Open Chronicles The Wolf and The Bat

[Rose]

A large breath of relief wooshed out of her, the girl flickering into view just as the door opened, concealing her secret from the man that entered the hall with them.

He stopped short, looking between the girl pressed back against the wall, face pale with fright, and the large man with a knife out. Before the man could look down to see the dropped coin purse, Rose was shoving past him to run out.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar let out a curse, turned to face the man only to be stopped by his grasp.

He felt a fingers tighten around his arm as the man began to speak to him, asking what the hell he was doing to the girl and why he had a knife. The Templar Captain growled quietly, his lips tightening as his head shook and his hand grabbed the man's wrist.

He was half temptedto break it. "She tried to steal my coin."

The werewolf gestured to the bag on the ground.

"Pleaded with me till I let her go." The man seemed dubious for a moment, then noticed the purse on the ground and slowly nodded as he let him go.

Ishar cursed, and then went out the door after the girl.

 

[Rose]

The door was slamming shut in her wake, the girl already onto the street. Her cloak remained behind on the bar stool as she was left running and puffing heavy breathes into the cold air. She wasn't a trained warrior. She wasn't even strong. She was just desperate and paddling her legs as they could take her, her heart slamming protests against her chest.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar stepped into the common room as he secured the purse around his belt, gaze flickering around the barely lit interior as he looked for the girl. His lips thinned slightly when he spotted a small cloak in the corner, guessing that it was likely hers left behind.

The former Templar Commander took in a breath, head shaking slightly.

What the hell was he doing? Why did he even care? Monsters were none of his business anymore, and neither were those that broke the law. He had no authority here, he had no mandate to protect anyone. Even if the witch had lied and she intended to kill every last person in this village...why would he care?

He wasn't a Templar anymore.

Fingers tightened, he sighed loudly, and then stalked out the taverndoor. It was the only place she had left to run.

 

[Rose]

She rounded the only corner there was to take, glancing once behind her to see the street empty before she leaned against the wall and panted to catch her breath.

Stupid, stupid, stupid! That was dangerously close from going sour. Dangerously close from putting her in a spot that she wouldn't have been able to get out of. All for what? Milk?

Stupid!

His response to her magic had been so strong, she thought he might kill her then and there for the sight of it. How strange, she was left to ponder. And she walked into a land where magic was as bad as her curse? What did that mean for her then? Should she turn around?

These thoughts raced through her head as she slid to the ground on that corner, her ears blocked out by the sound of her pounding heart and heavy breaths.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar stalked forward, though as he did so he glanced up at the night sky.

The moon hung there, looming, searching. It seemed larger than usual, though he was sure that was just a trick of his own mind. Lips thinned as he looked up at it, head slowly shaking as if he were trying to push away the thoughts that were already creeping up on him.

What was he doing?

Ishar knew that he should have turned back, that he should have just made his way to the inn, had another ale, and then went into the comfortable bed he was so craving.

For some reason though he couldn't let this go, couldn't let it slip through his fingers. Snow crunched beneath his boots, eyes swiveled through the narrow alleyways as he searched for the witch.

 

[Rose]

She glanced up just as he spotted her, eyes locking from across the moon-lit street.

"No," she could be heard complaining, her face crumbling in dread as she dropped her hands from it and scrambled back on all fours.

"Please no, please don't- we already- I gave it back," she practically whined, looking half ready to cry in desperation. She got onto her feet, still taking steps back. "What do you want?" Came the plea.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"What are you?" The question came as Ishar stepped into the alleyway.

His mind was split into a dozen different thoughts.

The Templar piece of him still wanted to kill her, the human part wanted to simply let her go, and the wolf? He had no idea what the wolf wanted. It was always there in the back of his mind, always seeking, always searching, but Ishar was never quite sure for what.

To him it was simply a beast, driven on instinct.

Was it that instinct driving him now? It was hard to tell, but he did not draw his knife, he did not even reach for it, instead he simply waited.

 

[Rose]

She blinked at him, tripping over herself and stopping for a moment. "W-what?" Of all the words she expected to be thrown at her, that question was not among them.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, her pale blue eyes looking a little sharper at him.

"What do you mean? I'm human, isn't it obvious?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He shook his head. That was a lie. He didn't need to be a Hunter to know that, he didn't need to be a Templar to know that. She had turned into a shadow in front of him. That alone made her something besides Human, though Ishar had absolutely no idea just what.

"No." He stepped forward. "No I don't think so."

Whatever she was...it wasn't human, at least not entirely. There was something wrong with her. She was a mage perhaps, that seemed fitting, but inthe blightlands mages were something wholly different than their species. They were...something extra, a little more than the base species.

Ishar's lips thinned slightly as he glanced down at her.

His eyes worked well in the dark, better since taking on the plague he carried with him.

 

[Rose]

She trembled underneath that gaze, a sheen entering her eyes. He knew, he sensed the truth, she could see it in the way his jaw was set. She shook her head back and forth, trying to deny this moment. She hated moments like this. They haunted her in her sleep.


"Please don't," she whispered at him. Don't ask her that. Don't push this. "You put your knife down, you know I won't hurt you. Why does the rest have to matter?" She tried to reason.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Because it matters." What was he unleashing on this world?

Is that why he was here? Was he worried that she was some sort of demon? Twisted beyond reality and aiming to burn down entire villages.

He had seen the sort before, creatures of shadow and fire that Menalus had released upon the Blightlands simply for his own amusement. They did not take human form, but that didn't mean they couldn't. He frowned for a second, as if not quite sure of himself.

Why was he doing this?

Was it the beast? There were so many questions, so many things he didn't understand. "What are you?"

 

[Rose]

The tears split over, her lip quivering in an attempt to keep back the rest of her emotions. "...I'm just sick," she finally confessed, her hands wringing out on her tunic.

"I got bit once, and now I'm -now I'm sick. I'm still human," she insisted quickly. "I'm still me." Mostly. She darted around the words, never given it a title. And curious enough-- the longer she remained distressed, the more ...lipsy her words became.

She glanced panickly towards his back, aware of the dagger there. She took a step back.

"Please don't hurt me. I didn't chose this. I'm good."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Bit?

Another werewolf?

His face seemed to tighten at the prospect...and oddly enough his first instinct was to kill her once more. It was hypocritical, broken, and shameful in any number of ways, but a lifetime of fighting monsters brought the reaction to a near instant. He took another step forward almost unconsciously, and then he caught her scent.

It was the barest wisp of something, hardly there at all.

Ishar could not tell what it was, or even how he knew, but she was no werewolf. The plague that had befallen him was not the same that sat upon her. It was there, he could tell that much, but just what, or even how he knew, he couldn't have been able to say if he tried.

His nose crinkled.

The man didn't say anything, he simply allowed his thoughts to race even as the girl pleaded desperately.

 

[Rose]

She jerked a step back as he took one forward, a sharp gasp catching in here throat. A set of fangs was revealed behind her lips, a fact which had her hands jumping up to cover her mouth. Horror was in her eyes, dancing there with the fear. He was pushing it. She was pushing it. These situations always pushed it.

Something was awakening inside of her. What it was, she never understood. But it had purchase over her. For a moment, it demanded his blood.

She near floated a step forward before reason overtook her. With a pained growl she yanked a step back. "Stop that!" She chastised, stumbling steps back. His neck action would determine everything. Fight. Or flight. It never anything different.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

His fingers tightened as she moved.

Ishar did not quite reach for the dagger on the small of his back, but he wanted to. The weapon would put a quick stop to her even if she was some sort of monster...though at this point he was entirely lost on what.

Instinct told him she was dangerous, and when she moved towards him he couldn't help but tense.

Then, just as suddenly as she had moved forward the girl suddenly turned on her heel and began to flee back towards the alleyway. He frowned a moment, and once again asked himself why he was doing any of this, why he even bothered at all? It wasn't his problem.

"Vampire?" He called out.

It was the only other pestilence he knew of that could be transferred through a bite.

 

[Rose]

She hissed as he named her, the threatened air forcing through her before she could control it.

Her steps slowed. Her stance shifted-- on edge, perched, ready for the trouble that always followed that title. She did't want to hurt him. In truth, she wasnt even sure she could. Contrary to the myth, she was no more a predictor now than she was before the curse. Which made feeding at all a hard task for one so small.

Regardless. She could do damage. And she didn't want to.

She shuddered, managing keep the animalistic glint from her eyes. She had already paid its price this month. Tonight belonged to her, not it.

"My name is Rose. Rose. I'm human. Human."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar stopped for a second, frowning.

No.

Not human anymore. He was confident of that now. The look of her skin, the slight haze of her eyes. It was there, signs of the pestilence. Ishar had seen it before, in fact he'd seen a plague of it in the Blightlands.

Once, nearly a decade ago, Melanus had unleashed the disease upon a small town. Nearly everyone inside had turned, and from there they'd sent Chaos across half a dozen different tribes. He and his Templar had eventually put a stop to it, though the cost had been high.

Vampire's were dangerous, more so than werewolves in a way. They did not lose themselves in the same way, they did not lost the ability to think and reason. They simply grew hungry. "No."

He told her quietly, almost regretfully. "Not human anymore."

 

[Rose]

She flinched as if she had been punched, her expression crumbling.

"...And what are you going to do about it?" She finally asked, her voice croaking in resigned pain.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Nothing." Ishar admitted quietly.

Once upon a time he would have ended her, he would have put a blade in her heart and simply walked away after. There would have been no moral dilemma, no question, nothing.

It would have just been another job, another piece of his duty, but it was different now. He couldn't ignore the hypocrisy in those actions any longer. It would have been easier if he could, and in truth most of him still wanted to simply kill her just because it would have been better for the world...but who was he to pass judgement?

He couldn't end his own life.

"When were you bitten?" Ishar asked candidly. "Where?"

 

[Rose]

"W-what?" She croaked.

She didn't move, frozen in shock and locked down by the instincts she was still struggling against. Thoughts were stilled. Eyes wide and uncomprehending.

This was a trick...?

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar was not an expert on Vampirism, not by far. There had been that one incident in the Blightland, the occasional fang that wandered into a nearby village or town, but they had hardly been common in his area.

He knew that some Templar Chapters dealt with them far more frequently, some even studied them.

His own had not been one, far too focused on the Blightlands itself. Still, he knew enough about the disease to understand it's working. Like lycanthropy Vampirism was spread through a bite. It was a pestilence brought upon anyone who was not killed by a Vampire.

"When?" He asked again.

The hunger grew the longer one had the disease. If she was bitten recently she might not even understand that fact.

 

[Rose]

She took a step back, life returning to her limbs, allowing her shoulders to slowly unclench. She looked at him a little closely now, outwardly trying to understand him.

"I-I don't know," she answered, disoriented. "Months? Who are you?" No trust was given to him, her eyes sharp and wary. It was uncommon not to be met with hostility when her condition was learned. And here he had instantly pursued it, almost as if he had been one of those hunters.

He was built like one too. She cursed herself for not seeing that before. But what did he want? For some reason, she couldn't flee. Not yet. Something kept her there.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Ishar Morrad." He gave no titles, he had none now.

Once he might have rattled off a long list, each one said with no small amount of pride. It pained a small part of him that he could no longer do such a thing, though he did his best to hide it.

"Your plague..." He frowned, unsure of what else to call it. "Is not unlike something I have recently encountered."

There was no way in nine hells he would tell her the truth about himself.

Not the least because of the panic it would cause.

 

[Rose]

She took a slow step back, though by this point, she was aware that distance didn't secure her anything. He was larger, faster, and clearly trained. He had known what to look for when she had resorted to shadows. He had been following her movement, that .... dagger... with its ruins...

"Who are you, though," she ask, instant yet soft. "What do you want from me, why do you care?"

A hunter? Another scientist? Not a common man, she knew that much. And that was why she couldnt flee, she told herself. Not until she knew what might be pursuing her.