[IC] ~Nyte Bloods~

[Mister Thirteen]

EPISODE 3:
A HAND IN THE DARK

____________________________________________________________________________

It was a warm, sunny day in Brooklyn, New York.
The otherwise gloomy little apartment was highlighted by a friendly golden ray of sunlight that shone through the window and etched across the floor. The apartment itself was silent and still, aside from a single sound, that sound being the short trickling of water in the bathroom sink.

Pale hands lathered and rubbed together as soap dribbled from them into the sink below, while a stream of water poured over them, cleansing them of the soap and bodily impurity they bore.

The young woman who stood at the sink, Liza Cook her name, looked into herself in the mirror while she washed her hands in the sink. Her reflected amber eyes bore into her as she absently looked into the mirror before her.
She withdrew her dripping hands from the sink and turned off the faucet, her mind adrift still as she dried them on a nearby hand towel. She turned to look at the small face clock that hung I the wall opposite of the shower side of the room.

Five minutes past four o'clock it said.

Liza turned and headed for the door, clicking off the bathroom light as she exited and gently pulling the door closed behind her.

She now stood in her apartment, a single large "room" that acted as her bedroom, kitchen, and living room. And then of course there was the bathroom, which was nothing fancy, a shower, sink, toilet, and a small closet all crammed into one small space.

None of this of obviously was new to Liza. What was new was who now occupied Liza's simple little bed which was pushed against the north wall of the apartment.

Alice she had called herself. Alice Lynch.
A newborn Liza had stumbled across in an alleyway the night before, where Liza found her at the mercy of an Inquisitor. A Vampire hunter. Liza's upper right lip slightly curled at the thought alone, not just from last night, but at Inquisitors in general. She despised them with a deep, burning passion. It was by sheer luck alone Liza had found and saved this disoriented newborn from the man who held her at deathpoint.

A slight frown dipped Liza's mouth corners as she looked upon Alice the newborn.
She lay stretched out on Liza's bed in a deep sleep, wearing only the hospital gown she had on when Liza had saved her and brought her here to her apartment.

Even now, Liza stood just feet from the unconscious newborn, gazing upon her.
The nostalgia was almost fracturing.

THEME SONG

[LadyRunic]

Hospital wall closed in around her, blood seeped from her neck.

Green eyes flew open as Alice let out a whimper of fright. Sitting up sharply the woman gasped, and shook with panic. Looking about in worry, the woman blinked at the small apartment. Apartment-? Not a hospital, nor her own apartment. Confusion filled her eyes as Alice blinked looking stunned at the woman who was watching her.

That's right, last night she had agreed to come with this woman after the man had tried to kill her. A sharp intake of breathe filled her before Alice let out a breathe. Liam, the police, the hospital. Her planned lie. Drawing her knees up to her chest, Alice trembled like a leaf. She had followed the woman to her home, and after that. Peering through her fingers, Alice felt tears falling. She tried to stop it, but it was too much.

"I-I'm sorry. I don't mean to be such a bother." Alice whispered. Horrified by the tears, Alice bit her lip. Trying to get a hold on them. She was also hungry. But not for food. Human anyways. "Terribly sorry." She whispered.

[Mister Thirteen]

"It's no problem," Liza said firmly,"really."

She walked over to the foot of the bed and sat down at the edge, resting her hands on her thighs as she sat. She looked at Alice with prying eyes, her curiosity obviously at at least a slight peak.

"Alice," she said,"if you don't mind, I'd like to know what happened. By 'what happened' I mean from the very start when you were turned. You haven't been of Vampire blood for long, your...psychological state is proving that. Has it been hours, days?"

None of it really mattered truly, though Liza was quite curious about the situation Alice was in. When you find someone in a situation like Alice was in, and in the mental state she was in no less, it's quite a conduit of wonder.

[LadyRunic]

Alice blinked at the woman as she sat at the end of the bed. Drawing her feet aside to make room, the tailor nodded. "I- What time is it?" Frowning, Alice glanced at the window and her eyes widened. "Oh dear! The hopsital, my shop!" The latter was said with more desperation and a higher pitch. Shivering, Alice timidly looked at the woman and chewed her lip. Why was she always explaining things?! She was getting rather tired of it. But this woman had helped her, and it was that which decided her. Nodding her head, Alice laid her forehead on her knees.

"It started with a client..." And so the tailor told Liza Cook of Liam Enduro. How he came for a coat and left with her for dead in an alley. She told the woman who saved her about waking up in the hospital, of the police. Of the doctor coming in and discovering her healed. Her bitter regret that she had not left the hospital then irked her. She told the woman of jumping out the window, and the events up to when Liza had found her in the alley. "I just wanted to go back to my shop. I don't want to hurt anyone." Alice whispered into the hideous gown. "I just want to make clothes and help people look good. Not become like that man." Her voice was thick with loathing, for Alice didn't have it in her to really hate anyone. Liam, however, was proving this wrong.

"And he took my wonderful creation." Her lip stuck out in a pout as Alice's green eyes turned flinty. "That won't go unpunished if I see him again. Why I ought to stick him full of needles! Stuff him in some lacy, pastel foolery!" The tailor muttered, thinking of the crime of fashion that man had committed and would further commit if Alice got her hands on him and some lovely fabric. Looking down at the hopsital gown, she plucked at the horrid creation with annoyance. "I need to go home, this is dreadful coloring." Yes, thinking about fashion and tailoring helped. It always did, but she still shook with the horrors that had begun popping up in her life. "And I owe you an outfit!" The raven headed tailor declared to her savior.

[Mister Thirteen]

"It's not as simple as you think," Liza said, suddenly and sharply,"you can't just stroll on home like it's any other day."

She stood slowly, her hands slipping down to her sides as she did.
She looked at Alice with a sort of assertive yet sympathetic tone to her face.

She continued,"You say you fled from a hospital, leaping through the window to escape a deranged, murderous policeman, obviously an Inquisitor. You were then confronted and nearly killed in an alleyway by another man in ragged clothing with a crossbow. Tell me..." She said, stepping casually past Alice towards the far window,"how will you explain your story to the police? Their going to be looking for you ya' know?"

Liza stood at the window, absently gazing out towards the Brooklyn skyline from her quaint little apartment.

"Besides," she said, keeping her back to Alice,"let's not forget that the hospital discovered your Vampiric healing ability, granted they didn't really know what it is. It's a surprise you weren't rushed off to some laboratory to be poked and prodded by medical scientists due to your 'miraculous healing ability'."

Liza turned back to face Alice,"The police are going to be searching for you. Your home and your store will be their first priority places to search. What will you tell them? How would you explain jumping from three stories and surviving alone?"

Liza stepped toward Alice, now standing a mere two feet from her, her amber eyes were stern and her face hardened.
"Do you understand what I'm saying? You can't just go back to your simple everyday life just like that, Alice. Your situation is especially complex.
My suggestion; you lay low, here with me. You need to disappear for a while."

[LadyRunic]

The raven haired woman shrunk against the bed, her brow furrowing. "How long-?" Her voice was pained. She couldn't believe her ears. Wouldn't. Not go back to her shop? Something she had worked so hard to create? "I can't just- I'll lie! Tell the hospital, the police I was with you-?" She gave the woman a pleading look. "Just put it as someone played a bad prank or Liam came back and broke the window when he found me gone. It wasn't like they weren't driving me to distraction and knew they were doing so."

Alice blew a tuff of air from her face. "I have a life! A shop! The family can go to hell, but my shop-!" She protested weakly. Her hands running through the long black tresses. "I can continue the shop online. Keep funding it. But I need my stuff! My travel kit at least! Then the fabric and beading and buttons-!" Alice popped up onto her feet. Pacing the small room as she frowned and plucked at the gown. "I need a late lunch..." The fledgling muttered, chewing on a knuckle. She could do online. It'd be harder, but she could do it! But what about those people coming after her to kill her? "Are those- inquisitors are going to keep trying to kill me?" Alice gave the woman a terrified look as a thought occurred to her. "I've never hurt anyone! I mean, yes. I've poked a few people with needles, but not poked their eyes out or anything!" She squeaked, her hands over her mouth. "Oohhh! I just want to get my hands on some embroidery right now!"

[Mister Thirteen]

Liza mentally rolled her eyes and sighed heavily. This young woman just didn't get it.
She could not just casually continue her daily life as if nothing had happened.
The Inquisitors surely knew about her now, and they weren't known to show Vampire's mercy no matter how innocent they plead to be. Sure, Alice might have never harmed anyone in the past, but she was a Vampire now, a Nightborn, and life was just not going to be so simple anymore. If Liza couldn't make Alice understand, the newborn woman wouldn't last a week.

Liza sighed shortly out loud, she spoke,"Listen to me, the Inquisitors know who you are now. They will be hunting for you. Newborns like you are primary targets for Inquisitors. Destroying a Nightborn before they become truly in tune with their powers is an ideal goal amongst their ranks. They will be watching your store and your home, not to mention searching the streets, so will the police. Besides, lying to the police won't go over well. You couldn't possibly cook up a logical explanation."

Liza turned away from Alice and walked over to the fridge across the room, opening it halfway.
She reached both hands in, fishing around inside the lit up fridge, she continued speaking as she searched for whatever she was after,"My advice to you is simple; lay low here for a few days or so, give the heat time to cool off. I'll keep my ears to the street so I'll know when it's safe for you to show yourself again. In time, you might could approach the police and diffuse the search for you. We'll have to worry about that after the Inquisitors have toned down though."

[LadyRunic]

Alice listened to the woman and sighed. Her tiny form slumping on the bed. "My father will claim the shop and building and dangle it in front of me like a prize to show how worthless my enterprise was." Her voice was soft. She couldn't deny the advice of laying low. It was good advice. Something she would have to do. As for the police and their search... She didn't like the cop- the younger one, his name was quite forgotten. But Alice hated how he had scoffed at her. So much like her father and mother had over her gowns and designs.

Shaking her head, the woman gave Liza a mournful look. "I-I'm sorry to keep going on about my shop- my work. You save my life. It's not that I'm not thankful. Making- dealing with clothes is just a passion of mine." She admitted, wiping at the tears that slipped down her face. "If these Inquisitors are watching... Then it is indeed not safe to go back." Alice frowned at the gown, and gave a huff of annoyance. "I was going to tell the police Liam had come back and tried to kill me again." Alice admitted ruefully. "It would sum up a fair bit I thought."

[Mister Thirteen]

Her back still to Alice, Liza responded, a soft touch to her voice,"I know how you must feel. I know the impulsiveness that is coursing through your mind. But trust me, exposing yourself now is dangerous. Even if you handled the police, there's still the Inquisitors to remember. Remember that." Her final words shifted to a tone of slight annoyance.

Liza continued rifling her hands throughout the fridge, the soft clinking of jars and bottles could be heard from within.
Finally, after several minutes of rummaging through the fridge, Liza stepped back and gently pushed the door closed with a soft thump.
Though her back remained facing Alice.

"I'll see about getting you a change of fresh clothes in a few minutes, your also welcome to use my shower if you want. But firstly, right now..."Liza said,"you need to drink."

She casually turned to Alice.
In her right hand she held up a large plastic bag of blood.

It was like those that hospitals used, measurements were labeled down the side, though the bag was filled to the very top. The crimson red liquid was highlighted by the golden ray of sunlight that stretched through the window, making the tone of red sharp and prominent.

"You need to drink."Liza repeated.

[LadyRunic]

Her green eyes cringed as the woman mentioned the inquistors. Murdering thugs that had saved her life. Though Alice was considering if that wasn't more of a curse than a rescue. Now her beloved shop was out of grasp and they had decided to hunt her. Declaring her a monster. Well it's not like this was their fault. Though Alice did hold them slightly responsible. For if they had turned up sooner, she wouldn't have been in this mess. Shaking her head the tailor looked to the woman as the refrigerator closed.

And her mind stopped. Her eyes widened as she gasped, and fought not to inhale again. "W-why-?" She pleaded, she did not like the urge coursing through her to devour the bag. Alice liked it even less as it urged her to then sink her fangs into the woman. For would she not also contain the delicious red rivers of life? Snatching the bag with desperate fingers, even as she eyes showed reluctance. Her fangs did not hesitate to bite into the blood bag. Sucking the red from it with a delicacy that had not been afforded her when Liam had fed. That's right, Alice thought, it was just a giant juice box. Only the juice was the human kind and the iron twinged liquid flowed far too easily down her throat for the tailor's liking. But she still fed from it, needing it more than she wanted to admit.

[Mister Thirteen]

"Geez," Liza said,"you needed it more than I thought."

She hardly hesitated, Liza thought,this could be the first time she's fed since she was turned. In that case it's good that I brought her here when I did. Any longer and the bloodlust would have taken her, worse than likely in a public place. Geez...

Liza blinked and stepped over to the nearby table, having a seat in the bedside chair.

"Put that in the trash when your done," Liza said as she situated herself in the wooden chair,"more specifically wad it into a tight ball and cram it into the bottom if the trash. Help yourself to a shower when your ready, I'll have some clothes for you to wear when your done."

[LadyRunic]

Alice drank happily, her green eyes hooding as she felt the red quench her thirst. It was horrifying, drinking human blood. But Alice saw no other option. Her loss of her life, her freedom, her shop... Alice thought about it slowly as she drank. The one to blame was the one who turned her, and while Alice was a passive person she was no saint. She wanted vengeance for the wrong that monster had done to her. Needles, and horrid clothing was the least she could do. Gasping as she released the blood bag and balled it up tightly. Wedging it down in the trash bin as the woman had dictated, she looked back at her savior.

"I- What was your name?" Her voice was soft and apologetic as she blushed at her own lack of manners. Normally she would have had her manners first and foremost, but she just wanted to wake up from this nightmare. "I'm sorry, my manners. I should have remembered them." She whispered, wiping the spare blood from the corner of her mouth and licking it from her finger before giving her finger a horrified look and brushing it off on the hospital gown. "I=I think I'll take that shower." She whispered, rubbing her arms at what she had down. Not waiting for an answer Alice fled into the afore mentioned bathroom. Once in there it was several minutes before Alice turned on the shower. She had been so focused on getting back to her shop. Now it wasn't an option. Revenge was out of her reach. It also didn't help that she was unable to do anything. Her idle mind and hands left her with imagination that stretched to cover her real life and that scared her. It showed her, her shop closed and everything she worked for destroyed. It showed her hunted and never picking up the needle again. It showed her dead at the hands of doctors, police, Liam and those cloaked men. Her tears came along with her fear. This is why she threw herself in her work. It helped to ease the pain of her family's scorn and it was her passion. Her life. Now she had no access to it and the world looked completely alien. It was a good while later when she finally shut it off, stepping out of the restroom with a look of utter defeat. Her black hair lank and lifeless as she felt. Standing and looking around absently, Alice chewed her lip in uncertainty of what to do.

[Mister Thirteen]

Liza sat at the table at the far side of the room, in the chair facing away from the bed and the windows.

Before her lay a pad, a sketch pad to be exact. Liza was leaned over the pad with a pencil in her hand and a look of absorption on her face. She was carefully sketching away at something, stopping on occasion to madly erase a mistake or displeasure to her eyes. It was a moment before she stopped drawing and noticed that Alice had exited from the bathroom.

"I put some clothes on the bed for you. They're mine but you can borrow them while your staying here with me."

Liza returned to her drawing pad and began scribbling away intently, shading something deeply with her pencil.
The clothes she mentioned lay on the bed as she said. A shirt and a pair of skinny jeans, as well as a pair of undergarments.

"Those underwear are from a freshly opened package, don't worry." Liza said with a unbidden smirk as she shaded away still.

The shirt was an indigo color with sleeves that were open at the shoulder, like the white shirt she wore. The jeans were a deep ocean blue and were decoratively freyed along the pockets and at the base of the legs.

"I've got work in a few hours," Liza said, "from eight to one. You can stay here or if you want tag along."

The face clock on the wall stated the time at seven six o'clock. The sun could be seen out the window, creeping down toward the horizon, soon to disappear past the skyscrapers that lined New York.

"By the way, the name's Liza Cook."

[LadyRunic]

Alice nodded absently. Her green eyes watching the movements of the pencil on the sketch pad. Picking up the clothes she slipped into the bathroom, the door closing with a soft click behind her. A few minutes later, Alice emerged again. Picking at the jeans she frowned slightly. Not happy with the pants, but bearing with it. The tailor enjoyed her skirts and dresses. Another thing this life had stolen from her! But that uncharitable thought was cast aside as she peeked at Liza from under the black strands of hair. "Thank you." She whispered softly as she moved to stand next to the desk and watch the woman draw.

Her jaw worked several more times before she talked again. "Work?" Her eyes widened slightly as she winced away from Liza. Surgeon. The word slid about her memories. The next words came out before she could help herself. "You're one too aren't you?" Of course she was, thought Alice, but the worming worry of Liam's words. Sitting back on the bed, she drew her knees up to her chest with a uncertain look. "Will you feed from me as well-?" Her eyes stared at the clock with a lonesome expression.

[Mister Thirteen]

Liza stopped drawing abruptly, the scratching of her pencil ceasing. She turned her head over her left shoulder to look at Alice, her amber eyes burning across the room at her.

"If you mean a Vampire, then yes, I am."

She turned back to her drawing, the soft scratching of lead on paper returned.
Without looking back, she spoke again,"And no, I won't feed from you. In fact, I don't even feed from humans. The blood I have stored in my fridge is human blood true enough. But it's from a blood bank."

Liza stopped drawing and lowered her pencil, she reached for a pink eraser and began quickly scraping away her paper, sending a flurry of eraser shavings across her paper. After softly blowing them away she continued,"I have a friend who's a nurse at a blood bank. She keeps me steadily supplied with freely donated blood. No need for killing when I have to feed."

[LadyRunic]

Alice cringed slightly as the red eyes fell upon her. Her own green eyes dropping to study the floor, as she breathed a relieved sigh as Liza turned back to her drawing. "I didn't mean to offend." The tailor muttered into her legs. Yet it seemed that was all she was doing with the poor woman who had saved her. She offended humanity and those Inquisitor with her very existence, though she had no say in that. And then offended this woman with her questions and eagerness to return to her life. But a small seed of hope was planted at Liza's words.

"Do you need a lot of blood?" Alice asked after a time, hoping the answer would be a no. Hoping this woman would agree to help Alice find willing blood that did not need to come from a human host. She didn't want to leave a trail of heart break and ruined lives behind her like Liam had with her. She took her joy from beautiful things, not ruined shells. Well, unless she was restoring them to their glory. "I don't want to hurt anyone." Alice whispered in a defensive tone. Her voice meek beside that. She already owed this woman a debt, and by this hell she was living, she'd repay it.

[Mister Thirteen]

"It's alright." Liza said not turning around, though her tone was softer.

Liza's pencil etched along the white surface of the paper as she drew. She was in fact adding the finishing touches to her picture, and her finicky edge was showing as she nitpicked at the near finished drawing.

On hearing Alice's question about needing a lot of blood, Liza responded,"Not a great deal, no. A Vampire in fact can comfortably survive by drinking the blood of one to two people a month. This of course is easier to determine when you feed from humans. Personally, I consume about seven of those bags of blood a month, give or take."

Liza held her picture up before herself, finally satisfied with how it looked, though she blocked it from Alice's view.

"Don't worry, Alice," she said, her voice low and toned with sympathy,"unless you truly choose to, you don't have to kill to feed."

Liza stood from her chair slowly, her picture held in both hands, gently grasped at the edges by her fingers. She stood in place, looking at her picture still.

"Actually," she said,"there are some Vampires who avoid human blood all together, instead choosing to kill and feed from animals. I wouldn't recommend it though, the blood is putrid and foul. At least I've never taken to the taste, anyway."

[LadyRunic]

Alice looked up shyly, hope kindled in her eyes. "I don't care how it tastes." She swore fervently. The mere thought of those lives, the image of Liam as he stood over her cooling body, it was not something she wanted. Not something she desired to cause and to prevent she would do anything. Alice was not a creature of violence after all. "I don't want to become like that man- be I this vampire or no!" The tailor sighed in relief as she rested her forehead on her knees. There was another way! Her heart soared with the knowledge, even if it was a low soaring. Her shop was still from her grasp.

Changing her focus to try and get her mind off the horrors that awaited in her future and that lurked in her past. "What is it you do?" She asked hesitantly. Hopefully she was not a surgeon, that would be problematic. Alice had grown a hatred of doctors and their ilk over the past day and night. Well, the day and night she was awake and aware. If they had only let her go home! Then this mess would never had happened, but even as she thought that Alice chastened herself. If she had not met Liza she would be lost on this unfamiliar path and without any hope but to become a monster.

[Mister Thirteen]

Liza lay her picture back on the table and stepped away from the chair, looking to Alice as she did so,"I work in a bar actually," she said,"a place called Benny's Bar. I'm a waitress and I clear and clean tables too. I highly doubt it's your kind of place, but like I said your free to tag along if you want."

Liza stepped over to a large dresser at the end of the bed. She opened the top shelf and began searching through the assorted clothes until she found what she was looking for, a black button-up shirt with a broad collar. Her work shirt. She closed the drawer and headed toward the bathroom to change.
She stopped just short of the door and turned back to Alice and asked,"So, are you coming with me or staying here?"

[LadyRunic]

Alice sighed at the sound of the name 'Benny's Bar'. It really didn't sound like her kind of place, but after a series of days of strange things happen. A normal bar scene? No matter how out of her normal waters, it was normal life and something Alice craved and wanted. Enough that she would bear wearing pants, and going to a bar. "It can't be worse than doctors poking at me, vampire attacks, inquisitor attacks and jumping through windows, can it?" She quipped quietly her green eyes slightly brighter with the hope of not turning into a murderer.

Running her fingers through the black hair she smiled softly at Liza. "I'm sorry. I just, if I have to sit around in another room for another day... I think I might go crazy. Though at least you're place has color. I was about to raid the children's ward and start making the walls interesting." She admitted, looking slightly embarrassed. "I don't think I'll like the color white any time soon. It's horribly drab when you stare at it all day." Tracing a pattern on the floor with her foot, she looked up at Liza with shy, thanks filled eyes. "I owe you a lot- for this- for everything. If you wouldn't mind it, I'll come with you." Alice whispered softly.