{WAVES} crashing down on me {OPEN}

[serenity]

It was a cooler summer afternoon in London today The city was recovering from a heavy rainstorm the day before and the sky was still cloudy with rain clouds, swelled to the brim with water but refused to spill again. The wind whipped across the beach, creating small whirlwinds of sand before settling the grains down again. The water stirred with every breeze, sometimes it was peaceful and other times it was crashing onto the rocks with ferocity.

Serenity was sitting on a large rock towards the shore, the front of it covered in algae and salt water. Her black skirt clashed with her pale skin but blended nicely with the gray rock she sat on. Her sandals were next to her, her bare feet tucked under her skirt to protect them from the wind. She pulled her black jacket tight around her white V-neck shirt underneath, shivering as a breeze ran down her spine. From a distance, you would almost think she was a Goth or even a vampire from her dark attire. However, her bright red hair disproved the Goth theory and you could just tell from her face that she was no blood sucker.

She pulled her red hair in front of her and began to braid it out of boredom. She had asked Luke to join her on her usual walks to the beach but he always declined, saying he was too busy and she should find something better to do with her time then simply walk on the beach all day. She sighed, tying the braid off with a hairband and threw it over her shoulder. Serenity didn't know about him sometimes; he could be so kind and protective sometimes but other times, he was as cold as any vampire.

A wave gently lapped at the rock she was sitting on. She peered over the edge to see two fish swimming in a little pool that the weathering of water on the rock must have created. Seeing as how the fish were trapped and would hate to see them die, she decided to take action. Serenity jumped off the rock, her feet instantly sinking into the cool sand. She stepped in front of the rock and took off her jacket, tossing it up with her sandals. Reaching in slowly, she picked up one fish and slid it back into the water. She had the second fish in her hand when she turned and noticed someone staring at her, only about 10 feet away. She swallowed what felt like a boulder and slipped the fish into the water. Straightening, she lowered her eyes and, of course, started to blush.

"Um... hello," she said in a whisper, her voice trembling. "May I help you?"

[DODES]

‘It was here, wasn’t it?’ the seemingly young man questioned himself, analyzing a slab of beach rock. ‘No, maybe it was there…’ he thought as his gaze casted toward a similar piece of rock a few paces away, and he straightened from his kneeling position. As he moved away from the little protection provided by the rock, strong gusts of wind began to lash at his lanky form. Despite its rough, chilly caress, however, the wind hardly affected the young man—only the minor ruffling of his clothing and the slight movement of his hair were shown until the wind eventually blustered past and subsided. His lack of reaction, however, was actually because he felt the chilly ocean wind as no more than a soothing breeze—this man was a vampire, after all.

‘Christ, this would be much simpler if they specified which rock they buried it under…’ the young vampire complained, now inspecting the neighbouring beach rock. It was clear that he was searching for something or another, but what would he possibly find on a beach? ‘Well…’ he mused, rising to his feet once more. ‘There’s no police tape, so I guess they haven’t found it…’ To this, he gave a nasty smirk. What the vampire had been searching for was, actually, a murdered corpse buried by one of his subordinates near a rock beneath the sand. Being the second in command of Izan, he had requested this, of course, but it never did any harm to check their work—moreover, this vampire was a restless one and being in that office of his for overly long periods of time made him irritable. It never hurt to find an excuse to wander around uselessly every once and awhile.

It wasn’t until then that the vampire realized that he wasn’t alone. This was brought to his attention when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye, and once he turned to look, he noted the young woman standing in the sand, reaching toward the rock for something or another before dipping her hands into the water. His brow rose in slight confusion, and she repeated the process, though stopped halfway to turn and look at him. The ghost of that previous nasty smirk remained on his lips as his gaze shifted to what looked to be a small fish which she held in her grasp, and in that moment his former confusion diminished. It seemed she had found herself a tidal pool with a few fish trapped inside, and she was now giving them their salvation. Why she cared about a couple little fish, however, was beyond this vampire’s comprehension.

After taking in his presence, she then finished what she had started and freed the fish into the ocean’s waves, and after which she couldn’t seem to meet his gaze once more. The vampire simply observed, saying nothing, and in a voice he could hardly hear, she murmured, "Um... hello. May I help you?"

The vampire, formally known as Vince, began to smirk. “Yes, actually, you can,” he replied, his tone much louder in comparison and lightly accented. He presented what looked to be a cherry popsicle toward her—something he had been eating on his way over. “Vhich sounds better to you—bloodpop or bloodsicle?” His smirk grew a tad bit larger as he spoke. This, indeed, wasn’t a simple cherry flavoured popsicle, but rather a blood flavoured one—truly much better suited for a vampire’s tastes. However, Vincent was in a bit of a dilemma as to what to call it, and he was genuinely asking this woman her opinion. Now whether he would value it or not was still in question, though Vince truly didn’t know which name was easier on the tongue—bloodpop, or bloodsicle? Simple question, really, but given her previous behaviour, Vincent couldn’t be certain if she would actually answer. Perhaps that, since he basically just blatantly stated that he was a vampire, she would doubt his intentions and be too afraid to reply, which was really no matter for Vince. He would simply be on his way and ask someone else for their opinion… easy as that. He honestly meant no harm to her—the blood popsicle eased his appetite, and therefore he had no real need to eat, though there was no harm in having a bit of fun, now, was there? This is how vampire saw it, anyway…

[/size]

(Let's say it's late, late afternoon so Vince doesn't get fried in the sun... rofl.)

[serenity]

"Bloodpop or bloodsicle?"

Serenity's mouth dropped open in awe and shock. Kind of like in the cartoons when the creature is caught off guard and his or her mouth drops to the floors, usually followed by a tongue rolling out of it. She didn't have that exact face on but it was pretty close.

"Um..." she stammered for an answer after staring for a good 20 seconds. She played with her hands, trying to think which one was better and sounded more appeasing. Neither sounded like something she would want to munch on in the hot summer days of London, but she guessed it would be appeasing to the vampires.

"Well... Bloodpop sounds like...uh... Blood-Drops, which is already a candy for... vampires," Serenity said, taking a step forward so he could hear her better over the crashing waves beside them. Blood-Drops were little jelly gummies that were filled with blood. They game in several flavors: A+, A-, B+, B-, AB, and O.

"So... I wouldn't go with that because people might not think you are very creative... So I would go with Bloodsicle. And! When... when you think about it, people might think of the weapon... the sickle which could add to its...bloody...er...charm!" Serenity said with a weak smile, her nerves hammering away at her small frame.

She was starting to get afraid that her body was going to panic and pump blood a lot faster, which would make her insulin drain faster. Feeling her knees get weaker, she turned her back towards him, something she was told to never to do to a vampire, and hopped back onto the rock she was sitting on. She swung her legs and looked at her hands in her lap, waiting for the stranger to say something. The wind rustled her red hair but she didn't remove it from her face because her hands were shaking too much.

"Um... do you need anything else?" Serenity asked, glancing up at him very quickly, her green eyes shaking in anxiousness before returning to the hands that were sweating bullets in her lap. Waves lapped up against the shore, creating a noise between their silence that weighed heavily on Serenity at least.

[DODES]

A strong gust of wind caught the vampire by surprise and lifted a few grains from the ground, sending them in his direction. He raised a hand to his eyes so as to protect his vision, but the popsicle he held in his opposite hand, however, was not so fortunate. It was now speckled with dirt and sand and he couldn’t help but sigh irritably at this slight inconvenience. He would eat it anyway, of course, but it wasn’t exactly pleasant knowing your food would be tainted with little, microscopic grains of sand. He had attempted to salvage his blood popsicle by wiping off the contaminates with his finger, though then his finger would thus be wet with the crimson that is blood. An easy solution to that problem, however, would be to smear it all over the rock he stood next to, which he did rather quickly before licking at the popsicle and turning his attention back toward the woman before him—and he almost laughed aloud when he did. The expression she had really was priceless. You really could snap a photo of it and have it as a postcard with the caption as: say WHAT? Amused, Vincent smirked widely at the thought, though simply observed as she struggled for an answer to his question. At first, all she had managed was an "Um..." but she then surprised Vince by continuing many moments later with, "Well... Bloodpop sounds like...uh... Blood-Drops, which is already a candy for... vampires.” The vampire found himself straining a little just to hear her, she was so soft-spoken in comparison to the ocean waves, though she stepped closer and added, "So... I wouldn't go with that because people might not think you are very creative... So I would go with Bloodsicle. And! When... when you think about it, people might think of the weapon... the sickle which could add to its...bloody...er...charm!" Once finished, she offered a feeble smile as Vince began mulling over her words. She was actually quite convincing. Vincent’s original plan was to do precisely this: ‘I think bloodsicle sounds best…’ “Oh really now? Bloodpop it is, then.” and purposely contradict her just to have a bit of fun and cause some harmless annoyance, though now that she had proposed a reasonable argument, Vince couldn’t exactly follow through with his plan. He contemplated this for a few moments longer, then gave a small grin and said, “Interesting. Wasn’t expecting you to give that good of an answer…” For Vince, that was about as sincere as any of his compliments got. He continued. “Bloodsicle it is, then.” Giving a satisfactory lick of his newly named bloodsicle, he simply allowed the silence to settle, though the woman did something surprisingly foolish in comparison to what she had just said, and that was to turn her back toward him. Even if it was only for a moment, it wasn’t exactly clever. In that moment, Vincent easily could have had her defenceless, but of course, he didn’t, simply because that was not his intention. However, whether she was human or not, he could have easily overpowered her, and it seemed stupid to him for her to take that chance.

But it hardly mattered. Fact was, Vince was in no mood for that sort of thing today, so she should be considering herself lucky as she sat herself upon that rock. She seemed tremendously uneasy, and Vince was almost certain that she was human—otherwise, why would she act so fearful? It could be that she was simply embarrassed, so Vince wasn’t 100% sure… "Um... do you need anything else?" she asked suddenly, and this gave Vincent the vibe that she was longing for his departure—but would it happen? Probably not. At least, not for now. Vince figured the opportunity to poke a little fun at her would be too amusing to pass up.

“Nope,” he answered, though before she had a chance to reply, he added, “But I can’t help but wonder why you’d be here all by your lonesome. Seems like a dumb thing to do to me.” As he spoke, his lips twitched upward momentarily, envisioning what could have easily occurred if it were another vampire that had stumbled upon her instead of Vincent. It was, indeed, a severely dumb thing to do, and Vince couldn’t help but be amused by the stupidity of it all. Then again, he was amused by many things…

[serenity]

Yeah, it was a dumb thing. Serenity knew that; Luke was always yelling at her for going out alone and not even telling him where she was going. He always said that she would die and he wouldn't know it, which would really piss him off. She just took that he cared about her and he would be sad because he would never say otherwise.

"Well," Serenity said, looking at the vampire with brighter green eyes than normal, "I figure it is daylight so my chances of being attacked by vampires goes down dramatically. And werewolves never seem to bother me, so I guess that is why I always seem to be places alone," she shrugged and looked away, the pink blush starting to grow. She still couldn't make eye contact for too long, something she could work on but Luke was always busy.

Her eyes wandered over the vampire's body, trying to look everywhere except his face. He was well built from what she could tell and could easily kill her. But that wasn't something that made her nervous; pretty much everyone and everything could kill her since she was so small and delicate.

But the fact that he was a vampire terrified her the most. She was already tense, waiting for him to attack and drain her blood. Even though the vampire once told her that her blood was too weak to drink, she still feared for her life when she was with these supernatural creatures. So she decided to keep the conversation going so that possibly he wouldn't attack her.

"Why do you travel alone? I doubt you fear any humans but don't you fear the werewolves? I mean, they seem to be very ruthless to you kin," she said, hoping not to make him angry. They really were, she didn't lie. Walking home one night, she saw a pack of werewolves tear apart a vampire because.... they could. She shivered, remembering all the blood and sounds of flesh ripping, and rubbed her arms for heat as she waited for the stranger to answer her, if he even would.

[DODES]

Taking a bite from his bloodsicle, Vincent vaguely listened to her reasoning, though her words hardly mattered to him. She had said, "I figure it is daylight so my chances of being attacked by vampires goes down dramatically. And werewolves never seem to bother me, so I guess that is why I always seem to be places alone," which really didn’t explain much of anything. It just showed her poor naivety and gullibility, in Vincent’s opinion. What, did she have mythical creature repellent? If not, then Vince found her words hard to believe. It really did not make her any less susceptible to attack, which would explain why Vince replied with a half-hearted, “That doesn’t make it any less stupid,” before taking another lick from his popsicle. The entire situation for Vince was becoming quite the bore—and quite quickly, too. Unless he could conjure up something clever, he may just have to be on his way.

However, upon glancing at the stranger, Vincent now had a brow raised, noting her blush and the tremendously indiscrete way in which she avoided eye contact. She seemed to fear his presence, and this caused a smirk to creep across Vince’s face. It was quite amusing, really. She, in reality, had nothing to fear—not from Vincent, anyway, considering how he was only bored and simply wanted to engage in conversation—and yet just because he was a vampire, she looked to be wrung out with anxiety, as if Vince would viciously assault her at any moment. See, amusing, wasn’t it? Well, in Vince’s mind it was, though his amusement quickly faded as the silence settled. Only the ocean waves as they collide with the beach rocks could be heard for a few minutes, until the girl interrupted the silence as she asked meekly, "Why do you travel alone? I doubt you fear any humans, but don't you fear the werewolves? I mean, they seem to be very ruthless to you kin." Vince considered the question for a moment, knowing his answer almost immediately—yet he did not speak. Instead, he produced a sigh of boredom and seemed to almost forget the girl’s presence as he stooped over and grasped a stone that lay conveniently near his feet. It was a hefty piece of rock, mind you, and it would have given plenty of humans a fair bit of trouble, though Vince could lift it, one-handed, with ease. Being a vampire had its perks, eh?

With that large rock in tow, Vincent began to approach the stranger, and although she may jump to the wrong conclusions, Vince, still, did not intend to harm her. He simply sauntered over to the water’s edge, being mindful not to dampen his, actually, fairly expensive shoes and raised the rock above his shoulder, then seeming to effortlessly toss it into the ocean’s depths. It entered with an immense display of splashing water and Vince gave a diminutive smirk at the sight. This was the entire objective he was trying to achieve—to simply watch and observe as the water ker-splashed, and although it was not nearly as exhilarating as he first envisioned, it was entertaining—at least, for a moment or two.

And as if nothing had occurred, he turned toward where the girl sat, shrugging in response to her question. “I have a reputation, y’see,” he began, rather nonchalant. “A reputation that makes them wolves think twice before attacking me.” He grinned smugly now, amused by the prospect. His opinion on werewolves should have been clearly established, if it wasn't already before, with his demeaning tone and obvious self-righteousness. “And if they really are dumb enough to attack me, I have the proper weapons to defend myself.” Vincent’s eyes scanned over the girl’s dainty form and added, “Unlike you, I’m guessing.” He found his own words amusing and faint laugh was produced. His words were, once again, reiterating her foolishness of travelling alone. She was not even properly armed, for goodness sake, while Vince, on the other hand, wouldn’t even think of leaving his home without at least one gun… Usually he had more. Vince even felt sorry for her, though not nearly sorry enough to sacrifice one of his weapons, even though he, to be honest, didn’t need all the weaponry he currently possessed. Paranoia lingered deep within his subconscious, though it was rightly placed. Plenty of people would kill to see Vince’s head served to them on a silver platter, and, as clearly shown by his heavy artillery, he wasn’t about to give it to them so easily.

Sorry for the wait on that, btw.

[serenity]

Serenity hung her head a little when Vincent said her reason was still stupid. Yeah, she knew that. She really didn't know why she always traveled alone. But she hated being cooped up in the house all day with Luke sitting silently in his room, only coming out to check the locks and tell her to quiet it down. So she figured if she left, she might have a little bit of an adventure when she wasn't just selling flowers.

However, her thoughts were broken when she watched the vampire in front of her throw a rock, no a boulder, clear into the water. The large waves crashed into the shore rocks, splashing Serenity with the salty sea water. She squeaked in shock from the cold water and stood up, her black skirt sticking slightly to her legs. She sighed in frustration at it but didn't say anything in protest in case he decided to turn hostile.

"Point proven," Serenity said, looking up at the man with eyes that were obviously intimidated and admiring. She would be lying if she said she wasn't impressed. She was just a little upset that her skirt was wet now. When he mentioned weapons, she shook her head.

"Nope, I am pretty defenseless. Only got my screams but being a human, that won't get me anywhere, will it?" She laughed sheepishly, throwing her red braid onto her back. She put on her shoes and walked closer to the man until there was only about 15 feet between them. She crossed her arms as another cold breeze came off the ocean.

"Besides, as you can probably tell, even if I did have a weapon, I don't know how to use it or anything like that. I am also lacking int he muscle department by a lot," Serenity said, looking into the vampire's eyes but then quickly avoided them out of habit. She instead turned her eyes towards the sea that thrashed wildly against the rocks.

[DODES]

Contrary to popular belief, Vincent, actually, did have a fairly short attention span at times. This was clearly established as one of those times as his feet shifted restlessly in the sand while he took several licks from his bloodsicle each minute. Despite his fidgety movements, he managed to sustain eye contact with the girl, though his focus on her faded every now and then. He had, however, caught the way in which she hung her head in defeat once hearing his words, which Vincent hoped would stop her stupidity of wandering around, aimless and defenceless. It hardly mattered to him, really, but others dying in stupidity was simply disheartening for him—I mean, where was the challenge in that? It was just so… boring when humans made killing easy, and therefore any cleverness she may have would be like a favour to Vincent. Hmm… yes, he should spread his words of wisdom more often…

Soon after which, however, Vincent grew bored of simply shifting his feet in the sand, and to alleviate his boredom, he obtained a large rock within his grasp and effortlessly flung it into the sea, watching the splash of water that spewed forth. Little droplets of water splattered onto his face and body, as well as the form of the girl he stood near. To Vincent, the diminutive amount water hardly made much of a difference, but he didn’t consider how that splash possibly could have inconvenienced her, only adding to the chill in the crisp, blustery air. "Point proven," she remarked, standing upright now and pulling Vincent’s attention away from the rippling sea water. Once his eyes met with hers in a questioning stare, he soon realized what she had meant by the comment once he analyzed her admiring expression. Of course, flaunting his abilities to please her had not been his intention, though now that it had been taken that way, Vincent grinned smugly, as though such a reaction was what he had been waiting for all along. He supposed that was one of the benefits of vampirism—the impressive strength one gained.

An unruly gust of wind blew past just then, howling to him and fiddling with his hair before eventually subsiding. Vincent, of course, had minimal reaction to this, though he hoped the wind wasn’t hinting for rain… "Nope, I am pretty defenseless." she said in answer to his question, drawing Vincent’s attention once more as she offered a timid laugh. "Only got my screams but being a human, that won't get me anywhere, will it?" Vincent considered her words, giving a feeble smirk in response as he shook his head. “Not at all,” he confirmed, and, smirking a bit wider now, he added, “In fact, that might give some people more reason to attack you.” Grinning broadly, his mind immediately jumped to a particular person as he mentioned this—someone who, quite literally, killed just to hear a tortured scream or two… someone like Damien. Actually, it was not only Damien, but an entire Izan branch made especially for that…

It was true. This girl’s screams would not help her—not in the least. Sure, it may catch the attention of a few bystanders, but really, what could they do against a vampire?

She neared him now, which puzzled Vincent some, considering how she almost seemed to cower in his presence earlier. He, however, wasn’t arguing and allowed her to speak further. "Besides, as you can probably tell, even if I did have a weapon, I don't know how to use it or anything like that. I am also lacking in the muscle department by a lot," she mused, which caused Vince to shrug in response. “Those things can easily be learnt,” he replied, stating it as if it were as simple as breathing. He smirked now. “I wasn’t born knowing how to shoot a gun either, as hard as that may be to believe.” Kneeling down, Vincent lifted his pant leg to reveal the holster strapped around his ankle and the glimmer of the handgun encased within it. “And there really isn’t much to it,” he continued as he unstrapped the gun, raising to his feet with it in his grasp. “If you can hold it, you can shoot it,” he concluded, offering the gun for her to take if she desired. Now you may think Vincent had lost a few brain cells just now, but he really did have good reasons to present a stranger a fully loaded weapon.

…

No, really. He did.

First of all, it was on safety, and Vincent highly doubted that she would even know how to flick it off. And secondly, if she tried anything funny, Vincent, in fact, had another gun in his possession. Yes, that was Vince, alright… always coming prepared.

Ahhh geez, doubly sorry for how late that one was.[/blockquote]