Author Topic: PARALLEL: Hunter  (Read 42460 times)

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Offline Existentially Odd

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PARALLEL: Hunter
« on: March 09, 2019, 04:00:27 AM »
Kerr took a wary step back as the padlock began to glow red. Within a few pulses, the colour changed to a bright gold and spread away from the padlock, over the bars of the large cage, encircling it with a loud hum that even his mortal hearing could detect. As soon as the glow travelled back to where it had begun, it faded and the carbon steel bars looked like any other jail in the land. Well, in form at least.

"What do you think your sire will make of that, Pretty?" he leered, looking from the small vial he held - which he'd dripped onto the padlock, as per his instructions - to the blonde vampire he'd trapped in his cage. He didn't look very happy, which only pleased Kerr more.

He hadn't been too sure about accepting this job - he usually worked for himself, hunting supernaturals across the country, eradicating evil where he found it. There was a network of hunters he could call on when things got tough but the hunting community was nowhere near as sophisticated as this Oligarchy crew. They'd called him to this city because his reputation preceded him and because they didn't want to get their hands dirty. Well, apparently they didn't want to be seen touching this case and couldn't afford to be seen favouring death for one of their most long-lived members... but that was exactly what they wanted.

This pair - Lazarus the old one and his fledgling, Ben - were more trouble than they were worth. They were fucking monsters, as far as Kerr was concerned. Because they were powerful and causing such a scene, the Oligarchy had promised Kerr more benefits than he'd ever seen if only he'd catch them and dispose of them. A remote mansion by the beach, fully kitted out with a basement holding area, mythically-enhanced carbon steel bars for the cage, metre-thick, warded stone walls and more magical gadgets than he'd ever seen in his whole twenty-eight years of life had been gifted to him up front. The money was as unlimited as his access to resources, it blew his mind. He was used to sleeping rough and travelling rougher. This was like a dream come true.

Kerr wasn't sure he trusted all of it, frankly, but it hadn't led him astray so far. The ring they'd given him truly had blocked Ben's mental powers when Kerr approached him at Venture, and intrigued him enough to accompany Kerr back to 'his place'. Once inside the mansion, however, the vamp had been caught in a modified Devil's trap strong enough to knock him out, allow Kerr to get magical cuffs on him and carry him down to the cell. The final step had been the magical sealant, to protect the cage from attacks from within and without.

The witch that had performed the ceremonies over the rug, the cuffs and the viscous black liquid in the vial had given Kerr some serious qualms about whether she was friend or foe. He'd asked why she didn't take care of these vampires by herself, only to be told she was a card carrying member of the Oligarchy, an Oligarch as it were. Again, impropriety kept her out of direct action, though she had plenty of advice and a magical dagger to hand off to him to end the old bastard.

Lazarus was the challenge. It had been Kerr's idea, after examining all the evidence he'd been presented on what the pair got up to, to trap the younger one first and use him as bait to attract the sire. Supposedly the 'young' one was over a hundred years old, for he'd been noted causing trouble with his sire for at least that long, but the old one was over a thousand. Kerr couldn't wrap his head around what being on the planet for a thousand years would be like; he'd have seen every bit of recorded history unfold. He'd have lived through it.

It was a damn shame. Kerr had respect for the supernatural community that kept to themselves and did their best to coexist symbiotically. He wasn't one of the black-and-white nutters that identified a supernatural and had to kill it just because it was there, he could be persuaded to be lenient. The world was full of assholes and there was no harm in thinning that stupid, ignorant herd if it became necessary. It was the ones who harmed innocents that he couldn't - and didn't - abide. Like this guy.

Kerr grabbed a nearby stool and perched on it, the heel of one boot hooked on the bottom rung, the other on the concrete floor of the basement for balance. He shivered involuntarily because it was fucking cold in the basement and he was only dressed in jeans, a green T-shirt and a leather jacket. His hair was short at the back and on the sides but a little longer on top; he'd styled it with a bit of wax before he went to the club but hadn't bothered to shave. The two-day old dark brown stubble on his face gave him an edgier look, he thought. Prettying up wasn't really his thing and it had worked on the hot-looking blonde in the cage before him, luckily.

Playing the part of enamoured bite-boy hadn't been too much of a stretch with this vampire. His eyes were fucking amazing and even though he wasn't physically as big as the guys Kerr usually dated, he had a tight body and charisma to burn. Evil motherfucker. What a waste.

"So where is he, anyway?" Kerr asked, watching the vampire intently. There was only a camp bed, pillow and blankets in the cell besides Ben.

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2019, 06:56:40 AM »
Ben was intensely agitated, furious with himself for getting caught. Kerr had used himself as a honey-trap and Ben had fallen for it like a star-struck ingenue. What a fool he'd been. He'd even noticed the gaudy ring on the mortal's finger and though it an eccentricity instead of being the reason why he wasn't able to penetrate his thoughts. Oh, and he'd been seduced by that idea, hadn't he? After almost two hundred years of knowing what everyone was thinking all the time - including his sire - the draw to spending a night with a sexy man who had a natural block had been too enticing to give up.

He'd been a fool. Now he'd become bait for Lazarus. There was no other reason for keeping him alive. Lazarus was wily though, suspicious of everyone. He didn't have Ben's mental prowess so wouldn't rely on his abilities to save him. He wouldn't charge into an unknown house, either. Ben had learnt how to watch a place for months before taking it over - a gradual progression from random drive-bys to overnight observations from a safe distance. He doubted Lazarus would ever feel secure about this house, especially knowing Ben had come in here and not come out again. He'd know Ben was alive, and he'd wonder why he wasn't communicating with him. The handcuffs had somehow blocked Ben's ability to send a call for help along his bond, yet he still felt bonded to his sire. A clever magic, this one. If Lazarus thought him dead, he'd simply move on.

Kerr - if that was his real name - held eye contact with Ben as he sat on the floor of the cage. Ben intended to try different things to get the cuffs off his wrists. Mental assault had done nothing, so now he would do the opposite. Meditate. Calm. Peaceful. But Kerr ruined the attempt with his talking. Ben stared, and was stared at.

The first question had been an empty one; rhetorical and with no other purpose than to lord it over Ben for getting caught. He said nothing, watching the cage change colour before it became normal again. He doubted Lazarus would be able to pull it apart.

The second question sounded like it expected an answer, so Ben answered it. Not with the truth, though.

"We picked up three groupies last week. I got tired of the orgy after a couple of nights. Lazarus was still in the mood for fucking so I left him there. "

Perhaps with a little bit of truth; it had happened a few months ago, but Ben hadn't tired of it after a couple of nights. He and Lazarus had lasted a couple of weeks until the party took a dark turn and then they'd been forced to dispose of the bodies.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2019, 06:36:16 PM »
Kerr's lip curled instinctively, repulsed by the notion of an ongoing orgy with two murdering vampires. It left him with a helpless, hollow feeling inside and, even though he didn't have details, he began to convince himself of all that he'd been told. These two were the worst of the worst and they needed to be put down.

"How old is he, anyway?" Kerr enquired, wondering if the millennium estimation could truly be accurate. After a thousand years, how did sex even still rank as important enough to have, let alone investing in orgies? There were nights Kerr was so bone weary, he couldn't imagine touching another being, let alone going to all the hassle of fucking them. Maybe there was something aphrodisiacal that happened during the turning process. That was the only thing that made sense. "Isn't sex just... all the same after a hundred years or so?"

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2019, 07:46:04 PM »
"He's quite a lot older than me," Ben supplied, not caring to give Kerr the kind of information that could be used against Lazarus. His sire should have as much of an element of surprise as possible. If they were expecting a two-thousand-year-old vampire, then they could plan for one.

Ben's smile grew at the second question. "Oh, Kerr. You should've let me take care of you before you locked me up. I would've made your eyes roll into the back of your head."
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2019, 08:13:32 PM »
Kerr was affronted by the notion but his pulse quickened despite it. It'd been difficult enough to feign confidence in approaching Ben at the club, though he'd managed to use his nerves to his advantage. He'd told himself that it was getting so close to a dangerous vampire (without wielding a machete) that had got his heart racing so hard but with a similar reaction striking him now, at the mention of having Ben inflict eye-rolling sex on him, had him wondering.

The blonde vampire was attractive, certainly, but he wasn't worth losing his life over. He decided to ignore the offer completely.

"How old are you, then?"

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #5 on: March 09, 2019, 08:43:32 PM »
Ben smirked, seeing that Kerr couldn't hide his expressions anywhere near as well as his thoughts - but that had been something else Ben had liked about him at the club. Stupidly he'd thought that meant Kerr wasn't a deceptive type.

Such a silly assumption.

"Older than you."
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #6 on: March 09, 2019, 08:59:24 PM »
Kerr rolled his eyes. "Duh. How close are you two? You and Lazarus?" he frowned. Really, he was wondering how long it was likely he'd have to wait for the older vampire to make a move to reclaim his fledgeling. With Ben not being particularly forthcoming in the conversation department, if it went on longer than a few days, it was going to be too long.

He'd have to make a decision about how long he was prepared to wait before he called the operation a failure, killed the asset he had control of and tried a new tactic with the sire. He really hoped it wouldn't come to that. Hearing that the pair were inseparable would reassure him somewhat.

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #7 on: March 09, 2019, 10:05:15 PM »
Ben continued smiling, but his eyes glittered.

"He'd slice you in half to get to me," he said. "That's what you want to know, isn't it?"
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #8 on: March 09, 2019, 10:07:40 PM »
Kerr shrugged. "I'm more interested in how long I'll have to put up with you until that happens, actually."

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #9 on: March 09, 2019, 10:34:27 PM »
Ben's smile faded by degrees as he sobered.

Closing his eyes, he focussed on the magic bindings that were his handcuffs. He wanted to get a feel for them, to listen to them, to sense what was going on with them. After a moment he could hear a faint whine, or perhaps it was better described as a high pitched buzz. He zeroed in on it, unsure if it was coming from his wrists or if further in the house there was an appliance that needed attention.

No, it was definitely coming from the bindings. That meant they were powered, needing charging. They would eventually diminish on their own, unless he charged them. What would charge them? Perhaps struggling. He wouldn't do that, then. He would remain calm, unriled, no matter what this Kerr person said to him. He had to be patient, peaceful, until he broke the first barrier.

He opened his eyes and looked at Kerr again. "It depends on his stamina," he said. "Once Lazarus has finished emptying into those boys, he'll come look for me."
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #10 on: March 09, 2019, 11:50:26 PM »
Kerr pulled a face, finding the reference to the other vampire's sexual prowess distasteful. As soon as he did, however, he saw pleasure in Ben's eyes. Damnit, he needed to stop reacting to the sickening details of the vampires' activities, whether it was sex, drinking or killing. It was so difficult to control his own disgust.

"Okay. So, not long," he murmured, imagining it would only take a night or two to finish 'emptying' into the mortals. That was good. Better if this situation didn't drag on. He regarded the seated vampire curiously. He looked like he was concentrating on something. Kerr watched him for a little longer, noting the way he was subtly shifting his shoulders, moving his hands in his lap. The cuffs. Kerr grinned.

"They'll hold for seventy-two hours. After that, I can either get them recharged or take them off. We'll see how good you've been. And maybe, if your daddy's come for you, it'll be a moot point," he shrugged.

During the planning phase, he'd been exposed to two schools of thought regarding this duo: one, they should both die for their heinous crimes and two, the younger was influenced by the senior so if he got taken out, the junior might be reformed. Admittedly, the reformed notion was only floated by the witch but Kerr'd had a lot to do with her, so he was willing to give it a go. There was no sign of repentance yet, but it was still early in the piece.

It was no doubt naive of him, but he liked to think that something so beautiful on the outside was capable of beauty inside, too.

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #11 on: March 10, 2019, 07:52:40 AM »
When Kerr said 'so not long' sotto voce, Ben chuckled.

"Could take him weeks. He likes to play with his food," Ben said, then raised an eyebrow when Kerr referenced the cuffs. "How are you going to recharge the cuffs without coming in here?" he asked. "Won't it be too dangerous? To get so close to me?"

As a different idea, Ben wondered if the two magics close to him would work with or against each other. His cuffs would be a binding spell, the cage would have a strengthening spell, or a protection spell. They might be different enough to dispel the other. Ben got to his feet and braced himself before he touched the cuffs to the bars.

The cuffs might come off, the cage might crack, he might get thrown across the cell, or absolutely nothing might happen.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #12 on: March 10, 2019, 12:16:09 PM »
Kerr wasn’t sure what would happen when the cuffs contacted the bars either, so he watched with interest. When he’d first been brought to this opulent house, he’d thought its charm was in the sprawling manse above ground but the witch quickly dispelled that notion when she brought him down to the basement.

Constructed specifically for the purpose of holding powerful supernatural creatures, the foundations of this house were laid with consecrated stone from somewhere overseas. The witch had said there were inscriptions of protection from evil intent and of restriction in the layer beneath the floor (apparently the bars, which made the free standing six by six metre cage in the centre of the room, were embedded in two layers of stone top and bottom) and the bars were inscribed, too. They had plenty of latent magic but when Kerr had poured the liquid on the lock, everything had been awakened (he’d thought it an unusual term to refer to a cage... he’d ‘awakened’ it, like it was living, but he hadn’t questioned it) to keep Ben where he was put.

The cuffs were different, temporary magic, an extra precaution for Kerr’s personal safety because he had to get Ben from the front door down into the basement. The witch had referred to them as having a dampening curse but he didn’t know what they suppressed or how, exactly. The Devil’s trap Ben had walked into when Kerr had brought him ‘home’ had knocked the vampire unconscious long enough for him to get the cuffs on and carry him down to the basement.

Ben had felt surprisingly comfortable to heft and Kerr had secretly marvelled at his own stupidity - did he think the older and more powerful a being got, the heavier their bones would be? It made sense that they got lighter, the more he thought about it. They weren’t carrying lots of heavy blood in their bodies and maybe even their organs had dried up and turned to ash inside? He was planning to write in his journal about it when he had the chance.

Either way, he’d got Ben to the cage without brushing the cuffs against the bars and now here they were, with everything activated. He wasn’t sure, but it looked like the vampire didn’t get the cuffs near the cage. As soon as his hands got close, the bars either side glowed orange and twin arcs of electricity shot out and zapped him. Kerr began to grin as Ben snatched his hands back, though it looked like the electric charge hadn’t hurt him.

Kerr’s bag vibrated on the floor a short distance away at the same time, however, which caused him to flinch, too. Belatedly, he remembered the egg-like stone he’d been given by the witch. It was set to shake to alert him any time the cage was attacked. He had a vast assortment of crystals, minerals and rocks in the ornate box she’d given him, all set to glow, vibrate or spin when different protective features of the house were breached. He really should get them set out, he decided.

Given his human vulnerability, the witch - at the Oligarchy’s behest, he assumed - had provided him with numerous early warning systems for when Lazarus finally showed up. What hadnt impressed him about that had been the nonchalant way she’d shrugged and commented that they’d all work but might not buy him much time, considering how old Lazarus was... but they were there anyway. He told himself it was better than nothing.

“I’m not the one who’ll recharge them,” he told Ben offhandedly. He didn’t really want to call the witch in to recharge the cuffs because he didn’t want her identified by Ben, so he was really hoping it wouldn’t come to that, despite Ben’s insistence Lazarus would take his time.

Kerr shivered and looked around, assessing the basement now that Ben was here and he could relax somewhat. Everything in him had been focussed on executing the first step in his plan, he’d given little thought to what would happen with him once that was done, only in how he’d deal with Lazarus. Now he was seeing a flaw in that.

The basement was huge, compared to most homes (but then, the home above was huger than most homes, too). Windowless and with stair access at one end, the room stretched away in echoey, stony sombreness for at least twenty metres around the cage, in all directions. It had a small bathroom built into one corner, a work bench against the opposite wall to where he now sat (the wall had racks and hooks for holding tools but it was empty, the bench heavily stained with dark marks he couldn’t define), two bar stools (one of which he was perched on), and the furnace for heating the entire house in another corner but that was it. The heat apparently wasn’t piped to warm up the basement, which was very inconvenient.

There was a choice of fluorescent and normal lights set into the ceiling at regular intervals. He’d only turned some of the orangish normal lights on, at this stage (there was a panel of switches at the bottom of the stairs and a mirroring set upstairs at the basement entrance) so he could see the cell and where he stood.  Most of the large space was shadowy to him and it was so empty, the waves crashing against the cliffs far below were audible as a constant, murmuring rhythm, even to his human ears.

The house upstairs was fit for a king, but he couldn’t afford to be up there when Lazarus came.  Strategically, his optimal position was close to Ben, but he wasn’t set up for living down here - he didn’t even have a table to set out his alert stones on, let alone his gear. Plus, it was fucking cold. He needed to shop, he decided. The only safe time to do that would be in the day, when Lazarus was unlikely to make a move. He hoped.

“Do you sleep in the day?”

Offline Trillian

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #13 on: March 10, 2019, 01:13:17 PM »
The zap had been unpleasant but he'd got away in time before he'd been burnt. He'd felt the tingling of something akin to fire, and it had worried him that his cuffs might burst into flames. If he got truly desperate, he could always brace himself for it and give it another go. Maybe they'd overcharge and explode. He might lose his hands so... worst case scenario and only attempted if he was desperate.

When Kerr interrupted his thoughts and asked him about his most vulnerable time, Ben lied to protect himself.

"In a manner of speaking," he said, as if Kerr was only half-right. "It's not really sleep, it's like... meditation," Ben said, then pulled a face to imply that wasn't quite right either. "We go into a relaxed state. It's quite difficult for very young vampires to break, unless they're under threat of destruction. Instincts tend to kick in."

He didn't want Kerr sneaking into his cell during the day and killing him.

"I'd keep me fed, too," Ben pointed out, looking soberly at Kerr. "If you want me to have a reasonable conversation with you and not turn into a beast, I should really have some blood tonight. I'd been planning on taking some of yours while we fucked." He watched his words elicit another reaction from Kerr so he decided to goad him some more. "I wouldn't have taken from your cock or anything. I would've only sucked on that. Maybe drank from high up on your thigh instead, to heighten your orgasm." He gave a demure smile in juxtaposition of his erotic words.
INFUSCO : Ben : Hugh : Lan Bao : Mick : Todd : Vincent : Win :
HALFLIGHT : Graille Min Sayer :

Offline Existentially Odd

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Re: PARALLEL: Hunter
« Reply #14 on: March 10, 2019, 01:31:06 PM »
Kerr couldn’t help it. By the time Ben finally shut up, he was flushed, his breathing had quickened and his lips were pressed together. His teeth were clamped on the backs of them to stop them from quivering, so hard it hurt. Only the thought he’d draw blood got his jaw releasing. He swallowed, his mouth watering. Intense awareness fluttered through him, even though he hated himself for it.

He hadn’t forgotten the potency of kissing the vampire, in an effort to lure him into this predicament. Certainly, he’d been nervous about his plan working but getting close to the handsome monster had disarmed Kerr in ways he hadn’t expected. The kiss had been hatefully erotic; he didn’t make a habit of frenching death but he’d been overwhelmed by the sensation of Ben’s tongue in his mouth. He’d told himself that it was okay he’d liked it, because he’d needed to act the part and it’d made him convincing enough for it to work.

Hearing lewd suggestions now that had - to his great shame - briefly run through his head when he’d been in Ben’s arms didn’t make him hate himself any less. Part of him wanted everything described. He was clearly under some emotional distress, after the successful completion of his plan. Or perhaps the vampire had some sort of thrall going on. Either way, he’d think more clearly tomorrow night, act more together after some sleep and a chance to reset himself... and not like some virgin that went weak at the knees the first time his cock was mentioned.

Kerr cleared his throat.”Right. How often do you feed?”  He was aware that older vampires didn’t need to drink as often as younger ones and he had bags of blood in the fridge upstairs for Ben’s use but he didn’t know if it was enough. That was why he’d asked the guy’s age, but he’d had to be a dick about answering.