Continuum: Bloodletting (The Shanty Town)

[GrievousKhan]

Nihil narrowed her eyes at the mans words but said nothing. Who was this man and why did he seem so interested in her and her task? As the explosions sounded the stranger seemed to quickly realize the levity of the situation. He spoke again in his strange manner of speaking before running off suddenly. When he vanished over the rooftop Nihil remained still for a moment, before spinning her blades back into their respective sheaths. With the way things were now it would be best to make haste in in becoming scarce. In time perhaps she would find out more about who and what that man was, though she had a good guess on the latter. Making her way quickly down the alley way and spilling into the shadows she would make her way back to the hideout for now.

[MelonHead]

His eagle eyes followed Nihil’s progress as she swiftly fled the scene. He expected as much, perhaps she was as smart as he hoped. It was time to be off anyhow, the Dark Lady wouldn’t be too pleased if he failed in his relatively simple mission, and she was one… ‘person’ he was unwilling to cross. On silent feet, Adrian sprinted across the rooftops, his shadow cloak no longer active but his dark armour blending in with the moonlit skyline almost as well. With a great bound, he lifted himself up into the air and rolled acrobatically as he landed on a rooftop nearly twenty feet ahead. His bow creaked in annoyance, and he looked back at it in distaste. There were some disadvantages to the weapon that much he had to admit. Quietly, he dipped into his memory and thought back to the scene of the previous night, heading steadfastly towards the well where all of this had begun.

Two nights prior

Atop a sandy hillside dotted with shanties, a single decent seeming villa house resided with an excellent view of the surrounding town. The night had drawn in, and Adrian approached a woman draped in a black dress, who lounged on a recliner beside a bubbling pool. On first sight, she seemed breathtakingly beautiful, blonde hair draped across slender shoulders, curves, unearthly pale skin. Then you got too close, too captivated, and her fangs sank into your neck, Adrian shuddered. Even a vampire had enough reason to fear their own, when it came to the Dark Lady, fear was all there was.

“Adrian dearest, come here my little pet.” She beckoned seductively, not even bothering to look up at him with her eyes obscured by dark glasses. “You arrived so swiftly, were you longing to see me Adrian?” She pouted. “We see each other so rarely after all.”

“We go with the tides
To the shores that they decide,
walking our own way.”

“Still speaking in rhymes dearest? I thought you would have outgrown it by now.” She looked faintly annoyed at his response, and he stared at her unmoving in his dark cloak. She gave out a little sigh, and ran one hand through her sun-kissed hair. “Adrian, I still love you. It’s a shame we may only meet for such nasty business. But still, the matter at hand. Take a seat, lover.” She gestured to a sat up recliner to her left, and Adrian calmly walked over to it, clamping down on his fear. This woman was a predator; he had been terribly disappointed when she survived the transition to the new world, even more so when he learned how successful she was. He had a past with her, and not one he liked to recount.

“You know what I have here Adrian?” The vampire ancient looked into his eyes, and he gave the smallest of nods. “You have heard of this new police force yes?” She gave another childish little pout. “It’s like the old world, I like it here, I like it lawless. I don’t want snooping like detectives getting into my business, it’s tiresome to hide their bodies after a while.” She gave him a grim smile, and he felt like his heart was going to stop, impossible as that may be. “So, rather than deal with them one at a time until they start causing me trouble, I want you to kill them Adrian dearest. Kill their leaders, kill their best operatives, lure them out and kill them all my lover.” He nodded, the payment had already been agreed upon, he stood and turned to leave.

“Adrian dear.” He thought he heard his dead heart begin to pound more powerfully. “Don’t be long.”

Present day, sometime during the night

Adrian stood atop the tallest building making up a ring of similar sized shanty houses which bordered the thirty foot by thirty foot clearing. At one side, the poisoned well reminded him of his purpose, from his podium he stood his voice layered with his magic.

“Children come to me!
I wish to see you shed blood!
Come to your father!”

His Seduction called out to the many people who had drank from the well. Powerless to resist they left their houses and stared up at him with something akin to adoration. He looked back at them with a sort of sick fascination and hunger.

“Go into the town…
Drag the innocent away
Bring them here to die.”

The fifty or so assembled humans, some carrying clubs swords and leather armour, the other forty or so completely unarmed, ran off into the surrounding town. Within a few minutes, the screaming started, the mob had risen and it began to kill its captives on the dusty floor below their master. Adrian looked down with a dreadful hunger, unclipping his sword and bow, attaching the sheath to his back for ease of movement. He drew his bow string and waited in the shadows, ready to call them to him when the police approached.

He had chosen a good spot, the darkness concealed the rooftops and only a few sporadic torches in the ‘square’ where the familiars were rioting lit up the area. Amongst the chaos his keen eyes could pick out those who did not belong below, those who were a threat, those he was here to kill.

[GrievousKhan]

Strangers Of Shadow

Dwahvel Tiggerwillies tiptoed into the small, dimly lit room in the back of the lower end of her establishment, the Copper Ante. Dwahvel, that most competent of halfling females—good with her wiles, good her daggers, and better with her wits— was not used to walking so gingerly in this place, though it was as secure a house as could be found in all of Shanty Town. This was Nihil, after all, and no place in all the Omniverse could truly be considered safe when the deadly assassin was about. She was pacing when Dwahvel entered, taking no obvious note of her arrival at all. Dwahvel looked at her curiously. She knew that Nihil had been on edge lately and was one of the very few outside of The Shadow Path who knew the truth behind that edge. The Necrokin had come and infiltrated Shanty Town streets, and Nihil was serving as a front women of sorts for their operations. If Dwahvel held any preconceived notions of how terrible the Necrokin of the Bone King, truly could be, one look at Nihil surely confirmed those suspicions. She had never been a nervous one—Dwahvel wasn't sure that she was now—and had never been a women Dwahvel would have expected to find at odds with herself.

Even more curious, Nihil had invited her into her confidence. It just wasn't her way. Still, Dwahvel suspected no trap. This was, she knew, exactly as it seemed, as
surprising as that might be. Nihil was speaking to herself as much as to her, as a way of clarifying her thoughts, and for some reason that Dwahvel didn't yet understand, she was letting her listen in. She considered herself complimented in the highest way and also realized the potential danger that came along with that compliment. That unsettling thought in mind, the halfling guildmistress quietly settled into a chair and listened carefully, looking for clues and insights. Her first, and most surprising, came when she happened to glance at a chair set against the back wall of the room. Resting on it was a half-empty bottle of Moonshae whiskey. She didn't think even Revenants could drink alcohol.

“I see them at every corner on every street in the belly of this cursed city,” Nihil was saying. “Braggarts wearing their scars and weapons like badges of honor, men and women, beast...and the dead...so concerned about reputation that they have lost sight of what it is they truly wish to accomplish. They play for the status and the accolades, and with no better purpose.” Her speech was not slow and cal, yet it was obvious to Dwahvel that there was an undertone of anger there.

“Since when does Nihil bother himself with the likes of street thieves?” Dwahvel asked.

Nihil stopped pacing and glanced at her, her face passive. “I see them and mark them carefully, because I am well aware that my own reputation precedes me. Because of that reputation, many on the street would love to sink a dagger into my heart,” the assassin replied, her gloved hands resting over her chest, and then began to pace again slowly. “How great a reputation that killer might then find. They know that I am older now, and they think me slower—and in truth, their reasoning seems sound. I cannot move as quickly as I did three decade ago.”

Dwahvel’s eyes narrowed at the surprising admission. “But as the body ages and movements dull, the mind grows sharper,”

Nihil went on. “No..this world..." She begun then after a short pause began again."..I, too, am concerned with reputation, but not as I used to be. It was my goal in mortal life to be the absolute best at that which I do, at outfighting and out-thinking my enemies. I desired to become the perfect warrior, and at first it was so I would possess the skill and strength protect those I cared for..to protect my clan...and it took a death himself to show me the error of my ways...time had changed me...made me arrogant. My unintended journey to the Shadowfell humbled me in my fanatical striving to be the best and showed me the futility of a world full of that who I most wanted to become. In Thultanthar, I saw reflections of myself at every turn, warriors who had become so callous to all around them, so enwrapped in the goal, that they could not begin to appreciate the process of attaining it.”

“They are drow and necrokin,” Dwahvel said. “We cannot understand their true motivations.”

“Their city is a beautiful place, my little friend,” Nihil replied, “with power beyond anything you can imagine. Yet, for all for that, Thultanthar is a hollow and empty place, bereft of passion unless that passion is hate. I came back from that city of twenty thousand assassins changed indeed, questioning the very foundations that had built the framework of my existence. What is the point of it, after all?”

Dwahvel interlocked the fingers of her plump little hands and brought them up to her lips, studying the women intently. Was Nihil announcing her retirement? she wondered. Was she denying the life she had known for so long, the glories to which she had climbed? She blew a quiet sigh, shook her head, and said, “We all answer that question for ourselves, don’t we? The point is gold or respect or property or power . . .”

“Indeed,” she said coldly. “I walk now with a better understanding of who I am and what challenges before me are truly important. I know not yet where I hope to go, what challenges are left before me, but I do understand now that the important thing is to enjoy the process of getting there. Do I care that my reputation remains strong, even in this world?” Nihil asked suddenly, even as Dwahvel started to ask her if she had any idea at all of where her road might lead—important information, given the power of the Shadow Brotherhood.

“Do I wish to continue to be upheld as the pinnacle of success among assassins within Shanty Town and beyond? Yes, to both, but not for the same reasons that those fools swagger about the street corners, not for the same reasons that many of them will make a try for me, only to wind up dead in the gutter. No, I care about reputation because it allows me to be so much more effective in that which I choose to do. I care for celebrity, but only because in that mantle my foes fear me more, fear me beyond rational thinking and beyond the bounds of proper caution. They are afraid, even as they come after me, but instead of a healthy respect, their fear is almost paralyzing, making them continuously second-guess their own every move. I can use that fear against them. With a simple bluff or feint, I can make the doubt lead them into a completely erroneous position. Because I can feign vulnerability and use perceived advantages against the careless, on those occasions when I am truly vulnerable the cautious will not aggressively strike.”

She paused and nodded, and Dwahvel saw that her thoughts were indeed sorting out. “An enviable position, to be sure,” she offered. “Let the fools come after me, one after another, an endless line of eager assassins,” Nihil said, and she nodded again. “With each kill, I grow wiser, and with added wisdom, I grow stronger.”

She suddenly stopped at the window staring out for a moment, her face cast in new resolve as her pale blue eyes met the glare of the moon. However her eyes widened and a scowl appeared across her fair face. Without turning around she spoke once more. "Dwahvel...I want to to stay here, don't open the doors for anyone."

The halfling looked confused and moved to ask just why. However the screams from outside stalled her words and she covered her mouth in shock. Nihil moved to the other end of the room to a large wardrobe and opened it, finding her cloak she donned it quickly over her sleeveless layered black tunic with its characteristic hood. Dwahvel was already at the window looking down at the townsfolk dragging their innocents away. What in Loto's name had gotten into these peoples heads?

"Nihil it's not like you to get involved in such things." Dwahvel said as she looked back to the Assassin, who was already at the door.

"I'm going to observe is all, I still have my duty to Thultanthar to report all things of great import that occur in this city."

Nihil then looked back at the halfling, gave a sly wink, and strode from the room leaving Dwahvel alone. What did it all mean? Dwahvel wondered. She made her way back to her seat and sat there for a long time, bouncing her clasped hands absently against her puckered lower lip, wondering why she had been invited to such a spectacle, wondering why Nihili had felt the need to open up to her, to anyone—even to herself. The women had found some epiphany, Dwahvel realized, and she suddenly realized that she had, too.

Nihil was her friend.

[Tantalum]

[ < Continued from (Shanty City) ]

The growls of steampunk gears slowed to a halt, as a giant bronze motorcycle parked up beside a small concrete building, positioned at the border of the incident. Ahead, a row of flashing police vehicles barricaded one of the main streets leading to the square; but even above their echoing sirens, erratic screams of agony flooded from the outskirts of the area. Within, dozens of Human thugs rampaged chaotically through; some carrying blunt and sharp weapons, and all scavenging relentlessly for blood.

"Ah, finally!" hurrying from one of the cars, a pale, brown-haired woman in casual dress paced over to the new arrival. A typical officer's badge was pinned to her collared shirt, and both radio and riot shield were held shakily at either side. Though she was doing her best to hide her worry, her rigid posture spoke volumes of the seriousness of their situation.

Dismounting the bike in a swift leap, Carmen Kaser removed her glasses, and placed them within the beige longcoat she wore.
"...Oh," the woman paused upon sighting the driver, quavering a little. "You're not who I expected to see..."
"Carl's reputation is quite remarkable here." Hardly expecting such a response, Carmen's tone could not have been any bleaker.
"You could say that," the other girl forced a laugh, "But no matter. Officer Alison Ketes," she put a hand forwards.
"Sargent Carmen Kaser," Carmen met the handshake. Now having used it a second time, she couldn't help but smirk at the ring of her own title. "So what's the report?"
"We've counted t-twenty-four of them, could be dealing with twice that many as an estimate. There's just not enough of us to close them in," Alison said despairingly.
"...And how are our numbers so far?"
"...Fifteen, two injured."

Carmen looked back blankly.

"--Our officers are prioritising the armed mobs in groups," the woman went on, "W-while we clear the civilians and await backup. The HQ informs us we'll have sufficient reinforcements in seven minutes-"
"Not nearly enough." Shaking back to focus, Carmen turned her attention to the clearing, scanning the paths and rooftops for anything especially abnormal. Her current night-vision was acute up to a short distance, but it seemed she would need to get closer inside to make out any figures.
"Any idea what has started this?" she remained standing warily, as the flickering police-lights cast a pitch-black shadow behind her.
"We have no-one that can get closer into the square to find out," replied the officer. "The rioters we've detained seem unwilling to say anything, either."
"This is a problem..." Just then, a distant, agonising wail cut through her sentence. "...Have any of them attacked each other?"
"It's hard to tell them apart, but no reports of it so far."
"Then there should be someone co-ordinating them, a leader of sorts..." With assertive strides, Carmen finally began to distance from Alison, headed towards the opposite road. "I guess I'll have to go fish out someone that speaks."

[MelonHead]

The bloodletting continued at a delicious rate, Adrian’s vampiric sight allowing him to pick up every beautiful detail in the poor smoky light projected by the sporadic torches. Soon the familiar sound of sirens rang irritatingly through the screams of the dying on the dusty floor, and Adrian knew his prey was approaching. He watched them patiently, maintaining a dead silence as the shadows curled around him making him near impossible to spot in the dark. The vampiric assassin whispered a silent prayer to whatever dark gods protected him still, and as they began to assemble and deal with his mob with a practiced efficiency, he got to work.

The deal was simple, destroy the police force, the answer was simpler still, slay the grunts lure out the leaders and cut the head from the snake. The time tested method was usually the best; some lessons could only be learned from the past.

It was a few moments after Carmen arrived and began to walk across the street that Adrian made his move, letting loose the drawn arrow and sending it flying through the air to plunge forcefully into the neck of a riot officer. The obsidian tip pierced what armour he wore with terrifying efficiency, and he dropped among his fellows with little more than a gurgled sigh as blood poured into his windpipe. The two uninjured officers attempted to aid him, but in doing so they exposed themselves to the bloodthirsty mob and the three police officers were swarmed.

That group had been the furthest out into the mob and the closest to Adrian, the other group was on the other side, close to two other groups of officers. The vampire knew he was outnumbered, but if he were outclassed he would soon find out. Carefully he deposited his bow next to the already removed quiver under a layer of metal on the rooftop and jumped acrobatically to the ground below.

He rolled to absorb the force of the drop and jumped up a near invisible blur as he sprinted towards the first group. By the time he reached them they had regained their feet, the one he had felled remained still with the arrow in his neck and he could tell immediately the officer was dead. The Assassin didn’t even bother to draw his sword as his two inch claws protruded from his hands and he darted towards the two officers still standing. They fought off two women and a man he had coerced and had no way of knowing, no way of fighting, he slashed at their legs and arms as he passed. The debilitating strikes had the desired effects, the mob were easily able to overpower the group in the most perilous position. Such success was not widely apparent however, which caused Adrian concern. The police were working together more closely on the far side and he may have to take direct action to prevent his slaves from being defeated.

A shady figure still, he rushed forward and darted in and out of his struggling forces as they fought citizen and policeman alike. His lightning fast dash brought him to another group of officers easily dealing with the pressure of his mob. With a snarl he jumped high over their heads and twisted, his cloak fading as he landed among them with teeth bared.

“Blood of the living.” He ripped a female officers throat out as she stared at him in surprise, hardly able to turn to meet their unnatural new attacker. The blood pooled from the wound and he drank briefly before kicking her down to suffer.

“Maintain the life of the dead.” He swiped with both hands, bringing the two officers down around the woman, until only one remained with his riot shield raised protectively.

“Bring me those I seek.” He demanded of the man, who looked at him in confusion as he simply stepped forward and seized hold of the shield. With all of his supernatural strength he tugged it from the officers grasp and sent it flying towards another group, before one swift uppercut caused his claws to pierce his throat.

Adrian then turned, still holding the man aloft, and awaited the threat he knew would come. Someone with some measure of skill had to command the officers, and they could hardly stand to see their force so easily decimated. With a wrench of his hand he severed the head and held it aloft, the mob around him cheering in bloodlust as they began to take the upperhand.

[ImportantNobody]

((Continuing from this post in Shanty City))

____________________

Aimi and the other seven ninjamaids stealthily maneuvered within the shadows of the city, keeping an eye on the dangerous looking man who was quite possibly the source of the large commotion that was blocking the escape route of the squad of battlemaids who had been acting as the vanguard while Veltirinus was in the city. Those unlucky maids could try to find an alternate route to safety, but said alternatives were also very dangerous for a relatively small group of eight with no magical powers to speak of. While a ninjamaid could clean a room without the occupant knowing, this group in need of rescuing only had the basic training with their guns, which would be hard to put to use well enough to break through a mob that even the police was having problems containing. Any detours made would also have to be a pretty sizable due to the madness appearing to spread outwards to envelop more and more of the city as the police lines began to crumble.
.
"The police are getting overrun. We have to help," one of the ninja maids whispered in Japanese as she appeared next to Aimi as if she had just materialized out of the darkness.
.
"We need to worry about our own first. However, it would be beneficial to help the police in this endeavor," she replied. "This one man is tough, so let's try to surround him and then attack when he lets his guard down." If Aimi was showing a sign of weakness and wanted to help the poor officers getting killed, or if she genuinely thought it would be useful to team up so that the battlemaids could make their escape, the others weren't sure of. However, they were in no position to argue and couldn't help but feel relieved that they would try to assist them.
.
The other women gave nods before spreading out, slowly and almost silently creeping ever closer to him, both from the ground in alleyways and from the rooftops that had enough concealment to cover their advance. They didn't know exactly what he was capable of, but being ninjas they were confident that they had so far gone undetected. Meanwhile, the battlemaids were huddled behind a corner, worriedly watching the confrontation with guns drawn.

[Tantalum]

"But that's- that's suicide," the naive officer called after her,"There's too many for us to get anywhere inside the area."
"They wouldn't have sent me ahead if I couldn't scout for them," Carmen turned back with an unknowing hint of smugness. "I've dealt with numbers worse than this. Once I get back, our backup will-..."

A deathly, soulless echo emanated between the pair, silencing them both.
Swiftly yet steadily behind her, Carmen's own shadow began to condense, its deathly black form shrinking inwards and along her spine. Black tendrils coiled harmlessly through her arms, around her neck, until settling as a single, liquid-like mass atop her shoulder.
Within the six-inch shroud, crimson feline-shaped eyes pried open - squinting at the police-lights, before setting sights directly ahead and above. Crescent-shaped ears flickered attentively above a feline-shaped head, and a short tail hung limply behind its featureless body.
From nothingness, the wraith raised an immaterial foreleg, separating it from its host's surface with some difficulty. It then pawed restlessly at Carmen's cheek, as if not having gained her attention already.

"...I see it, Null." Though Carmen herself could not locate anything through the pitch darkness, the fired arrow had been a dead giveaway for her familiar. As she looked forward, a faint silhouette could be seen departing from atop a building, moments before disappearing into the shadows again. She then glanced back at her shoulder - only to see the kitten-like figure had decomposed just as quickly, slithering back to fill her shadow's wake.

"S..See what??" Alison inquired first and foremost; and many more questions were to inevitably follow, if not for the interruption of an urgent radio call, no doubt bearing bad news.
"No time!" Carmen blinked worryingly as she unclipped the wallet at her belt, but did not pay attention to the spoken message. Her fellow officer could save as many lives as she could through words, but this Sargent now had to act immediately if she also intended to be of aid...
And so, distancing from the raised shouts and static echoes, Carmen finally made preparations for her innate ability. Given the non-lethal nature of her faction, Carmen required a form that balanced strength, agility and restraint. Holding no favourite for this particular situation, she withdrew the first materials that came to mind; a fragment of a crustacean, an insect's antenna, a strand of black fur, and the claw of a feline. Nonchalantly, she caught all four of the samples between her molars, and calmly swallowed the ground remains.
It would be a while before the traits kicked in, but the inner stages of her shape-shift had already begun to develop. Her outer muscles constricted and toned, pulsing with artificial strength, and her excess mass was distributed through her limbs for later use. Leaving her coat and shoes behind, she snatched a spare shield from a police vehicle before dashing onto the streets.

Carmen was able to run impressively fast for her size, clearing through the short alley at a steadied 25 miles an hour. No less than twenty yards in, the endless groans of assaulters and victims alike only heightened the gloomy atmosphere, and the stench of blood was already overwhelming her sensitive nose. Her eyes now assumed a putrid yellow hue, taking in all the light she could to navigate - until finally, her sharpened reflexes picked up on the nearest life-threatening incident, and led her to act accordingly.
Leaping past an invaded shack, her clawed left hand reached through the doorway - taking hold of a human officer's collar, and tugging him back before a swung blade ended his life. The attempted assaulter - no more than a human thug with a steel short-sword - followed aggressively through the door in turn, only for Carmen to deliver an incapacitating front-kick to his jaw.
"I... I-Inside!!" was but all the panicked police officer uttered, too distraught to gauge anything else that was happening. Stepping by the shack's window, Carmen sighted a second officer being held by another thug, with a third offender holding a bloodied kitchen knife.
The shattering of glass served no warning to them, as she hurled the riot shield itself - its rim collided squarely with the knife-wielder's chest and winding him against the far wall. Carmen followed in behind, pouncing through the broken window; with a three-pronged landing, her right hand brandished an already-drawn, shining silver revolver towards the remaining rioter and his captive.
No time was given for words. The gun fired loudly - off target, to the man's left. She watched him flinch, releasing the police officer as he veered to the right, aptly in time for her to fist him solidly to the ground.

Two rioters had been rendered unconscious, and the third was no longer in any condition to fight anyway. Striking non-lethally had always been a difficult practice for Carmen, but she appeared pleased enough with her unrefined efforts. While retrieving her shield, she looked down at her second save - a woman this time, matching Carmen's usual height and bearing several recent bruises. She panted wearily whilst slouched against the cupboard behind her, with hands held against ringing ears. Although wordless, her face showed enough of her disapproval at Carmen's methods.
"Thank me later!" With revolver held firmly in her pocket, the shifter disappeared from the scene again, leaving through a back entrance then continuing on her roundabout path.

By this point in time, from her facials down to her vocal chords, Carmen's appearance would not be recognisable to anyone she had met. Her tanned skin had become patched and faded, both her ears were shaped as rounded points, and she had grown three inches since beginning her sprint. Sticking close to adjacent buildings with no sign of fatigue, she neared where she had sighted the supposed ringleader in the clearing... who did not appear to have gotten too far at all.

Clinging beside a wall as she peered out, her face held with utmost surprise and disappointment. At the centre of the ordeal, a tall, cloaked man was not just participating ruthlessly with the murders, but making a show of it as he did so. Multiple corpses and pieces thereof were sprawled through the area, the pools at his feet glistening an inconsistent red.
The uniforms were enough to tell her she had been too late to the scene - however, she felt uncannily little remorse for the deceased. She was here now, and the best that could be done was to prevent any others from dying in vain. The hostile figure ahead had proven his worth with blood, and would clearly be a difficult figure to combat against, let alone restrain. But at the same time, the faction-wide reputation she could gain from pulling in a villain like this...

Putting aside her vain thoughts, she approached the corner of the shadowed building she was beside, bringing her within handgun distance. Its silver barrel pointed directly at the man, although it would not be wise to risk another shot from maximum range. Instead, she stood partially-hidden with trigger readied, analysing his movements and more importantly, his perception.

[MelonHead]

His point made, the vampire negligently tossed the trophy aside, the head bouncing across the ground to land among a few of the officers fighting still. They visibly blanched at the grisly sight, and continued their valiant battle with the mob. With that business finished, Adrian stood deathly still near the middle of the clearing, unmoving in his blood splattered armour as he surveyed the scene around him. His keen Vampiric eyes more than capable of picking out those who did not belong, those he sought to kill.

His gaze passed over the silver sheen of a weapon pointed in his direction, but stealthy movement from on high on the very building he had until recently been situation caught his attention more strongly. His eyes fixated on the figure, almost impossible to detect for a human, but such stealthy movement required to avoid his attention was far beyond human capabilities. He had lived for hundreds of years… and there was no trick he had not pulled, or seen pulled. They could not hope to beat him at a game he himself had been playing for seven or eight lifetimes.

Adrian gave his gun-toting aggressor a dark toothy grin marred by blood, although he had no way of knowing if their eyes were keen enough to pick such up under the darkness of his hood. Suddenly, he span and the shadows dived to his form, allowing him to disappear among the writhing forms of his mob. On deft feet he darted to and fro, bounding quickly back up to his hiding spot just as one of the approaching ‘Ninja maids’ reached it. First he would deal with this little intrusion, and then he hoped the commander of the forces below would emerge so he could make an example of him.

The vampire materialised in front of the ‘Ninja’ with a ghostly smile on his face, waiting for her to reveal her purpose. Without hesitation she threw a well-placed blow with lightning speed. He caught her arm and snapped it in one movement. As she cried out in pain his left hand burst forward with claws protruding to pierce her throat. She died with a gurgled exclamation, all her skill worthless, she had been foolish to approach the vampire with such obvious intent. He wondered if they were part of the police force below, it was certainly possible that this strange force employed stranger members; this was a foreign world after all.

With a bloodcurdling cry of defiance and victory he pulled the still impaled woman’s corpse to the side of the rooftop and kicked it down to the ground below. It served as a warning to all others, to trifle with Adrian was a quick and painful death, if you were lucky. His eyes and ears picked up more movement from the alleyways and rooftops, but he ignored them for the most part after seeing what skill the ‘stealth squad’ possessed. They would be no realistic threat, even in the throes of battle.

He resisted the urge to pluck his bow from its hiding place as he passed it and deal with his earlier aggressor from range, and instead mimicked his earlier action as he vaulted over the rooftop and back down to the ground below. His run would bring him swiftly back to his earlier position from a different angle, and provided Carmen remained in sight he would rush past her from a blind spot if possible, swiping the gun from her grasp as he passed and knocking it to the ground. If she had obviously spotted him and prepared to intercept with a bullet, he would instead dart within his mob to plan his attack, using them for cover.

[Tantalum]

Still motionless, Carmen all but watched as the man disposed of his previous murder, and surveyed his own surroundings. With blatant intention, a flash of inhuman fangs stood out beneath the shadow of his cloak, all but an instant before the darkness of the clearing veiled him entirely.
A fairly large group of rioters stood between her taking pursuit - and even if she had tr, she held no way of determining his direction from her position. All but a few seconds later, and the gurgled screams of another victim resounded through nearby streets.
With clenched, carnivorous teeth, Carmen cycled around the back of the building she had used for cover, following after the outburst. Her head raised, just in time to sight his last victim plummet to the ground, blood vilely trickling from the neck.

Carmen had not intended to draw more attention so soon - but while she had already been spotted, remaining hidden was of little benefit whilst other helpless bystanders were being slain. Making matters worse, the victim's dress near-certainly matched one of the maids which Veltry's group had mentioned earlier; considering she was already in debt, Carmen's own image would be shattered if any further casualties were to happen to them...
Abandoning her chance at stealth, her transformation continued on; drawing further and further from her human base, and tailoring to outmatch and counter what she had seen of the target so far. Her pointed ears had each lengthened to 8 inches - their shape resembling that of a bat's, yet decaled with the black tufts and dusky fur of a lynx. Shining black nails adorned each of her shortened digits, and half a serrated crab-like claw replaced each of her once-opposable thumbs. Nearing a height of 5'10", her lungs expanded as much as her bulletproof vest allowed for, and her muscle mass developed further, prioritising the strength of her thighs. The rest of her skin turned paler, morphing to a thin wood-textured exoskeleton, and sturdier, reflective plated stripes stretched along her wrists, shins and throat.

Finally, and thankfully, the fiend ahead set his sights back to the Sargent, clearing the distance in another swift leap. His figure was unclear against the dark skies, but her familiar took note of the the incoming threat immediately. Infused in her shadow, Null twisted defensively beside where its host stood, guiding her to make the correct action.
She whipped around in turn, firing a clean warning shot from her revolver behind her - but the cloaked murderer had changed his course even before she aimed, instead veering away and fleeing within the riotous crowd. Unsurprisingly, the blood-covered thugs did nothing to threaten their leader, and instead, a handful of them broke off to advance towards the law enforcer.
With a seemingly effortless jump, Carmen carried herself onto the roof of the building she had previously taken cover beside, crouching steadily as she landed. From behind her transparent riot shield, her sights were unwavering from the evasive assassin, and only a second was spent deciding on a method to intercept. Depending on his actions, she was braced to chase after or break away in a single instant.

[MelonHead]

The bullet whizzed past him, missing by a fair distance as he had already turned to disappear within his mob. He once again cloaked with darkness, all too aware that if he were directly hit by the pistol round it would cause significant pain and depending on if it were silver coated or not, could even end his unlife.

In among the crowd of writhing bodies, Adrian shifted in and out of sight as he surveyed his prey from afar. He watched as with unnatural ease she jumped up onto the square flat roofed shanty building she had been stood next to. The vampire sprinted forward immediately after spotting this, following her up the building as he reached it in less than a second and dived into the air. He came down five feet from her, rolling to the right and allowing his cloak to fall. The distance was minimal enough so that if she attempted to aim her pistol at him he could close the distance and disarm her.

Her appearance alerted him to magic being used, and he pouted slightly as he realised it was not true human prey he fought. Being cheated of an easy kill was almost enough to make him attack recklessly, but this woman was more than met the eye. He looked at the clear riot shield she held, knowing it could probably prevent a slicing strike from his sword.

“The innocent die
The guilty will always lie;
tell me which am I?”

A dark grin and extended claws splayed to either side, his palms facing the moonlit sky. The roof was bare; ten feet by ten feet at the most, square with a metallic footing. He had decided on a brief skirmish with this obviously high ranking officer, for she intrigued him and his predatory nature made the thrill of battle near undeniable. He would give her a moment to reply if it took her fancy, although the strangeness of his question would most likely leave her with little to say.