-Sorry-

The Ravenwood Inn's large open den, reception, and dinning area, commonly referred to by locals, live in's, and wandering hunters alike as the Tavern was loud and active, even for a saturday afternoon. The mundane customers were bustling with excitement over rumors that a new factory was going to be built to construct new cars, and there was hope that it could rebrand and revitalize the economy of the small Washington town. The hunters on the other hand, well there was rumor going around that a large nest of vampires was migrating north, and every good hunter knew, there were only three reasons vamps migrated.

Reason number one, they had a group of hunters or an informed group of locals out gunning for them, in which case, they hightailed it in every direction, scattering and forming small groups, or pods, of three (as all normal vampires have a compulsion to gather in groups of three or multiples of three). When this happened, there was little cause for concern, vamps on the run were easy enough to deal with.

Reason number two, the Alpha of a nest (anywhere between nine to sixty vampires depending on location and strength and intellect of the nest) had been taken out and those who supported them were fleeing, in which case the new alpha was ripe for the picking and the rest of the nest with them, it was a hunters dream to come across this type of thing, where a nest was in utter upheaval, easy pickings all around.

But the third reason, the one all hunters feared, and the one rumored to be happening presently, was when a vampire nest ran out of blood. After about week going without, they would do anything, anything for blood, and eventually after resorting to drinking animal blood the vampires would go feral, quite literally becoming what they ate. The wild beasts would then go into a blood lust, demanding more and more, devouring and scouring everything in their path.

According to the locals of the town directly to the south, about two hours by car pushing ninety on the highway, people had simply started to disappear as of yesterday, and direct from the lips of a hunter who passed through the town there had to be at least thirty vampires, all in relative states of mental decay, all gone feral running through the town. Within a week the town would be a ghost town, and the vamps would be on their way.

-Travis-
"We can't just let them all die." Travis spoke firmly but quietly not wanting the mundanes to hear his conversation with his fellow hunters and question what exactly they were talking about. Mundanes were always a hassle, but they helped keep the Ravenwood Inn open for the last century and a half, so there wasn't much to be done about them.

"But if we go rushing in there blind we risk ours and everyone else's lives. We should start fortifying now, we have about a week until they are on the move again, and we are the closest large source of blood, they'll head straight for us. We could have a position ready to defend by then, and crush them out quickly and easily without any risk." The hunter opposite Travis was a roaming hunter, here because he had heard about the feral nest, and Travis could already tell he wasn't going to like the thin wiry man.

"Yeah, that way all that's at risk are the innocents who have no idea what's coming for them in the dark right?" Travis asked the man coldly. He paled slightly. "We should be working to protect those who can't protect themselves. We need to formulate a plan of attack."

"I think you're right on the money about formulating a plan of attack." Jessica Ravenwood spoke softly to the group of hunters, and patted Travis lightly on the shoulder. Then in a much louder voice, cutting through the roar of the Tavern she called out. "Arty, if you would dear?"

Arthur slid his hand underneath the counter, finding the rune that his great-great-great grandfather had designed, and with a sudden burst of light every person in the room that wasn't marked, or a seer quickly finished what they were doing, paid for what they ate and drank, got up and started to walk out. As soon as they were out the door they would forget why they had to go, but would head straight home, never any the wiser as to what had happened. He had been trying for years to figure out how it was done, but it seemed that the complexity of the run simply escaped him, and so to this day they could not replace that single spot on the counter, simply because they couldn't afford to lose such a precious heirloom.

"Thank you deary, now, we all need to have a serious discussion, all of you come, sit, sit. Right over here at the big table." Granny J was ushering every hunter to the table, and as always with a slight tinge of amusement Arthur realized every hunter, no matter how big or tough looking they were, they listened to Granny J.

Adam Sanderson, a regular at the ravenwood, was sitting on his own in a corner, shuffling a deck of cards. He watched the room intently and was looking for his next hit as a hunter. He noticed three men and Jessica Ravenwood, the owner of the inn (who he refers to as Grannie J.) A second passed and all the mundane customers rushed out the inn, and Grannie J ushered all the hunters to their table. Adam looked down at his wrist, no one could see but he put his deck of cards back in to his wrist mounted contraption. He slammed his drink of whiskey and then made his way to the table. "What's shaking Grannie J?" He said in a jokey kind of way. His attention turned to the other men who was with the old woman. He got a chair then offered his hand to each of the gentleman. "The name's Gamble, yourselves?" He asked.

So this was the famous Ravenwood's inn? A old establishment with the décor and feeling of an European mixed with some United god bless it states of America smells and flavours. It was a mix Taralda knew way to well with her background of travelling around this X- colony with her revolver in her cowgirl holster. Taking a seat by the fireplace in the main hall, she felt both slightly alien and slightly at home here. Ravenwood's legacy reached across the Atlantic to the old world, since several of the hunters of Ravenwood had been or still was in that places like Germany, Russia, France and others countries that deserved note. The rise of the USA as a nation and not a colony had not stopped European hunters and American hunters to work together even if crazy nationalism even infects clever folk. Taralda indeed was just following tradition in one sense, and in another she enjoyed this part of the world. After all the gun laws here we pretty free and pretty fun.

Taking off her backpack and opening it she smirked as she withdrew from the sack in question, A gun cleaning kit witch was encased in a fine silver box. She had made the box herself, out of one of her sisters jewellery collection since that Valley girl really needed to face reality. After that she popped it open and withdrew her massive long-nosed doomsday revolver. The fact that it also had silver ingrained and a ebony handle encrusted with runes just made the thing stand out even more. Since revolvers of this age did not really have a solid safety she never went around with it loaded unless trouble was brewing, and here it was probably never going to happen. With the same look a woman would get from going to the store to get a new handbag she opened the reload chambers and started to clean those out, almost having to hold herself from sinning in girly joy. Her gun was masterpiece custom made for her and her rune-based powers. Sure she could read auras but that often fell to the wayside, it was the runes that really captured her imagination

Removing herself from her gun for but a moment she heard some card shuffling American (probably) starting a conversation with that some other hunters that the old lady who runs this place, gave a seat too. Since they just sat pretty much next to each other she was going to overhear their conversation anyhow. Perhaps they would talk about ''i killed X vampires'' like any other dong measuring contest

Hide sat idly by in a far corner seat with a large glass of warm orange juice, watching the normal humans quickly finish what they were doing before they made their leave. It wasn't hard to tell, only those that remained were not of the regular sorts. Marked ones, Seers. Hunters. It seemed he had arrived in town at just the right time, Grannie Ravenwood was getting the meeting started. Though a bit tired from his travels still, he was more curious if this discussion had anything to do with the recent worry of the vampire nest moving. And that alone was enough cause for Hide to move on over to the other table. That and, if Grannie Ravenwood was ushering everyone over, it would be rude not to.

Swiftly he takes a small sip from his large, still nearly full glass of orange juice. He slides himself from out of his chair and grabs his single-strap backpack and tugs it back over his head before grabbing his large glass of orange juice and making his way over to the table in silent, steady strides. Though instead of merely trying to find a seat at the table, he stopped at different one and grabbed one of the chairs and dragged it over. He placed it a few feet from the table and sat down with his drink, so he could be 'in' the conversation but not directly at the table. It was not that he minded people being close, but with how chilly his hands were, he was sure the rest of him was a bit frigid as well, even with his thick jacket on, he was sure someone else would mind. He was use to being cold and it wasn't entirely uncommon for him to always be wearing a jacket or long sleeves, even during the summer months.

Hide lightly bounced his left foot against his chair while he sipped from his glass silently, merely waiting. He saw no need to go blurting anything out at the moment, this discussion could be a number of things. He felt no reason to rush, he still had to finish his glass of orange juice, after all.

Vergil was new to Ravenwood, but moved from his corner table when summoned bringing his mug of coffee with him. He picked a spot between two hunters who were more interesting than him so a persons gaze went from one to the other without stopping on him.. Ever paranoid Vergil had put some runes outside the tavern and checked them periodically. Holding Purrcival he listened to the conversation and scanned the room observing with detail every hunter present.

He felt it would be rude to activate his mark here so he used his knowledge, intuition, and rumors to guess at a persons identity. It was a little game he played with himself to keep his mind sharp. He also pulled out his notebook to take notes on the people around hum and what the conversation covered. At present he noted the woman with the gun and cleaning kit. She seemed imposing and probably a fanatic from her expression when cleaning the gun. Which was a masterful piece of craftsmanship, he needed a closer look when he had a chance. The other person of note was the man who called himself Gamble. Easy going attitudes were not his favorite so he made a mental note to avoid this man if possible.

~deleted extra post~

-Scarlett-
Scarlett shoved open the doors of the Ravenwood Inn. Before she was even halfway through the door, she started loudly asking the question, "Where's everyone going?" As she glanced back out the front door quickly, to where all the mundanes were scattering and dispersing. She turned back into the inn, pulling her shades down the bridge of her nose, and glancing over their upper rims as her eyes began to adjust to the darker Tavern lighting. Once her eyes had adjusted Scarlett took in the scene of all the hunters gathering for a meeting. "Ah, a hunters meeting," she decided after analyzing the scene. Scarlett sauntered over to the table where all the rest of the hunters were gathering around Grannie J. "Hey hey, everyone! What's crackin'?" Scarlett questioned in a jovial manner as she pushed her shades up and resettled them on top of her head. "Hope I didn't miss anything. Why are we having a meeting this early in the day, and why wasn't I informed?" Scarlett joked, uttering the last part in a sarcastically hurt tone. Scarlett took a seat in one of the chairs around the table, leaning back in her seat and propping her mud-caked combat boots up on the top of the table, with one ankle crossed over the other.

-Jessica (Grannie J)-
Grannie J took a moment to ensure all the hunters were present, and gathered around the table. She was about to start the discussion about the hunters' plan of action concerning the feral vampire nest that was sweeping through towns and headed their way when Scarlett made her usual loud entrance. She diverted from her planned discussion just long enough to raise an eyebrow at Scarlett, and issue a warning. "Dear Miss Scarlett, I am so very happy you were able to make it; however, if I have to tell you one more time to keep your feet off the tables, I am afraid I will be forced to remove your feet from your body permanently, therefore removing any persistent temptation permanently," Grannie J threatened, flicking a chunk of dirt that had fallen off of Scarlett's boot from the table. While Grannie J's kind, loving, grandmotherly smile never left her face, the tone in her voice said she meant business, and was not to be tested. It was the tone that demanded respect, and had kept grown men and old hunters from ever trying to question or test her; well, that tone, and the fact that she could and would follow through with her threats if necessary.

Scarlett yanked her feet off the table in a second flat. A shy, embarrassed grin replaced the cocky grin that had just been on her face. "Hehe, sorry Grannie J. It won't be an issue again," Scarlett promised. Scarlett shoved her hands under her thighs and zipped her loud mouth shut as Grannie J began talking again.

"Ok, so now that everyone is here and settled, let us get started with the meeting. I called you all together for this meeting, because as many of you already know, there is a feral pack of vampires attacking a town nearly two hours to the South of here. There have been reports of people randomly disappearing yesterday, and I fear soon the vampires will suck the entire town dry. They will kill anything, everything, and everyone they can get their hands on. This isn't a normal nest of vampires; instead, it is believed that this nest has drained their normal source of blood and therefore lost any sense of humanity they previously may or may not have had. As I've already expressed to a few of you, I think we can't just leave the people of that town be slaughtered like animals; however, some of you have expressed a desire to leave the town that is under attack to defend themselves so that we can instead prepare our own town for their impending attack. Obviously I have an opinion, but as always, I wish to hear the opinion of each and every one of you because in the end, no matter what we decide to do, we will need each and everyone of you to fight if we are to be successful with either plan," Grannie J finished. She looked to each of the hunters with discerning, wise eyes, waiting to see what they would all decide to do.

Adam waited at the table and listened intently. The nest was sure to hit every single town, village and what-not until they were destroyed, that was a given. Perhaps it would be best to destroy them where they were at the moment and stop the mindless slaughter. He drummed his fingers on the table. Adam figured he best slightly distract himself until he goes mental himself. Somehow he couldn't do nothing for too long. He pulled out his deck of cards and shuffled them again but still looked at everyone. He had this to memory. Adam finally spoke after two minutes of consistent shuffling, but he didn't stop of course. "We have to stop this mindless slaughter. My vote is that we take the fight to them otherwise there'll be two ghost towns and feral vampires coming straight to us!"

Taralda looked up from her gun as the elderly host of this tavern started to tell of a town's plight with fanged freaks. Indeed not just any vampire epidemic but a quite fearsome one. Bad puns about ''edgy vampires'' aside this was indeed quite a serious predicament even if it was not the reason she herself had come here. But again, the reason she came here had been long gone anyhow so she would be a fool and a uncaring fool at that, if she ignored this simple plead for help. Putting her gun down she turns her chair around to the rest of the assembly after the first gentlemen (with admittedly kinda funny hair) had finished

''The good-looking hunk is right on the money, we should get off our behinds, march straight in to those bastards fanged faces and blow them off.'' With a quick snatch she takes her revoler up from the table and spins it around her finger
''And what would make a vampire so stupid as to drink its whole supply up? Truly we are dealing with the vampire's equivalent of the short bus'' Tossing the gun up in the air and catching it in her other hand she finishes off with a smirk before putting it down again.

Being new to town slightly bugged Kamiko due to having to figure out where the main places were, But that wasn't exactly what the the main part of the problem was for her. What truly got to her was that the people tended to get a bit uneasy around Kiitani despite her stating that he was safe to be around. Of course she shouldn't blame them for their fear, Kiitani WAS a tiger after all.

Kamiko finally made it to the inn and entered just as soon as an elderly lady whom she supposed was what the people called "Granny J" started speaking.and quietly walked up to the closest empty chair with Kiitani following her and sat down.

OoC: Hey, I'm not going to be able to get on tomorrow. Gonna be away from my PC.

Slight irritation suddenly poked itself at Hide, but he quickly shook it off as some guy playing with some cards spoke up after Grannie J finished talking. Then was followed by another younger looking woman who was a bit too gun happy for her own good, having tossed the nice looking weapon into the air and catching it, only to put it back down. Then again, he couldn't really judge everyone by how they were around the table. What really mattered was how well they fought. On top of that, he was not so sure how he felt about just marching right on in to slaughter all the vampires. While he knew what chaos that vampires could cause, probably better than anyone here, he liked to try to see things from both sides. At least, the best he could.

"While I am all for 'getting off our behinds' and going to slaughter the crazed, are we not even going to worry as to why they drained their normal source of blood? Or if it was even them? I've watched quite a few groups of vampires over the years and none of them have ever just drained their blood sources on purpose."

With that, Hide silenced himself and quickly went to drinking from his glass of orange juice. While not particularly thirsty, it helped him recover a bit faster. In truth, he had a strong dislike for the taste of it, especially the kind with lots of pulp, but no one would ever know it with how often he drank the stuff. One gulp, two, then a third and followed by a fourth, his glass was already half full. He would have continued to drink had he not spotted another hunter approaching. Normally that was not a cause for him to stop drinking, but, the tiger she had with her was another story. Strongly resisting the urge to get up and ask her if it was alright to pet the large feline, he went back to sipping from his glass of orange juice, glancing about at everyone else present.

Looking towards Kiitani, Kamiko spoke;"Well Kiitani, looks like the rumors were true after all." Kamiko started as she reached down to rub him behind the ear which resulted in a loud purr. "And I'd bet you've been eager to get into some more 'Vamp' hunting too!" Kamiko then looked up as she finished speaking to Kiitani to notice a Young male, who appeared, if she was right, to be only a year older than her, catch a curious glace at her and Kiitani and decided to walk over with Kiitani ar her heels.

"Hi, The name's Kamiko, Also known as "The Fire Reaper" and this is my pet Kiitani." Pronouncing the tigers name as "key, tah, knee. "I can assure you that he's safe to be around." After a brief pause she started again, "I'm also wondering if the person who was speaking a moment ago is this 'Granny J' person about."

OoC: Mayadere, I lol'd at the last few senteces.

"As to why the vampires ran out of food, there are several possibilities," Arty spoke softly still standing behind the bar. He hadn't moved to join the other hunters at the table, to be honest he still felt a bit out of place, like a kid speaking to adults, which to a large extent was the truth. "They could have been attempting to increase the over all nest size to stake out a claim in a larger city, or beat another nest to take another city completely, and misjudged how much blood the new vampires would drink, or they could have gotten sick or hurt, there have been reported cases where an injured or ill vampire will consume five times as much blood as normal in order to recover. If a sufficient number were to do this it would bleed out an entire town in no time, even if the town had originally been supporting that nest originally." Arty stopped when he realized the other hunters were looking at him and quickly stammered out an apology, "I'm sorry, I just, well 'cause everyone was asking, I thought I would, well you know, try an answer." He spoke quickly stumbling over his words.

"It's alright Arty." Ganny J smiled at her grandson, "That's correct, however there is one other option. One other possibility is that they were cursed, or twisted, by an awakened, or a demon." Her voice dropped to a menacing tone with the explanation. "If there is involvement of another awakened or a demon, you all must be prepared when you face the vampires. More than just being feral, some may be corrupted, mutated as the knew generation would call it."

"With that information, we need to decide. Do we hunt them now, while we have surprise, and foreknowledge, or will we wait and let them hunt us, on their terms?" Travis spoke firmly, and when he put it that way, there was little left to be discussed.

''The answer to this question, is obvious! They are morons, blood thirsty and blind morons!'' Taralda said before she eyed over the room and saw a mota-fricking tiger who someone and a girl telling her its safe and all.

''You know girl, i remember once, long ago when i and my dad was in India....back there, these bad-girls where not safe'' Fascinated yet afraid Taralda got up from her chair quickly holstering her gun and starting to casually walk forward to the owner of this massive beast
''Can you clap it without it biting your hand off?'' Tarlda had a sorta strange view on animals that could bite your hand or leg off quicker then you could blink, for in some ways they where the embodiment of what the hunters that where in this inn tried to be, harder and faster then a lighting. She herself should know something about lightings, seeing how she could conjurer them from her nice heavy revolver whenever she wished.

Adam watched as a new women came in with a tiger drawing the attention of a few of the attendants. Grannie J finally called for the final vote, it was 1-0 for direct attack. It was about to be 2-0. "The woman with the over sized revolver is right." He said with a wink to the lady as a sign to show her that he was joking. "The vampires, possessed, mutated or not must be eradicated as soon as possible to stop more deaths of innocents." Adam explained. He pulled out two dice from his pouch and rolled them on the table, they weren't activated so there would be no explosions. He rolled snake eyes. "The fabled snake eyes... some interpret this as a sign of poison and death. In my opinion, this says that the blood lusting vampires are acting as a poison, delivering death to those not powerful enough to defend themselves. As hunters, we defend them." Adam said definately. "My vote: We attack them."

Kamiko was just about to put her vote in on going after the blood thirsty maniacs when she heard someone else ask if Kiitani was safe. After a moment Kamiko said: "The way I see it, It doesn't matter what these B******s are killing for. They're still doing it. I say we do something to stop it." Then turning to the one with the revolver she added happely, "Of course Kiitani is safe. I've raised him since he was a cub. Both his mother and siblings were slaughtered by a pack of those beasts out there." After she finished she reached down to give Kiitani a hug which resulted in another loud purr.

Hide would slowly turn his attention away from the feline and back to the chatter about the vampires. He clutches onto his cup of orange juice for a few moments before tossing his head back and downing the remains of the pulpy juice. He lightly shakes his head, now just holding onto the cup while he listens to them for. Everyone seemed so strongly in favor of just going in to kill them. He wanted to argue against them, he really did, but they were all right... they needed to be stopped. "We need to figure out what we are going up against before we just rush in headfirst to slaughter. We need to find out what kind we are going against, if we run in prepared for one thing and not the other, we will end up being the ones being slaughtered." Quickly he changes his focus though from the topic, trying not to think too hard about how well this situation could go for him. While he could deal with vampires easier than most, if things got to bad and he had to use his mark, he might as well sign his own death warrant.

"...Can I pet that?" Hide asks simply, looking at the girl and her pet tiger. He couldn't quite help himself now, especially since she said the creature was safe. And though he did not know her, if she could take the large feline out through the city without any problems, he was going to trust her that the feline was 'safe'. He might have been dead serious a few moments before, but now there was a large smile on his face, giving him a rather child-like appearance now that he had more color on his face after having finished his orange juice. "I, uh, like cats." He looks at the tiger. "Of all kinds."

Letting go of Kiitani, Kamiko looked toward Kiitani then toward the young man before saying; "It's up to Kiitani to--" but stopped when she seen Kiitani lay his big head on the mans lap. "So, Kiitani allows it. If he's fine with it then I see no harm in you petting him."Kamiko said after watching her big cat lay his head on the mans lap.

After a moment, she said; "The name's Kamiko, also known as, "The Fire Reaper. Of course I'd been given the name due to the ability to conjour flames and the use of me blade" she said rubbing the back of her gloved hand across the blade of her scythe before continuing; "This here's Kiitani." Pointing to the tiger.

OoC: Sorry if my posting time is slow from start to finish. Still getting back into the habit of RPing.

Suddenly changing her mind, Taralda stooped trying to pet the overgrown killing machine and instead turned to the assembly of hunters (presumably) that had arrived now, all who seemed to pretty colourful, then again knowing her own background colourful seemed to be what hunters where best at. Starting to gesture and walk around the room as she started to exposit, Taralda tired to sound as serious as possible

''Here is the deal, people, folks or whatever you Americans call yourself. We got a bloodcrazyed brainless vampire horde, who if i got this straight will be coming on mass to drain this town to nothing. Now call me crazy but last time i checked that was not part of ''The American dream''. I say instead of sitting here playing around with cards and tigers we should pack our weapon of choice..''

She quickly grabs her massive gun to demonstrate her point

''...Like this here revolver that has enough fire-power to be banned even in this country, and march over to that horde. Since they are so mindless and stupid we should set up a trap of sorts, fool them in to attacking as carelessly as they have done and then we pounce on them and these bloodsucking abomination against god will be toast!'' She does a quick spin making sure everyone sees her in her casual none-treating but decent looking attire
''Come on?''