear, I must teach you something of Romance. There are much better ways to wake a woman than constant talk of phones and work. At this rate you'll never be married..." She smiled again as the flight attendant brought her a small cup of tea, and she reached in her purse for her own phone.

So the dream was forgot, and the piles of messages, missed calls, and texts were blinking at her in a simmilar blue hue. Something was wrong, and they hadn't even landed yet. "Run through your texts, love, check the messages. I'm going to pull up the feed from the House." As she spoke the words, already her hands were busy opening her laptop, and the clicking of her nails on the keys soon brought intermitant light to shroud her in the still darkened plane. She had access to the monitors of the House, it was something she insisted on when they were updated. She was not necessarily controlling, but she was thorough, and she hated not knowing what was going on. She would have to call Collin. She sighed as the feed brought pictures to life, and she unlatched her seatbelt and crossed the aisle, tucking her leg beneath her as she sat next to Perry, showing him the screen.

"What do you make of ~this~?" She shook her head and half chuckled, almost unbelieving. "We have a terrible habit of jumping from one frying pan into another, don't we?"

[Peregrine Daniels]

Perry grinned, he felt a churning in his stomach for what may have come and gone, what may never existed in the first place or never would. He thought of a wife, a girlfriend even, would they ever be as close as Perry was to Nessa, would a woman even tolerate a relationship like theirs… Perry thought of Nessa and her own life, her own husband, he instantly felt a wave of jealousy followed by guilt. Perry felt a plethora of Emotions constantly, jealousy was not a familiar, especially since it was directed towards Vanessa's 'future' love.

"I stoped believing in romance when I saw what my mother went through when dad died…"

He said quietly, not out of any anger at all, a long forgotten sadness perhaps, Nessa would understand that more than anyone, she was there. He knew he'd never have 'romance'. Peregrine shook his head.

"Sorry Nessa love, you know how I am when I first wake up"

He said stretching in his seat and smiling handsomely. He quickly made room for Nessa and did as he was told scrolling through his messages.

"The First few are similar, ghost found on fourth floor, won't respond to anything, then it just follows from that… spirits, I can't go through them all"

He said with a raise of an eyebrow, he squinted at Nessa's laptop, everything looked normal enough, a light problem maybe? He reached into his pocket and pulled out his black rimmed glasses, siting them on his noise he leant back in alarm. Floating serenely around the offices, were small whips of colour… to anyone else it would simply look like a bad quality picture, but to Perry and Nessa…

"What is it with you and ghosts? Hundreds… and hundreds of ghosts…"

Perry said in alarm as he sat back and looked at Nessa quizzically. The Plane gaze a heave and Perry felt the familiar drop in his stomach, they were landing, the seatbelt sign was flashing. New York, New York.

[Vanessa Marlowe]

For all it was worth, Vanessa never considered Perry anything less than the man she was destined to grow old with. To question it was ... silly. Absurd. Ridiculous, even. It's just the way it was. It's what the fates had set out for her. There were other opportunities, other men who attempted to work their way into her life, and quickly she realized that they had all been place holders. It was a particular point of contention for one of her leuitenants at Iluminix in New York--Cole. The man was nothing but a prime catch, or so she had heard from the gossip she had encountered in the House. But the moment Cole made his affection known, Vanessa found herself explaining to him that she didn't have the time for that kind of thing. As she said it, she knew it was a lie, or so near to one that it made her uncomfortable. It was the first time she recognized the connection and love she had harbored for Perry from the moment he spoke to her as a child. Before it had always just been a part of her, just the way things were. She had never actually put a label on it.

"I stoped believing in romance when I saw what my mother went through when dad died…"

She didn't argue with him. As long as he wasn't defining something as Romance, Perry was perfectly fine. What Vanessa knew, she knew Perry knew as well. If anything were to happen to her, he would feel no less pain than his mother had. And she felt the same. Her features went dark for a moment as she recalled the close call Perry had with the Werewolves. Yes, she knew, she felt that exact panic he tries so hard to avoid.

"Sorry Nessa love, you know how I am when I first wake up"

He smiled and she couldn't help but return her own. That was all it took to pull back that momentary blanket of concern. "Yes, I do. That's why I bit my tongue, Perrigrine Daniels." She gave him an unmistakably affectionate look that implied that while this was not the right time to talk about it, they would talk... one day. Or maybe not. What they shared never really needed to be spoken. It hadn't thus far, really, so why start now? They both fell right back into the pressing issue at hand, however. And as she flipped through her own text messages, Perry announced his findings.

"The First few are similar, ghost found on fourth floor, won't respond to anything, then it just follows from that… spirits, I can't go through them all"

Ghosts. More bloody ghosts. Her messages all reflected the same issues. There were a few from Cole and Collin, both wishing her a good flight. But that was before the mass messaging started. Surely they were trying to deal with it in her absence. "Perry, I've got the same. Tons of messages about ghosts. You'd think they'd be just fine with it, you know. They do hunt vampires and things that go bump in the night... I never fail to be amazed that someone can stake a vampire, and run screaming from an incorporeal spirit..." She shook her head as she crossed the aisle and showed him the screen. He pulled outhis glasses and she repressed a smirk. No matter what he thought, Vanessa thought Perry looked every bit the part of a professor.

"What is it with you and ghosts? Hundreds… and hundreds of ghosts…"

She watched the lights move around the screen, and noticed the lack of uniformity. There was no chance that what they were seeing was just poor equipment. But she could hope. At least they weren't vampires or werewolves. Perry sat back in alarm and she leaned back as well, resting her head on the headrest with a dramatic, though jovial, sigh.

"They just can't stand to be without me, you know... I'll bet this is just an elaborate ploy to ruin my vacation..."

She turned her head to him as she snapped closed the lap top, not minding the stray locks that struggled to obscure her vision. They would be landing any moment, and it was pointless to do anything right then. She had to be there. They had to be there. "I don't know why you're so surprised by this, love. I'm a veritible ghost lightning rod. Always have been... or do you forget the countless nights of laying in bed as children, shooing them away? All in a day's work my dear. I'm sure that it's nothing we can't handle."

The plane plummeted, and eventually the jarring of the landing let them know that they had just completed another routine flight across the world. As the jet taxied to a stop on the tarmac, she saw the car there waiting for them. Cole was already standing impatiently outside of the black sedan. She hadn't told the New York House that Perry was coming, but she wasn't naieve enough to think that the news hadn't preceeded them. Hence, Cole's personal trip to pick them up. The man didn't dislike Perry, on the contrary, he couldn't but like him. It was that fact that made Cole's interactions with Perry so... abreviated and cold. As long as Perry was around, Vanessa was entirely unreachable on a social level. He knew the truth--anyone who had seen them together knew the truth. He just resented the wonderful Mister Daniels. he had something that Cole desperately wanted, and he didn't even know it.

As the door opened, and Vanessa began moving down the stairs to the tarmac, their luggage--what little of it there was-- was already being put in the trunk of the sedan, and Cole came forward to greet them. "What, you go out of the country and become unreachable? Didn't you get the million messages we've been sending you?" Perry came into Cole's vision and his eyes lifted briefly to Daniels before returning to Vanessa. "Both of you? We've got big problems, Nessa. And nothing has worked so far. Lord knows we didn't want to disturb you on such an important trip, but it couldn't be helped." His tone bordered on the snippish, and Vanessa, while highly annoyed by his mannerisms, knew from whence it stemmed. She turned to wait for Perry as Cole opened the door for them to get in. It was a nice car, for sure, and the driver--Alex-- had been with Iluminix for ages. "Hello Doctor Marlowe... nice trip? Welcome to New York, Mister Daniels." Cole was quite obviously annoyed by the politeness considering the emergency and hopped in the car before the two who had just arrived. Vanessa refused to play into the charade, and winked at Perry before she lowered herself in the back of the car as well, before responding to Cole.

"Calm yourself Cole... You know perfectly well that we can't use our devices on the jet. We only just now found out about it. I dare say, you're rather ... bothered by the whole ordeal. I left you and Collin in charge for a reason, and it wasn't because you buckled under pressure. Now what in the nine hells is going on? You suddenly can't handle a few ghosts? Have I made the wrong choice?"

Cole clenched his jaw quite obviously. Vanessa had a way of making him feel like an absolute child, and utterly embarassed by by what she called his natural New York attitude. "A few? Oh,... a few. Well, Doctor Marlowe... I shall rather enjoy seeing how you and Mister Daniels classify a "few"..." he went silent as the sedan began the trip to the country house.

[Peregrine Daniels]

The Jet began to make the familiar grind it always did as the engines stopped. The Stewardess's began to busy themselves, clearing up and making the cabin safe.

"I try not to remember what it was like being visited by ghosts in my bed as a ten year old, I still expect to see them every time I lie down in the morning".

Perry stretched his legs out in front of him, he arched his back and lifted his arms into the air, smiling he stood up and began packing all the books and notes he and bought with him into his duffle bag. Perry followed Nessa out of the plane and onto the tarmac; he smiled at Cole waiting by his car. Perry liked Cole, he resembled Lara, Perry's own second in command at the Sydney Headquarters, but there was something there, there always had been. Perry slabbed Cole on the shoulder good naturedly

"Nice to see you too Cole"

He said with a mischievous grin, he sat back in the comfortable seat and smiled at Nessa

"Nice…"

He said simply, it wasn't the first time he had travelled around New York with Nessa of course, but he wasn't used to the luxury, he had the same at his disposal in Sydney of course, but he rarely used it, Perry generally stuck with his jeep.

"Thankyou Alex, hows the family?"

Perry asked genuinely, tilting his head back against the car seat and closing his eyes.

"There has to be a reason for all these ghosts sudden uprising… Cole is there anything out of the ordinary going down? What about the Annex leader, anything you can tell me that I haven’t heard before?"

Perry asked dryly, while he cast his eyes towards Vanessa for second and raised a brow at her wink. Intel on the new leader was hard to come by, he was a new player, strong of course to rise to the position of leader of the Annex Clan, clanless Vamps as well as low position Vampires had been gunning for leader as long as Lilith was around which was a considerable amount of time, long before Perry's father reign. No… there had to be something special, different about this Vampire, and Perry would squash it.

[Zarick Gunn]

It was the night after Zarick had returned to his clan. He had spoken with the vampires left over from Lillith's reign, they all said the same thing, she was practically obsessed with killing anyone assosiated with Illuminix. After he was satisfied that he was on the right track, he decided to go out and kill a few to send a message to the Enemy. They so far had not attempted to mess with him and his clan, this way he would be a step ahead of them. He would show them that he can reach them just as easy if not easier than they can reach him.

Tonight was the night that he would attack the Enemy. He walked out of the Playhouse in his normal attire except a shirt. A few of his most trusted and strongest Vamps went out hunting with him, though they didn't hunt along side him, they went off on their own. It took about an hour before he came across some one that he thought could have been a member of the Enemy. He found him not far from the church that Zarick had fun at.

At first he wasn't able to read much of the man's thoughts, which peaked his interest. Zarick decided to follow the man and wait to see if he gave himself up, which he did but in a way that surprised him, the man completely closed off all thought. To Zarick that was enough reason to beleive he was a person he sought. Breaking into a dead sprint, Zarick cut in front of the man and grinned sadisticaly bearing his fangs. Now thought began to flow freely from the man once again, the first thought Zarick picked up was 'shit,' the man then turned and tried to run.

Reaching out, Zarick grabbed the man's shoulder roughly and pulled him back to him. "I have a few questions for you," He snarled. "First, who do you work for? Next, how can I find them." Immediately the man's thoughts shut down again. "Fine have it your way." Zarick then brought his hands to either side of the man's head and quickly snapped his neck, this victim would be givin back. Glancing around, Zarick spotted a dingy garbage container in an ally way not far from where he was. After walking over to it and scarring away a few of the homeless, Zarick deposited his kill.

Now to find one more. At this time Zarick only needed two to convey the message he wanted. Another hour went by of wandering through crowds, before Zarick found his next victim. This one he didn't need to keep in any presentable fashion. As Zarick started to stalk the next Enemy, he could tell the man knew he was following him and tried to lure him away from the crowd, What a fool Zarick thought. The guy was most likely doing as he was instructed and 'saving' others. If the man knew what he was after he would never have left the crowd.

Zarick continued to follow the man only to find that he was leading him back to where he dropped off the first body. What luck, now I wont need to make two trips. Zarick laughed to himself darkly. When the man fully entered the ally, Zarick attacked. He pulled out one of his scythes, ran up behind him, and sliced his Achilles tendon on his right foot. The man stumbled and fell onto his stomach, with surprising quickness the man rolled onto his back. "This can be quite painless if you do as I say. You can either die or tell me who you are working for and were I can find them. If you tell me where they are, you may live to give them information regarding the Annex clan's new leader."

With out hesitation the man spat at Zarick. Nodding solemly Zarick said "So shall it be." Zarick was never going to let the man live, he had yet another purpose to serve. With a quick slash of his weapon, Zarick gashed the man's stomach revealing the organs within. He then made another slash crossing the first, it wouldn't take long for the man to bleed to death. While the man was spilling his life fluid Zarick retreived his comrade and began carfully removing his eyes. After the corpse's eyes were removed, Zarick began on the second victim's eyes. Unfortunatly for the man he was still alive. Not long after the first eye was removed did the man die.

Once all of the eyes were removed he replaced them into the wrong sockets. The first victim was brown eyed but now appears as though he was green and vice versa. Zarick, after finishing his work, called two of his vampires over to him. It didn't take long for them to reach him, and an even shorter time to set upon the task he gave them, nailing the first victim upside down in Time Square. Now that his plan was being executed, Zarick stopped at a pay phone and called the Illuminix number, leaving a message saying, "A message has been left for you in Time Square." He said nothing more before hanging up an walking back to the Annex house.

[sage]

Ivy walked back and forth. She still had no idea what was going on, and none of the other vampires had spoken to her. She sighed. She looked around. They had called this place the Playhouse. It was odd. She sat down by a window and looked out into the world.

[Cinlass]

Cinlass had taken a leave of absence for awhile.The meeting in Rome had opened his eyes to some unfinished business back in Scotland.He knew what he had to do.If he was ever going to live with the scars that danced like a soulless fire covering the left side of his face and down his body to his pelvis,he would have to kill the damned clergy who had caused this ruthless suffering.

He had caught a flight back to Scotland.His size had scared many.He was heavy but it was built on a tall frame and was nothing but solid steel muscle.He was like two and a half vampires.And he would use that to his advantage.When he reached Scotland he wasted no time at all in finding the damned church.He lined all the clergymen and women out in front of the church as he made them watch it burn.The flames danced like they had on his skin the night they had poured holy water on him.Their mistake was it made him immune to the damned stuff.

Then one by one he ripped their spine and head off their body.He watched as they bled over his bare stone like chest.He enjoyed watching the last victim squirm as he killed the rest of them.He took the last victim and gaged her mouth with the heart of the priest and then he chianed a stone to her foot and threw her into the river so she would drowned.

"Sae much fae yer damnit church an purifin'."He walked away and got onto the plane.

Now he was in the Big Apple as they called it in the states.His brothern and the clan leader was here readying an attack on the Enemy.He had just arrived and god did he hate it.This place was bright with lights.It was almost as bad as Las Vegas.But that wasn't going to stop him.

He had a black and red body armour ,used in sports, covering his massive chest and looses slacks and heavy steel toed boots.His long golden hair was covering his left side so no one would see the scars that covered his face while he bright ice blue eyes shined out.That was the only thing he hated.He hated it when people looked at his scars.But he would never let that slow him down in a fight or kill.He loved fighting and loved killing.Maybe that was why he was a vampire and the second of the Annex clan.

He walked through the Big Apple looking around until Zarrick called him for the plan.Cinlass was ready to strike at anytime.And he was not afriad to bring along Ivy ( the vampire they had picked up in Rome), Sara( his interesting but non-sexual companion), Dasheus ( his new tag along.Not to big but intelligent and ruthless), and his own bad temper.