Private Tales A hunter in the streets

[Wren]

Wren closed her eyes against the feel of his hand on her face, trying to tap into that comforting presence where she might also find what she needed to get things back under her control. Though, what she needed wasn't there and the absence of it needled her in a way it never had before.

He can't help you, he doesn't even know how to help himself.

Part of her leaned into the truth of it, recalling with striking clarity how he often lacked the answers to her questions. That he kept notes on himself and her, as if he were only just learning what they really were. Why he often withheld his plans.

There is no plan. He's as lost as you are.

Wren's hands squeezed Rainer's forearms for a brief moment before releasing him and nodding in assent. When she opened her eyes again, though, she couldn't make eye contact with him as he moved to find their new sleeping arrangement. She was tired, he at least knew that much. Wren lingered near the entryway to wait, and eagerly followed when he re-emerged to collect her. They'd been relegated to the Chief Mate's quarters which found them adjacent to the Captain. While it still seemed strange that they'd yet to meet the Captain, she didn't think much on the fact as they stepped inside the smaller quarters and released a deep sigh as the door closed behind them.

By now the tears had stopped but Wren's mind was still inundated by every little thing of worry and disturbance. What she'd done below to that shipmate, even if she'd been stopped before any true harm befell him, still deeply unnerved her. Felt like what little left of whatever solid foundation of her psyche had been fractured and moment by moment the grains of control that remained were sliding through the cracks. Wren could feel the crack of a bitter grin in her chest aching beneath her breastplate where the demon's mark stung upon her skin.

She hated it.

Wanted to take her silver dagger and carve it out. Couldn't do that - for all she knew her true-death is what it needed to gain full control and Wren couldn't let that happen.

So she went against its desires and turned to Rain and attacked him instead.

With her lips.

 

[Rainer]

It was an odd configuration, the Captain's Quarters and the Chief Mate's quarters. Generally, the upper rung of a ship was reserved for the singular lofted position. But despite this, the ship was a good deal wider than standard. As they had ran for the vessel back in Bur'Tyga, he had recalled that it looked very similar to an aroused dwarf doing the backstroke. But those moments back in Bur'Tyga, they stretched across a space of time that seemed to feel both recent and the distant pass.

In reality, not much time had passed at all since they had been at the apple orchard. The firelight through the apple trees seemed to cast a shadow on the firelight through the coastal buildings of Bur'Tyga. The angry rousted rabble, knocking at their door, only to be greeted by a half naked vampire and an even more naked vampire behind him, paired against the clanging of pitchforks and scythes as they chased a girl through the small city square. Presbyter, Minister, Duke of Chains, Cassandra, Terzine, Demon, mysterious Captain.

It was all exhausting. And the sight of a bed, covered in well kept cloth of red and white, with a comforter that looked promisingly free of bed bugs and rats, Rain felt that exhaustion and frustration come to a brim and slough away to the dull thuds of chop against the hinged rudder.

And then Wren was on him, her lips pressed against his so hard that she basically pinned him against the wall of the bedchamber. He winced at the sudden energy but did nothing to stop her, hands finding places to wrest on her armor and breeches. He had missed her closeness in these trying past few days, persistently the target of her frustration. And despite his resistance to shying away from her touch, he wondered where this change came from. Or whether it was a change at all and maybe just a distraction when a distraction was needed.

As they persisted in that place, she might feel the voice of that demon fade away into a haze, if not outright dissipate entirely. For the time, silence seemed to culminate in the place where Orobas had so recently been.​

 

[Wren]

He wasn't the only one that had missed the closeness. Struggle as she did with controlling her moods and emotions, even well before she had become the vessel of this demon, Wren could not deny the innate pull of warmth, calm, and clarity that emerged from physical touch with him. As if some other kind of sorcery were at work between them, layers upon layers of ancient and esoteric powers woven into the blood bond they shared through his kiss of fangs. Now she felt almost desperate for it in a way that were she clear of mind with all her mental faculties in harmony she'd find it almost repulsive.

A crying chylde seeking comfort with its progenitor, suckling from the teat of creation to cope with all the woes of the world.

In this moment, however, she didn't care to think about any of that. The voice in her head was fading and the only thing she wished for now was that he'd make swifter work of peeling away the physical barriers between them.

"I need you," she breathed against his lips, her hands plying at his own armor. Countless days spent helping one another suit down and up had made the motions almost natural. She knew every strap and buckle that held his plate and leathers together as well as she knew those of her own. Didn't make the process of it any less of a nuisance in such ... dire circumstances as the blade's edge her mental health presently walked.

Every instance up until now when they'd grown close had been ruined by something. Drunkeness. Poorly timed house calls. Hangovers.

Not this time, she determined.

 

[Rainer]

The movement of hands, the skin-to-skin contact, the desperate hunger, the chittering of riveted buckles and clashing plates of armor, gave Rain the first moment of peace he could recall in the past days of chaos and frustration. But even more so, it gave him a window into the hell that Wren was currently leaving like dust on a trail, even if only for the brief period of time. Since the Keep, he had only seen the effects of Orobas from afar, fits and glistening steel putting his companions suffering on fully display. But now, even Rain could feel that presence. He could feel the possession, pulling back and drawing away, like a receding tide.

The sensation and realization came with sounds of moments passed and forgotten except in these rare times of intimacy. The view of the ocean, the exhale and inhale of the great blue sea, seen from a crumbling cliff outcropping. The cold, welcomed for the bite, and the smell of salt in the frosty air.

He could feel the void, the place where that thing used to be and would likely return. And if he could just find a way in, press himself firmly against the edges to ward it away, then he could keep it all at bay. And he would stop time then, if he could, to just linger in the moments of closeness and memories that were only there when Wren was here, with him.

The ship rocked and he pivoted, turning her to press her back against the makeshift wooden wall of the quarters. A wreath of sage and herbs, hanging nearby, clattered to the floor. As muscle memory kicked on, he worked too at the belts and buckles that kept her armor together.

I've always needed you, he would have replied. But the words were trapped between pressed lips, instead transferred across the mind's eye.​

 

[Wren]

Piece by piece the armor fell away, clunking and clattering to the floor about their feet, left to roll about with the sway of the boat as it meandered along the currents of the bay. Wren thought the sloughing of the weight of her armor might also bring relief, but it only gave her time to think on all the things that had gone wrong in her life since she awoke with fangs, an appetite for blood of monsters, and half her body covered in scars.

Little by little, the storm of anger had receded along with the presence of the demon only to allow the surge of her many unspoken regrets and grievances that had been allowed to pile and fester, unspoken, for the past several months. Rainer had just lifted her breast and backplate free over her head, but by the time he turned back to her she wasn't there.

Instead he'd find her having slumped down onto the floor against the wall, head in her hands, silently biting back the sobs that were making her throat ache.

"Rainer," Wren's voice strained between her hands, "I don't know if I can do this anymore. Something's wrong with me. Something's really wrong."

 

[Rainer]

He turned and there she was, once more, pulled away from one emotion to be flung into another. He imagined that absent the shadow of Orobas, previously ever present, the realization of what the future may hold felt like a weight on her shoulders. It was a thing not easily swept aside. And he lacked the wisdom or intellect to tell her she was wrong. And on top of that, he was trying his best not to lie to her anymore or obscure the truth.

Slowly lowering himself to his knees in front of Wren, he leaned forward and wrapped his arms around her. Pulling her in, despite what resistance she might have had, he hugged her. Placing his cheek against the crown of her head, he breath slowly and listened to the heartache as it danced across her words. They were a righteous pair, armed with the knowledge that above all else, their powers were used for good. And now, with the control of Orobas at her heels, there was an uncertainty in that profession.

"We can start a vineyard. Find some land in the cold, far away from things that go bump in the night. I believe, once upon a time, I was okay at farming." He smiled at the thought, knowing that it was a ridiculous dream. But maybe it was a dream worth having on the choppy waters of this gulf, huddled together on a ship where they didn't belong.​

 

[Wren]

There was no resistance to the hug, just a defeated vampire wilting under the weight of her own uncertainties, drowning in a sea of despair.

"I can't live like that," Wren's voice was broken over the strain not to sob, but the tears had started filling up her eyes again and began to roll down her cheeks, "I don't like the cold."

 

[Rainer]

He couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Hmm, yeah, that would get in the way a bit I suppose. Though we could have a fireplace. I'm pretty decent at chopping wood too." If he could chop down monsters, he could chop down trees. Just a matter of the appropriate angle.

The truth was that he was certain Wren didn't want to leave this profession. She could do so much good for the people, even if only in small acts of slaying monsters that knock on the gates of small villages. A small change for the world was a big change for those that mattered. But that was a distant thing, caught in the throat at the thought of doing harm to others when out of control.

Pressing his lips against the part of her hair, he exhaled warmth. "A quiet place, a place where we wouldn't be bothered. With a nice warm bath." He thought again, a memory of Wren talking obscenities to a priestess of Astra, and let out another quiet chuckle.​

 

[Wren]

She knew he was only trying to lighten the mood, but his casual joking only drove her worries deeper. Wren's hands clung tightly around his arms as he held her, the sobs breaking free from her hold.

"No, I can't do any of that," he didn't understand. He thought there was a simply solution to her problem but there wasn't, and the more he tried to placate her worries with humor, the more it all felt hopeless.

"I'm the monster now," Wren's hands released their grip on his arms to pull back in on herself, "I can feel him in my mind, Rainer. What if he gets control?"

 

[Rainer]

"No." He stated firmly, feeling her crumple beneath her own despair. "You are not the monster now and you never will be. This is another obstacle for us but it's not hopeless. If it gets control..." Orobas wasn't a person, or a presence, to Rain. He had decided in that moment that it was nothing but a parasite. One that needed to be extracted with haste. "We'll stop it. You and I."

As she loosened her grip, his remained stalwart and firm. "I won't ever give up on you. I promise...We will rid you of this."

 

[Wren]

He gave her far too much credit. Rainer didn't know how much of a struggle it was for her, even before the demon's presence. He didn't realize the nightmares she contended with, or the visions that haunted her inner eye during the day. Everything about what she was so strongly went against what she'd been, even if Wren couldn't remember she still knew. Knew deep down that the creature she'd become was something she would have readily dispatched just to ensure one less beast on this planet.

"Promise me you will do whatever it takes to get rid of it," she looked up, turning bleary and reddened eyes waterlogged by tears at him, "even if it means I have to die. It cannot get control and it cannot get free. Promise me."

 

[Rainer]

It wasn't the right moment for thoughts, but he couldn't help it. He searched her eyes, the brown and the green, and found himself looking through the bloodshot to count the flecks of gold. One hand moved from her back and fingers came forward, gently moving across the scars on the right side of her face.

He didn't have the heart to tell her the truth, that more than just innocent lives rested in the balance of her existence. That he truly couldn't imagine existing without knowing that she was out there, somewhere, or directly at his side. It could have been the sire and childe connection, the bonds of fate and blood that tethered them. But that felt like a cheap excuse, a way to escape admitting how he felt.

"I promise..." His focus moved with his fingers, trailing the contour of her cheek as the scar cut a ridge line. A mark of the past, a mark of beauty. "That I will do as you ask. So long as you promise that, with everything you have, you will fight this with me. I will not have Orobas escaping it's fate." His mission had altered, mutated in these moments. He would have been happy to be simply free of the being. But now, Orobas would know a reckoning. Even if meant Rainer had to march into Hell to deliver it.​

 

[Wren]

That wasn't fair and Wren didn't think she had much left in her to fight with. Perhaps it was simply due to being lost in her current dread, but having already experienced the demon taking hold of her not just once, but twice in the last hour and having lost complete control of her faculties in the process, Wren wasn't sure there was much she could do if and when Orobas decided he was assuming the helm.

She stared back at Rainer, face drawn in hopelessness, before her gaze fell and she swallowed the ache in her throat.

Wren nodded in response, but she couldn't form the words to make the promise.

 

[Rainer]

He smiled and placed another kiss on her forehead, taking the nod as acknowledgement that she would do her best. Even if her 'best' felt like a distant concept. "Come on, you need to get some rest." He stood up and offered his hand to her. "I'll be here the whole time, there is nothing to worry about."

 

[Wren]

Never expected herself to get in the way of her own determinations.

Wren took the proffered hand and sluggishly got to her feet. All prior desires had waned, set loose by the flood of tears and confessions. She didn't even bother to wipe the wet from her face as she turned for the bed and collapsed into a sit to kick off her boots. Taking a moment to herself, a deep breath to find some level center, the unyeilding weight of exhaustion settled over her shoulders like a heavy blanket.

She pulled the covers of the bed back and tucked in on the far side by the wall. It wasn't an overly large bed, but there was room enough for two if the two didn't happen to mind a big of close-quarter snuggling. Given the calm and peace their closeness brought to her mind, Wren nearly wished the bed was smaller.

Once Rainer had settled in beside her, Wren turned to face him, content with the contact now granted by the lack of armor for them both.

"I'm sorry," she uttered against him, "for fucking up everything."

 

[Rainer]

The weight of the passing weeks, days, and minutes had revealed itself in a sudden deep seated tiredness that he couldn't shirk. The past moments, while not physically draining, had brought him to an emotional point that was only further emphasized by the lack of sleep the night prior. And while Wren had slept for a passing time, it was clear that it had been of little value.

Having gotten into bed, he rolled into Wren and held her close. The vessel was on smoother waters now, there was the rare movement of wake, and in the far off distance, another tern could be heard playing in the waves. If there were others on the ship, it was impossible to tell. Rain was nowhere else but here.

"No...I'm sorry for getting you into this." He replied, sleepily. In a roundabout way, and not so roundabout way, all of these events could be traced back to him and a choice he made a long time ago. Perhaps selfish, perhaps not, but a choice all the same. And casting aside what bound them, he was pained to see his closest friend in such a state of despair and self-loathing. He wondered if it wouldn't just be better if she could remember her frustration with him, remember that this wasn't her fault at all.

"No more thoughts now..." And hopefully, no more dreams of things that couldn't be or nightmares of moments that may yet pass. Just...rest.​

 

[Wren]

Too tired to argue, Wren gave in to the not-command and closed her eyes, hopeful for a dreamless sleep that wouldn't find her waking with another victim in her grasp.

And perhaps somewhere there was a God watching over them, pitying of their trials and tribulations, merciful in the sleep granted. Sleep she did, deeply and without dreams or nightmares to stir from. Lulled by the rhythmic sway of the boat and the sound of waves against the hull, Wren could not think of a time when she slept so restfully. In the idle hour when she woke with her back against Rainer and his arm wrapped snuggly around her middle, she lingered in that place of contentment brought by his presence and his scent.

She lounged there for a time, eyes closed, fingers lightly tracing circles and spirals along the flesh of his hand and arm as far as she could reach. Didn't want to wake him. Didn't want to move from that spot. So far as she was concerned, if they'd both been slaughtered in their sleep and this was the purgatory she was stuck in, that was fine by her.

 

[Rainer]

He slept deeply and without interruption, an uncommon thing for a hunter who had lived a life of alertness. It was a survival instinct, formed over the years, which allowed him to catch assailants and would-be assassins upon approach. It was a rare occurrence, made even more rare by Wren's presence. And despite how vulnerable she felt in his arms, worried about her future, he still felt safe with her. He knew, beyond her own doubt, that when push came to shove, she would be there. She could defy herself, defy the shackles placed on her. By Orobas and by her own will.

As she lounged there, tracing lines and constellations over his arm, he didn't wake. Stirring for a moment, he pulled her close to him and fell back into the slumber with the smell of her hair feeling his lungs. Despite his hopes, he did dream, and was plunged back into it. Into that world he had conjured in her arms, in a place of solitude and peace, sunlight and the gentle wave of green grass along a cliffside.

Entirely out of his control, his physical body responded to the increased closeness and warmth of her presence, giving comfort that would have felt foreign the day prior.​

 

[Wren]

Whether his continued slumber bled through to her own mind or simply the lack of actual restful sleep had truly caught up, Wren found herself drifting off again. Eventually the circles of her fingers grew still and she slipped back into that blissfully dark void of nothing and there she stayed for another hour. Two hours? Who knew -

Until the sudden sense of falling reeled her back to wakefullness as the boat pitched steeply over a sudden succession of waves. Wren felt the bed dip at her back and rather immediately it felt as though she were slipping off the edge of a cliff as it bent to be rid of her. She reached for the edge of the mattress, clutching her single hand upon it to hold on while her other hand clung to Rainer's arm around her middle. Then, just as suddenly, she felt the bed lean forward to toss her back toward the wall.

This rolling fit happened a second time, then a third before the waves began to diminish with each passing wake. By the time it was over, she was still clinging to the mattress edge of what felt like dear life, barely conscious enough to catch up, still clutching the arm at her waist.

 

[Rainer]

He had grown old in that stone home, resting on the seaside. The rhythm of the seasons could be seen in flashes. Each step through the quaint courtyard reflected a change, from green, to brown, to white, back to green again. The changing seasons never deviated from that pace, but he had aged as naturally as any human would. Wren was there, a partner in keeping the land and passing the time. Flashes of the seasons showed her as well, aging as she tended to a fire, plowed a fresh square of earth, or worked to finagle some wet clothes onto a line during a particularly harsh gust.

A child ran by, a mop of brown hair with elven ears and a face that was blurred and out of focus. With each step through the courtyard, he aged. A toddler one step, a boy the next, a teenager the next, and finally a man full grown. And the season stopped, replaced by gray in the sky and the rolling crescendo of clouds pushing up the cliff. He spotted her then, pointing to the cliff, as the son ran off. But her smile warmed him, her scars had dulled but the same eyes shined with the green and brown with flecks of gold.

Without knowing why, he chased after their son, who was running headlong across the cliff side. The edge eroded out from under him and the last thing he could see was the face of Wren and the blurred face of the son, as he plummeted to the cliffs rocks below.

He awoke abruptly with Wren in his arms, breathing heavily and confused by the movement, as his free hand leapt out to find something to brace himself against. Grabbing the railing behind him, he did his best to stabilize them while still under the veil of sleep. As things settled down, he let out a sigh. He was admittedly perturbed, both by the dream and by the sudden chaos. "What the fuck..." He whispered as he rested his head back down on the pillow. "God's be damned..."​

 

[Wren]

"Waves," Wren replied to his mutterings, still clinging to the mattress, eyes screwed shut against the wobble still slowly drifting out of the sway.

"Bigger boat-" shifting slightly, as she felt she had slid about a foot or two sideways from the disturbance, a grunt sounded as Wren pushed herself up to disentangle herself from Rainer's legs and the blanket, "passing by I think. Heard some men shouting to it."

With some more effort, she'd straightened herself out and flopped back down, facing Rain again, a hand snaking across his middle to draw him closer. He was much to far away now no small thanks to those waves, "Come back here."

 

[Rainer]

He heard about every other word she said, but got the gist of it. Ships passing each other makes waves, very bumpy. But he did respond to her hand, scooting back over to her and wrapping his arm around her, mimicking the pull and longing to return that place of comfort. He moved to flared out the comforter as he tried to clumsily tuck it back around him before pressing his head back against the pillow.

Blinking slowly, he smiled as he closed his eyes. "Right up until the end there...with the bigger boat...I was having a nice dream. You were there."​

 

[Wren]

She might've been able to drift back off to sleep, but the waves had startled adrenalin into her vampiric veins and a certain sense of tired restlessness settled in. Wren nuzzled in under Rain's chin where she could smother herself in his scent and hooked a leg through his own for good measure to keep the man close should another bout of sudden disruptive waves strike.

"Mm?" her fingers began to do that thing again where they traced little routes across his flesh, dipping beneath his tunic for the softer skin at his hip before trialing across his middle.

 

[Rainer]

"Mmm..." He mused quietly, exhaling as Wren moved about and nuzzled in closer. He could have gone back to sleep right then and there but had the inkling that just wasn't going to happen. "We were together...it was nice. But not as nice as this."

His hand moved to rest on jaw, rubbing a thumb against her jawline, as he lazily kissed her forehead. "Do you sleep alright...before the...uhh...bigger-boat?"

Part of him was surprised that no one had barged in to check in on them. And part of him hope that that unwarranted thought didn't materialize into someone actually doing that.​

 

[Wren]

Wasn't entirely sure what he meant by we were together, but if he said the dream was nice then she thought she could guess. Either way, their present situation was indeed nicer than a dream because right now she felt the most clear minded she had in several days. Her doubts and worries were gone for now, as was her anger and frustration. All that remained was the calming ephemeral feeling of being wrapped in his presence.

"Mmm," Wren answered back as she nuzzled into his neck and began to kiss it, lips brushing over several days worth of unshaven scruff. Along his front her fingers smoothed across his abdomen while her thigh rode up between his legs.

No, he would not be going back to sleep if she had any say in the matter.