Victoria’s grip on him tightened as Alex stood. She sighed at his reprimand of not trusting him, and her brows furrowed about her having ‘other protections.’
“The… necklace?” She glanced down slightly toward the chain he had given her as he stepped toward the window. It was just out of her sight, the pendant strung on it hidden between her and Alex’s back, but just knowing it was there was good enough for her.
“I was just trying to poke fun, is all,” she muttered when he finished.
When he gave them, she followed his instructions, her fingers linking together in front of him, though she instinctively tried to avoid cutting off his air supply. “Besides. It’s gravity I have an issue with right now. Not you.”

Alex chuckles. "Gravity means nothing when you have magic on your side." He said, before leaping out of the window, keeping a tight grip on Victoria's legs as he did so, keeping her pinned to his body. They sailed through the air before landing with a thump on the sidewalk below. He let go of Victoria's legs and waited for her to get off his back patiently, aware that she may be somewhat in shock at the sudden fall.

“I'll take your word for it,” she grumbled, as Alex stepped to the window, then leapt out. She closed her eyes with a gasp, her hair flying about her head for the short couple seconds they were suspended between ground and sky.
She kept her eyes closed for a moment after she felt him lightly land on the sidewalk and release her legs. She slowly opened one eye, then the other, blinked once, then stretched her feet to the ground before unwrapping her arms from his neck.
“That was… anti-climactic.” She cleared her throat. “And to think you were afraid.” She straightened out the bottom of her shirt, then walked past Alex, before stopping and turning back to him. “I, uh, have no idea where we are. So…” She gestured, embarrassed, for him to lead the way.

Alex quietly chuckled before walking toward the end of the empty street. His eyes were constantly flicking around them, aware that anyone could be around. He wasn't sensing anyone around them, but there was magic that could make that happen. "Anywhere specific in mind?" He asked. "There's plenty of places to eat pretty much all over." He turned to face Victoria, but his eyes were still scanning for signs of life in the seemingly abandoned street.

Victoria followed after Alex, her arms wrapping around her midsection as she, too, scanned the area. Anyone—anything—could be hiding anywhere. After all, that shadow beast had leapt out of nowhere. At the thought, her eyes darted to the nearest shadow in the thankfully deserted street, and she made an extra effort to give it more space than necessary.
“Gee, thanks, Captain Obvious,” she said, her unease making her tone harsher than she intended. She took a deep breath, her gaze turning to the sidewalk at her feet. “Sorry,” she apologized softly. “I… I don’t care where. This is just better than sitting around an apartment waiting for Nyaira to show back up.” She hugged herself a little tighter.

On the opposite side of the city, the early evening sun glinted on the shards of broken glass that hung onto window frames for dear life, and glittered on the many shattered bottles that littered the ground. Though the neighborhood had once been teeming with people, now it sat abandoned, vacant save for a single, decaying pub.
Various bits of trash blew by the pub’s door like tumbleweeds in the gentle wind that had begun to sweep through that part of town. A worn sign that read “The Tipsy Ogre” creaked above the aged wood and cracked doorway of the entrance.
Inside, a large, burly man ten times too large for the seat he leaned back in had has feet resting on the bar counter as he snored loudly. Empty tables and booths dotted the scuffed floor and lined the walls. The lights, kept intentionally dim in hopes of hiding the peeling wallpaper and cracking walls beneath, shown dismally from a few strategically placed sconces and dusty lamps hanging from the ceiling.
“ARGH!”
The burly man startled into awareness with a loud snort. The chair creaked and threatened to break before he fell to the floor with a ground-shaking [i]thud.[i] The bottles lining the wall behind him rattled, a few coming dangerously close to falling from the shelves.
The bartender groggily pulled himself to his feet with aid from the bar’s counter as Luc slammed the door to the men’s bathroom open and stormed out.
“Oy!” the bartender complained, his voice impossibly deep and imposing. “This place not in bad enough shape for you?”
“Ceci imbécile femme!” Luc snarled, a cellphone clutched tightly in his hand. It took all his willpower to keep from crushing it. “Quelle était-elle pensant?!”
“Didn’t go well, I takes it?” The bartender smirked and straightened his chair, which had miraculously survived.
Luc turned his snarl on the man, boring his fangs. Even in his rage, the perfection of his pale form made the rest of the bar look even more drab, as if, if the place had feelings, it would be embarrassed to be within a hundred yards of his presence.
“Zat vacuous woman barged in on Illyad’s ‘ome. Alone,” he growled.
The bartender laughed as he sat back down in the chair, returned his feet to the counter, and crossed them at the ankles. He moved his thick arms over his chest, grinning despite Luc giving him another snarl. “Now thats what I’d call stupid! Some choice you’ve made in a girlfriend!” His deep, boisterous laugh sounded through the room again.
“I suggest you still your tongue,” Luc warned, his voice low and menacing as he neared the counter, “before I rip it out.”
The threat only wetted the bartender’s amusement. He gave another, darker laugh and pulled his feet from the counter. “I ain’t the one who needs to watch his tongue, bloodsucker!” The man gave Luc a conceited grin as he stood. He placed both his meaty hands on the counter and leaned toward the vampire. The counter creaked under his weight, but did not cave. “You might be high on the food chain in your little world, but here? Here, you're playing with the big boys, little vamp. You've a ways to climb before you get to talk to me like that.”
Anger flashed once more over Luc’s crimson eyes. But then, he blinked. Pulling himself to his full height to stand in all his regal glory, he stared at the bartender with a knowing look.
“Of course, monsieur.” He gave a smile as dangerously sweet and mockingly compliant as his voice. “Do forgive me.”
The bartender glared suspiciously down at Luc as he crossed his arms with a, “Humph.” He snorted. “So. The girl got away, did she?”
“Yes,” Luc snapped murderously, his grip on the phone momentarily tightening.
The bartender smirked. “He won’t be very pleased to hear about this.”
For the briefest moment, fear flashed through Luc’s eyes. “I will take care of zis. I will get ‘im zee girl.”
“Well, you’d better, Luc.” The bartender added an extra syllable to the end of the vampire’s name, making it sound more like an airy ‘Luca.’ “If he doesn’t… well.” He chuckled menacingly. “That won’t end good for anyone, will it?”

Alex mused as he walked. "Something tells me that they will be regrouping. Nyaira invading at Illyad's didn't seem at all planned, it was too... messy. And I doubt Luc will be happy that she did something that impulsive." He thought about the situation and sighed. "Of course when they do mobilise, they will be trying somewhat harder. Of course, it would be nice to know exactly why they are so interested in you."

Victoria shrugged, following at Alex’s heels as they neared a road that looked a bit more busy than the one they walked. “Because I can see them for what they are? There’re human-run hate groups out there that’d probably kill to have someone who could tell the difference in their ranks.”
She frowned, thinking of the anti-supernatural group her aunt and uncle were a part of. They had tried hard to keep her in the dark about their involvement in it, but it had not taken her long to figure out. Especially when they once tried to use her when she was young to sniff out a potential mole among their group. It was about then she had begun to keep her ability to herself, adjusting to playing it off as something else, convincing her guardians she had grown out of it, much like most children grow out of seeing spirits.

Alex nodded. "Indeed, that is true. But there is likely more to it than that. I mean your ability is much more common among supernaturals. It's got to be something more. And with Luc, there's always more. It's more likely there's some power he wants, something that you hold the key to." He sighed, running a hand through his hair, his eyes full of frustration. "Why is it never simple?"

When they reached the main road, Victoria flinched slightly and walked a bit closer to Alex when a car sped by. She gave a heavy sigh when he finished speaking, the passing cars making the volume of his voice seem to fluctuate.
“Because I’m pretty sure life’s out to get us,” she answered his rhetorical question. She glanced up at the sidewalk. A couple people walked ahead of them, but turned off into another section of the apartment complex Illyad called home. Her eyes followed the door as she and Alex passed, before shifting back to the sidewalk at her feet. “So. Any idea where we are?”

Alex was still somewhat on edge, his entire body tensed, ready to spring into action at a moments notice. He knew he needed to be cautious. He knew Luc and Nyaira, and he knew that they were up to something that could spell danger for everyone. They weren't small time, petty people. They were end-of-the-world people. "Yeah, I know where we are." He told her. "The university campus is about a mile north of here." He said, shrugging. "I would suggest avoiding your more obvious places, but it would appear they can find you regardless, so we need to work on that as well, at some point."

Victoria’s gaze flitted between the sidewalk and the few people who passed by on foot. Everyone suddenly looked suspicious, as if they hid some dark secret, and every car that sped by seemed an ominous omen, part of her expecting one to come to a screeching halt any moment and Luc or Nyaira to jump out from inside.
At Alex’s reminder about campus, she groaned and ran a hand through her long hair, the sun glinting on it and making a blue-ish hue shine in the dark strands.
College. In light of everything that had happened, she had all but forgotten about the reason she was in the city in the first place. She had not even made it through a single full day of classes.
“Fan-freakin’-tastic,” she muttered. She took a deep breath, her gaze turning to follow a man with a cellphone pressed to his ear as he passed by. “How can they even do that? It’s not like I left a scent or something for them to follow here.”