Crazier than Me?

[Darian Raniari]

Sweet little thing...

Darian smirked as he silently stalked the young woman down the darkening alley, his mouth watering in anticipation of the meal to come. She was... succulent. Yeah, succulent was a good word for her. The fact that she was obviously homeless wasn't really a deterrent for Darian either, nor was the tangled and seemingly-hopeless state of her long blonde hair.

What did appearance matter, after all? He was a firm believer that it was what's inside that counts...

He grinned as he continued to follow, keeping to the shadows, his movements making no sound that could be heard by a human's ear. Oh, he was good, very good. In fact, he'd been a particularly stealthy and sneaking bastard even before he'd been turned... Always the one among his little gang of hunters to be chosen to scout ahead...

She stopped, rummaging through an open dumpster, and Darian knew that this was his chance. The hunt had been fun and all, but he was starving! Silently, he leapt forward, entrapping the girl in his arms and clamping down on her neck with his descended fangs.

The first hot mouthful caused Darian to groan in pleasure. Yes, she was every bit as delicious as he'd imagined her to be. Closing his eyes, he took another draught, shivering as the very essence of her life flowed into him. Then, just as he was about to draw in again, it hit him like a hammer-blow to the stomach:

Drugs!

Retching in disgust, Darian tossed the girl aside, unconcerned with her fate. Oh, what a cruel, cruel joke! This sweet, succulent thing... Her blood so hot and perfect, but tainted with the sour, bitter taste of chemicals... He spat out as much of the blood as he could, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. He turned eyes narrowed by anger on the prone form of the girl...

And saw himself, some fifty-odd years ago, living on the streets, clad in rags and digging through the garbage just to find a scrap of food to keep himself and his little brother alive... He remembered the cold winter nights, huddled together for what scant warmth their starving bodies could provide... He remembered the constant gnawing of hunger, and the desolate feeling of complete hopelessness...

Before he knew it, before he could even question his own actions, Darian had crouched down beside the girl, his fingers reaching out to gently brush a few strands of dirty hair out of her pale face. His eyes, which had been hardened by the anger of losing out on his meal, softened, and his brow furrowed in concern. It was nothing to pick up the poor waif of a girl, though he still wasn't entirely sure of his own intentions.

Ignoring the thirst that still raged inside of him, Darian used all of the supernatural speed and stealth at his disposal to quickly return across town to the airport where his loyal pilot had landed his private jet. The aircraft was the closest thing that Darian had to a home, and he simply couldn't leave this poor, suffering girl alone to die in the streets... A part of his mind rebelled against what he intended to do, warning him that he had no place in his life for someone like her... warning him that the only thing he could offer her was pain, and loss...

"Silence!" he verbally hissed at this inner voice, wishing he could somehow get his trembling hands around its neck. "I will do as I see fit, as I always do, and you will have no say in the matter, not this time!"

If the pilot thought it was strange that his wealthy master was bringing this dirty, half-dead young woman with him on board the jet, he showed no signs of it, and as Darian commanded him to take off, he did just that. He'd learned a long time ago not to question the master's commands, after all, and Darian paid an obscene amount of money to ensure his privacy.

Moving to the back of the jet, Darian carried the girl into the windowless chamber that acted as his bedroom, laying her gently on the bed and cursing himself for not having any first-aid supplies around. What use did he have for such things, after all? Once he was sure that the girl was comfortable, or as comfortable as she could be considering the circumstances, Darian went and spoke with his pilot, pleased to find that the man kept a few personal supplies of his own.

Darian promised the pilot a substantial bonus as he took the man's first-aid kit and went back to attend to the wounds he'd inflicted on the girl's neck. It had been decades, but Darian still remembered the basics of first-aid that his old teacher had shown him, and it was only the matter of a few minutes before the bleeding had been stopped and the wound had been disinfected and bound.

Now, feeling an exhaustion that surprised him, Darian collapsed in a plush leather chair that sat across from the bed, his eyes lingering on the unconscious form of the woman before he drifted off to an uneasy sleep, filled with dreams of a past that he'd thought he'd buried a long, long time ago.

((TAG Mac!))

[morgancaine]

Mac’s sleep was restless. It was filled with a monster in a long white coat. The monster that stuck her with needles, piercing them through her skin and into her veins. He held her against the wall, his teeth turning into those very same needles. She struggled and whimpered trying to get away, but he was strong and she screamed as his needle teeth sank into her neck.

Hot pain coursed through her neck as the needles pulled blood from her. It made her weak, made her stomach churn and then as fast as it had begun it was over, the needles pulling out of her. Then the monster threw her aside. She hit her head on the wall, stars dancing in her vision. She whimpered, wanting to wake up, but seemed to fall into a dark abyss instead and it started all over again.

“No, No, No!” Mac woke screaming, her eyes roaming around wildly having no idea where she was. The ground was awfully soft like sleeping on clouds. It reminded her of something though she couldn’t think of what. There was no time to think about it though.

She noticed the man sitting across from her in the chair. Not knowing where she or how she got there Mac screamed and dove out of the bed looking for someplace to hide. She tore through the aisle racing towards the front only to get slapped by a wave of emotions coming from someone.

Shock

Confusion

Determination

Mac grabbed her head falling to the ground as the emotions pounded into her head like a sledgehammer. “Mmm.”

She tried to concentrate, tried to force them back. Mac was somewhere she shouldn’t be. She needed to find a way out, but the emotions were too much, eating away at her sanity. She needed her bag. Reaching around she realized that it wasn’t slung on her shoulder and she started scurrying across the floor looking for it.

“Where…need…too much…too much!” Her words were practically a whimper. Her backpack had what she needed to take the edge off. Turning on her hands and knees she saw it there by the bed. She had just been by it, but too scared to realize it wasn’t with her.

Unfortunately the man was now standing between her and it, watching her curiously. Mac gripped onto one of the seats ducking in front it. She whimpered again looking around wildly for a way out. Seeing the door, Mac went and grabbed the handle trying desperately to open it, but it wouldn’t budge.

Looking out one of the small windows Mac gasped when she realized that she was flying. "High up...far fall...ker splat!" She giggled for a moment before realizing she was trapped.

Eyeing the man once again she ducked in front of a chair as though he wouldn’t be able to find her. Drawing her legs to her chest Mac closed her eyes and began rocking. The emotions still tore into her searing into her mind like a branding iron. She couldn’t get rid of them…she was too close with nowhere to go. Realization hit though that she was only feeling emotions from one person. Two would feel much, much worse.

Opening her eyes Mac peeked around the chair looking at the pale man with long dark hair. “Can’t feel you…”

[Darian Raniari]

Darian had sat calmly throughout the young woman's outburst, knowing there was nowhere she could go, and nothing that she could really do.

Now, as she sat peeking out at him from behind a nearby chair, the vampire took a moment to let her words sink in. He'd never encountered anything quite like her before, and that intrigued him. It was so easy to see himself in her position: homeless, afraid, addicted to some form of drug or another... It could have been him... It could have been his brother...

He shook his head, his brow furrowing a bit at her words about not feeling him. Darian was something of a self-taught genius, and the fact that there was something sitting across from him that was entirely outside his sphere of knowledge worried him a bit. She seemed human enough... In fact, in the few quick gulps of her blood that he'd drank before the drugs hit him he had been able to tell that she was human.

Okay, there was something else going on then...

"The drugs," Darian murmured to himself. It could be that she was still under the affects of whatever drug she favored. It was possible, even, that her mind was permanently damaged... But no, Darian felt that he could see some intelligence behind her wide eyes. Her mind wasn't gone, it was just...

He shook his head, thinking. Reaching down beside his own chair, Darian picked up the girl's bag, setting it on his lap as he began rummaging carefully through it. He smiled as he saw various odds and ends, knowing that he had once carried a similar assortment of objects when he'd lived on the streets. One never knew what one might need at any given moment, after all, so when you came across something that looked unique or useful, you kept it. There were also a few tidbits of food secreted away in the bag, some of which were in various stages of decay. His nose wrinkled at the smell, and he immediately decided to throw them out.

After a bit of searching, though, Darian found what he'd been looking for: a plastic bag filled with small white pills. Taking a pill out, he held it up to his nose, sniffing it, recoiling a bit from the obvious chemical scent that hit him. He couldn't tell exactly what it was, not that he'd really expected to be able to. Putting the pill in his jacket pocket, he decided he'd check into it when next they landed.

Looking from the girl to the bag, and back again, Darian spoke softly to her, not wanting to alarm her.

"What are these for? Do you need them?"

[morgancaine]

Mac shifted, ducking behind the seat and moving sideways, her head peeking around as she skittered around uneasily. The man was going in her bag. Those were her things! Hers! Not his! She whimpered as he took the food out and threw it away. Even now her belly was rumbling with hunger pains. Her neck hurt and he was taking her things!!!

She rubbed her face, making small, upset noises as he rifled through her bag. She could still feel the other man.

Curious

Confused

Fear

They swirled through her head like a tornado ripping through her brain and she rocked longing for her backpack and the belongings within. When he pulled out the small baggie that had her pills in it a gasp escaped her lips. Mac scurried towards him, ignoring his question, trying to grab the baggie for him.

“Mine! Not yours! Mine! Need!” Those were the only thing that took the edge off. She let out a raw scream trying to grab the bag. A wave of shock that wasn’t hers crashed into Mac. The scream died from her lips as the emotions took over. She squeezed her head and looked around.

“Feel you!” She yelled pointing towards the other end of the plane before turning back to the man she couldn’t. “Can’t feel you!” She tried to grab the baggie again. “Need! No feel! Need!”

Mac fell to the floor of the plane and started rocking as her emotions swirled with someone else’s. She looked around wildly. There was nowhere to go. She wanted her things, wanted her pills, wanted the emotions to go away. She rubbed her face before looking up to him and saying softly, “Why can’t feel you?”

[Darian Raniari]

His brow furrowed when the girl began speaking again, her words seeming to be nonsense, though Darian was beginning to formulate a theory...

Though he didn't like doing it, the vampire cautiously tossed the bag of pills to the floor in front of the girl. He wasn't particularly keen on the idea of letting her take any more drugs, but at the same time, he wanted to make her as comfortable as possible. He would work on weening her off of those damned pills later...

Standing slowly to his feet, trying to be as non-threatening as possible, Darian cautiously left the bedroom, closing the door and locking it securely behind him. He wasn't ready to let her run rampant around the whole jet just yet. Making his way toward the cockpit, Darian stuck his head in, unsurprised to find Hogan, the grizzled old pilot, looking stricken.

"I know you don't like me to ask questions, Boss, but what the hell is going on back there?" Hogan asked, his hands white-knuckled as the gripped the controls.

"Listen to me, and do as I say, and I shall forgive your slip-up just now with the question. Do you understand?"

Hogan nodded.

"Good. There is a young girl back there with a very... ah, peculiar problem. I need you to relax, and to remain as calm as possible. Even the slightest bit of unrest or fear in you will set her off again. Do you understand?"

Again, the pilot nodded, taking a deep breath.

"Very good. If you do this for me successfully, I will double your pay for the rest of the year." Darian paused, grinning wryly. "Do you understand that?"

Hogan laughed heartily. "Hell yes, Sir, I most certainly do."

Nodding in satisfaction, Darian returned to the bedroom, reaching over to dim the lights just a bit as he sits down once again in his chair, watching the girl intently. Yes, he was sure he knew what was going on now... She was somehow picking up on the emotions of others, hence her words about "feeling" Hogan, though she had no idea that the man was even on board "Abrielle." The fact that she apparently couldn't feel any sort of emotion from Darian worried the vampire, though.

Was he so dead inside that there was nothing left? No, that couldn't be... He felt, of that he was certain. In fact, he felt all the time: anger, madness, blood-lust, hatred... Those were all things that he felt on a daily, even an hourly basis. Shaking off his concerns, Darian eyed the girl, smiling warmly.

"My name is Darian, and I promise I won't hurt you... I just want to help you, if I can... If you'll let me. So," he moved forward to kneel on the floor, a couple of feet away from her. "Can you tell me your name, my dear?"

[morgancaine]

When the man dropped the bag Mac practically dove for it, scooping it up and cradling tightly against her chest as she rocked back and forth. “Mine, mine, mine.” Reaching inside she pulled one of the little white pills out and chomped on it, the bitter taste coating her tongue and making her mouth dry. Mac had become used to that though. There wasn’t always a drink around and chewing them up made the emotions go away faster.

The man got up and walked away, closing the door behind him. Mac gasped and stood up intent on going to the door to open it, but then the window caught her attention. Walking over she looked over the earth. She could feel the emotions ebbing away. They were still there but they weren’t clawing into her brain. It hurt still, but it was tolerable and she watched the view as they flew over.

“Pretty!” She giggled and then leaned forward pressing her nose up against the glass, her eyes darting this way and that. “Pretty, pretty, pretty!”

When the man had entered again, Mac didn’t know. She wasn’t used to using her hearing to tell when someone came close. She could always feel their emotions getting stronger as they came closer. She had still been watching the view when he spoke causing a small, startled cry to escape her lips.

Whirling around to face him, Mac ducked beside the bed, gripping it as though it would hide her. He could see her plain as day. Mac was good at hiding, but there was nowhere to disappear here. So she settled for the only barrier she could get. She hid her face in her arms, pressing against the bed.

“No hurt,” Mac said peeking an eye out to look at him. It was a curious, almost confused gaze. “Help.” The word was said softly. She peeled her arms away from her face and put both confused eyes on him. She didn’t understand much of what he said. Somewhere in her mind Mac knew she should, but she couldn’t quite grasp it.

When he knelt down in front of himself and said his name a smile spread across her lips. She liked that she couldn’t feel him. That he didn’t hurt her just by being angry or scared. Squaring her shoulders she rocked back, giggling. “DARI!” She giggled again. The pill was most definitely kicking in. “MAC!” She practically yelled it, having always been proud of her name.

Tilting her head to the side she leaned forward and lightly boinked his nose before falling into a fit of giggles. “Can’t feel you, Dari!!!” She clapped happily. “No feel! No feel! MAC!” She pointed to herself again. “Dari!” She pointed at him. Her stomach rumbled and she looked longingly to wear he threw out her food. Spoiled or not it was all she had.

[Darian Raniari]

Darian's vampiric hearing was sensitive enough to have heard the growling of Mac's stomach.

Looking around the room, the vampire realized that he really didn't have any food around. He never ate, really, finding it to be a complete and utter waste of time. Of course, he did still enjoy a good red wine on occasion, but surely the poor girl needed a little something more than that. The fact that he seldom (i.e. never) entertained guests meant that there was just no reason to keep food on hand.

Frowning, Darian stood to his feet, pacing about the room and cursing quietly to himself. How could he have been so foolish, bringing the poor thing here like this, with nothing to give her to ease her hunger? What an idiot, to have done such a thing! Still, berating himself about it wouldn't do her any good, so he tried to relax, and to be calm. There had to be something...

"Ah, of course!" he said, coming to a realization and snapping his fingers. "Wait here, my dear, alright? I'll be back in a moment." With that, Darian slipped out of the bedroom, locking the door behind him as he made his way toward the cockpit. Sticking his head in, he stared at Hogan.

"You eat, do you not?" he asked.

"Well, sure, I suppose I do," the pilot responded, unsure of what to make of the question. He'd worked for Darian for too long, though, to question any of the man's eccentricities. "Why do you ask, Boss? You suddenly develop an appetite or something?"

"No, don't be absurd," Darian countered. "Give me whatever food you have. Now. I'll be sure to reimburse you later, and to give you a hefty bonus on your next check."

Shrugging, Hogan tossed Darian a medium-sized, red cooler. It was worth going hungry for a bit for one of Darian's unbelievable bonuses. He'd be sure to get something on their next stop, though with the fuel pretty much full, there was no telling when that might be.

Without another word, Darian returned to the bedroom, entering silently and taking the seat that he'd abandoned moments earlier. Setting the cooler on his lap, he opened it and took a hesitant sniff. His nose wrinkled and he furrowed his brow as his nose was assailed by the scent of tuna fish, and pickles, and various other odds and ends that (to him, at any rate) smelled absolutely vulgar.

Placing the cooler on the floor, he slid it gently toward Mac, doing his best to smile kindly at her.

"Here, Mac. It's all yours, and I need you to eat up, so that you can get your strength back, okay?"

[morgancaine]

When Dari went to leave again Mac wasn’t sure what to do. She rocked again before getting up and looking out the window watching the ground move beneath her. Had she done something wrong? She went to turn her head to look at the door and gave a little whimper when it hurt. She brought her hand to her neck feeling the gauze and whimpered more, not remembering what exactly happened.

“Mmm.” Her mind was twisted, broken. It wasn’t something Mac liked thinking about. Instead she turned her attention back towards the window until she heard the door to the room creak open again. She fell back to the floor, almost submissively as if that were the correct thing to do. She felt safer that way. It was easier to scurry and slip away.

Dari came back in sliding a cooler towards her. She peered inside the red box her mouth watering at the site of the food. Immediately she reached in grabbing the contents and pulling them into her stomach. Darian had said something, but she was too focused on the food.

“FEAST!” She giggled pulling the sandwich out of its baggy, almost biting the plastic along with tuna in her anxiousness to get the food into her belly. She grabbed a pickle taking a bite before she’d swallowed any of the sandwich, stuffing her mouth with as much as she could. It was more food than she’d seen in a long time.

When the sandwich was halfway done Mac wrapped it clumsily in the plastic before shoving it in her backpack. She grabbed a bag of chips and tried to pull it open, but her hands were slippery from the pickle and she was getting frustrated. She could have some before she saved the rest!

Mac glared at the bag and tried again, before getting irritated enough to slap the bag. It exploded with a bang, chips raining through the air. Mac jumped a small eep of surprise escaping her from the initial sound. After a moment she giggled taking a chip out of her hair and eating.

“Yum!” She continued pulling pieces from her hair and off the floor, not caring at all if either were dirty and eating her food. When she figured she had enough for now she picked the rest up in her hands and shoved them in her backpack carefully, trying not to break them. She didn’t know when she was going to be able to eat again.

Mac looked at Dari curiously. “No feel you. No hurt.” Leaning her head back she let out a long tired yawn. It pulled on her neck and hand went over the gauze again as she whimpered. “Owwie.” She looked up at Dari with wide, innocent eyes. “Dari nice.” She tried to remember what you were supposed to say when someone was nice and gave you something. She bit her lower lip for a moment staring at him. “Thankies you!” She giggled again before getting up and throwing her arms around his neck.

She couldn’t feel him. He didn’t hurt her with emotions. He had given her food. “Dari nice,” She mumbled again as her eyes began to close, her arms still wrapped around his neck. “No hurt. Nice Dari. Give food.”

[Darian Raniari]

Darian went rigid as the girl threw herself at him.

His fists clenched, and a low growl escaped his lips as he used every bit of his self-control not to simply throttle her right then and there. And it wasn't easy. Darian had come to learn that, typically, when someone came rushing at him like that, it usually meant they intended to do him some sort of harm. Oh, the poor young woman had no idea how close she'd just come to being tossed carelessly across the room, or at the very least clobbered into oblivion.

Darian closed his eyes, trying to will himself to relax as another growl escaped him, his body trembling. It wasn't just his trying to go against his natural, violent reaction that was making this difficult, though. It was her, the very scent of her, of the blood that had started to seep ever so slowly through the bandage on her neck. He knew that her blood was tainted, and foul, but the scent of it was enough to drive to a nearly killing frenzy.

Taking a few deep breaths, Darian finally managed to relax, though his body still trembled slightly. He would not harm her, not Mac. She'd obviously been through enough already, and he would add no more to her burden. He would do whatever he could to help her, and to make her life more comfortable. He wanted to give her the chance at a normal, peaceful life that he'd never had.

Slowly, cautiously, the vampire let his arms enclose her gently, a feeling of pride washing over him as he realized that, for now, he'd managed to fight against his violent nature and win.

[morgancaine]

When Dari growled the first time, Mac’s eyes flew open, unsure of what to think. She couldn’t feel him. She didn’t know what he was feeling and emotions was all that Mac knew. Never her own though. Even now she could feel the other one though it was considerably less intense than it had been before. The pill was taking effect and she was getting tired, her eyes once again beginning to droop.

Another growl came from Dari and she felt him shaking, but she didn’t know why. Was he cold? Was he scared? She didn’t know and it confused her, but she liked that she didn’t know. It wasn’t too much. It didn’t hurt. She didn’t understand and then his arms circled around her. The normal cascade of emotions didn’t come and Mac settled into his arms and did the first thing that came to her mind. She growled back. It was soft and she barely got it out before she yawned again.

“Sleepy.” She rubbed her bleary eyes trying to look over turn her head to look at him giving a small whimper when the wounds on her neck pulled. “No want. Monsters when sleep. RAWR!” She shivered. “Scary. No nice like Dari. Dari nice. Give food. No hurt Mac.” She rubbed her face again trying to stay awake. “Can’t feel you.” She yawned again. “No sleep.”

Getting up she went back over to the window looking out, watching the clouds go by. "Where go," She asked through another yawn.