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sparkindarknessAnd I declare this story arc closed *bang* even if it does set some things in motion.
Now I've got a community fic to do with Home of Usher (whcih is still roaming in my head) and the vampire boys to ressurect from their cliffhanger (which was MONTHS if not years ago) then the only semi-open story arc is the Camaalis prequel quests, and they're not really an arc.
But now, sleep, methinks. I've been churning out a lot of fic lately and it'll only drop in quality and become utterly intolerable if I keep it up at this rate.
“The first lesson isn’t a lesson as such. It’s a warning.”
Lakshmi’s face twisted, clearly she thought he was going to try and talk her out of hunting again. He sat down heavily in a battered arm chair, taking in every corner of the threadbare flat out of habit. The flat was technically owned by the church for some unspecified purpose. Ian suspected that Father Michaels’ superiors suspected he kept a lover here. He smiled mirthlessly at so unlikely a happening. The flat was mainly sued as a place for people to hide who needed to hide, whether they were people from Kieran’s gang, himself or victims of the monsters who needed somewhere secret and safe to heal before heading out into their new lives.
“I’m not trying to discourage you from hunting. Only to stop you hunting before you are ready, without me.” She didn't seem very reassured. “Nor am I going to lecture you, I’m going to list some of the mistakes you made tonight so you can see just how little you know and how at risk you are.”
She still looked stubborn, but she nodded. That was enough. Ian had been stubborn when he was faced with the same lesson.
“First of all is preliminary research, what did I kill this morning? What were you hunting?”
“A vampire.” She answered promptly.
“Correct, partially anyway. But how did you know?”
She looked confused. “Kieran told me.”
“No, he didn’t. He said people had gone missing. That doesn't mean a vampire, it could have been any number of monsters. A were creature. A daemon. Just a normal human serial killer or gang.” She shuffled, uncomfortable. “I went to Dr Chin to confirm that it was a vampire. If you assume you can end up in a situation where you’re all loaded for vampire but don't have a single shred of silver for the werewolf you’ve just attacked.”
She nodded again. Ian continued. “How many were there?”
“I don’t know...”
“There were three, from my scouting. No more than one more. But again, I went to see Dr. Chin and she told me all the bodies had been drained and the times of each death. No vampire could consume that much blood in so short a space of time, so it must have been a pack. Again, essential research.”
Another nod. “How many ways in and out of the building?”
“Seven. Four doors and three unboarded windows” She said with a grin.
“Close, but wrong. The other windows were boarded with chipboard, poor quality chipboard at that. A vampire would have little trouble escaping through that. Also the building’s three storey. A vampire could probably jump off the roof of that and still not be badly hurt. Some can fly, remember that. You attack and they can escape easy, or come up round behind you. For that matter, the walls were pretty rotten brick work with no cavity wall insulation. If the vampires were old and powerful they may have been able to break their way through.”
She was uncomfortable again now.
“Ok, second is stealth.” Ian leaned down and wiped some of the black off her face. he raised his finger to his nose and sniffed. “This stuff smells, quite badly actually. I can also smell your perfume, just faintly. Some vampires and just about all were creatures have incredible senses of smell. Wash in unperfumed soap - and use unscented antiperspirant. Not deodorant, they have a smell. They smell perfume or sweat, they know you’re there. Look at your surroundings as well. If you‘re fighting in a tip, roll in some muck. A garage, get blathered in motor oil. If you think your enemy might be using scent, take advantage, arrange the area to be very smelly before hand.”
“Next is jewellery. Loose it. cover it if you can’t get it off. Anything that can reflect even moonlight will give you away straight away.”
She blushed at that, it was a pretty stupid mistake to make. “Clothing - ditch the black.” She blinked at that, he took her hand and lead her to the window. “Look out there, it’s light now, but imagine it as night time. What colour is everything.”
“Dark.”
“Dark. Is anything black? Actually black?” She thought for a minute, frowning. Ian didn’t let her finish. “No, very little is actually black. Especially if there’s moon light, star light or electric lighting, and there’s bound to be some. Black stands out, especially to things as paranoid as most monsters are or with their senses. A pure black shape moving around at night catches people’s eye. Ideally you want something in navy blue, grey and very dark green - preferably mottled since it breaks up your outline.”
She was paying attention now. Good, maybe she’d survive a little longer. “Another is clothing. Close fitting may sound good since it doesn’t flap around, but I prefer semi-loose fitting for outside. It breaks up your outline more. Remember, at night most people don’t get very precise vision, things have blurred outlines. If you can’t see an outline, you just see a shape. Slight movement is actually a good thing. Dark shapes that don’t move at all are suspicious. How often have you woken up half asleep and stared at a chair or something in your bedroom because you can’t recognise it in the darkness? Your imagination will give it different forms. You’ll stare and you’ll investigate. Inside, go for close fitting. Inside, things don’t move, there’s no wind. On that subject., keep your distance. Some of these things can hear heartbeat, let alone breathing.”
“While scouting, remember stealth. I came up behind you unnoticed. A vampire or one of its thralls could as well. Make sure your observation points aren’t easy to reach without you noticing.”
Ian picked up her bag, she let him without protest., She was taking this seriously. “What do you have in here?” He opened it and poured the six hewn wooden stakes onto the floor. They looked like chair legs broken off and sharpened. He sighed, loudly. She squirmed a little. “The first thing you have to do is ignore everything you’ve seen on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If she tried half the stuff she did here she'd need a lot more than slayer powers to stop her becoming lunch. Show me how you were going to use these.”
She clearly knew she was doing something stupid, but she picked up the stake anyway and gestured as if to stab Ian with it. Ian watched impassively before shaking his head.
“The stake is a useless weapon.” He tapped his chest, “even a human torso has ribs and layers of tough muscle to get through before you reach the heart. That's why in the old fashioned, and slightly more accurate vampire films show the hunter with a stake and hammer - because you have to physically hammer the stake into the chest.” He lightly touched one of Lakshmi’s thin arms. “You aren’t strong enough to hammer a stake home without a tool, and most vampires aren't willing to co-operate while you use a hammer. If you must use a stake, use something like this.” He reached into his own back and pulled out a long, slender piece of wood.
“It’s long and thin which means it can squeeze between the ribs. It’s also very sharp and has a steel core to let it pierce the muscle. It’s this long so I can stab them in the back or through the stomach - which is a far easier way to reach the heart.” He passed her the stake so she could examine it. “But it’s still a bad idea. Stakes have a habit of paralysing not killing. The heart’s also a relatively small organ. If you’re in the middle of battle with a vampire you need a LOT of skill to be able to hit it dead on.”
She nodded, kicking her stakes out of the way. “One other tool which you should just ignore while I’m at it is a holy symbol. It doesn’t work on all vampires, I don’t know why. but even the ones you do use it on are going to have more sense than to just hide their face and hiss at you in a dramatic fashion.” Lakshmi smiled. Ian even allowed the edges of his mouth quirk a little, before the eternal memories of the fallen hit him again. “No, they’ll throw something at you. Hard. Some of them are also armed. If it comes to a battle between a crucifix and a .44 magnum I’m afraid you’ll be meeting your maker far earlier than you planned.”
He rubbed his eyes, heavily. “I’ll talk about other weapons when I think you’re ready to use them. But there’s a run down for you. Have I got anything through to you?”
“Yes, I get it. I know nothing about hunting and I’m a walking snack. Promise, no hunting without you until you say I’m ready. Ok?”
He wasn’t convinced, but he nodded anyway.
“Then all we have to do now is report to Father Michaels and pay our respect to the dead.” They both rose in solemn silence to head to the church and remind themselves truly what was at stake.
Now I've got a community fic to do with Home of Usher (whcih is still roaming in my head) and the vampire boys to ressurect from their cliffhanger (which was MONTHS if not years ago) then the only semi-open story arc is the Camaalis prequel quests, and they're not really an arc.
But now, sleep, methinks. I've been churning out a lot of fic lately and it'll only drop in quality and become utterly intolerable if I keep it up at this rate.
“The first lesson isn’t a lesson as such. It’s a warning.”
Lakshmi’s face twisted, clearly she thought he was going to try and talk her out of hunting again. He sat down heavily in a battered arm chair, taking in every corner of the threadbare flat out of habit. The flat was technically owned by the church for some unspecified purpose. Ian suspected that Father Michaels’ superiors suspected he kept a lover here. He smiled mirthlessly at so unlikely a happening. The flat was mainly sued as a place for people to hide who needed to hide, whether they were people from Kieran’s gang, himself or victims of the monsters who needed somewhere secret and safe to heal before heading out into their new lives.
“I’m not trying to discourage you from hunting. Only to stop you hunting before you are ready, without me.” She didn't seem very reassured. “Nor am I going to lecture you, I’m going to list some of the mistakes you made tonight so you can see just how little you know and how at risk you are.”
She still looked stubborn, but she nodded. That was enough. Ian had been stubborn when he was faced with the same lesson.
“First of all is preliminary research, what did I kill this morning? What were you hunting?”
“A vampire.” She answered promptly.
“Correct, partially anyway. But how did you know?”
She looked confused. “Kieran told me.”
“No, he didn’t. He said people had gone missing. That doesn't mean a vampire, it could have been any number of monsters. A were creature. A daemon. Just a normal human serial killer or gang.” She shuffled, uncomfortable. “I went to Dr Chin to confirm that it was a vampire. If you assume you can end up in a situation where you’re all loaded for vampire but don't have a single shred of silver for the werewolf you’ve just attacked.”
She nodded again. Ian continued. “How many were there?”
“I don’t know...”
“There were three, from my scouting. No more than one more. But again, I went to see Dr. Chin and she told me all the bodies had been drained and the times of each death. No vampire could consume that much blood in so short a space of time, so it must have been a pack. Again, essential research.”
Another nod. “How many ways in and out of the building?”
“Seven. Four doors and three unboarded windows” She said with a grin.
“Close, but wrong. The other windows were boarded with chipboard, poor quality chipboard at that. A vampire would have little trouble escaping through that. Also the building’s three storey. A vampire could probably jump off the roof of that and still not be badly hurt. Some can fly, remember that. You attack and they can escape easy, or come up round behind you. For that matter, the walls were pretty rotten brick work with no cavity wall insulation. If the vampires were old and powerful they may have been able to break their way through.”
She was uncomfortable again now.
“Ok, second is stealth.” Ian leaned down and wiped some of the black off her face. he raised his finger to his nose and sniffed. “This stuff smells, quite badly actually. I can also smell your perfume, just faintly. Some vampires and just about all were creatures have incredible senses of smell. Wash in unperfumed soap - and use unscented antiperspirant. Not deodorant, they have a smell. They smell perfume or sweat, they know you’re there. Look at your surroundings as well. If you‘re fighting in a tip, roll in some muck. A garage, get blathered in motor oil. If you think your enemy might be using scent, take advantage, arrange the area to be very smelly before hand.”
“Next is jewellery. Loose it. cover it if you can’t get it off. Anything that can reflect even moonlight will give you away straight away.”
She blushed at that, it was a pretty stupid mistake to make. “Clothing - ditch the black.” She blinked at that, he took her hand and lead her to the window. “Look out there, it’s light now, but imagine it as night time. What colour is everything.”
“Dark.”
“Dark. Is anything black? Actually black?” She thought for a minute, frowning. Ian didn’t let her finish. “No, very little is actually black. Especially if there’s moon light, star light or electric lighting, and there’s bound to be some. Black stands out, especially to things as paranoid as most monsters are or with their senses. A pure black shape moving around at night catches people’s eye. Ideally you want something in navy blue, grey and very dark green - preferably mottled since it breaks up your outline.”
She was paying attention now. Good, maybe she’d survive a little longer. “Another is clothing. Close fitting may sound good since it doesn’t flap around, but I prefer semi-loose fitting for outside. It breaks up your outline more. Remember, at night most people don’t get very precise vision, things have blurred outlines. If you can’t see an outline, you just see a shape. Slight movement is actually a good thing. Dark shapes that don’t move at all are suspicious. How often have you woken up half asleep and stared at a chair or something in your bedroom because you can’t recognise it in the darkness? Your imagination will give it different forms. You’ll stare and you’ll investigate. Inside, go for close fitting. Inside, things don’t move, there’s no wind. On that subject., keep your distance. Some of these things can hear heartbeat, let alone breathing.”
“While scouting, remember stealth. I came up behind you unnoticed. A vampire or one of its thralls could as well. Make sure your observation points aren’t easy to reach without you noticing.”
Ian picked up her bag, she let him without protest., She was taking this seriously. “What do you have in here?” He opened it and poured the six hewn wooden stakes onto the floor. They looked like chair legs broken off and sharpened. He sighed, loudly. She squirmed a little. “The first thing you have to do is ignore everything you’ve seen on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. If she tried half the stuff she did here she'd need a lot more than slayer powers to stop her becoming lunch. Show me how you were going to use these.”
She clearly knew she was doing something stupid, but she picked up the stake anyway and gestured as if to stab Ian with it. Ian watched impassively before shaking his head.
“The stake is a useless weapon.” He tapped his chest, “even a human torso has ribs and layers of tough muscle to get through before you reach the heart. That's why in the old fashioned, and slightly more accurate vampire films show the hunter with a stake and hammer - because you have to physically hammer the stake into the chest.” He lightly touched one of Lakshmi’s thin arms. “You aren’t strong enough to hammer a stake home without a tool, and most vampires aren't willing to co-operate while you use a hammer. If you must use a stake, use something like this.” He reached into his own back and pulled out a long, slender piece of wood.
“It’s long and thin which means it can squeeze between the ribs. It’s also very sharp and has a steel core to let it pierce the muscle. It’s this long so I can stab them in the back or through the stomach - which is a far easier way to reach the heart.” He passed her the stake so she could examine it. “But it’s still a bad idea. Stakes have a habit of paralysing not killing. The heart’s also a relatively small organ. If you’re in the middle of battle with a vampire you need a LOT of skill to be able to hit it dead on.”
She nodded, kicking her stakes out of the way. “One other tool which you should just ignore while I’m at it is a holy symbol. It doesn’t work on all vampires, I don’t know why. but even the ones you do use it on are going to have more sense than to just hide their face and hiss at you in a dramatic fashion.” Lakshmi smiled. Ian even allowed the edges of his mouth quirk a little, before the eternal memories of the fallen hit him again. “No, they’ll throw something at you. Hard. Some of them are also armed. If it comes to a battle between a crucifix and a .44 magnum I’m afraid you’ll be meeting your maker far earlier than you planned.”
He rubbed his eyes, heavily. “I’ll talk about other weapons when I think you’re ready to use them. But there’s a run down for you. Have I got anything through to you?”
“Yes, I get it. I know nothing about hunting and I’m a walking snack. Promise, no hunting without you until you say I’m ready. Ok?”
He wasn’t convinced, but he nodded anyway.
“Then all we have to do now is report to Father Michaels and pay our respect to the dead.” They both rose in solemn silence to head to the church and remind themselves truly what was at stake.