Mister Thirteen

~Nyte Bloods~

"Better than worse for ware I'd say. Your still alive." Responded the voice dryly, the voice of a young woman.

It came front Alice's front, just past the corpse of the fallen Vampire hunter, who was now pooled in blood. Their was a slim figure standing in the shadows, the dark silhouette of a thin framed woman in a skirt with long, flowing hair.

The unseen woman spoke again, her voice commanding and assertive,"Why did you just stand there? You weren't even trying to defend yourself. And what's with the hospital gown?"

The dark shrouded woman took a step forward, revealing herself from the shadows.
She had long dark brown hair which hung carefree down past her shoulders, she was built slim and somewhat petite, yet her face carried a strong no-nonsense look about it. She wore a loose-fit white shirt that hung from her narrow torso, and a black skirt and simple black shoes to accompany the skirt.

She stared deeply into Alice, noting her shaken and somewhat disoriented state, as well as the hospital gown. Her haze drifted downward slowly to the fallen hunter, then back up to Alice. Her face held a stony expression, which seemed uncaring and disregarding.

"Your a Vampire, your recently turned aren't you?" She inquired.

She took another step forward, stopping just short of the dead man before them.

"I can see it in you," she continued,"a newborn is easy to read. You stick out like a sore thumb."

She stepped closer towards Alice, stepping around the corpse between and stopping just a few feet from Alice. Her piercing eyes bore into Alice.
"Look," she said,"I'm not going to hurt you. My name is Liza. What's your name?"

~Nyte Bloods~

The masked hunter blinked and shook his head mentally.
Here she stood, facing her death, and all she had in her arsenal was quips about his clothing? He was surprised instincts weren't kicking in and her trying to attack him. True, she obviously was warped with obliviousness, but still yet, she wouldn't even attempt to fight?

Without extinct though, what with no preempt knowledge of her abilities, there's little for her. A pity, almost.

He refocused himself, aiming the bolt right for her heart, his finger sliding over the trigger. No time for games or final words, she died now.

SNIIKT!

A sudden shredding noise cut through the air, followed by silence.

The Vampire hunter suddenly dropped his crossbow, which clattered loudly to the ground with a loud clatter.
Behind his bandanna his eyes were flared wide, and his eyebrows and the flesh across his face quivered almost abnormally.
He stood frozen in place, his arms both now limp at his sides.

A sudden, loud pattering of water could be heard.

No, not water, but blood.

Blood was spilling onto the ground behind the hunter, former a small yet fast-growing red pool.
A weak groan escaped from his covered lips, and he slowly lurched forward and landed on the ground with a heavy thud. His hat slipped from his head as he fell and went rolling past Alice toward the alley opening. Across the fallen man's back were three long, wide slash marks that extended from his right shoulder down to the center of his back. Blood was deeply soaking his ragged clothing as it seeped from the three strange marks.

"Are you alright?"

~Nyte Bloods~

Tis fine @LadyRunic.

Sorry for my tardiness.

I was so exhausted yesterday I came home, lie down in bed, sand slept until 2 AM.

~Nyte Bloods~

The masked man chuckled almost instantly at her impulsive request.
"Oh we intend to, we have had him in our scopes for quite some time now," said the man,"but that filthy leech always manages to elude us in the end. Just like the other night for example. We ambushed him amidst his feeding, and fully intended to kill him then and there, but alas he just slipped away once more. His luck won't last though, we will kill him soon, all it takes is one false play on his part. So, believe me to your core when I saw that we will kill him. Liam Enduro will die."

The cloaked man took three more steps forward toward Alice.

"But you see," he said,"I'm afraid that you must die too."

Without warning he snapped his right arm up, a slight rattle coming from the crossbow he now pointed at Alice.
The black arrow was aimed right at her chest, and the slim scope atop it's body glinted at her like a grim black eye.

"It's nothing personal, Alice," his tone was dry and un-remorseful,"despite the unfortunate circumstances you have suffered, despite the tragedy you face, I must kill you. What Liam Enduro forced you to drink was his blood.
When you tasted of his blood, you were eternally cursed with the immortal blood of a Vampire. You are Vampire Alice Lynch, and it is my duty as an Inquisitor to destroy you. There is no redemption, no turning back. You are a Vampire now, forever cursed by Enduro's blood. In all actuality, I'm doing you a favor."

On his final word he raised his left hand and gripped the underside of the crossbow, holding it firmly and securely, aiming steadily at her heart.
His finger crept toward the trigger.

~Nyte Bloods~

The mystery man remained silent, fist still clenched, his crossbow still tightly in his grip. He only stared at Alice for a good minute or so.

He finally spoke, his words etched from his hidden lips like a serpent from it's lair,"You truly don't know what happened. This is quite tragic on your behalf."

Silence echoed again, yet only briefly,"Well you see, that creature, that fiery haired snake, Liam Enduro, the one that attacked you, well, he infected your blood. You see, when he seized upon you and fed from you, when he drank your blood from your neck, he was appeasing his appetite. He was quenching his abominable thirst for human blood. That man, that creature in human form, was a Vampire."

The masked man silenced himself once more, letting the reality of the revelation sink in, though briefly, as he continued speaking immediately.

"Yes, I said a Vampire. A dark one, a blood sucker, a demon of the night. He stalked you and lured you to your misfortune so that he could drink you blood, that he may drain you of your precious red liquid. After he was done drinking from you..." the man paused briefly,"it seems that he for whatever reason decided to turn you. He infected your blood with his own I'm afraid, with the cursed blood of a Nightborn."

The masked man took three exact steps forward toward Alice, his face still shrouded by his mask and hat, and the darkness of night.

"Tell me Alice," he asked,"do you remember drinking anything? Do you remember being forced to swallow some liquid that tasted of blood or metal?"

~Nyte Bloods~

The shrouded man remained in place, unmoving and silent, his crossbow and fist remained at his sides. Though the silence was short.

"What I want," he said loudly, his voice a neutral yet menacing tone,"is for the world to be cleansed. For this city that I call home to be purified of all evils of the shadows. What I want is the total annihilation of all Nightborn."

His silence returned as his words echoed through the alley.
He shifted his right fingers around, adjusting his grip on his crossbow.

He continued,"It's quite nostalgic you know. You and I, here like this, in an alley like before no less. Granted minus my partner, but only for now. He'll catch up shortly I'm sure. I wish I could say it's good to see you doing so well after what happened to you. But considering the factor of your now 'well-being', well, I'm afraid there can be no pleasantries between us, Alice."

~Nyte Bloods~

Thunk!

A loud, heavy sound echoed throughout the alley, off the walls and into the air.
It was the combination of heavy boots against the alley floor and the dropping of heavy weight against the earth. It was the sound of someone dropping to the ground from above.

Standing in the alley, on the opposite side from where Alice had fled to, was a tall, dark man in a heavy coat with a rather ragged wide-brimmed hat. On his feet he wore leather boots, weathered and marked from ware. On his hands were black leather gloves, and around his face he wore a heavy bandanna, hiding his appearance from prying eyes.

His left hand was at his side, lax and open, while in his right hand he gripped crossbow, a bulky heavy weapon with a black stock, a narrow long-range scope fixed on it's back, and from the end of the bow pointed a menacingly sharp arrow, the black head glinted even at the distance.

The mysterious man stood still, silent and unmoving, aside from his left hand, which now curled into a tight fist, the leather glove protesting in a straining of material. Unseen eyes bore into Alice from beneath the wide-brimmed hat.

~Nyte Bloods~

Back at the hospital, the fake policeman now stood outside in the asphalt parking lot, standing right in the midst of the pile of shattered glass where the young woman had landed. His head spun about as he looked around, his eyes swiveling to and fro in their sockets. A single bead of sweat rushed down his temple and down toward his jaw.

Goddamnit!

He couldn't see her anywhere.
His stake and cleaver were still gripped in their respective hands.
With an angry growl and a stomp of his foot, he rushed off into the maze of parked cars, his feet streaking across the black tar surface of the parking lot.

Nearby, a shadowy, cloaked figure watched from the rooftop of a close-by apartment building, his presence indicated by the silhouette of a hunched form wearing a wide-brimmed hat.
He watched the blue-uniformed phony racing across the far parking lot with a surmount of displeasure, before vanishing from the rooftop with a simple backward shuffle.

~Nyte Bloods~

"Dammit!" Snarled the man as he rushed forward toward the now shattered open window. Bits of crumbles glass crunched beneath his feet as he approached the windowsill and looked down, practically leaning out of the window.

She had leapt from a third floor window, though the farce officer knew better than to doubt her survival. He knew far better than to do that.

He just spied her figure below, surrounded by shattered glass, though between the darkness of night and the height, he couldn't very well make out if she stood or had fallen.

But it didn't matter, he had to get down there, fast, before she escaped.
It was then he heard shouts of surprise and voices of demand from outside the door, up and down the third floor hallway. Shadows could be seen streaking along the bottom of the door left and right.
The man cursed to himself, and could be seen from below withdrawing back from the broken window.

~Nyte Bloods~

The shrill screech that tore from Alice's mouth caught the man slightly off guard, though it did not completely stub him. He suddenly leapt forward with impressive speed and drove a booted foot directly into Alice's mid-section and sent her hurtling down onto the floor.

His face was twisted into an anger ridden expression of impulse. Someone surely might have heard that scream, at worst one of the evening nurses or doctors. He had to eliminate her now! He would worry about concealing the corpse and slipping away later-so. For now, he needed to focus on killing this harpie wench before she alerted half of New York with another batty screech.

He stepped forward toward the crumbled woman and withdrew his hands from behind his back, where they had been even amidst his initial offensive.

In his right hand he held a sharp, iron stake that was over a foot long and resembled a giant nail almost.
In his left hand he wielded a silvery, glinting meat cleaver with a black handle.

The phony policeman approached Alice, both of his crude weapons extended out before him in a defensive manor.
His face was contorted in a expression of hatred.