silvermist1116

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

A lot happened during the fight. Sin got shot, a big vampire tackled him and he landed on his shoulder wrong, but he punched it in the face. They grappled on the concrete, until Kayla called the fight to end and Claudette turned the street dark. Herik kicked the creature off him, then ran towards the tree, since it was his only point of reference in the darkness. From there he managed to make his way back to his car. He peeled off the street, but didn't follow everyone else. Instead, he went to the hospital, because he'd done wrong. He shouldn't've been in that fight. His mother wouldn't have approved. Sure he went to support Kayla, but he didn't expect more than a little fighting, like a bar brawl. Not a bloody battle. It was too much. His mother raised him better than this. He's sure he hurt the vampires he fought, maybe beyond repair. His stopped at a traffic light and looked at his bloody knuckles. He can't go see his mother like this, but he was barely holding it together. He parked in the hospital lot and he wiped his hands the best he could with a cloth in his bag. The process to check in and get a visitor's bag took a few minutes, then he was in her room, sitting next to her.

She didn't look any different than when he last saw her a week ago. Still blonde with a gray strands, her laugh lines were frown lines, the wrinkles around her eyes looked sad without her liveliness. He placed his hand next to hers, because he couldn't bring himself to touch her with the blood on his hands.

"I got in a fight today. I know I shouldn't've, but a friend needed help." He shrugged, and tapped the bed nervously. "But that's no excuse, is it? I broke a man's jaw for my girlfriend. You'd think I'd learned conflict resolution, but I didn't and I'm sorry. I just want to protect the girls, y'know. They're young and lost." He laid his head down on the bed. "I'm the oldest I should lead by example. I can hear you say it now, but I wouldn't be in the Coven if you were awake." He sighed and closed his eyes. "I'll do better. I promise. No more violence, unless absolutely necessary. Right."

~.~

Herik stayed in the hospital all night, until the nurse woke him up the next morning. He went home, eat, showered, and put an ace bandage on his shoulder, the pain finally hit him. He changed into a purple mini jersey shorts and started his work out. He switched between one arm push ups and sit ups in his living room, until a half hour before the Coven meeting. He got half way there, before getting out his car with a water bottle in his hand. He hadn't worked out the shame from yesterday and his workout at home wasn't enough, so he jogged the rest of the way to Lucky Strike Casino. Most members were there when he came in. He smiled the best he could, then sat away from everyone else at the furthest end of the bar. He didn't have to wait long for Madison and Claudette to come in, Madison asking for help with something called the Hound. From the way Babylon explained it, the creature didn't seem like the type to throw fists at. A grim reaper of sorts. Sounds like something best to avoid. He barely flinched at Madison's Jaws.

"I'll help you with anything you need. I'd help any of you, but I think we need to be careful. Some of us got hurt yesterday." He looked at Sin. She got shot and could have died. "This...Hound doesn't sound like something we should mess with. Babylon said it takes souls to the other side." As much as he doesn't trust Babylon he couldn't see a reason for her to lie about this. "What if it takes one of us? Is whatever you're looking worth your friends' lives?"

closed or whatever don't look at this

Nope. I'm good with them knowing each other. I like the dynamic we have so far.

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So all our characters will know each other? Other than whoever new we get?

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

They were given two hours, before they had to meet at a trailer park called Greenwood with masks to hide their faces. Herik decided it would be best to eat and get out of his uniform, before meeting up. He spent an hour at his favorite diner: Adrian's Skillet. It's a nice little play usually visited by the elderly and mostly staffed by senior citizens during the day and college students at night. They had the best food in Tampa. He pulled a yellow shirt and his brown thong sandals out of his duffel bag, then went into the restaurant with the bag on his shoulder. He was greeted by Yvonne, she always worked the afternoon shift. She took his order after he sat down in his usual booth next to the window where he got the most sun. The portion sizes were larger than the average person could eat for a decent price. He put away two plates of five large pancakes, eight sausages, and four scrambled eggs. He had orange juice instead of coffee, he preferred sweet and a little tart to bitter. After he paid the check, he went to the bathroom and changed out of his trunks and into blue jersey shorts.

Herik looked in his trunk for anything he could fight vampires with. Because of conflicting information about what they could do, he decided he need the basics. At least a wood stake. Oh wait, Kayla said not to kill anyone. Okay, so no stake. That's fine. He didn't want to take a life, even though it's a vampire. They had emotions and families too. Would a cross do the trick? Maybe some holy water, but he didn't know a priest. He couldn't ask his mother. She knew all sorts of people. Oh wait, he does have a cross. He closed the trunk and slid into the driver's seat. On his rear view mirror hung a rosary his mother always wore around his neck. She gave it to him when he started his life guard job over fifteen years ago. She said it would keep him safe. He couldn't wear on the job, because it was too long so he hung it up in his car. He pulled it off the mirror and placed it around his neck. He was ready to go.

~.~

He arrived at Greenwood right after Kayla. There was traffic on the way and he got turned around on the GPS a few times, but he made it. He parked the last in the line down the street from the trailer they were supposed to have it out at. He climbed out of his car and got half way to the group, before he remembered he was supposed to wear a mask. He didn't have one, so he improvised with red shirt he had in his bag. He tore it along the seam on the sides and around the neck. The pieces of the front, back, and sleeves were left. He tied the front piece around his face and stuffed the shambles in his pocket. He assumed the fight would get bloody. Maybe someone will need to clean up after they're done.

He caught up to them on the tail end of Kayla saying, "You follow me in there, you don't leave without everyone else. Now or never, girls."
Oh, it's happening now. Great! He kept his smile, though he was a little nervous about resorting to violence. He's not sure how much a vampire could take and he didn't want to hurt anyone too bad like he did when he was sixteen. Kayla didn't have any reservations about that, because she jabbed the man that opened the door in the throat, then choked him out with a chain cloaked in her magic. Ellie screamed behind him, so he turned around to see her on her knees shaking. He looked behind him, the fight escalated when everyone else joined the fight and vampires that transformed into bat attacked them. He wasn't expecting this. It was violent and grungy. He looked back at Ellie and Claudette. Claudette would fine if something came their way, but Ellie's magic wasn't combat oriented. She'd be a sitting duck if anything came her way and Claudette wasn't there to protect her. He decided that he'll keep an eye out if he needed to come back and fight the creatures. With more hands on deck they'll finish it quickly and Ellie wouldn't need saving, because it'd be over soon enough.

Herik only ran a few feet from the tree when a vampire swooped down to grab him with its claws. He reached for it, grabbed its ankle, and set his feet into the ground, shifting his weight and holding steady so it wouldn't be easy to lift him off his feet. The vampire flapped its wings stronger, but Herik wouldn't let go. He pulled down, muscles and veins bulging in his arms. It shrieked and flapped harder, but he pulled it down harder, hands gripping fur further up its leg until he had it around the waist. He shifted his weight back on his heels, bent backwards, and threw the creature in a suplex. Herik's back hit the ground, but he barely felt it. He quickly rolled onto his feet and grabbed the creature around neck and locked it in a choke hold, his bicep cut off its breathing. Oh right, Ellie. She's right there. He can't choke it out. She yelled after Kayla did it to the man. He let it go, but flipped it onto its back and punched it in the face, until it blacked out. His hand hurt and he's sure he broke something, but he didn't dwell on it. He's used to adrenaline masking the worst of his injuries.

He barely moved a foot before another came him, clawed hands ready to tear into him. Herik was significantly taller and more muscled than this one. He elbowed the creature's nose. He punched it in the face right at the joint that kept the jaw hinged. It broke under his hit and went down. He was lingering on the outskirts for Ellie just encase. One came him fist raised. Herik slipped passed the fist, and tucked the vampire's arm into his armpit, pulled, then kicked its feet out from under him. It hit the ground, where he wrestled it onto its stomach with its arm bent back and up onto its shoulder blade.

"Tap out!" He yelled at it. The creature struggled, until Herik pushed its arm up and it dislocated from the shoulder. The shriek pierced his ears, but he didn't let up until it stopped moving. He smashed it face into the concrete, then moved onto the next one. This ran at him, so he rushed it, got down low, grabbed its legs, and flipped it over his back. The creature hit its head on the way down, knocking it out. Herik backed towards the tree, but kept enough distances to fight comfortably.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

Penny and Zoey are missing and they're never coming back. Good luck Kimberly.

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Stacey wiped his tears, his eyes were red and a little puffy, and the rest of his face slowly went back to it's tawny color. The hand Penny placed on his shoulder was comforting. He felt he could trust her and Zoey, because he knows that it's rare to find people that would stick their neck out for you, much less save your life. He knows he wouldn't have done the same, but he wants to save them someday. If they stick around here any longer he might end up having the chance. When he looked up again they weren't in the city. Instead, they were in the middle of a forest at a pond. At least they were out of the city. Maybe they'll have the chance to breathe for a day, two days, a week, the rest of the time they're here. He hopes.

"It's an Apparition... long as something is keeping it alive it'll come back. And keep coming for you. You can kill it a thousand times, but whatever is keeping it from moving on will only grow... stronger."

And of course Odessa has to crush his hopes and dreams. So they're not safe. But more specifically he's not safe. His chest contracted, his felt his heart beat against his chest, he couldn't breathe. No. No. No. NO! They won! He was safe and now there's a chance for that thing to come for him again. His tears came back and he couldn't stop shaking. He wanted to go home or away from here. Anything else had to be better than this. The conversation around him muffled out, but he could tell there was conflict and a fight almost broke out. He curled up, drew his knees into his chest, and bared his face in them. Inhale: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. Hold: 1, 2, 3, 4. Exhale: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. He did this for several minutes, but he didn't feel any better nor like he was going to come out of his panic attack anytime soon. He probably didn't have thirty minutes to sort himself out. If that thing was going to come back for him they needed to run, didn't they? Or would it matter? It magically found them at the bar, didn't it? Maybe there was no way to outrun this thing. Stacey looked at the lake. He considered drowning himself once during a storm, but Sandy stopped him for her sake. Penny and Zoey saved his neck, so they'd stop him from nosediving into it. No, stop it. Don't think about that. The breathing technique he might not have time for, so he tuned into the conversation. He can multitask.

Apparently, the conflict is over and Odessa theorizes that they're in the an dreamworld or alternate universe. They were sent here by something and they needed dimensional powers to get out of here. He's sure he doesn't have that. He's not sure what he has. Stacey hadn't noticed, until Elron mentioned she was warm in the freezing cold. He and Zoey stood next to her, the snow melting around them. She quiet for a moment, before she shows her arm and the skin pulls back, revealing a wooden bone, and flowers bloom out of it. She's a plant, she says. A. Plant. That's the creepiest thing he's ever seen and it makes him queasy looking at it. He turns his head away and looks into the darkness between the trees, instead. But the dark made his anxiety worse; when you look into darkness, it looks back at you. He's seen all the darkness inside himself already. He'd be surprised if there's more he hasn't learned yet. He glances back to Odessa. She put her flowers back where they came from. Good.

"It's possible that we're all from completely different universes from each other."

He has his doubts that The Killers exist in whatever world Elron from, so they have to be from the same place. He just never realized that a lot of weird shit went on in his world, until he spelled (maybe) his ex. He's not sure.

"It's also possible that we may never find our home universes. And we're gone for good."

Gone for good? Like Dorothy and Toto permanently stuck in Oz? Or Alive never leaving Wonderland? He stood up then and got closer to the group, not so much he was close to Odessa, but he felt a little of her heat and he made sure Elron stood between. He'll freeze to death before he gets in reaching distance of her.

"I don't know anything about Extra-normal humans, but if we have powers can one of us get dimensional travel so we can get out of here?" He doesn't say he'll sooner careen off a cliff or drown in a pond if he has to be here forever running from Apparitions.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

@JunkMail Is Kayla getting Herik's name wrong on purpose? She keeps calling him Henrik.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

No real answer. Got it.

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

So what powers/abilities/attributes to vampires have in this universe?

Recollections: The Coven [COMPLETED]

There was a lot going on, but Herik tried to keep up. There were serial murders in Port Richey. He remembers hearing something about it on the radio, then he changed the station, because he doesn't like hearing about bad news. Agatha thinks it's something supernatural, but no one else thinks so. He'll go with the majority ruling that it's best to leave it to the cops, but he didn't want to leave Agatha hanging. She's new at this and probably needs the reassurance that her idea wasn't a bad one. He understood that. Then Kayla's news about her being attacked held his attention. His blood boiled at the thought someone he cared about being violated in their own home. He knows home invasions are personal and terrifying. Kayla was definitely affected by it. Her usual self-assured attitude took a back side when she expressed her concerns and anger. They even hurt Oleander. No one should abuse animals. That's cruel. He can handle simple guys that thought they could pick on someone smaller than them. He was ready to offer his help, until she said vampires. He's seen vampire articles on the internet, but nothing was concrete on how to deal with them. That'd be tough, but he'll cross that bridge when he gets to it. Most everyone else was going and he didn't want to be left out, so he raised his hand.

"I'll go with you." He said with the utmost confidence, then he spoke to Agatha. "Since one of our own is in trouble we should handle this first, then I'll help you can way I can with the murders." He hopes for the sake of future victims that it's not supernatural, then they'll have a fighting chance to live. A monster would be more difficult and not something the authorities could handle on their own. They should work out Kayla's problem quickly for the sake of the innocent.