Hunger Burns [Cas]

[Alaya Rasilia Black]

It had been to bloody long since Alaya had fed, and she was too hungry to even think straight. Her heart was beating too fast, her senses were too strong, and she couldnt concentrate long on anything. She kept imagining the blood, sweet blood running down her chin, the ecstasy of the sensation. It was hard to concentrate on anything else. But the bloody humans stayed inside their houses all night, not giving anyone a chance to feed. Alaya needed the blood, and she had to get it, anyhow. She had taken to wandering around in various areas of the city, looking for anyone outside at night - drunk, junkie, whore, child. But there was just no one to be found, and she was starting to get desperate.

So she was out in the woods alone in the city once again, stalking around, looking for just about anyone to take a bite out of. The old fountain seemed like the perfect place for those who roamed around at night, and so she was on the prowl there, and restlessly moving from one place to another, as graceful as a cat, as fast as a cheetah, and as silent as a bat. Every now and then she stopped, her ears towards some sound, and yet it was always turned out to be something stupid, like a small animal or some kind of bird. That was all that went prowling in the night, animals and birds and vampires.

She took a deep breath. She could hear a squirrel scuttling somewhere close by, and then in the distance the cry of a bird. She'd never tried the blood of animals before, though she'd heard an old story that they could be used to sustain vampires. The thought made her want to puke, but it might be the only choice. Another day or two and she wouldnt even be able to move, let alone hunt, and then she was going to be in a lot of trouble. She considered going after the squirrel, when her ear caught another, heavier voice. Was it going to be her lucky day?

She stopped, hid in a shadow, and waited.

[Čⓐѕ]

Cassiel moved through the woods silently, two angels clad in black following slowly behind him. He rarely needed an escort but the council had insisted after the encounter at the Colosseum, they were silent and he liked that about them. They followed without worry or fear, he had watched these two brothers grow for years, watched their skills grow. They were foes to be reckoned with, they moved softly through the growth. The brothers clad in black while Cassiel wore his white clothes as usual, a noise

Instantly the two brothers were alight, one drawing back on his bow the others pulling two small blades and slinging one directly at the noise. Rayun let loose his arrow at the same moment, two loud squeaks were all they heard. Cassiel stood still feeling the whip of the air from the arrow that passed his ear just seconds before. Cassiel smiled and spoke

"Just a mouse Ezek..." He turned his head back and spoke to the one holding the bow, Ezeks eyes became wide and he pointed at Rayun his brother indicated that he made the first move. Cassiel turned his head the other way and looked at Rayun, he stood fast his eyes still looking around. Something else was here, Cassiel's hand moved quickly signaling for them to search. Rayun and Ezek slid into the shadows, their movements dead quiet and their eyes everywhere.

[Alaya Rasilia Black]

The person coming towards her was being silent, but she could still hear the quiet thud of footsteps on the soft forest floor thanks to her senses, which were hyperactive thanks to her extreme need for food. And then she heard more footsteps, more than one, and she wondered if she was imagining it all. If there was more than one, she could capture them and use them over a long period of time. This blood problem was becoming a pretty serious one. It would help her to have a regular blood source. She set her teeth on an edge. No matter what it was, she needed to eat, and soon. Once again, she could imagine the taste of blood in her mouth, warm, sweet - the ecstasy. She felt breathless in anticipation, and she forced herself to concentrate on the figures ahead.

That was when she noticed the wings. She cursed to herself. Angels? What were angels doing in the night anyway? She didnt know much about them, except that they'd killed the human leader and were powerful fighters. For some reason, that thought excited her, though she was alone and hungry and tired. She wanted to fight them, to test her strength against them, to show them. She shivered slightly, and then moved a step or two backwards. She might be able to feed off of them as well. She didnt know if angels had blood, or if it could sustain her, but she was certainly going to find out today.

They took flight, and she saw the alarming speed and accuracy with the which the two killed the mouse. She smiled, grimly. She was going to have to learn how to throw accurately - but if these two wanted to fight her, they would have to come close. That was the way Alaya fought - especially because she was faster and had better reflexes than the creature they had killed. She imagined its blood pouring out now, warm and delicious, and clenched her fists. She needed to eat. It was taking over her, and she was starting to act mostly by the most basic instinct - eat or die.

The one in white, in the middle, gave something like an order, and they started searching. Had they heard her? Well, that meant the dance had begun. She crouched in the shadows, in a stance meant for attacking, her teeth and nails barred. In the darkest part of the shadows, wearing nothing but a black tank top and black trousers, she would be hard to see - except for her eerie, icy-blue eyes, which shined ever so slightly at the prospect of food. She waited till one of the figures in black had made it quite close to her in the shadows while she held her breath and stayed absolutely still, and then lunged out at him in one swift bold move.

[Čⓐѕ]

His eyes watched the two brothers move to the shadows, he listened to the hard silence that followed. He heard nothing, no footsteps at all. The night was dark making Rayun and Ezek almost impossible to spot, but anything else that lives in the dark had the clear advantage.

His eyes moved readily spotting a small shift in the shadows by a tree, he watched him start to move past. His movements were slower than usual, Cassiel's eyes taking in the slowly shifting angel in black.Suddenly like lightning Rayun was down, a vampire had hidden behind the tree and jumped him.

Cassiel's ears caught the sound of Ezek's bow, the one hundred and seventy-five pound pull on the bow making the solid iron arrow whip from its hold. The arrow headed strait for the targets chest, Cassiel's eves moved faster than the arrows as he watched Rayun's right arm swing up holding a seven inch dagger in his palm blade pointed backward like an elbow only deadly. They were close and Rayun knew one strong hit with the blade would buy a little time if Ezek's arrow didnt kill her; his arm shot up the blade slicing through the air.

Cassiel pulled his sword from his side without a moments hesitation and began to walk forward, the two brothers would be a good distraction for the girl. She was blood thirsty and knew no better than to jump out at a group of Angel's, they would wear her down slowly then take her prisoner to find what she knows. Or accidentally kill her now, she was only a leech after all.

[Alaya Rasilia Black]

She had taken the first winged creature down and had him pinned down but by the gods he was very strong, and struggling. She also knew in a split second that the other two angels had noticed her, and that she didnt have much time. She wondered at the senses of these creatures, they were strong and sharp, even more, perhaps, than vampires. She didnt like that one bit. Not only was she outnumbered, but she couldnt even beat one of them as far as strength was concerned? Alaya had never been strong, as far as vampires went, but she did not like to think of herself as weak. She was not weak at all, and she was certainly very, very fast.

She felt the arrow before she heard it, and she heard it before it could reach her. There was something about being so hungry, it made all your senses sharper, and as a vampire she was already sharper than that rat they'd killed. She rolled off the other angel, who'd already pulled off his knife, trying to shove him and keep him down before she he could come up and kill her, and then continued the motion of her roll to safety. Then she realized that the angel had been too fast for her, and had sliced her upper arm with that wicked cruel knife. That made her angry. She pulled out her own knife, and crouched once again in attacking position, and hissed like an angry cat. Who did these things think they were, anyway?

But while Alaya was angry, she was not completely stupid. She couldn't possibly take on all three, not when she had no weapons to match their range anyway. She saw from the corner of her eye that the third one, the only one dressed in white, had pulled out his blade and was making his way towards her. She whirled to face him. "Hiding behind paid bodyguards, are we?" she said, aiming a kick at the angel she'd attacked in the beginning to keep him away from her. "If you have the courage, then you'd be fighting with me yourself. Alone. I'm not armed anyway." Of course, she was, but Alaya was not about to admit that. She did not herself believe in the so called noble rules of the battlefield, but she knew big people like this often did, and she had no problems with exploiting that. She had no idea who the angel was, but he did seem to be someone important, she could tell that much.

Her arm was aching dully, but she ignored it, it would heal. She was a vampire, and the blade had not been like those cursed uv rounds of the humans. The bloodlust was more prominent. She wished she'd bitten the guy who she'd taken down first. She bit her own lip instead, revealing her prominent spiked teeth, looking almost petulant, almost like a little child.

[Čⓐѕ]

Cassiel's feet stopped moving as he watched the vampire dodge the arrow, a loud hiss told him Rayun had struck his foe but not enough to do serious damage. The leech whirled around to Cassiel, her kick was fast connecting with Rayuns stomach and knocking him back a few paces. Rayun rolled back and up onto his feet once more, unsheathing his throwing knives he tucked 3 into the creases of his fingers. The leech spoke

"Hiding behind paid bodyguards, are we?" Cassiel's eyebrows raised as she spoke, she was lucid

"If you have the courage, then you'd be fighting with me yourself. Alone. I'm not armed anyway." Cassiel hid his smile his face like slate, he spoke casually

"And stain my good robes with your blood?" he chuckled, the blade of his sword went to the dirt as he leaned on it.

"No... I think i'll just watch, no need for me to get my hands dirty right?" His smile slowly came across his face, the look seeming more evil than anything.

He motioned forward with his hand knowing the two brothers were waiting for him, a knife came from the dark whipping at the leeches chest. The snapping sound of a bow hit his ears once more, he caught the sound of 3 whistling arrows this time.

Ezek had placed them carefully around the target, not aiming at it directly but surrounding her with the attack. The knife came first whipping towards the vampires chest, the arrows came second all in rapid succession covering her routes to escape the knife.

One arrow right and left while the last followed the route of the knife, Cassiel watched in amusement, she would not last long that he knew. Being outnumbered and having no range would make the fight one sided, but she was fast. Cassiel knew this for certain, she could move and that was a plus on her part; but only if she ran away.

They wouldnt catch her, unless she stayed to fight. He kept a close eye on the leech as he watched her reactions to their moves, waiting to find his opening.

[Alaya Rasilia Black]

She heard a thump of satisfaction as her leg connected with the chest of the creature who'd hit her arm. From the corner of her eye, however, she could observe him getting up behind her and get armed, and if her bid with the leader failed, she was in a great deal of trouble. So she concentrated on the man in front of her, who first raised his eyebrows, as if surprised that she was even coherent. Well, she felt as drunk as the puny humans got with their alcoholic because of the blood lust, so she wasnt surprised at the reaction, even if she didnt really like it.

"And stain my good robes with your blood?" he chuckled, the blade of his sword went to the dirt as he leaned on it.

She laughed, even though she was now stuck in a situation where she was most likely to end up dead. That was just the way Alaya was. The man smiled, in an evil way, as he informed her that he, at least, would stay out of the fight. "I was thinking of staining it with yours," she said, before she noticed the tiny gesture that seemed to be an indication to his men that they should attack. Shit, she was in a lot of trouble now. She heard the whirl of the knives and the arrows together (there were three - not one, not two, but three) and they were coming at her from everywhere now. She needed to escape, but instead she just froze, for a moment having absolutely no idea what to do.

Her instincts kicked in a moment later when she decided that her best course of action was to jump up. She did, high into the sky, and straight towards the leader, who she had decided was going to be the focus of her attacks anyway. She knew she should probably leave, especially since one of the knives had now grazed her leg as well, but she was hungry and moreover she had to prove herself to these people. But there was one more tactic that she was still curious to try, something that she'd been taught a really long time ago and that she'd never considered because she'd never thought she'd be so very desperate. She decided that the situation was getting desperate, because she couldnt fight when she was so hungry that she was going to pass out.

"You wont get anything by killing me," she told the leader. "Employ me instead. You've seen me fight, I'm fast even if I'm not strong and I can do a lot of stuff - scouting, passing messages, whatever you want. Besides, paying me is really cheap. I'm only asking for some blood." Even saying the word was too much for her now, her lips parted slightly in anticipation, and she was breathing too heavily. Her senses were still telling her the movements of the other two angels, and she was ready to draw her knife any instant if the angel refused her. She didnt really have much choice at that time. It was eat or die, and her dialogue, at worst, was a tool to buy her a little bit of time. She did not really think about whether she would want to work with the creatures.

[Čⓐѕ]

Cassiel watched as the vampire leaped from the attacks and headed strait for him, his stone hard gaze was steady as he watched her. he knew that if she could hardly defeat two lesser angels than she was no threat to his life, He watched the brothers round on her, sitting in the trees weapons at the ready. Cassiel spoke one order

"Hold..."

His eyes stayed on the vampire, he studied her a moment. She might be usable, he spoke sternly his voice ringing out

"Drop your weapons.. all of them.. and step back.."

He motioned for the two brothers to move in, they floated from the branches to the ground silently. They had the vampire circled waiting for any sudden movements, Cassiel spoke again

"My name is Cassiel I am the leader of my angels, if you wish to live and survive you will drop your weapons and step back.. If you refuse we will obliterate you without hesitation.. Do you comply Leech?"

His eyes burned gold as he stared down the pale skinned night walker, he had a feeling about her. Something told her she could find the nest, give them more intel about the other sides. He would have to find a way to control her, recruit a human to make a collar or something to the degree. He stepped forward his sword coming from the dirt with a grind, his eyes stayed with the vampires. Her own an intense lust for blood, he could use this; he knew.

"Comply or die Leech! I wont ask again!"

His voice raised, his anger showing from his face. His patience had run out with the creature, he had more important matters at hand.