2019.05.23: Haunting Memories

2019.05.23: Haunting Memories
Continuing from 'From Bad to Worse', Sierra is chased outside the Styx and Stones but turns to face her chaser, to his demise. Grinch also comes to her aid and the pair face off against a few Ghouls before breaking away into the night.
IC Date	May 02, 2019
IC Time	Night
Players	Sierra, Grinch
Location	Styx and Stones
Spheres	Mortal+, Mage

It was the dead of night outside the Styx, light from the flickering overhead signs offered some illumination, as well as headlights from passing vehicles, but in this part of town most of the street lights were out of order with no repair time in sight.

With an elbow hitting the door, Sierra came running out of the Styx, moving so fast she almost ends up falling over the collection of Harley's parked outside. With a quick turn, she headed for the nearby alleyway, sliding around a biker that's making his way toward the club as she runs.

The stranger soon follows Sierra and goes into pursuit as she breaks out into the night, the passing biker giving him a weird stare due to his even weirder appearance! Messy hair, pale skin like a sick person, and a garbage stench that he exhudes makes him pretty much like an outcast. He's not running carelessly around, unlike Sierra, but he's double-timing his walking pace for sure as a malicious grin forms across his face. Nearing the alleyway, he emanates a low grumble as he utters hushed words for Sierra to hear. "Come out, little girl, I only want to play. Thought you could run from us forever?" And then BAM! It's like a truck just hit him from behind as he stumbles and falls onto the alley floor in front of him, hands holding the back of his head for a moment. It's Grinch! And he just swung a massive punch to the guy!

And there she is too, Sierra might have sprinted top speed into the alleyway, but she's now stopped and turned to face the oncoming Sabbat Vampire. There's no hint of fear in her eyes, no worry whatsoever, she knows how this ends; she spent a year doing it in Mexico.

"I'm right here, asshole.", she replies to the Vamp, lifting her hands, waving the fingers toward her, inviting him in. "You remember what I can do? Why don't you come and find out.".

And before he even has a chance, he's on the floor, a smack to the back of the head has him momentarily confused. With a shrug, she just lights him up. Reaching out a hand, she looks down the length of it through one eye, as if she were lining up a shot, strokes her fingers across the outline of the Vampires distant figure, leaving flames in their wake that dance across his shoulders and across his hair. She's started small, perhaps she wants to see this one suffer.

A fire sparks up and the fire begins to slowly claim the poor thing as he lays there on the floor, still trying to cope up with what's happening. But then the guy lets out a terrifying hiss, fangs showing at the sight of himself on fire, and it turns out that he's a vampire! Sierra /did/ seem like an easy prey, but he probably forgot that she's a pretty potent psychic with her powers. Grinch is, sufficed to say, wide-eyed as he realizes what's actually happening. Not only the fact that the dude is, what looks to be a vampire, but Sierra also has her own powers! He stood there for a second until he notices that vampo over there is slowly pushing himself off the ground to try and flee, but just before he can do that, a fist is smacked right into his face again, and he's left KOed in the alleyway with a body still burning. Grinch stares at Sierra then, eyes still widened. "Babe?!"

The fire has started, the vampire should have known better. Sierra drops her arm for a moment, then slowly raises both, palms up, urging the flames higher; and, of course, they respond. The fire quickly dances along the vampires back, licks at his face, wraps around his entire torso.

With a twist of her hands, she guides the fire along his arms, the woman taking a step back from the growing heat as a wicked grin rises, the flames reflected in her pale blue eyes. "It's all good, Grinch. Just another fuckin' vampire..", the flames continuing to rise and spread at her calling.

Grinch stumbles on his feet and tries to avoid the growing fire until it dies out, or at least subsides for now, the vampire leaving behind only ashes. Grinch turns his head to face Sierra again, golden eyes blinking at her as he slowly approaches with hands raised. "Yeah, it's me, girl. Did... did that-," he stammers for a moment. "- did you do all that?"

The fire continues to grow until it completely consumes the vampire, the heat against Grinch, being so close, is quite intense. And then it quickly burns out, Vampires are like that; like a firework once lit, a brief explosion of flame, squeals and color, followed by nothing but smoke.

"The fire?", Sierra asks, a nod in response, "I recognized him from Mexico. I thought I'd seen the last of them.". There's a slight frown upon her brow, as she walks forward, looking down at the ashes that are slowly blowing away into the darkness of the night. "This /really/ brings back memories..".

Lifting her own hands, she plants them palm to palm against Grinch's, interlocks the fingers, then lets them slowly lower so she's holding onto them in a surprisingly gentle grasp. "And you knocked out a vampire in two blows. And I thought /I/ was the badass.", she grins.

Grinch is speechless for a moment there, but then he just releases his own hands from hers and reaches around to wrap Sierra into a hug and buries his face into hers, pulling her closer into a passionate kiss as his grip on her back tightens, palms planted firmly and holding her tightly. He then pulls away and still looks at her in surprise. "Fuck, this whole thing is turning me on. I didn't expect that, at all!" He forms an ear-to-ear-wide grin upon the mentioning of his own strength. "Yeah, well, you know... I work out a lot?" A poor excuse, that is.

There's no resistance at all from Sierra, her arms wrap around Grinch, holding her body to his as the kiss is returned. When it breaks, her eyes remain closed for a moment before slowly opening again, looking up at the man in her arms. "We should probably get out of here..", she suggests, more than simple escape in her words, ".. he might not be alone.".

But then the grin appears, that comment, and she nods slowly with a faint smirk, a disbelieving gaze, "Of course. Because everyone who works out is completely calm, they never freak out after finding vampires exist and that people can create fire from nowhere.". She doesn't know the reasons, but she knows there's something he's hiding.

Grinch still has his arms wrapped around Sierra as they chat, nodding to her suggestion. "Shit, you're right, we probably should," he turns to look behind him and see if anyone happened to witness all the things that just occured in the alley, but turns to Sierra again with a sigh of relief when he locates none. "Hey, I never even met a vampire before! Kinda know they exist, was expecting that they are at least with all the crazy stuff I've seen and... done," he claims. His eyes stare at Sierra again and, biting his lip, lowers his arms to grope her ass sneakily. "You never told me your secrets either."

While Grinch is looking one way, Sierra looks the other; she's pretty sure there was nobody around, but those homeless have ways of popping out from the most unexpected of places. Luckily, not this time. Her attention back to the man in her arms and her eyebrows raise at the groping, "I've broken a man's arm for less. You haven't even bought me dinner.", she teases.

But she lets it pass, instead pulling an arm back so Grinch can see her fingers, a click causing a flame to appear from nowhere, about as large as a zippo lighter on overdrive. "It isn't all about destroying and burning things..", she explains, the flame remaining where it is as she turns her hand, cupping it in her palm, "It can be beautiful too.".

Pushing upwards, the flame leaves her hand and changes shape, slowly morphing into the appearance of a beautiful bird with it's wings softly beating as it flies away from her. Steadily, however, the flame burns out and disappears, the flaming bird fading into the darkness of the alleyway.

"Do it, I dare you. It'll just make me hornier," Grinch chuckles at that, tightening his grip again for a moment and pulling her closer as he challenges her, before finally releasing. The trick that Sierra does catches his attention, his eyes staring curiously at the flame blazing out of her fingers until it flies from her hand and transforms into a bird-shape. "I can show you some of my own tricks as well. But in-bed first, magical later," he says with a wink, teasing at her. "We should leave, though. Let's go."

With a nod to that final suggestion, Sierra slips carefully away from Grinch, allows her fingers to carress across his tummy as she moves past him, and heads for the mouth of the alleyway. Standing there for a second, she checks the surrounding area, before heading for her parked up Harley. "Do you need a ride?", she asks, setting herself onto the seat and starting up the bike with a roar of its engine.

What the duo didn't notice was that, among the ashes, are the remains of a still seemingly partly-intact phone, laying burnt there on the alley floor. Maybe they were both just too busy with each other back there, and with only dim lighting illuminating the place, it'd be pretty hard to actually spot the phone. Grinch follows suit from behind, and as Sierra starts her Harley, an SUV driving at high speed can be seen approaching them and almost ramming into the woman, with Grinch pulling onto her hand backwards and only barely saving her life. Four thugs scramble out of the SUV, armed with knives and guns, as Grinch compels her to go back into the alleyway. "Get into the alley, go!"

With a pull from the bike, the still rumbling engine thumps to the ground as Sierra stumbles to keep herself upright. The alleyway is her destination once again, if only for cover from the firearms that the thugs are carrying, quickly finding a spot near a half-full dumpster. Reaching behind her, up inside her jacket, she pulls out a heavy pistol and prepares herself for an upcoming battle. "Watch yourself.", she calls out to Grinch, "They're probably Ghouls.", uncertain if he knows what they might be, but he seems to know of vampire existence so...

"Ghouls? I thought they were vampires? What the fuck are ghouls?" The guy is clearly clueless, asking the question as both scurry off towards the alleyway and dropping behind a dumpster. He glares at Sierra when she pulls out her gun, scoffing at it. "Aren't these motherfuckers supposed to be resistant to a simple gun? Fuck it, I'm bringing the heavy guns in," he says, though making it vague on what he meant with 'heavy guns'. The ghouls begin making their way into the alley, their eyes roaming wildly as they search for the duo's whereabouts.

Closing his eyes and uttering some prayers in the ancient Nordic language, Grinch calls upon the spirits of the vargr to aid him in the battle, and spawns two vargr spirits as they materialize into being. These vargr resemble the wolves of Earth, but they're not entirely the same, with their glowing yellow-goldenish eyes and a maw of sharp teeth unlike those of a regular wolf, but something more akin to sharks? Grinch jumps out of his cover upon finishing his prayers, the two vargr each standing next to him as the first two ghouls charge to meet him head on.

One of them is, let's say a lot less unfortunate than his partner there, as Grinch's hurling fist goes precisely into his face and sending him a couple feet backwards, head hitting the wall and forcing him unconscious. The second ghoul swings and stabs at his friend's aggressor but to seemingly no avail! He's held in place by two vargr as they bite into his legs and Grinch charges head on to meet the other two ghouls as they buck shots at Sierra there. Grinch pulls and swings, ringing the bells of yet another ghoul, though he proves himself to be more resillient than his other friend!

Holding behind the cover of the dumpster, Sierra waits for the ghouls to move closer, her thumb tapping against the side of the pistol she holds in her hands, waiting for that single moment. And then, it begins.

Rising up, she swings her pistol toward the approaching ghouls, fires off the first shot which goes wild, pinging off the alleyway wall, the second shot causing a click that locks up the firing mechanism. A weapon jam. "Fuck!", she curses.

Two ghouls swing to face their pistols in her direction, blasts ringing out through the narrow alleyway, but she's too fast, dropping low as one of the bullets richochet off the metallic dumpster, the other piercing through and hitting her reinforced jacket with a soft thud, losing all momentum before she can even feel it.

A shake of her head, a quick peek out at the oncoming ghouls, and then she's rolling out of cover, rising to her feet. With a well trained maneuver, she grasps one of the ghouls by the hand and wrist, twists painfully, the motion causing him to drop the pistol to the ground with a clatter. Following up, she quickly forces her leg forward, slamming it into his stomach, but she has a feminine strength. This style of fighting isn't her and it does little but annoy the ghoul.

A second blast, Sierra twisting quickly away from the sound, a bullet hitting the shoulder of her reinforced jacket and throwing her off balance for a second, but not managing to pierce the hardened exterior.

The ghoul bucks another shot at Sierra, even with Grinch in his face, realizing that the guy is pretty damned resistant to his bullets. The shot doesn't reach its mark however, only grazing Sierra's jacket as it flies by. The other ghoul is given a quick drop the floor by Sierra as she works on her martial arts, twisting him before throwing him down in rapid succession. Grinch lets out a haymaker this time that rips through the air and hits the guy square in the face, but the ghoul's increased endurance is still enough to keep him going! Weakly he shoots again, this time hitting Sierra forreals, .45 ACP piercing through her shoulder.

That was a mistake, because Grinch is more bent on beating the guy into a pulp now. A powerful jab to the face sends him crawling on the floor as he lies there unconscious, and with internal bleeding, due to Grinch's unusually powerful hits. The second ghoul is on his way to waking up by now, and as he goes to grab Sierra into a violently powerful clinch, a smacking fist connects with his chin that sends him to a similar fate as his companion- unconscious on the floor. Grinch quickly turns to tend to Sierra, shifting over to see if she's holding up fine. "Shit, did they get you?" He helps a hand on her back and arm. "Lay down on the floor, babygirl. Here, let me help you."

A glance back over her shoulder, Sierra giving a glare at the ghoul who put a bullet into her jacket, and then her attention is back on the man in front of her. He moves quickly, tries to grab her, but she catches his arm, pushes against the elbow, using his momentum to push and spin him before letting him go. He leaves her grasp and slams head first into the side of the alleyway, brick wall meets face, though not with enough force to cause serious damage.

He kicks out, tries to sweep her legs, but she dodges out of there, another bullet fired from nearby that impacts again into her toughened jacket, soaking the damage into itself and keeping it away from her.

Another shot, however, finds its way through the protection, pushing into her shoulder and causing blood to spill, though she doesn't even care - there's no reaction to the pain, she's felt worse than this; so much more than this.

The man on the ground rises up, goes for that grapple again and finds her this time, the ache in her shoulder being pressured by his grasp, but then a Grinch is nearby and the man falls after a solid thump.

Reaching under her jacket, Sierra places her fingers to the bullet wound, moves them back into view, looks at the blood. "Ah, fuck..", she mutters, more irritated that she has to go through a healing process than the fact she's been shot. She brushes off the worry for her state, there doesn't seem to be anything to worry about from looking at her reaction. "Like I said, we need to get out of here.", returning to her previous statement.

Grinch throws a quick nod and, without any warnings whatsoever, quickly bends to pick her up and into his cradle, whether she likes it or not. They're faster that way and Grinch jogs off out of the alleyway, head turning left and right to look for any incoming traffic before he crosses the street. He wanders, carrying Sierra around for a minute before they finally stumble upon another dark alley, cause the Styx is likely to be a hotspot as well. He sets Sierra down on the floor, back against the wall, and pulls out a tiny ziploc bag with what appears to be prescription meds inside. He picks one out, Adderall, and feeds it to Sierra. A hand then is placed over her wounds and bruises as he utters a prayer, in the Nordic language (crazy, right?), as the wounds slowly but surely close up.

Lifted up, Sierra tries protesting but she does feel a little woozy, despite ignoring the effects of the pain. Across to another alleyway she's carried, finally settled down, her wounds closing after a brief prayer to something or someone. "What was that?", she asks, eyebrows narrowing as she looks at Grinch.

"I've seen something similar. You've met Sumter, haven't you?", the woman starting to rise, brushing herself off, checking again under her jacket at the previous bullet wound that's now cleared up.

Grinch gives Sierra a stare as golden eyes run through her body to check for any more wounds. Once he's /very/ sure that none are left -- taking her jacket off, lifting shirt carelessly without asking for permission, turning her around while she's laying on the ground -- then he'll speak. "Who the hell is Sumter? No, I know all this by myself. Kinda," he speaks up. Nodding, he helps Sierra to her feet with a smile. "We need to find someplace to lay-low. Any ideas? If not, we'll go to my place instead."

Throwing her arms up, Sierra just gives in to the manhandling, telling Grinch, "I'm fine! Would you.. Hey, stop..", a sigh as her t-shirt is lifted, "If you're going to undress me, at least take me home first.", pulling the t-shirt back down and her jacket back on.

Starting to rise to her feet, she places both hands to Grinch's cheeks, pulls him in for a kiss, until she's back upright and adjusting her clothing. Then something hits her memory. "My baby!", and off she runs, checking on her still sputtering Harley, lifting it gently back upright, "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?", she asks, brushing dust and gravel from it, a look up at Grinch with a little grin. "Which way to your place?", she asks, settling herself into the seat.