MCA #6 then elsewhere Tuesday Evening
Vampires didn't dream. Technically they're dead, their sleep during the daylight hours that of a corpse. But in times of extreme duress, pain or emotion, blood called to blood.
My throat is raw from screaming.
He didn't hold back last night. He was toying with me before, just showing me the edge of his deranged cruelty. But last night, the true demon came out. He wanted to talk, tried to get me to talk, but I wasn't going to oblige him. So he made me scream instead. At one point, I looked down at my body, hanging like a piece of flayed meat from the ceiling and wondered how I was still alive. I've never wanted to die so badly as I did then. Surely hell would not be as bad as this. It was a testament to Sarren's skill, or perhaps his insanity, that he kept me alive when I was doing my best to die.
Tonight, though, he is oddly passive. "It's no use," he whispers again, shaking his head. "You're right here, right at my fingertips, and yet I feel nothing. Your scream, such a glorious song. I imagined how it would soud for years. Your blood, your flesh, your bones-I imagined it all. Breaking them. Tasting them." He ran a finger down my throat. "You were mine to break, to peel apart, so I could see the rotted soul that lies beneath this shell of meat and blood. It was to be a magnificent requiem." He stepped back, his expression one of near despair. "But I see nothing. Ad I feel nothing. Why?"
Sarren stepped back, muttering to himself as I closed my eyes. What I did to him, what I was responsible for-I deserve every torment he heaps on my head. But it won't make things right. It won't put an end to what I caused.
"No," Sarren whispered as he turned back to me, the gleam in his eyes burning with intensity. "No, I see now. I see what I must do. It is not you that is the source of the corruption. You were merely the harbinger. This whole world is pulsing with rot and decay and filth. But, we will fix it, old friend. Yes, we will fix it. Together."
His hand reached out ad picked up a long stick with a crude, whittled point at one end.
I shiver, every instinct telling me to back away, to put distance between myself and that sharp point. But I can't move, and Sarren approaches slowly. He is smiling again, a demonic grin that stretches his entire ravaged face and makes his fangs gleam.
"I can't kill you, yet," he says touching my chest with the very tip of the stake, right over my heart. "That would spoil the ending, and I have a glorious song in mind. Oh yes, it will be magnificent. And you...you, you will be the instrument on which I compose my symphony." Sarren pushed the tip of the stake into my chest slowly, twisting as it sunk beneath my skin. I threw back my head, clenching my jaw to keep the scream contained. "No, old friend. Death is still too good for you. We're just going to send you to sleep for a while." Darkness hovered at the edge of my vision as hibernation, my body's last effort at self-preservation, pulled me under.
"Sleep now, old friend," Sarren whispered, his scarred face. "But not for long. I have something special planned. You won't want to miss it."
Allie was on her feet, clutching at her chest before she was even really awake.
Kanin, she realized. It was the first dream she'd had of him since she'd come to the island. It only took her a moment to realize what that could mean.
Twenty minutes later Allie was at the causeway. For the first time in over a year, she could feel the tug of the blood tie with her maker calling her. She moved forward with measured steps and bit her lip when she was able to keep moving past the point where she was usually thrown back to the island.
It really was happening. She was going home.
Allie looked back over her shoulder at the place she'd called home for the last year and a half. Despite the pull urging her on, she stopped for a moment , pulled out her phone and left a short message.
Message left, Allie shoved her phone in her pocket and set off to find her sire.
Allie walked for hours, following the pull that tied her to Kanin. That she was on the right track was confirmed when she stopped at the small, isolated outpost and heard about the carnage Sarren had left behind when he'd passed through a few weeks earlier.
She kept walking until she realized something was wrong. The pull she was following, the sense of knowing was slowly splitting off, moving in different directions. There was a strong pull to the east, but also a fainter one, now, to the North.
She'd come to a crossroads and had no idea where to go. She didn't know if Kanin ad gotten away from Sarren, or maybe Sarren had fed from Kanin and that was the reason she felt the second pull.
In the end she continued East, towards the stronger of the two urges. If that led her right to a pissed-off, psychotic vampire that wanted to peel the skin from her bones, she'd just have to deal with it when she got there.
Hours later Allie stood in the snow and ice covered remains of a once sprawling city. Behind her, a narrow white tower stretched towards the sky. In front of her, behind a tall, black iron fence topped with barbed wire, stood a sprawling white house. The pull she'd been tracking led her there.
Dawn was fast approaching when as Allie went over the fence and entered the house. She silently made her way through dozens of lifeless dark and empty rooms. She could smell the blood of the humans that lived there, but no one was in sight. Finally, up a stairway and down a long corridor, she stopped in front of a thick wooden door.
It had been too easy getting there. Whoever was in the room knew she was coming. She carefully pulled her sword from its sheath. If it was Sarren, she was going to be ready.
Grasping the door handle, she turned it and pulled the door open.
No, not Sarren, but definitely someone on the top of her list of people she probably didn't want to see. Jackal stood against the back wall, arms crossed casually over his chest.
"Hello, sister," he said, lips curling into an evil smile. "It's about time you showed up."
"Jackal," Allie whispered. The last time she'd seen the former vampire prince he'd shoved a stake through her stomach, only to be tossed out of a thirty story window moments later. Their dislike was mutual and intense.
Suddenly she realized why Jackal was there and not Kanin. Blood called to blood and the former raider king was her blood brother, turned by Kanin at some point in the past. The two pulls she'd felt earlier now made sense. If Jackal was here, Kanin wasn't. She'd followed the wrong lead.
"What are you doing here?" she snarled, gripping her sword tightly.
"I've been waiting for you, sister," Jackal said, fangs gleaming as he sauntered toward her. He didn't have any weapons in hand, but there was a glint of metal beneath the duster that billowed behind him.
"You took your sweet time, didn't you? And after the Prince of Old D.C. told all the guards and house staff to hide in the basement to let you through, just in case you were Hungry, you still had to skulk through the house like a common burglar. Didn't it seem a bit odd, not running into anyone?"
He shrugged and grinned at her, smug and dangerous. "As for what I'm doing here, well, I'm visiting the Prince. Oh, what's the matter, sister? Did you not expect me? Were you hoping to run into someone else?"
"I was, actually," Allie said, raising her sword and stepping forward. "But I can take care of you first. Let's go."
"Let's not," said a low voice. The newcomer was tall and had the same cool air as another vampire Allie knew, another Master. "If you and Jackal are going to fight, then wait until tonight and do it outside. I'd rather not have you throwing each other around and breaking furniture."
Jackal smiled at the vampire and waved a hand at Allie. "Azura," he said. "This is my lovely little sister."
"I gathered that," Azura said without a smile.
"Please put your weapon away," she told Allie. "If you are going to remain in my house, you will do so on civil terms. I would hate to have you thrown out to face the sun."
Cautiously Allie sheathed her blade, all the while keeping a careful eye on Jackal.
"Azura is an old...acquaintance of mine," Jackal said, shooting the vampire woman a sultry look. She didn't respond, other than a raised eyebrow.
"I thought, since I was passing through, I would pay her a visit. Of course, once I sensed you coming, I thought I'd stick around and wait for you."
Frustrated and angry, Allie sneered at him. "If you're looking for a fight, I'll give you one."
"Trust me, sister. Nothing would make me happier." Jackal bared his fangs and took a threatening step toward Allie. "I would love to tear the head from your neck and stick it on the wall outside, but I promise Azura I would behave." He jerked his head toward Azura, who seemed to be watching them both with detached amusement.
"Besides," Jackal said, "I thought you might be interested to know what I discovered about Kanin and Sarren." His tone was casual, but he was watching her closely for a reaction.
That...was unexpected.
"How do you know about that?"
"Oh, come on," Jackal said, crossing his arms. "You're not the only one looking for our dear sire. Kanin and I need to have a little talk, but that freak Sarren is making it difficult. Did you actually come here looking for them?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "What would you have done if it had been Sarren you stumbled onto, and not me? You think you're a match for him, little sister? He would have turned you inside out."
"So what are you doing?" Allie shot back. "Hiding out here until Sarren gets bored or tired of tormenting Kanin? You don't want to take Sarren yourself?"
"Damned straight," Jackal said, flashing his fangs. "I'm not going after that psycho unless I have to. You think I'm bad?" He snorted and shook his head. "You haven't seen anything until you've met crazy Sarren. And you sure as hell won't be able to take him on alone. Not even Kanin wanted to cross paths with him. He'll completely destroy you."
Was that a note of actual fear in his voice? No, not at all.
"Listen to your brother," Azura broke in. "He is correct. We have all heard of Sarren. Of his cruelty, his ruthlessness, his brilliance even through his madness. When I heard he was in the city I ordered my humans to not leave the house, even during the day, and ran the fence continuously until I was certain he was gone."
He might try to hid it, but Allie picked up on the underlying fear in Jackal's voice and wondered if he'd had a run in with Sarren himself.
When Azura spoke, her own fear obvious, Allie couldn't help but think maybe she was in over her head. But at the same time, their words made her that much more determined to get Kanin away from the psychotic vampire. She was just going to ignore the little voice in her head pointing out if Sarren was strong enough to capture a master vampire like Kanin, just what would he do to Allie.
"So why are you still here?" she demanded. "You said you were waiting for me. Well here I am. What do you want?"
"I have a proposition for you," Jackal said.
He saw Allie stiffen, and sighed. "Oh, don't give me that look, sister. I'm a reasonable guy." The smile he gave her was anything but friendly, though. "You invaded my city, set it on fire, killed my men, and destroyed over ten years of careful planning, but that doesn't mean we can't reach an agreement."
"I have nothing to say to you," Allie bit out. "There's nothing you can offer that would keep me here. If you want a fight, try me again when the sun goes down."
"Well, that's a shame," Jackal replied, unconcerned, still grinning. "Because I know what Sarren was looking for."
She wanted to walk away, but his smug, knowing grin held her in place. Allie hated herself for doing it, but she had to ask. "What are you talking about? You have about five seconds to make your case before I walk out that door."
"Oh, trust me, you'll want to hear this," Jackal said, still utterly unconcerned. "You know how the rabids were created, don't you? That was our dear sire, the noble Kanin himself, who sacrificed our own kind to seek a cure to the plague, only to have the humans screw everything up when they changed those vampires into rabids."
Allie nodded, and Jackal leaned against a bookcase. "Good. Saves me the time of explaining everything. Well, they didn't have just the one lab. The government had a few of them, scattered about the country, all frantically working to end the plague. And one of them is somewhere in this city."
He grinned at Allie's startled expression. "Yeah, Kanin once mentioned there was a hidden lab in the old capital, and when Sarren came sniffing around, I figured that's what he was looking for. I don't know where it is, but I figured I'd talk to Azura, see if she knew anything about it. She thinks that it's underneath the city somewhere, down in the old tunnel systems that run below ground. Problem is, those tunnels are crawling with rabids, making it difficult to search for it. That's when I got the brilliant idea to wait until you showed up. I figured we'd cover more ground if we looked for it together."
That idea made her huff in derision. "You really think I'd be willing to help you?"
"Because if you help me find the lab, I'll help you save Kanin," Jackal said.
"I don't need your help."
Silly, stubborn baby vamp.
"Yes, you do," Jackal said, pushing himself off the bookcase. "You don't know Sarren. You don't know what he's capable of. You think you're going to storm his lair, take him out and rescue Kanin, but you're wrong. Sarren's a crazy bastard, and he's older and smarter than either of us. You want to stop him, you're going to need my help. We can always kill each other later, when we catch up to our sire. But if you want to see Kanin again, you're going to have to trust me."
Allie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her current plan wasn't much more then what Jackal had just mocked, yet she had to admit, however begrudgingly, that he was probably right. "That's not going to happen."
"Is this about that whole staking you and tossing you out a window?" Jackal said with an exaggerated sigh. "Come on, surely we can get past that little misunderstanding."
"No," Allie growled as her fangs slipped from her gums. "It's what you did to the others. You kidnapped and murdered my friends. Fed one of them to a rabid. You tortured a man to get what he wanted and you're responsible for his death." She remembered the bloodstained arena, the cage at its center and Darren's screams as the rabid pulled him down.
Her lips curled back around her fangs. "I should kill you now for what you did to them."
Jackal was unfazed by her threat. "Is that so? Then tell me, my dear sister, how many have you killed? How many of my men died when you fled the city with your little 'friends,' hmm? How many throats have you torn out, how many humans have you ripped apart, because you couldn't control the Hunger? Or maybe I'm wrong."
He tilted his head, studying her with mock curiosity. "Maybe you're the first of our kind who doesn't need human blood to survive. If that's the case, then please, tell me now so I can apologize and be on my way."
When no response came, he smirked. "Who are you trying to fool? People are food. You know it as well as I do. So don't expect me to feel terribly guilty about killing your humans, not when you reek of blood and death. You're not any less of a monster than I am."
The only reason Allie didn't respond to Jackal's taunts was because she couldn't think of a simple or easy way to explain Fandom and True Blood.
He'd touched a nerve though and Allie tensed, so tempted to lunge forward and cut his smirking head from his body.
Azura took a single step forward, placing herself closer to them. Allie could feel her readiness to jump in if necessary.
"Work with me here, sister," Jackal said, voice low and cajoling. "I'm not asking for much. I just want you to help me find the lab. Then we can go rescue the old man. I just need to find the lab first."
She wasn't convinced. "That'll take time. Time I don't have. That Kanin doesn't have! It's already been too long."
"Hate to break it to you, but Kanin is already dead," Jackal snapped. "Or as near to it as he can be. Sarren forced him into hibernation, and it's rare for us to come out of that. He isn't going to wake anytime soon. And if Sarren wanted him truly destroyed, he would've done it by now."
He had a point. Allie just had one question. "Why are you so eager to find this place?"
"You really have to ask me that?" Jackal said incredulously. He sighed and shook his head. "What have I been after this whole time? What was so important that I searched the country for three years to find that old preacher and his little congregation? What would bring me here, to ask for your help, when I had a whole army of raiders and minions ready to do my bidding? Think hard, sister. It's not that difficult."
She didn't have to think about it. "The cure."
Jackal clapped mockingly. "Yeah, the cure, the end of Rabidism," he said. "That's a little more important than finding Kanin right now."
He held up a hand at Allie's glare. "I still want to find the old man. Like I said, we need to have a talk. And I'm going to need your help to get him away from Sarren. So, you help me, and I'll do the same."
He grinned, baring his fangs at her. "And then, after all that is out of the way, you can try to kill me, and I'll stick another stake in your gut and leave you for the rabids, what d'ya say?"
"Jackal," Azura said, sounding faintly exasperated. "If you wish the girl's cooperation, I suggest you stop taunting her. She is not one of your human thugs you can make cower with a threat. If I am forced to kill her because of your uncharitable attitude, I will be very annoyed with you. Now..." She turned her dark, intense stare on Allie. "The sun is up and I am very tired. If you two wish to continue your verbal sparring, I ask that you wait until evening. For now, I offer my home for as long as you have need of it."
Her generosity was unexpected. Allie wasn't sure she should trust her, but she was right. The sun was up and unless Allie wanted to head outside, she'd have to take her chances. "Thank you."
Azura blinked slowly. "I would offer you the guest suite across from Jackal's, but I fear I might return to a war zone. I will have William show you to one of the lower suites. We will continue this conversation tonight. And girl..." Her dark gaze narrowed, and turned ominous and threatening. "I can smell the blood on you. Do not eat my staff or I will forget my hospitality long enough to remove your head from your neck, is that understood?"
"Yes, I understand," she said simply.
"Have a nice nap, little sister," Jackal said, giving her a wave. "We'll talk when you wake up."
Azura raised a hand and a moment later a human in a black and white uniform stepped through the door and bowed to Allie. "I will show you to your room. Please follow me."
Allie shot Jackal one last glare before following the human down stairs and through long hallways, her mind reeling. She'd fully expected to find Sarren or Kanin tonight. Jackal had thrown a wrench in her plans.
Eventually the servant left her at a small but lavishly furnished room. A pitcher and glass sat on the nightstand and the scent of warm blood roused Allie's Hunger with a vengeance. She didn't trust Jackal, but she wouldn't turn down a meal, especially when it came in a cup and not from the veins of a human.
After draining the pitcher the sharp ache in her stomach vanished and sleep took it's place. Allie locked her door and dragged the bulky dresser in the room up against it. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she wasn't going to sleep in a house with two strange vampires without taking some precautions.
Satisfied she'd have some warning if someone tried to get into the room, Allie collapsed on top of the cool red sheets still dressed in her coat and boots. It wasn't long until she succumbed to the darkness.
[OOC: And so begins Allie's epic canon catch-up. I apologize in advance for the spam. Huge thanks to Trigons_child for playing Allie's big brother vamp.]
My throat is raw from screaming.
He didn't hold back last night. He was toying with me before, just showing me the edge of his deranged cruelty. But last night, the true demon came out. He wanted to talk, tried to get me to talk, but I wasn't going to oblige him. So he made me scream instead. At one point, I looked down at my body, hanging like a piece of flayed meat from the ceiling and wondered how I was still alive. I've never wanted to die so badly as I did then. Surely hell would not be as bad as this. It was a testament to Sarren's skill, or perhaps his insanity, that he kept me alive when I was doing my best to die.
Tonight, though, he is oddly passive. "It's no use," he whispers again, shaking his head. "You're right here, right at my fingertips, and yet I feel nothing. Your scream, such a glorious song. I imagined how it would soud for years. Your blood, your flesh, your bones-I imagined it all. Breaking them. Tasting them." He ran a finger down my throat. "You were mine to break, to peel apart, so I could see the rotted soul that lies beneath this shell of meat and blood. It was to be a magnificent requiem." He stepped back, his expression one of near despair. "But I see nothing. Ad I feel nothing. Why?"
Sarren stepped back, muttering to himself as I closed my eyes. What I did to him, what I was responsible for-I deserve every torment he heaps on my head. But it won't make things right. It won't put an end to what I caused.
"No," Sarren whispered as he turned back to me, the gleam in his eyes burning with intensity. "No, I see now. I see what I must do. It is not you that is the source of the corruption. You were merely the harbinger. This whole world is pulsing with rot and decay and filth. But, we will fix it, old friend. Yes, we will fix it. Together."
His hand reached out ad picked up a long stick with a crude, whittled point at one end.
I shiver, every instinct telling me to back away, to put distance between myself and that sharp point. But I can't move, and Sarren approaches slowly. He is smiling again, a demonic grin that stretches his entire ravaged face and makes his fangs gleam.
"I can't kill you, yet," he says touching my chest with the very tip of the stake, right over my heart. "That would spoil the ending, and I have a glorious song in mind. Oh yes, it will be magnificent. And you...you, you will be the instrument on which I compose my symphony." Sarren pushed the tip of the stake into my chest slowly, twisting as it sunk beneath my skin. I threw back my head, clenching my jaw to keep the scream contained. "No, old friend. Death is still too good for you. We're just going to send you to sleep for a while." Darkness hovered at the edge of my vision as hibernation, my body's last effort at self-preservation, pulled me under.
"Sleep now, old friend," Sarren whispered, his scarred face. "But not for long. I have something special planned. You won't want to miss it."
Allie was on her feet, clutching at her chest before she was even really awake.
Kanin, she realized. It was the first dream she'd had of him since she'd come to the island. It only took her a moment to realize what that could mean.
Twenty minutes later Allie was at the causeway. For the first time in over a year, she could feel the tug of the blood tie with her maker calling her. She moved forward with measured steps and bit her lip when she was able to keep moving past the point where she was usually thrown back to the island.
It really was happening. She was going home.
Allie looked back over her shoulder at the place she'd called home for the last year and a half. Despite the pull urging her on, she stopped for a moment , pulled out her phone and left a short message.
Message left, Allie shoved her phone in her pocket and set off to find her sire.
Allie walked for hours, following the pull that tied her to Kanin. That she was on the right track was confirmed when she stopped at the small, isolated outpost and heard about the carnage Sarren had left behind when he'd passed through a few weeks earlier.
She kept walking until she realized something was wrong. The pull she was following, the sense of knowing was slowly splitting off, moving in different directions. There was a strong pull to the east, but also a fainter one, now, to the North.
She'd come to a crossroads and had no idea where to go. She didn't know if Kanin ad gotten away from Sarren, or maybe Sarren had fed from Kanin and that was the reason she felt the second pull.
In the end she continued East, towards the stronger of the two urges. If that led her right to a pissed-off, psychotic vampire that wanted to peel the skin from her bones, she'd just have to deal with it when she got there.
Hours later Allie stood in the snow and ice covered remains of a once sprawling city. Behind her, a narrow white tower stretched towards the sky. In front of her, behind a tall, black iron fence topped with barbed wire, stood a sprawling white house. The pull she'd been tracking led her there.
Dawn was fast approaching when as Allie went over the fence and entered the house. She silently made her way through dozens of lifeless dark and empty rooms. She could smell the blood of the humans that lived there, but no one was in sight. Finally, up a stairway and down a long corridor, she stopped in front of a thick wooden door.
It had been too easy getting there. Whoever was in the room knew she was coming. She carefully pulled her sword from its sheath. If it was Sarren, she was going to be ready.
Grasping the door handle, she turned it and pulled the door open.
No, not Sarren, but definitely someone on the top of her list of people she probably didn't want to see. Jackal stood against the back wall, arms crossed casually over his chest.
"Hello, sister," he said, lips curling into an evil smile. "It's about time you showed up."
"Jackal," Allie whispered. The last time she'd seen the former vampire prince he'd shoved a stake through her stomach, only to be tossed out of a thirty story window moments later. Their dislike was mutual and intense.
Suddenly she realized why Jackal was there and not Kanin. Blood called to blood and the former raider king was her blood brother, turned by Kanin at some point in the past. The two pulls she'd felt earlier now made sense. If Jackal was here, Kanin wasn't. She'd followed the wrong lead.
"What are you doing here?" she snarled, gripping her sword tightly.
"I've been waiting for you, sister," Jackal said, fangs gleaming as he sauntered toward her. He didn't have any weapons in hand, but there was a glint of metal beneath the duster that billowed behind him.
"You took your sweet time, didn't you? And after the Prince of Old D.C. told all the guards and house staff to hide in the basement to let you through, just in case you were Hungry, you still had to skulk through the house like a common burglar. Didn't it seem a bit odd, not running into anyone?"
He shrugged and grinned at her, smug and dangerous. "As for what I'm doing here, well, I'm visiting the Prince. Oh, what's the matter, sister? Did you not expect me? Were you hoping to run into someone else?"
"I was, actually," Allie said, raising her sword and stepping forward. "But I can take care of you first. Let's go."
"Let's not," said a low voice. The newcomer was tall and had the same cool air as another vampire Allie knew, another Master. "If you and Jackal are going to fight, then wait until tonight and do it outside. I'd rather not have you throwing each other around and breaking furniture."
Jackal smiled at the vampire and waved a hand at Allie. "Azura," he said. "This is my lovely little sister."
"I gathered that," Azura said without a smile.
"Please put your weapon away," she told Allie. "If you are going to remain in my house, you will do so on civil terms. I would hate to have you thrown out to face the sun."
Cautiously Allie sheathed her blade, all the while keeping a careful eye on Jackal.
"Azura is an old...acquaintance of mine," Jackal said, shooting the vampire woman a sultry look. She didn't respond, other than a raised eyebrow.
"I thought, since I was passing through, I would pay her a visit. Of course, once I sensed you coming, I thought I'd stick around and wait for you."
Frustrated and angry, Allie sneered at him. "If you're looking for a fight, I'll give you one."
"Trust me, sister. Nothing would make me happier." Jackal bared his fangs and took a threatening step toward Allie. "I would love to tear the head from your neck and stick it on the wall outside, but I promise Azura I would behave." He jerked his head toward Azura, who seemed to be watching them both with detached amusement.
"Besides," Jackal said, "I thought you might be interested to know what I discovered about Kanin and Sarren." His tone was casual, but he was watching her closely for a reaction.
That...was unexpected.
"How do you know about that?"
"Oh, come on," Jackal said, crossing his arms. "You're not the only one looking for our dear sire. Kanin and I need to have a little talk, but that freak Sarren is making it difficult. Did you actually come here looking for them?" He shook his head and rolled his eyes. "What would you have done if it had been Sarren you stumbled onto, and not me? You think you're a match for him, little sister? He would have turned you inside out."
"So what are you doing?" Allie shot back. "Hiding out here until Sarren gets bored or tired of tormenting Kanin? You don't want to take Sarren yourself?"
"Damned straight," Jackal said, flashing his fangs. "I'm not going after that psycho unless I have to. You think I'm bad?" He snorted and shook his head. "You haven't seen anything until you've met crazy Sarren. And you sure as hell won't be able to take him on alone. Not even Kanin wanted to cross paths with him. He'll completely destroy you."
Was that a note of actual fear in his voice? No, not at all.
"Listen to your brother," Azura broke in. "He is correct. We have all heard of Sarren. Of his cruelty, his ruthlessness, his brilliance even through his madness. When I heard he was in the city I ordered my humans to not leave the house, even during the day, and ran the fence continuously until I was certain he was gone."
He might try to hid it, but Allie picked up on the underlying fear in Jackal's voice and wondered if he'd had a run in with Sarren himself.
When Azura spoke, her own fear obvious, Allie couldn't help but think maybe she was in over her head. But at the same time, their words made her that much more determined to get Kanin away from the psychotic vampire. She was just going to ignore the little voice in her head pointing out if Sarren was strong enough to capture a master vampire like Kanin, just what would he do to Allie.
"So why are you still here?" she demanded. "You said you were waiting for me. Well here I am. What do you want?"
"I have a proposition for you," Jackal said.
He saw Allie stiffen, and sighed. "Oh, don't give me that look, sister. I'm a reasonable guy." The smile he gave her was anything but friendly, though. "You invaded my city, set it on fire, killed my men, and destroyed over ten years of careful planning, but that doesn't mean we can't reach an agreement."
"I have nothing to say to you," Allie bit out. "There's nothing you can offer that would keep me here. If you want a fight, try me again when the sun goes down."
"Well, that's a shame," Jackal replied, unconcerned, still grinning. "Because I know what Sarren was looking for."
She wanted to walk away, but his smug, knowing grin held her in place. Allie hated herself for doing it, but she had to ask. "What are you talking about? You have about five seconds to make your case before I walk out that door."
"Oh, trust me, you'll want to hear this," Jackal said, still utterly unconcerned. "You know how the rabids were created, don't you? That was our dear sire, the noble Kanin himself, who sacrificed our own kind to seek a cure to the plague, only to have the humans screw everything up when they changed those vampires into rabids."
Allie nodded, and Jackal leaned against a bookcase. "Good. Saves me the time of explaining everything. Well, they didn't have just the one lab. The government had a few of them, scattered about the country, all frantically working to end the plague. And one of them is somewhere in this city."
He grinned at Allie's startled expression. "Yeah, Kanin once mentioned there was a hidden lab in the old capital, and when Sarren came sniffing around, I figured that's what he was looking for. I don't know where it is, but I figured I'd talk to Azura, see if she knew anything about it. She thinks that it's underneath the city somewhere, down in the old tunnel systems that run below ground. Problem is, those tunnels are crawling with rabids, making it difficult to search for it. That's when I got the brilliant idea to wait until you showed up. I figured we'd cover more ground if we looked for it together."
That idea made her huff in derision. "You really think I'd be willing to help you?"
"Because if you help me find the lab, I'll help you save Kanin," Jackal said.
"I don't need your help."
Silly, stubborn baby vamp.
"Yes, you do," Jackal said, pushing himself off the bookcase. "You don't know Sarren. You don't know what he's capable of. You think you're going to storm his lair, take him out and rescue Kanin, but you're wrong. Sarren's a crazy bastard, and he's older and smarter than either of us. You want to stop him, you're going to need my help. We can always kill each other later, when we catch up to our sire. But if you want to see Kanin again, you're going to have to trust me."
Allie closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Her current plan wasn't much more then what Jackal had just mocked, yet she had to admit, however begrudgingly, that he was probably right. "That's not going to happen."
"Is this about that whole staking you and tossing you out a window?" Jackal said with an exaggerated sigh. "Come on, surely we can get past that little misunderstanding."
"No," Allie growled as her fangs slipped from her gums. "It's what you did to the others. You kidnapped and murdered my friends. Fed one of them to a rabid. You tortured a man to get what he wanted and you're responsible for his death." She remembered the bloodstained arena, the cage at its center and Darren's screams as the rabid pulled him down.
Her lips curled back around her fangs. "I should kill you now for what you did to them."
Jackal was unfazed by her threat. "Is that so? Then tell me, my dear sister, how many have you killed? How many of my men died when you fled the city with your little 'friends,' hmm? How many throats have you torn out, how many humans have you ripped apart, because you couldn't control the Hunger? Or maybe I'm wrong."
He tilted his head, studying her with mock curiosity. "Maybe you're the first of our kind who doesn't need human blood to survive. If that's the case, then please, tell me now so I can apologize and be on my way."
When no response came, he smirked. "Who are you trying to fool? People are food. You know it as well as I do. So don't expect me to feel terribly guilty about killing your humans, not when you reek of blood and death. You're not any less of a monster than I am."
The only reason Allie didn't respond to Jackal's taunts was because she couldn't think of a simple or easy way to explain Fandom and True Blood.
He'd touched a nerve though and Allie tensed, so tempted to lunge forward and cut his smirking head from his body.
Azura took a single step forward, placing herself closer to them. Allie could feel her readiness to jump in if necessary.
"Work with me here, sister," Jackal said, voice low and cajoling. "I'm not asking for much. I just want you to help me find the lab. Then we can go rescue the old man. I just need to find the lab first."
She wasn't convinced. "That'll take time. Time I don't have. That Kanin doesn't have! It's already been too long."
"Hate to break it to you, but Kanin is already dead," Jackal snapped. "Or as near to it as he can be. Sarren forced him into hibernation, and it's rare for us to come out of that. He isn't going to wake anytime soon. And if Sarren wanted him truly destroyed, he would've done it by now."
He had a point. Allie just had one question. "Why are you so eager to find this place?"
"You really have to ask me that?" Jackal said incredulously. He sighed and shook his head. "What have I been after this whole time? What was so important that I searched the country for three years to find that old preacher and his little congregation? What would bring me here, to ask for your help, when I had a whole army of raiders and minions ready to do my bidding? Think hard, sister. It's not that difficult."
She didn't have to think about it. "The cure."
Jackal clapped mockingly. "Yeah, the cure, the end of Rabidism," he said. "That's a little more important than finding Kanin right now."
He held up a hand at Allie's glare. "I still want to find the old man. Like I said, we need to have a talk. And I'm going to need your help to get him away from Sarren. So, you help me, and I'll do the same."
He grinned, baring his fangs at her. "And then, after all that is out of the way, you can try to kill me, and I'll stick another stake in your gut and leave you for the rabids, what d'ya say?"
"Jackal," Azura said, sounding faintly exasperated. "If you wish the girl's cooperation, I suggest you stop taunting her. She is not one of your human thugs you can make cower with a threat. If I am forced to kill her because of your uncharitable attitude, I will be very annoyed with you. Now..." She turned her dark, intense stare on Allie. "The sun is up and I am very tired. If you two wish to continue your verbal sparring, I ask that you wait until evening. For now, I offer my home for as long as you have need of it."
Her generosity was unexpected. Allie wasn't sure she should trust her, but she was right. The sun was up and unless Allie wanted to head outside, she'd have to take her chances. "Thank you."
Azura blinked slowly. "I would offer you the guest suite across from Jackal's, but I fear I might return to a war zone. I will have William show you to one of the lower suites. We will continue this conversation tonight. And girl..." Her dark gaze narrowed, and turned ominous and threatening. "I can smell the blood on you. Do not eat my staff or I will forget my hospitality long enough to remove your head from your neck, is that understood?"
"Yes, I understand," she said simply.
"Have a nice nap, little sister," Jackal said, giving her a wave. "We'll talk when you wake up."
Azura raised a hand and a moment later a human in a black and white uniform stepped through the door and bowed to Allie. "I will show you to your room. Please follow me."
Allie shot Jackal one last glare before following the human down stairs and through long hallways, her mind reeling. She'd fully expected to find Sarren or Kanin tonight. Jackal had thrown a wrench in her plans.
Eventually the servant left her at a small but lavishly furnished room. A pitcher and glass sat on the nightstand and the scent of warm blood roused Allie's Hunger with a vengeance. She didn't trust Jackal, but she wouldn't turn down a meal, especially when it came in a cup and not from the veins of a human.
After draining the pitcher the sharp ache in her stomach vanished and sleep took it's place. Allie locked her door and dragged the bulky dresser in the room up against it. Maybe she was being paranoid, but she wasn't going to sleep in a house with two strange vampires without taking some precautions.
Satisfied she'd have some warning if someone tried to get into the room, Allie collapsed on top of the cool red sheets still dressed in her coat and boots. It wasn't long until she succumbed to the darkness.
[OOC: And so begins Allie's epic canon catch-up. I apologize in advance for the spam. Huge thanks to Trigons_child for playing Allie's big brother vamp.]