Vamp Au Side Plot

[Deathcap]

Martin trailed after the other with a slow, steady pace, rapier in hand as he bore down on the vampire lord. He relished in the way the other fled, at the ease with which hed turned the once fearsome lord into a fleeing mongrel. "Ah, keep running, Avadiel, I do like a chase!" He roared as the other vanished up the stairs. "I'm not nearly done with you yet, you dithering old man, I'll crush you to ashes for what you've done!" He slowed at the stairs, before continuing onwards. He would almost swear he felt warm again for all the hatred and vengence he felt burning in his veins.

Avadiel rushed in a flurry into his study, smattered in dark blood, shoving the most important of his belongings and the bottles of stored blood into his bag with his one good arm, the other hanging limp at his side now, his cold old hand shaking as he did so. "Grab your things, girl!" He snarled into the room without looking for Tirza. "We're leaving this place!"

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza ducked into the room, looking at the man in horror at the state of him. The horror quickly giving way to the rage and hatred she'd been harboring for what felt like years. He was wounded. He couldn't fight back. She strode into the room with a fierce determination, reaching down to break the leg off of a chair on her way to the man. She rushed him, stabbing the jagged broken end of her makeshift stake as deep as she could into his back. "That's for everything you bastard." She hissed, wanting him to know that it was her.

[Deathcap]

Avadiel turned at the sound of snapping wood, but too late to stop her as she plunged the shattered stick of oak through him. He flailed but couldnt reach her. He turned, with hatred twisting his face, opening his mouth in a vicious snarl, and lashing out with his one good, clawed hand, before crumpling into a heap of ash and bones with a deathly wheeze.

Martin, having stepped silently through the threshold of the room, regarded the scene with a strange amusement. "Well, well. Whats this now?" He questioned, striding forward slowly, but keeping hs distance for the moment. "You beat me to him." His eyes flicked up from the remains to the girl. A vampire? "How unfortunate. I planned to make him suffer. " He hummed, stepping forward to loom over the young woman.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza stopped as she watched Avadiel fall, feeling a wave of relief and calm wash over her for just a moment. The woman nearly jumped out of her skin when Martin spoke. She started to back away, scrabbling to grab her stake as an afterthought. She did not want to be unarmed here.

"Does it matter much? Dead is dead." She asked shakily, trying and failing to keep herself from shaking.

[Deathcap]

He regarded her curiously. "You robbed me of my satisfaction. Although it seems Avadiel possessed other foes. " He mused, meeting the girls eyes.
"Tell me, before I kill you and whatever other foul progeny he keeps and burn this place to ashes, what moved you to kill your own patron in such a moment?" He questioned, eyeing the bloodied stake and raising the point of his rspier slightly.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza held the stake with both hands in a white knuckle grip. "He's had it coming for a long time." She growled, backing up until she met the wall. "Oportunities like that shouldn't be passed up."

[Deathcap]

Martin stopped in his tracks, letting out a laugh of amusement.
"Well, I suppose I can't dispute such a thing." He conceded, looking her over. She was a new vampire, that was certain. Did she really think she could kill him with a table leg? Still, he admired her arrogance to challenge such hopeless odds.
"You're but a fledgling. Do you really think you can kill me?" He questioned with creeping smile. "Your maker couldn't."

[melodiousmysteries]

"No. But I bet I can get a couple of hits in before you kill me" She snarled.

[Deathcap]

Martin couldn't help but chuckle at her bravery, dipping his head in respect to her before lowering and sheathing his rapier to stride to the side, inspecting the belongings the other had spilled about his ashes, picking up one of the bottles of blood and turning it in his hand.
"I suspect this place will burn up shortly from the fires lit in our fight - what sort of vampire keeps oil lamps around?" He mused distractedly.
"If there's anything left in this place that you treasure, I would gather it hastily if you don't wish to burn along with it." He told her, stooping to take Avadiel's satchel without turning his back on the girl.
Absently, he placed in the bottles in with the valuables the other had stored.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza narrowed her eyes suspiciously, waiting a moment to slowly sidestep her way out of he room. the second she was through the door she dropped the hunk of wood and scurried to her room. She emptied a pillowcase, tossing her few belongings into it with minimal reverence. she cast one last look around the room bore running through the smoky house and out into the night air.

[Deathcap]

Martin hastily gathered a few things from the office, before looking up and following the girl at a calm pace, catching up to walk out of the house shortly after her, brushing some cinders from his cloak. He glanced back thoughtfully at the old manor. If there were any other progeny or ongoing schemes of Avadiel's still in the manor, he doubted they would persist to first light.
He regarded the girl with reserved interest as he walked up alongside her, reaching to toss her the satchel full of bottles and jewelry. He wanted none of it.
"What now, slayer of your maker?" He questioned, glancing back once more at the now roaring fire.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza jumped as the strange man tossed the bag, fumbling it awkwardly but catching it. "I... Don't know." She admitted with some hesitation. She had thought about this a lot, though very few of her imaginings involved fire, none of them got to her getting out and living her life. Could she still do that? Could she do anything?

[Deathcap]

Martin raised an eyebrow at her confusion. This was beginning to feel painfully familiar. He began to walk towards the forest, glancing back at the girl "Well, your first goal should be finding shelter. The sun will rise soon." He told her. "Follow me if you wish."

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza watched the strange man walk away, waiting until he was out if sight to take one last glance at the pyre before chasing after him.

[Deathcap]

Martin wove quietly through the woods, keeping his wits about him as the adrenaline from the fight began to drain away. He didn't look back as he heard the girl hurry after him, but slowed to let her catch up to him. He walked for a while in the silence of the forest as the sound and smell of the burning manor fell behind, and there was only the cold, whipping wind through the ancient pines.
He wondered briefly if he should be sorry for the destruction of the manor, but if the girl had held so much hate towards Avadiel, he doubted his lair was a place she was fond of.
Eventually, he spoke.
"How long were you with master Avadiel?" He questioned.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza followed along, careful to stay several steps behind. The farther they got the easier her breath seemed to come. The quieter her mind seemed. She pulled her shawl tightly around herself as the wind cut through it, more out of habit than anything . It didnt do her much good anymore. She watched the man closely as she considered her answer, taking a moment to think of what the answer truthfully was and another to consider whether to tell him.

"Three years I think." She answered truthfully. She hadn't exactly been keeping track of the date but she could remember as many seasons.

[Deathcap]

Martin fell silent. She really was just a fledgeling. He should have done away with her back when hed first encountered her - a roaming fledgling without their maker was a recipe for disaster. Even if he'd ignored her, shed either be torn apart by some other vampire she crossed, make a mess of sickness, poor kills and spawn, or starve and go mad. And even if she survived past those clumsy few decades, she'd become a stronger and stronger threat, another competitor vying for the already sparse territory and prey. He frowned. He had seen her desperation, the risks she had taken. He couldnt help but feel a reluctant understanding for the girl. If she was going to be torn apart it wouldnt be him to do it.
"And what purpose did you serve your maker, what has he taught you of our way?" He questioned, wondering how to direct her before they parted.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza halfheartedly shrugged. "I think he just kept me around because he could. He liked knowing that I couldn't leave unless he let me... We never really got past 'eat or starve'" she explained bitterly, brandishing one of the vials from the satchel as if to accentuate her point.

[Deathcap]

Martins brow furrowed with confusion and frustration. So she knew nothing. He continued on, leading her now down a rocky slope towards an old ruin overgrown by the forest. It was small, but made of arching stone, its opening facing away from the sun. It had done him well these last few days. "Ah, here we are." He murmered, stepping through the arch way into a small, crooked stone room, finding his small pack of supplies untouched in the corner.
He glanced back at the fledgeling thoughtfully. This would be a long commitment, he considered begrudingly. He never intended on turning anyone, and now if he did this, he would have Avadiels pet to take care of.
Martin scoffed angrily to himself, then knelt by his pack, long coat tails trailing in the dust. He unrolled his bedroll, and laid it out in the darkest, most protected corner of the small ruin. "Here, get some rest if you can, fledgeling. Know that you are free to leave me at any time." He added, almost hopefully. "I  will keep watch." He added, leaving her the bedroll and perching near the entranceway.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza followed him in but hesitantly. She looked around at the old cracked walls. How had he found this little place? What had it been before? Had someone else lived here? Was this how she was going to live from now on? Her head snapped up as the mas spoke, startled out of her thoughts. She nodded skeptically, creeping over to the bedroll and sitting on it against the wall. Why was he helping her? She could ask, but she was afraid he would change his mind if she did. "Thank you" She got out eventually, watching him closely for any reaction.

[Deathcap]

Martin looking off into the night, keeping watch for any movement, through he felt quiet safe at this point. Avadiel was dead, and as far as he was aware, his only nearby lackey was the girl.
At her words, he hesitated, not certain which actions she was thanking him for, or if she even should be.
"I don't know that you should thank me yet. I'm ill prepared to teach you, but if you stay with me, and do as I say to the best of your ability, I'll do what I can to make sure you can survive on your own." He told her, glancing back then.
"My name is Martin Romana. I doubt your maker spoke of me, but to be honest with you, I am not a friend of the council which he was apart of, and they bear no love for me. If you wish to join in with their politics and try to claim some measure of power for yourself in the future, I can bring you to the edge of their territory. If you tell them of your maker, and that I slew him, one of them may deign to take you under their wing. I cannot vouch for their kindness, but with time you may claw out a name and territory for yourself. Or you may stay with me, and move from place to place, with little to call your own, if you value the freedom. You need not decide at this minute, though." He explained, trying to give her some grasp of her situation.

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza wrinkled her nose at the thought of having that variety of power. She didn't want that or what it would entail. She snuggled down into the bed roll as though trying to get warm, more out of old habits than anything.

"I'm Tirza." she mumbled sleepily. It was only fair he know her name as well.

[Deathcap]

Martin glanced back at the girl. Tirza. He wondered briefly how she had ended up with Avadiel, and what she would do now. Three years cooped in a manor with someone awful to you was a long time, but so short of a time to be a vampire. Did she still have a family? Human ambitions? He decided to question her later, keeping watch and letting her drift to sleep. "Rest well then, Tirza." He muttered.

When the sun finally rose, Martin found himself a spot along the wall near the back of the building, and folded his arms, resting his back against the cold stone and settling into rest.

He woke to the faint, rosy light of dusk at the edge of the entrance, his rest broken by the smell of smoke, drifting on the wind. He waited for the light to fade before standing and striding over the entrance. The lingering ash from the fire the night before still carried faintly on the wind.

"Tirza." He called back into the ruin. "Gather your things, we should move on from this place."

[melodiousmysteries]

Tirza sat up sleepily, squinting into the darkness. It took her several moments to remember and reconcile with what had happened the previous night but once she did she was excited. Nervous, but excited. What would today hold? Martin was taking her with him right? where were they going from here? Her mind continued to race and she sat up and started to pack up the bedroll and readjust her own belongings.

She took any of the smaller items from her pillowcase, finding space for them in the satchel, leaving only some spare clothes and a small wooden box there.

"Where are we headed to?" She asked, handing him back the bedroll.

[Deathcap]

Martin noticed her eagerness with some relief. He was glad she was taking this situation as an opportunity, rather than with despair.
"Well, I thought we'd make our way north of here to Vesper. It's an old city, now a town, on the seaside. There's a lone vampire near there, not a friend, but less dangerous and less paranoid than the council vampires around here. There's wilderness and a port, and some little villages and ruins along the sea. If we can find some refuge there, it'll be a perfect place to lay low and for you to learn." He explained, walking back to pick up his own pack, retrieving a weathered map and bringing it over to show her. "There's a few towns along the way, and we'll be passing through other territories. As long as we don't draw attention to ourselves, no one should be the wiser." He assured.
"Our first stop is Evelin, few hours from here. There's a night market there, few guards, and lots of travelers for us to blend in with. I think you'll like it. Have you ever been?"

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