[IC] A Dance in the Dark (Kefka Palazzo & Kate)

[Katelyn]

Flashes of colored moved before her vision, the rest of the world settling into the darkness of night and praying for dreams that would erase a mundane reality, as she watched nothing and yet analyze everything. By her very nature she awaited calamity to befall her as it had done so many times in the past thousand years, the gods of chaos loving to berate her for the abomination that she was.

A breeze touched her hair, short wet strands refused to move but instead clung to her alabaster skin as electric blue eyes glazed over. She knelt at the top of the exclusive Grand Amaranz Hotel, her body appearing as one of the sculptures amongst many. She would need to feed before long, but the dense burn in her chest reminded her that she too needed something and was not free to be the God that most of her brethren believed themselves to be. Aseity is what she lacked and due that, she remained more humble than most.

The moon sat high in the sky and the occasional tribute was paid to it by those that she would hunt if only allowed to. Seemingly the idea of killing a wolf was only one held by those that wanted to enter into war with the other breed and yet Illeana dreamt of a world where emotions ran free and fighting or fucking was awarded with the spread of chill bumps down ones spine again, but the years had stolen her ability to truly feel anything. The breeze shifted and the musky smell of cologne drifted from the balcony, a middle aged man leaning over the edge with a glass of dark liquid in his hand and a look of contemplation in his gaze.

She slipped down the ledge, her hands carefully grasping a column for assistance as she let her feet touch the marble floor without sound. Her dark pants slid across her legs like a second skin, the silky black sleeveless shirt dipped low against her breasts and invited any onlooker to realize that she was confident in the very fact that she was astonishing to observe. His head lifted and she breathed in deeply as she walked toward him, the thick click of her boot the only sound to be heard at a distance so high in the sky. He straighten himself, turning to greet her as she continued her approach, his hand lifting into the air as if to give a toast.

“Lovely night, tonight, hmmm?” He spoke as if he’d know her for the breadth of his short lifetime. His American accent was telling, but it truly mattered not where he was from, or what his name was, or if he belonged to another. She wasn’t there to make friends or fall in love, though some night she wished that to be her reality.

“That it is. What is someone so well dressed and handsome doing standing alone in the cold of night when a party is just beyond the closed door?” She kept her look predatorial, not caring anymore if someone understood her to be frightful or not. Games were for the younger of her kind and she quickly wore thin of the veil of lies they all lived beneath.

“Ahhh… the party.” He looked over his shoulder toward the golden glow of the door and turned further toward her, his gaze crawling across her skin as she stopped her approach with a comfortable two feet between them. “I think there is more entertainment out here where the wind is blowing and the rain is dropping. Look at how beautiful the city is.” He looked back over the ledge and she almost hesitated to join him, wondering if her journey to feel wouldn’t be in denial of her needs.

The door opened and a boisterous blonde walked from the room, her voice loud and her words slurred from liquor. “Jimmy… who’s this? What are you doing out here? I thought we were getting a room.” The girl looked from Illeana to the male, her confusion palatable and his annoyance even more so.

Illena smiled at him and whispered ‘you’re welcome’ before moving at the speed of light toward the girl, picking her up and dropping the twenty two stories below, taking what she needed and letting the rushing water of the river below do the rest.

[Kefka Palazzo]

Tonight was not a changing night. The moon, near full, wasn’t evoking the inner beast, and though Gareth and his kind could shirk their humanity for the rage within at will, at least most of the could, tonight didn’t carry the need on the wind. The moon hung high above, corpse white in the darkness of the night, a pearl amongst the heavens, dusted with diamonds. It was upon this backdrop that he had first saw her, leaping from a perch atop of the Hotel to one of the outer balconies, and then again, dropping victim into the river as she fled, a heartless and cold killer. Obviously vampire, by the speed and agility, obviously freshly fed by the thrashing of the body as it sank beneath the currents of the river, its body mourning the loss of the spirit with a violent rage.

Adversity sat aside, Gareth steps away from the party, away from the crowd here to celebrate and enjoy life, and out towards the grove of trees that surrounded three sides of this hotel. Undoubtedly she’d have come to ground nearest the river, her angled ascent and projected descent would land her near there, but the question would be would she linger/? In that split second that his reflexes caught sight of her, would she have seen him as well? Would she know what he was, providing he offered no feat of strength or change to alert her. But he saw, that alone may be enough. At a jog, he passed through to the trees, careful of his jacket and the low lying branches as he passed through the brush into the trees beside the river. A deep breath and her scent was his, the smell of fresh blood mixed with the aroma of Vampire caught him, mingled with the sweet smell of something unknown to him, possibly a flower, or the essence of some form of berry. Alcohol. He could smell it all lingering about the wind, and towards the smell he went.

And then he found her amongst a pool of silver light, the black of her sleeveless top and pants adorned with silver glow from the moon’s radiance. She stood amongst it as though almost in taunt, did she know he was there? Had she observed, in that split second, that he had caught notice, moved to touch to quickly in response to something out of the corner of his eye. Had she felt, in that flash of an instance, Lycan blood pouring through the inner most chambers of his strong heart. Master and slave. Did she believe in the old hierarchies, lived them? She was astonishing, a brilliant in form and nature that he could not ignore. She was a goddess, one could see it in her face, an aged immortal, and he nothing more than a humble pup, nothing more than his father’s son.

And in the moment, to explain himself, he found no words. No reason to why he chased through the woods seeking her out, no reason or rhyme to his actions. His black jacket, wool and heavy due to the cold weather, bore tears and brambles, his polished shoes, covered in a layer of dirt from the ground. Damp leaves stuck to the bottoms of his shoes, and carried with him as he stepped forward, closer to the edge of the silvery light. She was beautiful, a radiant dream standing flesh and blood before him, and she was a killer. A jeweled dagger, ornate and dangerous. His eyes fixated on her lips, and for a moment he wondered the message behind their curl: warning or humor?

“Lovely night tonight, hmmm?” Gareth spoke, blinking his eyes as through in surprise at himself, like someone awakening from a trance. He felt endangered, he felt the prang of excitement he always did before the beast was called from the cage within. Even now, the scent of her blood caused him to rattle at the door, beg to be freed, but he felt he would regret such an action. He felt destiny, felt the call of the moonless night whispering peace into him. He felt placated, docile.

But he felt alive…

[Katelyn]

The drop was exhilarating, but it always was. The wind had a way of offering up a finite experience to those that knew no end to existence. Illeana covered the girls mouth as she her screams ruined the moment, the wind carrying her gently to the rushing river below. She hovered just above the water, her body screaming for release as her feet touched the icy water and her canines extended. She spoke not before ripping the girls throat out, the warmth of her offering coating Illeana's tongue and soothing her anguish that lay beyond the thick curve of her breasts. To never forgo a night of feeding due the monster that lay just beneath the silver coating of beautiful humanity left her angry and filled with an itch to dispose of this life. She finished the girl and dropped her, Illeana herself slipping down into the water to wash the blood from her face and chest as the river seemed to reach up and pull at her, a smile painting its way across her perfect mouth as her teeth retracted.

She moved with grace that belonged only to the realms of heaven, her dark clothes doing more to outline the curvature of her body than hide it, but she cared not. A demon might use any means necessary to lure their prey and she was not far from her hell-bound brethren. Soft drops of rain played along her exposed shoulders, the perfect shape showing strength and femininity in it's structure, most onlookers almost afraid of what they imagined her to be - their greatest fantasy or perhaps worse nightmare. For either way, a bleeding heart was insured to be found in the wake of her careless movements through human history. The rest of her coven was at a sequestered location, her father very particular about where each member of his household was allowed to go and when they could leave. Her disobeying him was a regular occurrence and for a moment in time it was the only breath of space where she truly lived.

She caught the scent of him on her tongue long before she saw him, her eyes remaining focused on the sky above as she moved through the water and walked onto the banks of the river, the rain trying in desperation to wash away a sin committed. She rolled her head languidly, the stretch natural for most as she let her head remained tilted to the right, her shoulder almost touching it. Her eyes were luminous as they always were once she fed, the bright sapphire stones that fit so perfectly against her skin locked onto his handsome face. Soft black hair rustled along his head as the wind ushered in more rain, the night perfect to disappear and yet here they stood - enemies since the relationship split amongst their people. Unlike her brethren she felt nothing toward the wolves in way of retribution. They should be free unto themselves, their own bloodline thick and rich with ancient history and dominion rights.

He moved close, much closer than she might have imagined him to do, his eyes dark to her as the light pressed against the front of her figure, showing in glorious detail the very etches of a long life lived on her beautiful face. The soft timbre of his voice gave her a clear understanding the he meant no harm and held no recent grudge. She knew not, nor truly cared of the conditions of his hear toward her kind beyond this moment, past or future. She took a few steps toward him, her gait almost seductive and yet she put no efforts in obtaining and displaying the gifts true to her nature. She left a healthy two feet between them, a smile touching her mouth as she let her ancient stare penetrate his youth.

"Do think that rain is simply the science of hot and cold, wolf? Or do you believe it is heaven weeping for what it has lost this day and if so, why not weep everyday for the way things have become?" She tilted her head to heaven, closing her eyes and letting the water drip along the curvature of her body, her mind lost to questions forever pondered and always in search for completion, but finding only a connecting inquiry that was to become a vicious cycle. "Why do you smell of fear?"

She tilted her head down and looked at him, her left cheek lifting just a bit as her perfect white teeth pressed against her blood red bottom lip. She breathed in deeply and groaned with airy disposition before a soft nefarious laugh left her. "I like it... You should afraid for I am to kill you or set you free. Either way - freedom will be gained, will it not?"