Allocution (OPEN)

[Hilde Ryder]

Perhaps the twenty-four/seven nature of the city was what kept the old vampire there because there was certainly very little new. Yet, the city seemed to always be changing. The business district, especially, seemed to be the most volatile. If it wasn't new product on either the white or black market, it was a new vendor, more often on the black than the white.

Sure, she could head over to the shopping district for some basic needs. The white market held much of what Aislinn needed. But, Hilde's needs were more basic and primal without being bloody-- she got that wherever she found it, often without regard to who beyond never taking a child and never taking the traumatized. Her personal rules were strange ones and were likely rooted in the fact that three of her four children had been slaughtered. The youngest, the only girl, was her reason for protecting children across the specie line. As for the traumatized, she suspected it was rooted in her own changing, against the will. Sure, she went after the weak and vulnerable, but never the injured.

With the child safely at home, the vampire wandered lone through the vendors that catered predominantly to the vampires, knowing the codes and words and gestures used to indicate the desire to purchase something a little less than legal or readily available elsewhere. It didn't take her long to find the short man that had been her, for lack of a better term, dealer for the past five or so years. Hilde was genuinely surprised every time she saw him that he wasn't dead, but he had a degree of safety from other humans considering Hilde had no problem threatening anyone who threatened him. Though, she had long since told him that any vampire, she would not protect him against. While she did not hold vampires higher than humans-- she thought equally low of them all, herself included-- she wasn't going to track down a vampire over his life. A human, perhaps. But, at least, a human was fun. Terror was fun. Vampires tended to grow big egos and not admit to fear which was fair enough. Not a lot made them afraid.

"Demon, is it morning for you once again?" he asked, a chuckle to his lips. Subtly, Hilde glanced around them. They were alone by an alley, hidden without being too hidden.

Hilde snarled. "You'd do well to remember that I don't need you nearly as much as you need me."

"But, you still need me." His boastful nature irritated her, and she made that no secret either as she cuffed him across the scalp with her open palm. "Fine. Gimmie thirty minutes." She glared at him. "It would take less time if you told me you were coming."

"Kamphundr. You've had the box for weeks."

"Thirty minutes."

"I'm going to eat you," she said, her voice low and dangerous, "And enjoy every minute of your agony."

He visibly flinched. "I'll get it to you as soon as I can." He turned and fled before she could change her mind or before she decided she was going to eat him then and there. It wouldn't be difficult for her to follow his scent back to his shop in the black market. Her strange respect for his privacy was the only thing that kept her from going there to find him.

With a sigh, she slumped against the wall of the series of small apartment complexes surrounded by a variety of shops, cafes, and light poles. What he had, she didn't really need. At least, not this time around. Sometimes, she did. Sometimes, she didn't. She just liked freaking him out a little. Plus, despite the fact that there was no rivalry between her and New York's Master Vampire, it would amuse Hilde to no end if she ever learned that Tristan was keeping tabs on her underworld purchases. She didn't count on it, but how it would delight her. Most of it, she used for benign things, but she purchased specifically in bundles and at times that would be suspicious just to be ornery. It was her nature.

However, she had roughly thirty minutes now that she would be sitting in the area. Not precisely vulnerable, but in this area, she noted how easy it would be to pick up a morsel while she waited-- should anyone pass. But, if history repeated itself, and it did, someone should be by shortly. And, as long as she hadn't preyed upon them before, she wasn't above taking what she wanted.

[Victor Castle]

The business district was his home but at times, Victor still felt like something was missing, a metaphorical hole in his heart. It was not that he did not love his adoptive family, he had always known that he was a square piece trying to fit into a circular hole. His adoptive mother, he would bend over backwards for her, his father and brother well they were another story altogether.

An annoyed sigh escaped his lips as he rounded the corner. His brother, he was a complete and utter reckless headache. The man had disappeared once again, driving their poor mother to worry herself into a such a terrible state, it had taken several long phone calls to get her to start eating and sleeping again. He was now leaving his shop in the capable hands of his second in command for the next few days, this was more important. At the end of the day family came first.

He would only take this particular route on occasions such as this one. It was the only way to the bus station. Victor pulled his thick woollen coat around him, trying to keep warm, damn he never could keep warm for long. The chill was ever-present, biting at his heels with the pain of the sunlight following in it’s wake, gnashing at his coattails. Oh what a life he lived! He was not paying attention to where he was going, weaving through the crowds with his head kept down. He was heading away from the packed streets, through the vastly empty back streets. It was both a gamble and a risk, as anyone could be lurking around the next corner.

By the time he lifted his head, Victor found himself in an unfamiliar street, his feet had led down several twists and turns. “What the” He exclaimed to no-one in particular. “It seems I’m lost” This was not good, he had a bus to catch.

(Sorry for the short post)

[Hilde Ryder]

The footsteps would have been impossible to miss, but they were not the nervous steps of her "dealer" and were not familiar to the vampire. Hilde slipped back a little wondering if she had the opportunity to enjoy a quick meal before the small minded man returned. The footsteps were less than fifty yards from her when her eyes went wide as she caught the scent of her prey. Damphir. Young in terms of immortality, old in terms of humanity. As she listened, his step changed. It went from distracted to confused. She wasn't above making a meal of a halfling, but something instinctively told her not to. It was like a small voice in the back of her mind decided to yell instead of whisper, and the sheer impact of it took her off guard.

"Well, Halfling," Hilde purred as she slipped from the shadows and leaned against the brick wall. She was struck by a scent that was missing. Though they could survive from rare and raw meats easily, most Damphirs smelled of blood, animal or human. This one didn't. He smelled more strongly of blood than a human, but not nearly as much as a Damphir ought to. A vegetarian?[/I Hilde wondered with a tilt of her head. "Lost is never a good thing. Where are you trying to go?"

She had tempered her voice with a slight purr. She couldn't quite make herself sound genuinely concerned. There was a slight roughness to her voice, as though she was accustomed to the streets. And, she was. In more ways than one. Hilde had spent years as a prostitute, though the manner in which she was dressed and the manner in which she leaned against the wall indicated this was not the case any longer. Or, tonight, more appropriately. Despite the roughness, it was clear she didn't intend to threaten the halfling. He was much too curious for her to make a meal of him and much too genuine in his emotion of being lost for her to dismiss him. Again, that voice was encouraging her to examine this fellow more closely, and she would. Hilde had never been one to ignore curiosity.

[Victor Castle]

What the heck was going on! From the very moment, he had bumped into this strange woman, Victor’s world had turned upside down. Had she escaped from the local asylum or was she simply off her head on something. There were no such creatures as dhampirs, which she had addressed him as. He was a simply human nothing more.

It had felt like he had smashed into a solid brick wall, not another human. It was clear she had not moved inch, no that was he. It had caused him to take a few steps backwards as he tried to keep his balance. The impact had taken his breath away, his breathing for a moment was heavy and all over the place, he had stop, hang his head as his breathing slowed down, the beat of heart was fast as it slammed against his ribcage. He had finally been able to return his calm and collected sensibility, he faced the stranger. His cheeks tinted lightly, heated from the having his breath stolen during the momentary collision.

This woman was unfamiliar, but at the same time something about her very presence was comforting, like he was in the presence of someone he once knew, like he was coming home. Panic soon flooded his facial features, home! The train, if he lingered any longer he would missing the direct train and have to wait another hour for the next available train. His mother would patiently wait for her beloved child but his father on the hand, would not be best pleased by any kind of late arrival. It would be another disappointment to add his ever-growing vast list of past moments of disappointments. The man would never be happy with anything he achieved in his lifetime. Victor was just a source of consistence disappointment of the balding man.

“Madam” He started, not sure where to begin. She had addressed him as a Halfling, what was she talking about? “I’m nothing but human” He answered, his words tempered with confusion and at the same time wonderment, he was curious about her answer. However time was against him, it was ticking away, slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. She might be able to assist him, help him out of his jam he had wandered into. Sighing deeply, his eyes lids slid shut as he searched for the right words. Words rushed through his mind as he brought the next sentence he would speak together.

“I was on my way to the train station, my haste lead him into this maze of backstreets” He explained, this was not exactly what he had in mind for his day. Being lost in a back alley with a strangely curious woman who spoke so elegantly, her words were well strung together. Her intelligence was shining through. Her tone of voice, it was something else more exotic than most women he had encountered in rather short lifetime. She reminded him strongly of Lily, of Molly the unique woman he had encountered no more than a few days previously. She was strong, intimidating and Victor was being to feel small, awkward, basking in her very presence.

The need to fight or flight was hard to resist, Victor wanted to flee from this place and not look back. Something about this woman was frightening him to his core. He could not put his finger on the reason, she was just standing there, so still that he just might have mistaken her for a statue. “Do you happen to know the way to station from here?” He asked, trying to hold his confident in place. His nerves were slowly bleeding through, coating his words lightly.

Oh what he going to do! Especially he remained here too long.

[Hilde Ryder]

Hilde raised a brow as a flood of panic seemed to shimmy through the younger male. She wanted to snicker at his words and call him a liar, but she thought he might actually believe his words. Instead, she took a partial step back, recognizing that she might have a decent opportunity to play here and she didn't want to scare him off. "You are what you are, child," she purred, "Belief cannot change that." Leaning back against the wall in a relaxed pose, she continued to examine him. "I suspect you are aware of as much. Something in you is telling you, not matter how slight the whisper, the truth. Tell me, are you beginning to listen to it?" Hilde smiled softly, her lips closed. She had frightened him, she knew, and there was no sense in flashing a little fang. He might start to believe himself to be food. And, for once, she had no intentions of eating anyone.

"I can take you anywhere in this city and beyond, Little Loki." Standing again, she held out her left hand, palm up, to beckon the man closer with her index and middle fingers. "Running won't do you any good. There isn't a soul in this city that can out run me, so I suggest you calm the fear in the pit of your stomach before I do something to make you afraid." Unlike younger vampires, Hilde was very in control over her urges, but they did still grow around extreme emotions such as fear, rage, and guilt. Her pupils dilated and constricted quickly a couple of times as if to prove her point before resting just a little wider than normal in the raised excitement of being around creatures that feared her. Hilde had always liked fear.

"What is your given name, Little Loki?" The nickname, Little Loki, because Hilde found the commonality between being raised by humans but having at least one parentage of a vampire and being included amongst the gods but having at least one parentage of jotunn an amusing mismatch. It wasn't unheard of. She had two Damphir sons once upon a time ago who were raised by two vampires, though she had been a human herself when they were born and through some of their youth.

[Victor Castle]

This is getting stranger and stranger with every passing moment. The atmosphere dropped, growing darker and heavier, pressing down on him. His eyes scanned from left then to right, there was no-one else but them in this dingy, dark alley. No-one was coming, it was just him and this unknown, obviously delusional woman. She was fixated on a reality that could not be, vampires and werewolves simply could not existed in this world of science. Magic just did not exist, it could not be or that was his logical mind told him.

Her words cut deep, familiarity tingled in his blood, rushed through his veins shocked the logic and rational part of his mind into sudden silence. Something in the depth of his mind pulsed, trying to crawl its way to back to the surface, trying to take him back to his true nature but the magic of the spell fought back, forcing the barbaric, twisted vampiric nature back into its dormant state. Until blood passed through his lips, the spell would always win in this battle. Her word might mentally caress the forgotten nature of Victor but her words truly confused the man, the humanity that controlled every moment as he walked through this world.

What the hell was she talking about, but at the same time there was intrigue. Victor could not help but wander what if, what if there was truth in her curious words. No, it could not be. He was completely human but at the same time, he had always felt like he did not belong. He was an outsider looking in through a rose-tinted window.

He could not help but take another step backwards as another shiver of fear shot through him. He was now mere centimeters away from the concrete wall. There was nowhere he could run, there was no way out. Victor was trapped, he fought against his fear, trying to calm his racing heart. He was left speechless as he processed everything. Her words spoke to a part of him lost in the years lost, the part of his childhood clouded by darkness and a dense haze. Magic always left a mark behind, Victor was not visible, his mark was intermingled with his very scent. It was always there but no human could detect it but in the presence of this woman, something deep with Victor reacted. He was torn, he wanted to run and hide but at the same time, he wanted to remain here and listen to what Hilde had to say but he could not understand why.

His head shot up, his eyes locked with hers, almost challenging her. Confidence burned strong as he stared her dead in the eyes. Victor would not listen to his nonsense a second longer, he would not be influenced by her clearly thought out lies, meant to mess with his mind and draw him into her web. She would not be the black widow waiting in the shadows to strike him, her prey. “I have no idea what you are talking about, nor do I want to” He shot back, confident masking his fear, overpowered by his rage and desire to move on, get to the train station and get on his train and away from this alley and Hilde.

Memories were sparked, Loki, Sigyn and Lily. This was not the time nor place to remember the heartbreak that come from his intense and passionate love affair with his lithe dancer. The image of dancing around him, smiling warmly down at him as she got lost in the music, the music of life that had brought them together. “You have no right to use that name” He bite venomously at her, his rage reached his eyes igniting an old pain that pulled at his heart. A wound that would not heal even if it had been years since he last laid eyes upon her soft, beautiful features that had been twisted with guilt but there had been no remorse in her eyes. Her betrayal still strung, it had torn a deep and wide hole in his heart that was very slowly healing.

“My name is Victor, Victor Castle” He was growing tired of this game of cat and mouse. She was dancing around him, with her carefully played words and actions. An animal was raging beneath the surface, this was uncommon for the unusually stoic shopkeeper but did not bite back this viciously, unless it was in response to his brother Merrick who easily grated and snapped his last nerve when ever they were in same room for too long.

[Hilde Ryder]

With some amusement, Hilde watched as the little prize went through a torrent of internal conflicts. He seemed to almost believe her despite not wanting to, and she could almost feel the carnal being inside of him call out to her own monster. Perhaps he was not cruel like she was, but that did not change what he was.

Quietly, without taking her attention off the man before her, she observed the change in the atmosphere. She had thought she could taste the magic on the man that had become so foreign in a realm of science and reason, but it was so faint and it had been so long that Hilde had second guessed herself. Yet, this atmospheric change confirmed her suspicions. A spell to deceive hardly wanted to be discovered. She could smell the impending rain in the still of the air. No fronts would have predicted this. The weather men would be stumped. Hilde smiled in a near nostalgic manner. Magic had very nearly died out, and here was a man who carried it, even if he did not know nor could he use it.

The smile turned into a small frown as he played on rage and incredulity over fear. He couldn't have known what rage would do. He couldn't have known that as he had stepped back against the wall, his fear forcibly masked by anger that it would stir the dormant beast within. In a quick motion even a vampire would have a difficult time avoiding, she pressed him against the brick wall, her body flush against his. "With or without knowledge, Little Loki, you and I are not that different," she murmured against his neck. "Your fate remains the same, but this bitter loneliness you presently exist in, this is not in your stars."

She stepped back. Were she human, he might have been able to run from her, but fear or rage, she suspected that he was smart enough to know better. "She hurt you, abandoned you, this one before who called you Loki." It was merely an observation, and stated as such. "You have been abandoned by many, and those who have not, you have left them first, have you not?"

Stepping nearer to Victor, she tilted her head. "What a treat you are. How like a child whose beast still sleeps, but grown in body with such a fire. You protect your weaknesses all too closely, Loki, hold them so near your chest they cause you only harm."

Closing the gap, she gently kissed his cheek. It was empty, void of all emotion but hunger. The black hunger filled her eyes and made her stomach dance. He was nothing more than a mere child, adult though he may be. " It's a true pity feeding from you would break the rules. You surely have such sweet blood. I can smell it in your rage, Victor. You can be so much, as meant to be, and yet, they've never taught you, never freed you from these binds." She looked almost sad. "You don't have to be alone, you know? You don't have to punish yourself for crimes that you are not responsible for."

Gracefully, she stepped back. "Loki is not inappropriate for you, Sweet Child. It suits you, I think, better than you realize. But, no matter. Names are trivial and can be changed many times over the centuries. I suppose I cannot force you to be who you are. That is quite unfair, don't you think. But, if you insist on being human-"

Pausing, she stepped against him, her strength more than his and much more disciplined. Using her whole body, she pressed him back into the wall, teeth sinking into the flesh above his collar bone. She could feel the sleeping, carnal creature beneath his spell rise against her almost asking for freedom, but she was not the spell caster and did not know the breaking trigger.

Focusing on his heart beat and on the oppressed vampire within him, she tried asking the beast. It seemed to growl in response, and she felt the overwhelming need for human blood. Without actually feeding, Hilde pulled away, the blood on her lips the only drops she had bled from him. "I know what you are beneath every layer of your own awareness now, what sleeps within your soul. You do not have to be alone if you don't want to be." As she had spoken, her mouth had been so close to his ear that she had left his blood against the lobe to dry.

((If he fights her, I can edit the end of the post accordingly. Just let me know, so I can change it around.))